LogFAQs > #985381314

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Another factor is who the voice director is.

This is very true. Aerith's VA from FF7: Remake (Brianna White) talks about this, and it can be especially troublesome when localization from another language is involved. Some voice directors will do an incredible job, but other often make very strange decisions. Honestly, in this situation I, and a lot of other people thought she was supposed to be creeped out at the thought, not mocking Corneo!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkcLIEu0feo

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Since you brought up Sleeping Dogs, it's also worth remembering that James Hong was in it (and James Hong is and will always be awesome in everything ever, and if you disagree I will fight you). And most of the major characters in it were film or TV actors (in the same way that the GTA3 era games tended to cast people like Samuel L Jackson and James Woods to play major characters) - they were just Asian/Asian-American/Chinese/Hong Kong actors that most Westerners weren't necessarily as familiar with (and one of them was Liu Kang from the Mortal Kombat movie). Emma Stone's role wasn't really an outlier, and it wasn't really glorified cameo stunt casting as much as it was because they wanted to have minor love interest characters (because again, the game was very clearly strongly inspired by GTA: San Andreas). So she and Lucy Liu were there to be the "Lukewarm Coffee" side missions. She honestly didn't stand out to me at all (in fact, I'm not sure I even knew it was her until after I played).

If forgot about Samuel L Jackson, lol. He's actually a good example of it being done right, AND his character persists throughout the entire game. And he's just good at voice work in general.

It's just that I specifically remember during that time when Emma Stone was being propped up in promotional material during release, and she had barely any presence in the actual game. Admittedly, she does support the most characterization for Wei out of all the "girlfriends" (which is another conversation, they were clearly a half-assed response to GTA: SA). So it was just baffling and frustrating how much they pushed her addition. Although, I really don't like Emma Stone so it was more annoyance, lol.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

One thing to keep in mind with Steven Ogg is that he's kind of bitter about the fact that he tried to be a serious actor for years and no one gave a shit, and then Trevor of all characters made him famous.

Yeah... I really can understand his frustration and resentment. Typcasting can be a huge issue for actors. It just sometimes comes off as a superiority complex with the way he frames it. Even more so with Ned Luke, as he really didn't have much going on previously or afterwards. His performance in the game was great and he should be proud of it, but he's talking like he's a bigshot respectable actor who deserves more than to be called "just a voice actor".