Voice Acting - Why is it always bad?

[Gather]

This is something that has been a point of interest for me; name a game and there will be a number of people who say said game has "Terrible Voice Acting" (But I must digress, that others say that the voice acting in the same game was brilliant, opinions are like that). While I'm playing through a game I have trouble imagining any other way it could have played out (Bar overacting the situation).

Which makes me think; is there more to voice acting than what the voice actor can bring to the table?

So uh... Yeah, post up some examples of what you consider to be "Good voice acting" and "Bad voice acting" and maybe discuss the question.
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My own thoughts on it; of course. Ignoring the obvious requirement for good writing there is the attempt to try and get out of uncanny valley when it comes to the character model. Nothing can ruin a "happy" voice actor more than an emotionless "serious face" or a cheesy and slightly disturbing grin (Which no-one does).

 

[synobal]

I always felt like the entire Legacy of Kain series had really great voice acting.

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

Because video game characters always stand completely still and stare you right in the eyes while talking to you. It ruins any realism the VA has, even if it's really good.

See: any Bioware or Bethesda game.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I always felt like the entire Legacy of Kain series had really great voice acting.

I can agree with that...granted I can only remember Blood Omen and Defiance.

The Japanese cast seems to put more into voice acting jobs than English speakers. Not always of course; Metal Gear was great in English and for anime Puni-Puni Poemy was also great in English.

 

[likalaruku]

Have you ever spoken to a person & thought that their voices didn't match their faces, & it annoyed the shit out of you? It's like that.

 

[Yellowbeard]

"Oh my god, J.C. a bomb!"

 

[badgersprite]

It's not necessarily the voice acting. It's that it can't always bridge the gap of communication subtleties. The way we move our faces, and the way the character is animated. That often has a huge role to play.

Because video game characters always stand completely still and stare you right in the eyes while talking to you. It ruins any realism the VA has, even if it's really good.

See: any Bioware or Bethesda game.

Basically, yeah. Traditionally animated characters (as in cartoons) can make much more vibrant facial expressions, which helps make them feel more real. But, yeah, in my experience, the voice acting is usually fine nowadays. What throws it off is the animation or the script. I'm rarely bothered by bad voice acting. The only times (well, the only recent times) I can think of where I really haven't liked the voice acting are Altair, Ayumi and Vanille. In other times, bad voice acting is at least endearingly funny.

 

[SageRuffin]

Something I've noticed is that the voice acting greatly differs depending on the source. Western made products seem to have exponentially better voice acting than something dubbed.

Let's take video games. Mortal Kombat actually has some damn good voice acting (for the most part). Compare that to something like Soul Calibur, where the English voices by and large are fucking terrible; they all sound phoned in, flat, and are just plain bad all around (there are exceptions, of course, like Kilik except for when certain idiomatic phrases are directly translated).

I debate that it's all down to the actors in question, and probably the directors as well. I have a headache so I can't really elaborate further. Sorry.

 

[Gesepp]

The Japanese cast seems to put more into voice acting jobs than English speakers. Not always of course; Metal Gear was great in English and for anime Puni-Puni Poemy was also great in English.

The difference between English and Japanese voice acting for Dynasty Warriors 7 is astounding.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

It's only bad half of the time. For the other half, it's Nolan North.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

The Japanese cast seems to put more into voice acting jobs than English speakers. Not always of course; Metal Gear was great in English and for anime Puni-Puni Poemy was also great in English.

The difference between English and Japanese voice acting for Dynasty Warriors 7 is astounding.

It was the same for Dynasty Warriors 3 and 4...and Gundam (those being the three I've played) I'm really interesting in finding either a Japanese copy of Resident Evil 1 or, just some sound files to compare US Barry and Japanese Barry.

 

[BX3]

This is actually an interesting topic for me, as i am thinking of becoming a voice actor and therfor, spend an unusual amount of time admiring (or face palming at) the voice acting in different games.

I think the main reason people always dump on VG voice acting is because, really, it's hard to properly use it in a video game because of things like body language and facial expressions. Herbert gave a good example. The Bethesda games have great voice acting from what I've heard, but they just stand there motionless with no body language to convey what the the VA is bringing to the table. Then the VAs get blamed instead of the team behind the presentation.

