I guess I could use No More Heroes and maybe Bayonnetta as an example (minds going blank right now)?
But others just end up with awkward, cheesy, laughably bad lines like Final Fantasy XIII (Granted, I haven't actually played through that game but after hearing my roommate play it last night and hearing some fruit cup go on about "soldier" this and "soldier" that and "we are the heroes!!1!" and one of the female kawai desu playable characters annoying voice I think ima sit this one out. Sorry I wasted $9 on the game)?
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Games like FFXIII have more "professional" VAs who put out uninteresting performances. Games like NMH have "lesser" VAs who put on a more exaggerated and fun performance.
Think of it like how Working Designs translations were technically awful but totally awesome.
Smaller budget games also have VAs who are experienced in anime and JRPG dubs, while games like FFXIII go after people who have more experience with being in actual TV shows or movies. They might be more talented with actual acting, but the people who do voice overs for a living are better for video games. Only two experienced voice actors in anime/video games that FFXIII had as far as I know were Serah and Snow.
it's also hard to disguise bad dialogue with good VA, a lot of it is just that FF has always had pretty cheesy dialogue and it just gets exposed really badly by being acted out
From: o___Okami | #001 I guess I could use No More Heroes and maybe Bayonnetta as an example
Well for starters these two particular games that you mentioned were originally voiced in English. Particular with Bayonetta where I believe that it is only voiced in English, and No More Heroes didn't have Japanese voicing until the PS3/Xbox 360 version.
So in those cases the voice director has to come up with their own way to present the voices rather than basing off how the Japanese have it, and it generally works out better that way.
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Didn't think FFXIII was so bad in the acting department myself, and I am not especially friendly towards that game. There was Vanille of course but that was more due to featuring the worst attempt at an Australian accent I've ever heard from someone who is actually Australian.
But honestly, I don't think hiring dedicated voice actors is necessarily better. There are plenty of bad dubs from the usual JRPG/anime crew (and some fantastic ones as well) and some excellent dubs from actors more experienced with TV and the stage (any British VA'd game for instance; we don't have many dedicated VAs). In the end I think it comes down to the skill of the director more than anything else.
As for NMH, I don't think that really had "lesser" VAs, it shared some with FFXIII even. I mean, Robin Atkin Downes is pretty huge and has been in lots of major stuff, and is just as much a TV/film actor as he is a game one. True, NMH did feature a lot of more unusual performances, but I think that's more due to the direction than it is the actual actors themselves.
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From: WhiteLens | #006 Well for starters these two particular games that you mentioned were originally voiced in English. Particular with Bayonetta where I believe that it is only voiced in English, and No More Heroes didn't have Japanese voicing until the PS3/Xbox 360 version.
So in those cases the voice director has to come up with their own way to present the voices rather than basing off how the Japanese have it, and it generally works out better that way.
Incidentally, that also applies to the entire Devil May Cry series.
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metal wolf chaos really is pretty awesome on the VAs. it's the main game the original Xbox had that never came out here despite the fact that it would've been perfect.
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What really mystifies me is how Square Enix managed to go from having some of the best English localization ever(Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy XII) to completely failing on all levels like they do these days. Compare KH1 to KH2, the difference is night and day even though both games use the same great actors.
It's more an issue with the translation and voice direction than the actors, obviously.
"This is pointless Mr. President!" "Nothing is pointless...and the reason is because I'm the president of the great UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!" "MR. PRESIDENT!" "Jodie! I'm going to step out into outer space."
FF13 has great voice acting (for the main characters...some of the side ones are not as good). The dialogue can be pretty awful, though. Nobody can make some of those lines work.
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Games like FFXIII have more "professional" VAs who put out uninteresting performances. Games like NMH have "lesser" VAs who put on a more exaggerated and fun performance.
Think of it like how Working Designs translations were technically awful but totally awesome.
What the f** is this
It depends on two things, and two things only.
1. Is the script good?
and
2. Are the actors good
That's it
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From: GintokiSaotome | #003 Smaller budget games also have VAs who are experienced in anime and JRPG dubs, while games like FFXIII go after people who have more experience with being in actual TV shows or movies. They might be more talented with actual acting, but the people who do voice overs for a living are better for video games. Only two experienced voice actors in anime/video games that FFXIII had as far as I know were Serah and Snow.
Snow and Serah completely make sense now. No wonder. I liked their voices way more then everyone else actually.
Arc Rise Fantasia is a terrible, terrible game. The dub is one of the worst I have ever heard in any game ever and that isn't even the worst aspect of the game.
...That said I still like it because it gets into "so bad it's good" territory.
The Persona and Tales of series have the best JRPG English voice acting with FF and KH being close after that I guess imo. P3&4 have 1-2 not so good voices, but the rest are pretty amazing.