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Why was Resident Evil 1's voice acting so damn bad?
- Thread starter Amentallica
- Start date
Coin Return
Loose Slot
The opening FMV and voice acting gave RE1 a true B-movie feel that you'll probably never see again in a AAA production. Just another reason to love it.
Good grief, it's much worse than I remember.
BigTnaples
Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Playing through the REmake now. First time playing it so missed the original VO.
Side note I bought RE4 on Steam to play through later on, booted it up just to see how it ran.
That Voiceacting is horrendous. And the storyline is one lone rookie guy who's first actual mission is something as high profile as the presidents daughter?
Hopefully that gets better.
Side note I bought RE4 on Steam to play through later on, booted it up just to see how it ran.
That Voiceacting is horrendous. And the storyline is one lone rookie guy who's first actual mission is something as high profile as the presidents daughter?
Hopefully that gets better.
drotahorror
Member
Strange, I thought/think it's amazing.
I think going back to RE4, some of the dialogue and delivery is also kinda eh. RE5 was pretty great tho. Best Wesker.
PetriP-TNT
Member
I loved the VO back in the days and I still do. Part of the charm (much of it, actually)
Green Wiggly
Member
Well there you go. Thanks for posting that!
To this day I still love the awful VA. It's something unique and memorable that stands out after all these years along with the live action intro.
I hope this is not Chris' blood...
Jean Valjean
Member
I'll be honest. As a non-native English speaking person, RE VA helped me a lot in 1996, cause the game didn't have subtitles but I could understand everythibg they were saying.
pete_clarf
Member
I've always had a theory that the voice actors were literally just given the words to say into the microphone and that there was no context given to them at all. I imagine that for Resident Evil, Symphony of the Night, House of the Dead, etc. So, maybe they have to just imagine a scenario in their head and the way their words come out makes sense to them?
Saw this after I initially posted. Crazy!
Evolved1
make sure the pudding isn't too soggy but that just ruins everything
By RE4 Leon has survived Raccoon City, it's years later, and he is far from a rookie.
Throwaway123456789
Member
Indeed. The voice actor for Barry lives (lived?) in Japan.
Fun fact: He's also the Barry in the intro. And his real name is ...Barry.
Jawmuncher
Member
Oh man repeatedly mashing the analog in one direction in RE Outbreak was fun as hell.
Also RE1 has the so bad it's good. REmake just goes back and forth. I noticed Rebecca seems to be the most to blame for awkward dialog.
Also RE1 has the so bad it's good. REmake just goes back and forth. I noticed Rebecca seems to be the most to blame for awkward dialog.
Voice is indeed very bad. Yet, I just finished the REmake HD yesterday, and I must say that, along with some mild control issues due to the nature of the camera angles, the only flaw of that game is the voice acting. But I feel the cheesiness of it all actually makes for an interesting flavor!
I've always felt the game was the better instalment in the series, and after replaying it the last week, I have to say it's a definite timeless classic. The game aged pretty well and was as good as I remembered it. Which is no small feat for a game that's over 15 years old.
I still wished they'd have worked better on making the backdrops more refined and higher res. But it still looks gorgeous. Especially the forest sections.
I've always felt the game was the better instalment in the series, and after replaying it the last week, I have to say it's a definite timeless classic. The game aged pretty well and was as good as I remembered it. Which is no small feat for a game that's over 15 years old.
I still wished they'd have worked better on making the backdrops more refined and higher res. But it still looks gorgeous. Especially the forest sections.
I would like a Where Are They Now? for all the live action actors. Had a crush on Jill.
FloweryMarston
Member
i love it
"It's a weapon - it's really powerful......especially against living things!"
Good lord, this thread is making me wish that there was a Resident Evil 1 HD so people could experience the original game at a decent resolution. I'm guessing the old PC port probably looks like garbage on modern machines.
RE1 was so enigmatic because instead of cornball over-acting, so many of the lines are under-acted.....just read in a flat, oftentimes stuttery or stilted manner. The most memorable thing about the game to me was how rarely people acknowledged the horrifying situation they were in and just seemed to accept it so readily. The horror is almost subtext at times. Nobody ever says "Holy shit we're being killed by zombies!" but instead might say "Hey thanks Barry, that thing almost got me!"
Good lord, this thread is making me wish that there was a Resident Evil 1 HD so people could experience the original game at a decent resolution. I'm guessing the old PC port probably looks like garbage on modern machines.
