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Do you ever set a game's voice audio to a language you don't speak? When and why?
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I don't. Well, I sometimes switch the voiceover to Dutch (e.g. in Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright or Lego City Undercover) because it sounds funny, but only for a short time and pretty much only once or twice.
There are some games where I switch from German to English (very few, though), but seeing as I speak English, that's not really what this thread is about.
There are some games where I switch from German to English (very few, though), but seeing as I speak English, that's not really what this thread is about.
Depends if the german dub is good. Usually I end up with english voices (I speak english, but I'm talking about foreign language options in general) but there were cases like the Tomb Raider reboot series, BotW or FFXV where I played the game with the german voices.
Oh, and to answer the question more accurately: I played the entire AssCreed Ezio trilogy with Italian voices and it was awesome.
Oh, and to answer the question more accurately: I played the entire AssCreed Ezio trilogy with Italian voices and it was awesome.
stargateheaven
Member
every game i can i put it into the original language. It just makes sense. Original voice is always good. (bar FF12!! lol)
I speak japanese and english but if the game was ffrench only or something then french is what i would choose.
I speak japanese and english but if the game was ffrench only or something then french is what i would choose.
Marky Mark
Member
Otogi, I set to Japanese when I was a dumb teen Japanophile.
woopWOOP
Member
I played Fire Emblem Awakening with Japanese audio. Couldn't understand shit, but it was just a couple of phrases they yelled out during battle anyway and I mostly wanted a feel for their voice as it was in the original Japanese game.
I also switched Smash Bros N64 to German or French just to change Jigglypuff's name/voice. And the French announcer just sounded hilarious in general (love his "CapTain FalCon")
I also switched Smash Bros N64 to German or French just to change Jigglypuff's name/voice. And the French announcer just sounded hilarious in general (love his "CapTain FalCon")
Kain-Nosgoth
Member
Almost always, regardless of the game and their original voice!
French dub usually sucks (not always of course), And i always prefere to hear the dialogue as they were intended by the developpers! You can still understand the emotions behind the voice! I pretty much do the same for movies
So english games in english VA, Japanese games in Japanese VA, i even did Witcher 3 in polish!
There's a few exception to the rule, like i find the english DUB of nier even better than the japanese dub (it's very rare from my perspective)
I'm glad that they let us choose the japanese dub for persona 5, because it's honestly shit in english (P4G was acceptable at least, not that great but still believable)
French dub usually sucks (not always of course), And i always prefere to hear the dialogue as they were intended by the developpers! You can still understand the emotions behind the voice! I pretty much do the same for movies
So english games in english VA, Japanese games in Japanese VA, i even did Witcher 3 in polish!
There's a few exception to the rule, like i find the english DUB of nier even better than the japanese dub (it's very rare from my perspective)
I'm glad that they let us choose the japanese dub for persona 5, because it's honestly shit in english (P4G was acceptable at least, not that great but still believable)
IronicSonic
Member
Spanish dub is usually terrible so I prefer english dub instead
FallenGrace
Member
Only if the English voice acting is awful normally, case in point, Star Ocean 4 *shudders*
I tend to set it to english, because I'd rather understand what's being said through an okay dub than not understanding shit at all. Depends on how dialogue is delivered though. If it's old school push-a-button-for-the-next-line dialogue I'm fine with not understanding the voice acting.
Also tend to avoid french versions when they're available, because it really feels like they're subpar compared to the english ones. Not blaming the localization teams though, they most likely work with a fraction of the english budget.
I also have this weird hangup with how they translate "you". There's two possible forms for "you" in french : singular ("tu") and plural ("vous" which is also used as the polite/formal form). Half the time it feels like they're using the wrong one when localizing, which completely takes me out of the game.
Also tend to avoid french versions when they're available, because it really feels like they're subpar compared to the english ones. Not blaming the localization teams though, they most likely work with a fraction of the english budget.
I also have this weird hangup with how they translate "you". There's two possible forms for "you" in french : singular ("tu") and plural ("vous" which is also used as the polite/formal form). Half the time it feels like they're using the wrong one when localizing, which completely takes me out of the game.
Sometimes I would use Japanese voices in Persona 4 Arena because I used Yukiko and Shadow Labrys. JP Yukiko said something during one of her supers that sounded really cool to me (and much better than, "Spin!"), And JP S.Lab just sounded really fucking evil, even more so than the US version, which was also still pretty good.
Kain-Nosgoth
Member
yeah, when i play my games with english voices, i set the english subtitle everytime now too because of that! I replayed metal gear solid HD collection recently.... didn't noticed it when i was a teenager, but god the french translation was baaaad! Like they litteraly translated "copy that"... to "copie ça"
haha
Vincent Grayson
Member
I'd always rather play a game in its native language given the choice. Otherwise, I play in English.
epicnemesis
Member
I do it with assassins creed games usually. It's been a while but I think they actually have a native language option where the language changes based on location.
PatientGamer
Member
Yes, but only with Japanese games. It just feels right. It's a Japanese game made by mostly Japanese people, I just like it to be "authentic".
Red Liquorice
Member
I really don't like JRPGs dubbed with American voice actors, it's put me off a few games that don't have Japanese audio options.
Peroroncino
Member
All japanese games that offer original V/A, otherwise I mostly stick to English dub in games, with two exceptions, Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light which I've played in Russian.
fabricated backlash
Member
The Metro Games. I like the sound of russian, and it helps with the atmosphere.
Also the horrible accents put on by the english VO are off putting
Also the horrible accents put on by the english VO are off putting
If the job description entails massive over acting and constant artificial gasping and grunting, then yeah I'd agree.
TRUE ORDER
Member
Almost all the time, when the japanese games come with dual audio option.
There are some cases in which the dub is good/decent though.
