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Do you think English voice acting harm Japanese RPG?

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Dark_castle

Junior Member
I know there are JRPG with generally good dubs out there such as FFXII, Xenoblade, The Last Story and SMT/Persona series, but more often than not, I feel that the whole English voice acting in JRPG tends to feel subpar to the point of making the dialogue lines unbearable to pay attention to.

Take Bravely Default for example. Lovely game with great gameplay and generally likable characters. But when Agnes speaks, you can feel a lot of charm from classic story-telling get sucked out and what we left are incredibly cheesy lines of narration and voice work. Worst thing about it is that Agnes really resembles Garnet, from FFIX. If the old games have English dubs, I don't want to imagine the horror of listening to many of the things that come out of the character's mouth.

Without any voice acting due to technology limit, players are given the freedom/power of imagination to "roleplay" as the character including their voice, and for the even older games with sprite/low polygon characters, their appearance based on our mind. But now, Japanese RPG does not really evolved from the traditional Japanese story-telling filled melodrama and its quirks, leaving behind awkward voice acting, cringeworthy story-telling compared to western counterpart.

I hope most if not all Japanese RPG offer dual language support from this point onwards, because I am now a firm believer that English dub tends to be inferior compared to the original Japanese VA way more often than not.

No amount of English voice acting can re-enact the same raw emotion and expression of this for example. (Hunter X Hunter 2011 spoiler)
 
Mrgrgr. Of all the characters to pick, you picked Edea Lee? I thought Cassandra Lee Morris did a bangin' job!
I love it when companies put in dual audio. I love embarking on a new playthrough using the other vocal track. Fire Emblem Awakening is one example of a game where some of the English voices can be similar, or more superior compared to the Japanese version. E.g Kyle Herbert's "Pick a god and pray!" line for Frederick, anyone?
 
Nope, it doesn't hurt it one bit, as many people just don't like Japanese voices and prefer an English dub. I even remember a poll/study from an anime company, that said that most people watch/preferred English dubs to Subtitled Japanese. Hell, there's even been some cases where the English dub was superior to the original dub.

My opinion is : put both languages, so everyone's happy. There's no reason for one group of player to be refused their favorite option.

But if you mean bad English dub? Yup, it's definitely hurting JRPG, but not just them : any game where voice acting is important. Oh, and it's not just English dub : a bad Japanese dub is as harmful as a bad English dub.
 
I think voice acting hurt jrpg's period. When voice acting became common, the games took a dive in quality, imo.
 
Out of curiosity, do you understand Japanese, and if so, how well?

Dark_castle said:
Japanese RPG does not really evolved from the traditional Japanese story-telling filled melodrama and its quirks... cringeworthy story-telling compared to western counterpart.
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Cultural relativism FTW. Plenty of Western games have 'melodrama' and 'cringe-worthy' story telling.

I hope most if not all Japanese RPG offer dual language support from this point onwards, because I am now a firm believer that English dub tends to be inferior compared to the original Japanese VA way more often than not.
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Unfortunately, rights and contracts do not always make this easy for games.
 
No, as long it's actually good voice acting.
I really do like the ability to switch the language on the fly though.
 
The answer is always "depends". Better to try than to not try at all though.

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Yes, and the more games that offer the option of dual audio tracks to choose from like Bravely Default, the better. So many Japanese games are, predictably, imbued with a Japanese flavour, so more often than not Western voice-actors are really jarring to listen to and hurt immersion.

I pray that Square Enix offer the choice for XV, even if it's a pre-order bonus or something like that.
 
you could've said tiz (okay it's not tiz's fault his VA is SAO's protag) and agnes but instead you said edea? smh

But like someone else said - I wonder if full VA in general hurts JRPGs because of recording etc. Although of course some games just chose which lines to voice and which to not (Persona, etc)
 
I guess I'm the weirdo who prefers the Bravely Default English dub. I'm not a fan of the Japanese voices at all in this game,

I think a great dub can add a -ton- to the game. Ni No Kuni in particular was one game where you were flat out crazy if you didn't play with the dub, it added so much character and flavor to that game.

That said theres no reason to not have a choice. Some people prefer to play it with Japanese audio and some people prefer the dub.
 
As long as the voice acting isn't horribad, no. I generally like English dubs more when it comes to video games. Other way around for anime tho, for whatever reason.

e: also i just don't really like how japanese sounds tbh
 
I don't want anything dubbed, I don't see why that would be so hard for developers to understand, put english subs in the game, keep original audio = MASSIVE WIN!

Non-translated and obviously non-english games are unplayable unless you print a fantranslation and keep going back and forth between the game, the translated script, internet and generally being lost in the menus til you memorize them, yeah well, thats just sad for the devs who will never ever get my money and releasing it a few years later usually end up in a non-purchase as well because by then, something else arrived.

Just don't see whats so hard about translating the menus and the text and leave the audio alone, just do it already!
 
I think it's a matter of personal taste. I think that people have different taste in voice acting.

