thats why they need to add subtitles I can not stand mediocre or worse dubbing, either do a good job at it or leave it out altogether!LordLocke said:
Poll: Voice acting: yay or nay?
- Thread starter Zera
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Some games. I would say, NEED voice actors: and while I partly mean "filmic" games like Metal Gear Solid and Half-Life, even games with relatively little plot like Jak and Daxter and Doom 3 still benefit from hearing the voices. A good performance can make comedy sound funnier than simply reading the words - just look at Captain Quark from Ratchett and Clank. And what would the G-Man be without his drawling, hissing sibilance? Without a voice, he would appear almost comic: with it, he's cooler than a bag filled with dry ice. Same for Auron in Final Fantasy X. Anyone who played MGS 1 and heard Liquid Snake's confrontation with Solid atop Metal Gear REX will know that sometimes, voice acting is awesome. Or at least, Cam Clarke is.
Still, I suppose that not ALL games need voices. I'm not a great Zelda fan, but the games have done very well for themselves: though perhaps many fans would prefer to hear the words, not just read them. I dare not touch on such matters that I know nothing about.
Still, I suppose that not ALL games need voices. I'm not a great Zelda fan, but the games have done very well for themselves: though perhaps many fans would prefer to hear the words, not just read them. I dare not touch on such matters that I know nothing about.
I'll weigh in on the Nintendo franchise thing.
Mario: No speech, beyond sounds and such.
Zelda: I have no issue with everyone but Link speaking. Zelda herself is quite changeable in protrayal, so it's not like you're messing with a static icon. (Of course, I'd like to be able to play as her in something other than SSB or a lousy CD-I game...)
Metroid: Better writing + voice. Including Samus. I'm one of the freaks that likes Fusion's approach to plot, and Jennifer Hale is already the voice of Samus for her grunts and yelps, so you've got a damn good VA already.
On the whole, I think the option of voice is a good thing, but it's dependent on the style of game and the game itself.
Mario: No speech, beyond sounds and such.
Zelda: I have no issue with everyone but Link speaking. Zelda herself is quite changeable in protrayal, so it's not like you're messing with a static icon. (Of course, I'd like to be able to play as her in something other than SSB or a lousy CD-I game...)
Metroid: Better writing + voice. Including Samus. I'm one of the freaks that likes Fusion's approach to plot, and Jennifer Hale is already the voice of Samus for her grunts and yelps, so you've got a damn good VA already.
On the whole, I think the option of voice is a good thing, but it's dependent on the style of game and the game itself.
Meh. Like most things, I would say "shit's situational".
Usually (especially noticeable in story heavy games - see any decent RPG), good voice acting can add tremendously to the style and quality of the game. Wether you think it was good or not, you can't really deny that Final Fantasy XII's storyline would have had the same feel without the whole European accent they went out of their way to give most of their characters. They were going for a specific feel and voice acting went a long way to make that not only more pronounced but more believable.
On the other hand you have, as previously mentioned, things like Mario games in which you really don't need voice acting, nor would it add a whole lot to the game. Anything more than the occasional sound would feel a bit out of place.
While it's entirely true that bad or just plain odd voice acting can completly ruin your enjoyment of a game(dear god I wish I could turn half the voices in Kingdom Hearts 2 off), I don't really think it's something significant enough to worry about. Voice-acting is an extremely recent addition to games and we're already seeing the average VA quality rise considerably and quickly.
I think it's very similar to the way the whole move from 2D to 3D was. As it gets more and more common place to actually have some more consistent standards of how voices should be in games and what should be done to make sure the voices sound like they're supposed to sound, the quality of VAs will just get consistently better, until it gets to the point where, with the rare exclusion of those extremely bad games that will always exist, the voices being bad won't really much of a concern anymore.
Usually (especially noticeable in story heavy games - see any decent RPG), good voice acting can add tremendously to the style and quality of the game. Wether you think it was good or not, you can't really deny that Final Fantasy XII's storyline would have had the same feel without the whole European accent they went out of their way to give most of their characters. They were going for a specific feel and voice acting went a long way to make that not only more pronounced but more believable.
On the other hand you have, as previously mentioned, things like Mario games in which you really don't need voice acting, nor would it add a whole lot to the game. Anything more than the occasional sound would feel a bit out of place.
While it's entirely true that bad or just plain odd voice acting can completly ruin your enjoyment of a game(dear god I wish I could turn half the voices in Kingdom Hearts 2 off), I don't really think it's something significant enough to worry about. Voice-acting is an extremely recent addition to games and we're already seeing the average VA quality rise considerably and quickly.
I think it's very similar to the way the whole move from 2D to 3D was. As it gets more and more common place to actually have some more consistent standards of how voices should be in games and what should be done to make sure the voices sound like they're supposed to sound, the quality of VAs will just get consistently better, until it gets to the point where, with the rare exclusion of those extremely bad games that will always exist, the voices being bad won't really much of a concern anymore.
It depends. Bioshock wouldn't have had the same impact without it's flawless voice acting, but Peggle hardly suffered from a lack of an Oscar winner behind the microphone.
J
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I don't like "Gordon the emotionally oblivious mute" in Half-Life. I mean, what the heck was Valve thinking? Give a voice to the protagonist (and do it right of course) and he instantly gets character, resulting in the player "binding" with the character.
Gordon Freeman is a terrible game character because of this reason. He has no personality, he just kills things. He doesn't have much of a history (except that he killed things), and we don't know about his motivations. He's just not interesting at all. Alyx is a good character, though. Although she usually likes to state the obvious: "this is a slow lift, Gordon!".
Gordon Freeman is a terrible game character because of this reason. He has no personality, he just kills things. He doesn't have much of a history (except that he killed things), and we don't know about his motivations. He's just not interesting at all. Alyx is a good character, though. Although she usually likes to state the obvious: "this is a slow lift, Gordon!".
Personally, I can live with bad voice acting quality, it's the dialogue that matters most. If you have a well written script, it will always show even when it's being spoken by someone who just learned what language it was written in; the script will still show characterization if written well. If you have dialogue that doesn't show characterization and is just written for petty, childish laughs, then no matter what the dialogue will be irritating and painful to endure no matter how good the voice actor is.