ArcSys Voice Acting [This thread has rules now]

[Stellarcircle5]

Therien lies the problem though. People have been listening to Nakata for over 10 years, anyone would be biased at this point. I think it's important to look at the dub as a separate entity entirely. Sure choose what you like, that's what dual audio is for, but discrediting the effort the actors put in despite being under subpar directors isn't fair IMO.

Go listen to games like Extermination and Dynasty Warriors 3, those are examples of truly shit voiceover.

This is more of a moral thing for me, and I know I'm in the minority since I do VO work myself. But the VO actors are just people doing their jobs, not a bunch of devils out to sabotage your husbando/waifu.

[Nemo-_-]

It's not the bias for Nakata that gives JP Sol a good voice. It's the fact that voice fits the character. Honestly I always use the Ishiwatari voice when given the option in some GG games. So it's definitely not nostalgia. I don't care who it was that voiced Sol, all that matters are how the voices sound (and fit with the character) and the performance.

 

I only mentioned Nakata due to how he played Sol, no unnecessary growling, just the "yare yare daze" kind of character (guy that's tired of bullshit). As opposed to Trying Too Hard pro-wrestler sounding english Sol. And obviously, that's what Sol Badguy is supposed to be like, because Ishiwatari made the character and portrayed him that way.

 

I always prefer english dubs, in anime and videogames. At the same time I'm not gonna be an apologist and just be okay with a bunch of mediocre/shit performances just because I like the anime/game. There's really no excuse here because they actually did justice to Slayer and Zato. If those two can sound okay, why not the main character? And the others? Also, other ASW games have had consistently great dubs, so it's completely reasonable to expect a good dub here. I don't want to be the deby downer or whatever so I'm just gonna stop here. I noticed people in this forum get ridiculously upset when any little negative thing gets said about the game.

[LeDom]

The sad thing is that Sol's voice actually sounds alright when he's not gargling, so it really has to be a case of bad directing.

As for Ramlethal, I watched Maximilian's stream and felt he didn't get that she's supposed to be emotionless, it's just probably more bearable in JPN because, well, you don't understand each word. However, I can think of plenty of english dubs that nailed the emotionless girl rather well (like Nagato in Haruhi, Aigis in P3 and Nu-13 in you-know-what), so I'd agree that Erin probably wasn't the best fit.

 

Venom though...I tried giving it a chance and listening to it a little more but I just don't get what they were thinking.

[D.R.F.]

One character makes it a shitty dub. I see now

[Poultrygeist]

One character makes it a shitty dub. I see know

Fortunately it's not just one character then lol.  Everyone except Sol, Ky, Millia and May sounds like dookie.  Why the fuck does Slayer sound like some 17 year old doing a bad Sean Connery impression wtf.  Very disappointing ocnsidering BB dub was solid.

[D.R.F.]

May sounds fine. But at this point ill stop on something we can agree on

WE ARE PLAYING WITH JP VOICES ANYWAY :D

[DaiAndOh]

One character makes it a shitty dub. I see know

 

See Venom is going to be on my screen...a lot....so to me...kind of does.

[Alkipot]

People who act smugly superior over their preference of dubs (I guess they're insecure about liking anime and deathly afraid of being labeled weeaboos, or something) are just as insufferable as the inverse.

Here's the thing, I love anime. I usually watch movies/episodes with subs, but when it comes to something interactive, I'd much prefer English. I just don't think everything from Japan is God's gift to the world and everyone in Japan shits rainbows and gold sparkles like the weeb population does. I've read posts where guys were like "sadly there's English in this game", like everyone in the western hemisphere reads/writes/speaks/worships Japanese and plugs their ears screaming "LALALALALA!! NO JP I CAN'T HEAR YOUUUU!!!" at English dubs. Being that guy IMO  is waaaaay worse than the guy who's cool with English dubs. Silly me for wanting to play a game in a language I can understand.

[TITANIUM BEAST!!!]

I have nothing against dubs in particular. However, for most fighting games, the dubs are cringe-worthy. Yes, I would love to play a game where I don't have to read subs and I can just listen along, but not if I have an involuntary shudder at every poorly cast voice and horridly delivered line. Listening to Sol in the demo is just fine until he starts growling like he's on the verge of coughing up a lung.

[Luminos564]

One character makes it a shitty dub. I see now

 

Well you know what they say "One rotten apple to ruin the whole bunch" and all that jazz.

 

So I had some time to let Sol's voice sink in. It's marginally better now that I've grown more used to it. Keith Silverstein definitely sounds good in actual combat. The problem is the cutscenes and dialogue. I don't have a problem with characters talking like a blender full of gravel most of the time...when it is appropriate. If you do it 100% of the time, you're going to come across as "corny" and "not serious", neither of which actually befit Sol's character (IMO). Still, that's just the demo. Who know's what he'll be like in other routes.

