Garrett Hawke
Member
Luna sounds much older than she looks, I wish they had used the Kingslaive design in game as her VA seems quite good and that would mesh better.
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FINAL FANTASY XV: The English Voice Cast
- Thread starter Bladenic
- Start date
Holy fuck dude, does your "knowledge" of japanese mannerisms and culture stem entirely from consuming video games and anime? Because it sure as hell seems like it.
The argument is especially dombfounding here because the japanese voice actors in Final Fantasy XV sound more lively and less stereotypical "japanese" than the english VO does. They seem to try to emulate an idea of what japanese people sound like even though the actual japanese people they are substituting for do not sound like that. And it's even more silly in this regard because they aren't voicing japanese characters but ones from a fantasy nation in a fantasy world. So even trying to sound like what you imagine an actual japanese person to sound like would be hilariously misplaced.
Here is an example of a japanese game developed by japanese people being voiced not terribly because the responsible translation group 8-4 didn't try to emulate an idea of japanese mannerisms stemming from consuming a lot of anime and instead tried to make their characters sound like actual real people.
RPGCrazied
Member
That accent! I'd love to play a game again with the British accent for all characters like Xenoblade and Dragon Quest 8.
Perfect Cha0s
Member
Same. Hope they removed some of the stuff like "I'm loathe to put you in harm's way," too.
Dark_castle
Junior Member
Which is why I truly appreciate it when the developer actually pays heavy attention and care in making sure every little details on the world, the setting, and the characters be as coherent and consistent as possible. You don't really see these kind of clunky, jarring and inconsistent characterisation if Yasumi Matsuno writes for the game for example.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Even more so because they went out of their way to change the city where these characters are from, Insomnia, from something resembling Tokyo to a more culturally agnostic city, due to complaints from Japanese fans that it was too much like Tokyo.
chozen
Member
"dombfounding". That's a nice opinion you took the time to write.
Being influenced by the west shouldn't mean that they should drop everything related to it being a JRPG. If the game was something like MGS or RE then yes, I will find it jarring and weird that they're acting this way. But as long as the game keeps marketing itself as a JRPG then I will let behaviors like Iris slide, and this is coming from someone who hates Iris with passion lol.
At the end of the day its a matter of preference, some people like characters such as Iris and actually find her cute and some just don't.
English is not my first language but I'm happy to talk to you in German if you are so inclined to point out other people's spelling mistakes
Seriously? How old are you?
Funny enough they didn't do that in the anime.
stump sock
Member
god I hope chozen is just trolling
http://rosettaproject.org/blog/02012/mar/1/language-speed-vs-density/
it's kind of true. Japanese takes more syllables to convey information but is also spoken faster than english. however, it still ends up conveying slightly less information across the same amount of time. for as clunky of a language as english can be, it's very efficient.
the real answer lies somewhere in the middle of that data and just the performances though. unlike what some are saying here, natural conversation is drastically different (and faster) than what you'll see in games/anime.
http://rosettaproject.org/blog/02012/mar/1/language-speed-vs-density/
it's kind of true. Japanese takes more syllables to convey information but is also spoken faster than english. however, it still ends up conveying slightly less information across the same amount of time. for as clunky of a language as english can be, it's very efficient.
the real answer lies somewhere in the middle of that data and just the performances though. unlike what some are saying here, natural conversation is drastically different (and faster) than what you'll see in games/anime.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Having bad acting isn't something to be proud of. Or something that's critical to being classified as a Japanese RPG. Souls games are RPGs and look at the performances they get out of their actors(which are pretty average but still a big step up from the rest). Even more baffling is that we got better performances from a FF cast in the past.
Wouldn't be surprised if the animation studio never got that memo.
Oh, not like this. Why you gotta ruin everything, Japan
BumblebeeCody
Member
I'm playing it in English because reading subtitles sucks.
Nice font though
Nice font though
Wow, sexism and racism rolled up in one, good job.
The question was, by Akainu, "Do you also think every female in japan has a high pitched voice?" To which you use a video of girls speaking Cantonese, a Chinese dialect, to represent Japan?
The "you fucking goblin" was not actually said in the conversation, it was inserted by the English translator.
If you can't tell what Japanese actually sounds like, you should probably not argue about Japanese voice acting versus other voice acting. Or Japanese culture versus other culture. Because you don't know anything.
qualitydisc
Member
I don't know how much the rest of you know about Japanese culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in America
You'd be hard pressed to not hear actors praise the writing in anything they're doing even if it's shit, especially in promo material.
It's what you say when there's nothing else to say.
I'm more curious where they got this feedback from.
Can we maybe have a thread about this? XD I know downgrade threads are not well perceived, so I am wary to open one...but I would really like to discuss this. And the downgrade is imo a pretty big deal. The game looks so much worse now.
Where was the cringe exactly? I really don't know what's that bad about the VA here.
qualitydisc
Member
Oh nooooooooooooooo. I noticed this when watching Kingsglaive.... it didn't have any of the very typically Japanese looking hotels/apartment buildings like you could see in the old Versus trailers.
Dark_castle
Junior Member
Not trying to defend Penelo, as I think she's quite boring and irrelevant to the plot, but here's her interaction with Vaan in FFXII.
Penelo is sort of the Yuffie/Selphie/Eiko/Rikku of the FFXII, but notice how she is a lot more grounded in her motions, her body movements and gestures, not a lot of cutesy posing even if she has the chances to do them, and her arms are flat on her side most of the time when she talks, like a regular human being, and yet one can see some of her child-like characteristic like how she 'hmph' at Vaan in the beginning for stealing things again, but it's done in a way that is believable for someone her age and not overly exaggerated in either facial expression or hand movements.
It's subtleties like this that doesn't get a lot of appreciation from people, but I personally do notice them.