I've heard people say that you can't know if Japanese voice acting is good or not unless you're fluent in Japanese. But I'm not sure that's the case. It seems also like most English voice actors are competent, but that their acting isn't to many people's taste.

I hope someone doesn't make fun of me again because of my tag... ;_;

... But I personally prefer Japanese voice acting. English is my native language, so entertainment which contains other languages is more interesting to me. It feels like I'm learning something if I watch or read something in another language. I also think that Japanese is a really pretty language. And I've gotten used to hearing certain things in Japanese that I enjoy. And in particular, it seems like Japanese female voice actors are have rather cute voice acting, and that's usually lost when localized.

I rather prefer cute voices. If there is a way to measure voice acting without biases, though, it would seem like to me that English voice actors in Japanese RPGs are plenty talented. Even if I prefer their Japanese counterparts.
 
Japanese voice acting can come across as being better than it really is if you don't speak the language. When you don't understand what is being said, you won't notice awkward readings or poor dialogue writing as readily. There's nothing inherently bad with English dubbing, it just often falls short of it's potential due to budget/time constraints or poor voice actors/directors/writing. Saying that no English voice acting can match your Japanese example is pretty ridiculous and narrow minded. If Japanese games were more popular in the West they would get more effort put into the dubbing, but as of right now the biggest English money makers are made in USA and Europe, so that is where the talent goes.
 
The only recent case I can think of where English voice acting actually harmed the sales of a JRPG is in Arc Rise Fantasia.

I personally prefer Japanese voices in most JRPG's but English voice acting has come a long way ever since.
 
Disgaea series is done really well in English. It also has the option to switch to Japanese dub. Generally I like English no matter what.
 
twl said:
I don't want anything dubbed, I don't see why that would be so hard for developers to understand, put english subs in the game, keep original audio = MASSIVE WIN!

Non-translated and obviously non-english games are unplayable unless you print a fantranslation and keep going back and forth between the game, the translated script, internet and generally being lost in the menus til you memorize them, yeah well, thats just sad for the devs who will never ever get my money and releasing it a few years later usually end up in a non-purchase as well because by then, something else arrived.

Just don't see whats so hard about translating the menus and the text and leave the audio alone, just do it already!
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Sounds like you need to read the localizing information that was provided by XSEED.
 
Some. Depends on the game. To give an example of two similar games, I played VLR with English VA but I'm playing DanganRonpa with Japanese VA.
 
No, but then again, apparently I'm not a voice acting snob like so many others. I can't tell you the times I've heard people complain about voice acting in games or Anime and I think it's just fine. So long as the voice acting isn't like Resident Evil or Mega Man 8 on PSX, I'm perfectly fine with it.

Also, you pick Edea?!? Of all characters? How is she anything like Garnet from FF IX? I wouldn't said that Agnes is far more like Garnet than Edea!
 
As said above, most of the time the writing is so god awful that they'd be better off spending the money to hire better writers, not hire voice actors that will make the best of a shitty situation.

Someone go and knock up one of those triangle things, with the following options:

  • Good voice acting
  • Well written story
  • Involving gameplay

Pick 2... Or something.
 
Yes. Subbed > Dubbed, for me (at least with the FF I have tried with both the initial Japanese release and the latter English ones). JRPGs feel right with the original audio, I cant recall any memorable characters when they have been dubbed but then maybe FF13 left a bad taste in my mouth as it was terrible. Also, we would get these games faster in the West if they just subbed the games rather than waste money on english VA's.

If Japanese audio becomes more-so DLC this gen, I will be spending money on it with no hesitation.
 
have you heard Mog from FF13-2? holy motherfucking jenova! that shit killed the game for me more so than the nonsensical narrative.
 
Bleep said:
Japanese voice acting can come across as being better than it really is if you don't speak the language. When you don't understand what is being said, you won't notice awkward readings or poor dialogue writing as readily. There's nothing inherently bad with English dubbing, it just often falls short of it's potential due to budget/time constraints or poor voice actors/directors/writing. Saying that no English voice acting can match your Japanese example is pretty ridiculous and narrow minded. If Japanese games were more popular in the West they would get more effort put into the dubbing, but as of right now the biggest English money makers are made in USA and Europe, so that is where the talent goes.
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Perfect.
 
Japanese writing hurts more the games than English voices.

But I agree that games should include VoiceOver options. Le the user choose.
 
Dark_castle said:
I know there are JRPG with generally good dubs out there such as FFXII, Xenoblade, The Last Story and SMT/Persona series, but more often than not, I feel that the whole English voice acting in JRPG tends to feel subpar to the point of making the dialogue lines unbearable to pay attention to.
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I think this is a great topic to discuss, and it has more depth than just deciding whether you like Japanese or English voice acting. There is a lot of truth to the notion that having an actor play a role can diminish the experience of how the character is portrayed. If you are reading the words than it is up to your imagination to fill in the cracks. With voice acting, it is exactly as the actor has portrayed it, which can sometimes even stray from what the original writer intended.