 

And I have gotten a chance to hear Venom's voice. Uuuuuh yeah it is pretty darn terrible. As is Erin's Ramlethal. I figure it HAS to be poor direction though as neither of their ENG VAs are rookies (or at least, Erin most certainly is not). Erin could have used a little softer tone from her Bullet voice and it might ave worked a little bit better. Ah but oh well, there is always the JPN option, much as I would rather both sides be so good that I have to struggle between picking them...

[D.R.F.]

Sol in battle is boring. I need my English dragon install

[Tokkan]

People keep saying Sol is Keith Silverstein and I keep getting confused because in no way does that sound anything like Keith Silverstein.

[Jocelot]

I never hated Venom's voice, it just wasn't at all what I was expecting especially considering his deeper and smoother sounding JPN voice. I just thought it took some getting used to. 

 

That's my take on every voice in the dub so far honestly. Just another thing to get used to. I still rather like it though

[Tsuki Garyuu]

People keep saying Sol is Keith Silverstein and I keep getting confused because in no way does that sound anything like Keith Silverstein.

Still think it's Kyle Hebert. I don't remember Keith sounding like that.

And I don't see much confirmation that Axl is Liam.

 

Therien lies the problem though. People have been listening to Nakata for over 10 years, anyone would be biased at this point. I think it's important to look at the dub as a separate entity entirely. Sure choose what you like, that's what dual audio is for, but discrediting the effort the actors put in despite being under subpar directors isn't fair IMO.

 

 

How? You want to look at a dub as a separate entity, so criticize it as such. Sounds pretty fair to me. And I trust a good chunk of us have done that anyway.

[Tokkan]

Still think it's Kyle Hebert. I don't remember Keith sounding like that.

And I don't see much confirmation that Axl is Liam.

 

See, to me Axl sounds plenty like Liam. Especially in the pain screams, those are definitely very Liam.

 

I don't think Sol is Kyle, though he certainly sounds very similar to Kyle's range.

[LeDom]

I'm sure that, deep down, we'll all be forgiving of the dub's shortcomings if it delivers something as endearing as this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IawLvVeEoq4

[D.R.F.]

No

[Tsuki Garyuu]

I'm sure that, deep down, we'll all be forgiving of the dub's shortcomings if it delivers something as endearing as this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IawLvVeEoq4

Yes. I will forgive everything if it does something like that. Betcha it's gonna be Sin.

[Blade]

I have nothing against dubs in particular. However, for most fighting games, the dubs are cringe-worthy. Yes, I would love to play a game where I don't have to read subs and I can just listen along, but not if I have an involuntary shudder at every poorly cast voice and horridly delivered line. Listening to Sol in the demo is just fine until he starts growling like he's on the verge of coughing up a lung.

 

If nothing else, a lot of the in-battle quotes haven't really changed much since I did my GG Quote Project translation guide, so the dub is pretty spot-on in that department.

 

I'm giving these guys the benefit of the doubt.  It's their first time doing these roles so maybe like Jin's CV in BlazBlue they'll grow in to the role better in later versions of the game.  We're fortunate we had a lot of the old CVs from Accent Core come back (Slayer's CV barely made it).

[The Magnet Technician]

I actually like Ramlet's English voice. She reminds me of Dorothy from the Big O, so the fanboy in me gives her a pass. 

[BlackYakuzu94]

I think it's just something to get used to, just like any other dub; we're so used to over 10 years of Japanese, anything else just sound extremely foreign by comparison. That said, I will probably stick with the Japanese voice track, it's just the one I'm more comfortable and familiar with. I tend to switch back and forth in P4 and BB for voice tracks, but those dubs are already pretty solid. GG has a lot to make up for in that regard.

[LiveWireX]

I don't really think the dub is that bad. That being said though, for me it could be because I haven't really played a lot of GG at all, so I'm not used to/attached to a certain character having a certain voice (and also since it's hard for a game to have a dub as bad as the original Star Ocean 2 dub way back on the PS1).

 

Like, I don't think Faust's voice is bad, and I-No's seems fine (even if I think the GG Wiki probably has it listed wrong...but I didn't think Bullet was Erin Fitzgerald at ALL and figured she was Amanda C. Miller or something, so who knows). Hell, even Venom's doesn't seem offensive to me because I don't have 10 years worth of associating a certain voice with him as some people do.

[D.R.F.]

Listen to jp venom. The feel isn't there. Venom sounds like a raspy white kid. They could have at least made him sound black. But oh well

[Agni]

Listen to jp venom. The feel isn't there. Venom sounds like a raspy white kid. They could have at least made him sound black. But oh well

Tager sounds more like a black guy than Venom does right now.

That is a rather big problem.

[White Man]

Listening to Sol some more, I think what bothers me the most about this English voice is that he sounds too old.  Silverstein has this old-guy grumble in his delivery that doesn't sync up with how I've always viewed the character.  Sol definitely has a touch of an old man's grouchiness in his personality, but he's still physically young.  Ishiwatari and Nakata have always brought that element of youthful energy to the character's voice, especially his lines uttered during battle.  I don't think Silverstein was told very much about Sol besides the fact that he's a lot older than he looks and tends to be a bit of a grump.  Going off that, the voice he ended up using actually makes sense.