Another good example is games that use still images (A lot of JRPGs use to do this. Don't know if they still do). The game could have the best voice acting in the world, but it's gonna sound ridiculous because the characters aren't moving. Anyway, that's my thoughts on the why.

Something I've noticed is that the voice acting greatly differs depending on the source. Western made products seem to have exponentially better voice acting than something dubbed.

Let's take video games. Mortal Kombat actually has some damn good voice acting (for the most part). Compare that to something like Soul Calibur, where the English voices by and large are fucking terrible; they all sound phoned in, flat, and are just plain bad all around (there are exceptions, of course, like Kilik except for when certain idiomatic phrases are directly translated).

I debate that it's all down to the actors in question, and probably the directors as well. I have a headache so I can't really elaborate further. Sorry.

Maybe I'm a meanie, but I almost always blame the director when bad voice acting occurs. It's their job to search for the desired quality. They can't just listen to some takes and go "yeah, that's good." Not to say there aren't some genuinely poor VAs out there, but I've seen more than one example of a VAs performance in one project almost contrasting in quality with their performance in another, and it's most likely that that contrast can be contributed to good/bad direction.

 

[Zethrax]

Syncing up voice acting and body language in a 3D model is a tough job, which leads to the uncanny valley effect if done badly. It's really a question of the developer putting enough time and effort into getting it right. I've been playing the Half-Life 2 series through again recently, and the voice acting and associated animations in those games are a good example of how well the job can be done if the proper effort is put in.

 

[Nouw]

Voice-acting, in my opinion, is at it's finest in RTS games.

 

[Dchao]

Voice acting in games can be very hit and miss and I think that a bad VA can slightly ruin a game from being really great. The actor has to enjoy the character they're playing and understand his role in the games cast/plot. It also helps if they understand that yes only their voice is being heard, but they still carry out the lines as if they were talking to someone face to face, little movements of their hands etc help.

On that note, I could name a shit ton of JRPGS with horrible VA's

 

[Ace2991]

What about games like God of War and Grand Theft Auto. Those games not only have great voice acting, but they also have great character models and performances that are rendered in-game.
However, the difference between those games and the ones from Bethesda and Bioware aren't the voice actors themselves because they are great. It's the character models, they are too bland and their eyes don't move at all. That is what seperates good voice acting from bad voice acting.

 

[StriderShinryu]

It really comes down to time and money. Game developers generally don't focus their time on writing good scripts and don't spend enough money on voice acting. The ones that do take the whole process seriously, as in the case of Bioware, are the ones that do it the best. If a game developer considers it's voice related elements as important parts of the game, and are willing to afford them the time and money they need, the result should be a good one.

I do agree with the general belief here that poor character modelling can hold voice acting back but that's more in terms of the big picture and it's something that can often be overcome when the writing and acting is good enough to begin with. I once again reference Bioware in that, while they have been greatly improving, they do still re-use far too many old robotic animations yet you still end up caring for the characters and the story.

 

[kyogen]

Voice acting is a tough business. Game production practices don't usually give voice actors any time to get to know and develop a character, and there are certainly some actors who train in their craft more seriously than others.

Examples of English-language voice acting:

Bad
Two Worlds--oh dear, did the actors even understand their lines? "Forsooth" and "mayhap" don't need to sound that flat.

Good
Nier, Mirror's Edge, most recent Bioware and Bethesda rpgs, Portal, Fable series, FF XII and XIII, etc.

Bright spots:
The Witcher 1--good acting but some serious editing issues

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

Because video game characters always stand completely still and stare you right in the eyes while talking to you. It ruins any realism the VA has, even if it's really good.

See: any Bioware or Bethesda game.

Oh yeah. This is probably the brunt of the problem for me. I think Half Life 2 did a pretty amazing job in that department.

If we're talking about animated shows, then I've seen all of Gurren Lagann in sub and the final battle in English dub. Both are absolutely amazing. I've only seen FLCL in English and that's great as well. The voices completely suit the characters and nothing feels awkward when you hear them speak.