RE1 was so enigmatic because instead of cornball over-acting, so many of the lines are under-acted.....just read in a flat, oftentimes stuttery or stilted manner. The most memorable thing about the game to me was how rarely people acknowledged the horrifying situation they were in and just seemed to accept it so readily. The horror is almost subtext at times. Nobody ever says "Holy shit we're being killed by zombies!" but instead might say "Hey thanks Barry, that thing almost got me!"
Haunted
Member
Seven Force
Banned
Live Free or Die
Banned
it was 1996
Chronos24
Member
At the time video games were still really coming in to their own and gaining unprecedented popularity. But... violent video games such as RE were really unheard of when it came to violence. With a game as violent as this one, the voice acting would need to be conservative, to the extent it went though.. was terrible.If the game were made new today, we'd probably get something along the lines of Gears of War or something of that nature.
GrayChild
Member
"Jill, you're here too?
- Yes, you're here too?"
Far from being the worst though.
Now THIS is a shit-tier acting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06rv2flDr_Y (the first two minutes are single-handedly the most awkward and cringeworthy thing I've seen in a videogame, ever).
Other choice cuts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEOVd_6w0Io
- Yes, you're here too?"
Far from being the worst though.
Now THIS is a shit-tier acting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06rv2flDr_Y (the first two minutes are single-handedly the most awkward and cringeworthy thing I've seen in a videogame, ever).
Other choice cuts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEOVd_6w0Io
ViewtifulJC
Banned
People really underestimate the value of good directing. You can have the most talented voice actors in the world, but if aren't molding their voices to fit the context of the scene, to serve the narrative functions...it doesn't matter.
Think about Resident Evil 1 Think of Sergio Jones playing Albert Wesker in that one, and how everyone talks about how his performance was so horrible.
You know what? Hes a good actor. It sounds horrible because they probably had 300 lines on an Excel sheet, and you have no idea [about the context of the scene, so you] just keep repeating the line.
So its like, Open the door.
Lets just do three different takes on that.
Open the door. OPEN the door. Open the DOOR.
And then some Japanese engineer goes, I like the rhythm of that last one.
Its people reading off a paper, with no context, saying dialog over and over again until some guy who doesn't speak English THINKS it says cool, over an Japanese-to-English translated script. It doesn't matter WHAT actor you had here, Troy Baker, Nolan North, fuckin' Daniel-Day-Lewis, it would have been awful no matter what.
Think about Resident Evil 1 Think of Sergio Jones playing Albert Wesker in that one, and how everyone talks about how his performance was so horrible.
You know what? Hes a good actor. It sounds horrible because they probably had 300 lines on an Excel sheet, and you have no idea [about the context of the scene, so you] just keep repeating the line.
So its like, Open the door.
Lets just do three different takes on that.
Open the door. OPEN the door. Open the DOOR.
And then some Japanese engineer goes, I like the rhythm of that last one.
Its people reading off a paper, with no context, saying dialog over and over again until some guy who doesn't speak English THINKS it says cool, over an Japanese-to-English translated script. It doesn't matter WHAT actor you had here, Troy Baker, Nolan North, fuckin' Daniel-Day-Lewis, it would have been awful no matter what.
Throwaway123456789
Member
Jill was played by Una Kavanagh, who hasn't really starred in anything big. She did a few years in the irish (?) series Fair City. Which has some pretty fun reviews over at IMDB.
the voice acting is 299990238x better in the original
it's SO bad and campy it wraps back around to being entertaining as fuck
the remake is just plain boring BAD
Revolutionary
Member
Did she play her in the live action scenes as well or just her voice? Can't really tell due to aging.
Emperor Bohe
Member
No, he was a rookie in Resident Evil 2 (RE4 takes place many years later)
IamSuperman
Banned
bad writing, bad tech, this is why
Lol, I can imagine it now, "Who is this Tyrant customerrr?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sitzsxFIlQM
Amentallica
Unconfirmed Member
holy shit lmaooooooo @ Tenchu #38
ViewtifulJC
Banned
#33 Final Zone 2's line reading is just unbelievable
Voice acting in video games was still a new thing back then, and western companies didn't really understand the process of hiring and producing voice acting talent.
Nowadays most video games use the same VA production houses as other media (ie. cartoons/anime), but it took them a while to figure that out because they thought it wasn't worth the extra expenses. They just did it internally and thought "it's just video games so it's good enough".
Nowadays most video games use the same VA production houses as other media (ie. cartoons/anime), but it took them a while to figure that out because they thought it wasn't worth the extra expenses. They just did it internally and thought "it's just video games so it's good enough".
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