Penelo is sort of the Yuffie/Selphie/Eiko/Rikku of the FFXII, but notice how she is a lot more grounded in her motions, her body movements and gestures, not a lot of cutesy posing even if she has the chances to do them, and her arms are flat on her side most of the time when she talks, like a regular human being, and yet one can see some of her child-like characteristic like how she 'hmph' at Vaan in the beginning for stealing things again, but it's done in a way that is believable for someone her age and not overly exaggerated in either facial expression or hand movements.
It's subtleties like this that doesn't get a lot of appreciation from people, but I personally do notice them.
Gladio dropping like ten octaves to give an unconvincing tough guy voice is cringe, Prompto's entire get-up with fedora is too.
The rest is allright.
Man, all those Japanese exchange students I worked with and the Japanese film teachers I had must totally be outliers.
As I said, its a matter of preference. Some people like myself don't mind the anime acting thing, sure I find some dialogues to be really silly but it doesn't matter much to me in the grand scheme of things. You on the other hand, don't seem to like the anime tropes so much, which makes me wonder how you were able to play previous FF before cause there were TONS of them. Previous FF had their share of the likes of Iris in Rikku, Yuffie, Selphie, Vanille .. etc and if you meant English performance, then yes, I am totally with you. I'd rather they don't do these awkward grunts and sighs as it doesn't sound as natural as it does in Japanese.
Anyway, tomato tomatoes.
stump sock
Member
they're like hideo kojima, they've studied how to act like westerners, of course
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
It's actually quite difficult for me to complete FFs. I've played more than i've beat. I do however expect improvements with each mainline iteration, not stuff that would be even more grating and dare I say outdated as the series goes on. And yes I find that archetype incredibly annoying.
Some people on 2channel were apparently not amused after the E3 2013 re-reveal according to this Kotaku article.
chozen
Member
Then that's just your own problem, it's not something they need to improve on, they just like having these characters, it's intentional. As they have had this archetype for many generations.
Maybe it's just not for you.
"If they're going to set the game in Japan, then give the characters Japanese faces, too."
Damn.
I like how they blackened up Insomnia. The older one didn't align with the black motif the kingdom goes for. I think they could have kept the style to fit Tokyo, though
This is why we can't have nice things and a good example of when listening to feedback goes too far.
Unknown Soldier
Member
I thank God every day that SE are finally including dual audio by default in games.
Unlike for example Atlus.
Unlike for example Atlus.
Dark_castle
Junior Member
You weren't asking me, but I want to chime in anyway. Wanna know why I'm partially okay with the characters you mentioned, minus Vanille? First, those games are comparatively more Japanese anime-inspired in overall design, games like FFVII and FFVIII's art are seemingly more in line with 90's animes, and I could accept such troupes at that time. Secondly, they were like back in late 90's and early 2000's. Standard has changed, and supposedly increased as time passes by. Let's not forget that with the absence of voice acting or even character animations in field map, it's way more tolerable to deal with these type of character archetype. This is why I cannot stand Vanille, but I could with Yuffie and Selphie, and to lesser extent Rikku.
Do you want FF15 to perform beyond expectations? Do you want more high quality, high budget FF in the future?
If that's the case, why are you turning away consumers?
I'm not an expert cause I don't live there, but I've been in Japan and meet people (young people) and this is false. They act like everyone else around the world (other than some people starting everything with a "hmmm").
Of course, people that work in an animeish industry, like idols and such, act like that in front of a camera, but that doesn't mean that's how the average person acts in Japan.
I'm glad I didn't have to be the one to point that out hahahaha.
ps, tangential:
source:
I'm cantonese
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
I would say that it is something to improve on, I don't have to be a super fan of the series to critique acting quality. Or to want improvement, other fans have expressed the same sentiments. This sort of feedback would be beneficial for the series in the future as if we just stop and say "Well it's always been like that." Nothing will change, a lot of western video games have always been incredibly sexist as well, doesn't mean we should just put our hands up and say "Well that's the way it's always been."
I'm glad I didn't have to be the one to point that out hahahaha.
ps, tangential:
source:I'm cantonese
Jet engine up close lol.
That FFXII hammer is always within easy reach. It is amazing how they got so much right in that game.
chozen
Member
This game is going to sell millions regardless of what it does.
Making it even more "western" does not equate to "High quality" lol
FF7R will also be high budget and probably be stringing me along for years to come, and I'm glad square is doing it the way they are.
Can't wait to see people cringe at Yuffie again. I'm gonna be enjoying the games.
Gentleman Jack
Member
mortal
Member
The voice acting sounds very mediocre for most of the characters. I suppose a lot of that has to do with the quality of the writing and voice direction.
There are so many inconsistencies with FFXV, that it's become annoying.
One example being, why would Noctis sound like he's from the U.S., while his own father sounds like he's from the UK. They both are born and raised in Insomnia.
It's like this with so many other characters, such as Ignis. The concept of royalty and monarchy is not inherently a European one, and I wish SE understood that.
There are so many inconsistencies with FFXV, that it's become annoying.
One example being, why would Noctis sound like he's from the U.S., while his own father sounds like he's from the UK. They both are born and raised in Insomnia.
It's like this with so many other characters, such as Ignis. The concept of royalty and monarchy is not inherently a European one, and I wish SE understood that.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Better acting and script quality is not an inherently western construct. Like someone else said, years ago, a character like Yuffie was more tolerable because FF wasn't voiced. Now that it's voiced people, while going up against the other heavy hitters of the year people are expecting more.
stump sock
Member
I'm glad I didn't have to be the one to point that out hahahaha.
ps, tangential:
source:I'm cantonese
I lived with a cantonese roommate who was in a custody battle after a divorce
I will back this up 100%