There are some cases in which the dub is good/decent though.
Did that come from the first one? Because yeah, that's real bad.
It has come to a point where I've started to notice when they fuck up the syntax as well, with the same kind of stilted, unnatural sentences that english natives complain about in japanese-to-english localizations.
I think the worst example in recent memory may have been Furi, a French made game whose original script is rife with the kind of english-to-french translation syntax fuckery that can be found in actual translations. It's pretty wild.
Kain-Nosgoth
Member
it was in Metal gear solid 2, raiden said that! Metal gear solid 3 had some of the same problems, but it was not present in peace walker, thankfully!
veloxStrix
Banned
I set Ghost Recon Wildlands to Japanese and it was almost worth playing. Eventually the hilarity ran thin though.
Well, I sure like the Polish dub a lot more than the English one.
And I guess that would also be my answer for the thread. I always play games in their original language.
If I played a game that had en English dub trying to do the same intonation that JP VA do, it'd be really cringeworthy. People in different lenguages speak differently.
And we are just used to Japanese VAs in anime being as cheesy and over the top as they can be. That probably helps.
Not always the case. Some English dubs are really good and well worth playing through with them. That being said, it's only a few, so I'd say I play 50/50 with English dubs in Japanese games.
I wouldn't be so sure about that. There are quite a few fairly known actors in the Polish cast. Also, as a native speaker, I can say that casting and direction were mostly spot on. You can definitely hear the amount of effort put into it.
On topic - aside from The Witcher, I play all my games with English voices and English subtitles. That's how I trained my English as a teenager and it just feels natural now.
Pretty much any Japanese game that lets me use Japanese VA instead. Although, even if Tales of Xillia offered that option, I wouldn't have chosen it because the Japanese dub for that one didn't sound so good to me. The English one did, somehow...
And as to the why? It sounds so much better most of the time. It doesn't sound ridiculous and over-the-top like FFXV's Ignis and Cindy. Most of them sounded like they were trying too hard.
Maybe I find the Japanese voice-acting more natural because of all the anime I grew up watching...
Switched to French for Unity too, cause I heard it sounded good and it did so I stuck with it. Wasn't really missing anything with the English voice-acting anyway.
And as to the why? It sounds so much better most of the time. It doesn't sound ridiculous and over-the-top like FFXV's Ignis and Cindy. Most of them sounded like they were trying too hard.
Maybe I find the Japanese voice-acting more natural because of all the anime I grew up watching...
Switched to French for Unity too, cause I heard it sounded good and it did so I stuck with it. Wasn't really missing anything with the English voice-acting anyway.
Gai Murakumo
Member
This for me. Since it is harder for me to hear bad Japanese voice acting I prefer it. Plus for a number of scenes in games Japanese voice actors appear to put more emotion into their voicing of a character more than English voice actors with some exceptions.
Glass Shark
Banned
No, never. I generally dislike subtitles and turn them off whenever possible.
Taliban Stan
Member
Mainly just foreign games.
Night Terror
Member
Depends to me. Some Japanese games have dubbings I find good enough. Then there's other I can't stand. Cue in Street Fighter or Tekken (seriously Harada, what were you thinking for 7 urghh)
Despite that, since I speak English, I guess is the answer is not
My rule of thumb is original intention, so if AC Unity was wrote for English, I'll play in English, if Tekken is designed for Japanese, then I go for Japanese, etc. I think my only exceptions so far have been Soul Calibur, Ninja Gaiden and Batman Arkham games, which has an insanely good quality dub in spanish.
Despite that, since I speak English, I guess is the answer is not
My rule of thumb is original intention, so if AC Unity was wrote for English, I'll play in English, if Tekken is designed for Japanese, then I go for Japanese, etc. I think my only exceptions so far have been Soul Calibur, Ninja Gaiden and Batman Arkham games, which has an insanely good quality dub in spanish.
kqedequalsvolvo
Member
That's normally my preference - if there's an option for a language that matches the setting, then I'll tend to go for that. If that's not relevant to the setting, I'll go for the language of the developers/the 'original' voice acting e.g. Nier Automata - Japanese speech, English text.
As a generalisation, it feels like text localisation has got so much better in the last gen or so (less literal translations, more context, colloquialisms, making the effort to use a slightly tweaked phrase if it doesn't 'work' in English etc.) whereas I don't feel the same about dubs/localised voice acting for the most part. Part of it is also that weird thing of wanting the most 'authentic' experience of a game - as the developers intended primarily.
Dragonslayer_023
Banned
Hate this idea that emotion and sincerity = cheesy and over the top., don't understand it.
xrnzaaas
Member
I only did that with the STALKER series, because the original Russian dubbing was the best and our local version had a cool feature of using a lector to translate all dialogues (aside from the usual subtitles). Aside from STALKER I don't have this problem, because I don't play games from Japan.
semiconscious
Member
if available, i always play japanese games with japanese dub / subtitles. always! ...
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Kaji AF16
Member
I usually set the voices of japanese and anime-based games to Japanese. Being used to the Latin American voices, the English dub is somewhat disruptive. Dragon Ball is an obvious, recurrent case.
I also played AC: Unity in French in preparation for a work trip to Paris, being a complete novice in that language.
I also played AC: Unity in French in preparation for a work trip to Paris, being a complete novice in that language.
Most Japanese games I will if given the option. I tend to like the way Japanese sounds and enjoy the way the VAs act, especially if it's something anime related or done in that style like Dragon Quest or something.
The other big one is/was The Witcher series. I just thought that since it was a Polish game that I should play it in it's native language. It might sound silly to some, but it felt more authentic to experience the game that way.
The other big one is/was The Witcher series. I just thought that since it was a Polish game that I should play it in it's native language. It might sound silly to some, but it felt more authentic to experience the game that way.