However, that is not to say that I think all voice acting is bad, or even English voice acting in particular. If an actor delivers a phenomenal performance, then it can heighten the experience. What you get at, though, is sadly true: there are far too many poorly acted characters in JRPGS, and in my experience, the English voice acting often detracts from the experience. However, there are a number of English voice actors that are quite good, and I think that number is steadily growing.

The best bet is to offer multiple options, like someone said before. For example, my experience with Star Ocean: The Last Hope was greatly improved simply because I could choose to have Japanese voices instead of having to bear the horrific English voice acting.
 
I don't understand what's wrong with Japanese writing.

I think that Japanese writing is great. And yes, sometimes there are certain cliches that are overused. But that's also true of writing from other countries.
I remember watching an American made movie about Ore Ska Band. I felt it was very poorly written and relied on a lot of poor Hollywood cliches. I like Ore Ska Band, but I think it was written worse than most Japanese RPGs. Just the same, I don't think that Japanese RPGs would be better if they were written by non-Japanese people.
 
StarEye said:
I think voice acting hurt jrpg's period. When voice acting became common, the games took a dive in quality, imo.
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True. Without voice acting, a lot more characters were likable, because I can give a personal interpretation to the way the characters talk in my head.

With voice acting, it seems only the games that have top notch voice acting have likable characters.

If there is voice acting though, I'd still prefer English voice acting.
 
I prefer japanese voices as they are almost always much better than english ones. That said, when it comes to games the difference is nowhere near as big as with anime, where dubs are just plain horrible 99% of the time.
 
It really depends.

Persona 4 arguably has a better English voice cast than the Japanese game does. Its absolutely full of personality. But yes, some games really suffer because of poor vocal choices.

Therefore, give me an option of both :P
 
Given the choice, I would always go for the original voices - Japanese or whichever language - since I feel they are always the best representation of what the game developers wanted to create.

I can understand people preferring English versions but I certainly hope, moving forward, developers lean towards including both in the disc.
 
Mr. Poolman said:
Japanese writing hurts more the games than English voices.

But I agree that games should include VoiceOver options. Le the user choose.
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Sometimes though the writing is meant to be pronounced in Japanese.The same sentence that can sound cool in Japanese may sound stupid in English.
 
HolyBaikal said:
I don't understand what's wrong with Japanese writing.

I think that Japanese writing is great. And yes, sometimes there are certain cliches that are overused. But that's also true of writing from other countries.
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I too think Japanese writing is fine, its just that when translated and dubbed it just doesn't sound as right at times and comes off especially cringe-worthy.
 
Coming from someone who cant neither understand japanese and english dubs, I for one tend to dislike japanese voice actors. IMO they fake it so much.
Its true that theres cases of really bad english dubs.
 
Bad English voice acting harms JRPGs, but that's true for non-JRPGs too. I don't think a lot of VAs take it very seriously, and it often shows in how bland/stiff their reading can be. That said, there are ton of great VAs out there, and quite a lot of people prefer playing games completely in their native language.

I would disagree pretty heavily with the notion that dubs are usually inherently inferior. Perhaps this was once the case years ago, but VAs have gotten a lot better over the years. If anything I'd argue that JRPG dialogue is often just bad, and hearing it spoken outloud in a language you understand simply makes you realize it.

It's kind of funny. I play FFXIV, which has the option to choose between different languages for voice acting, and I've found quite a few English players who say the Japanese VAs are sooo much better. Yet a lot of the Japanese players prefer the English ones, even the director of the game jokedabout it.
 
Ferr986 said:
Coming from someone who cant neither understand japanese and english dubs, I for one tend to dislike japanese voice actors. IMO they fake it so much.
Its true that theres cases of really bad english dubs.
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Fake it? Fake what exactly? Isn't the whole point of them to fake whatever emotion they're supposed to be expressing in accordance with what dialogue was written? Isn't that the whole point of acting?
 
The best option is to offer the choice.

But really it doesn't bother me that much. I'd never watched a dubbed movie because someone's voice over another person's physical performance just looks ridiculous and loses something. A few modern, performance captured games aside, most RPGs are just playing sound files over the scrolling text and it makes no difference what language it's in.
 
I like to understand what characters say and some Japanese voices are unbearable(like some lively girls that scream too much), but i would not say no to a Japanese game without English voices(Italian texts are already out of question, italian voices in a not too big Japanese game is just a fool's dream... :( ).
 
OP, did you really cite Persona as a series with good dubs?

The western versions are horrible compared to their JPN counterparts. Playing them in Japanese was like playing a game with a completely different cast of characters that actually had personalities.

A majority of the time I'll either import or play with original voices. The only recent dub I actually enjoyed enough to switch to and from languages was VLR. For me anyways, it doesn't really hamper the experience if I can turn them off, which I usually do. And if I don't like them, I'll play sans audio if I can help it.

Overall though, I'd say they don't harm them, but they definitely water down some great experiences when the dubs fall flat, which they often do.
 
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