The writing in Heavensward is some of the best in the series, markedly improved from A Realm Reborn.
Also helps the new voice cast/direction in Heavensward is on point.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
[Gamespot] Final Fantasy XV Story Cinematics [possibly spoilers]
- Thread starter dramatis
- Start date
The writing in Heavensward is some of the best in the series, markedly improved from A Realm Reborn.
Also helps the new voice cast/direction in Heavensward is on point.
CrimsonCrescendo
Banned
I think I'm going on a media blackout for FF XV from here on out because the marketing for this game simply is doing nothing for me. I don't want to go into the game with too many preconceived notions about it.
To be fair, they said that the VA for Episode Duscae was just a quick job to get it done for the demo. At that point the main game's VA hasn't fully started yet. They also confirmed big changes in the directing of Noctis and Ignis' VA. Tabata acknowledged Noctis' English Batman voice a few months after Episode Duscae and later they posted on the official forum that they became aware of the feedback about Ignis sounding too distant and formal towards Noctis and would change it:
Hello QuantumParallax,
Tabata here.
Thank you for your excellent comment. I have some answers for you.
Your point about Ignis in the English language version is a valid one. Using the intricacies of language to make the experience more fun for players is fine, but if the character's personality changes across languages and becomes someone else, the original intent is lost.
We've put a lot of care into making the unique character that is Ignis, and to ensure the character is communicated as intended, I've seated the Localization Lead, Dan Inoue, right by me in the development area.
As to your point about Cidney/Cindy, a minor name change may not have created issues in past FF games, but it does for FF XV. I think it has to do with the fact we are targeting a simultaneous global launch.
Rest assured that we're discussing these issues internally and working out the best way to improve things, so I hope you can look forward to what you'll see in the final product.
Thank you very much.
Tabata here.
Thank you for your excellent comment. I have some answers for you.
Your point about Ignis in the English language version is a valid one. Using the intricacies of language to make the experience more fun for players is fine, but if the character's personality changes across languages and becomes someone else, the original intent is lost.
We've put a lot of care into making the unique character that is Ignis, and to ensure the character is communicated as intended, I've seated the Localization Lead, Dan Inoue, right by me in the development area.
As to your point about Cidney/Cindy, a minor name change may not have created issues in past FF games, but it does for FF XV. I think it has to do with the fact we are targeting a simultaneous global launch.
Rest assured that we're discussing these issues internally and working out the best way to improve things, so I hope you can look forward to what you'll see in the final product.
Thank you very much.
cripterion
Member
Man that IQ and shitty VO is killing me. Hate English VO for Japanese games.
Another reason why I'll skip Persona 5.
Another reason why I'll skip Persona 5.
This baffles me.
YankeeDonB
Member
Unfortunately as Cidney is indeed a better name. On the other hand this is like definitional for nit picking...
I still don't get why they changed it to Cindy.
I'm just commenting after that Tabata post Koozek brought up where he mentioned it.
Cid Highwind
Banned
The characters all look like Hot Topic models.
I know FF is known for having really wild designs but come on.
I know FF is known for having really wild designs but come on.
Dramatic is right. They're failing at fundamental stuff here. The animation, the tone/delivery of the dialogue, even the way shots are framed; None of it is up to par at all.
It's not just the writing, whether we're talking about the localization or the source material. You can elevate bad writing to a certain level, but they're not even doing that because they're being beaten in every other arena, too.
By games that aren't even necesarilly very good, I might add. Resi 6? Come on, Square.
It's not just the writing, whether we're talking about the localization or the source material. You can elevate bad writing to a certain level, but they're not even doing that because they're being beaten in every other arena, too.
By games that aren't even necesarilly very good, I might add. Resi 6? Come on, Square.
CrimsonCrescendo
Banned
Watching it again, it's not his reaction that's the issue. It's that there's no music, no lip sync, and I have to believe there must be more context than "they find out from a newspaper" in the final game.
Part of the problem is they seem to still specifically cast voice actors. That's fine if you're working on something for XSEED or Atlus; SE makes the kind of games that need TV/film actors doing motion capture (or actors that excel at both types of project, like Troy Baker or Laura Bailey).
They need to be looking at the same agencies and talent pools as EA and Ubisoft, not Funimation and Viz. Their casting and the fidelity of their games is completely disjointed.
Like, even FFXIII has better voice acting than this. The dialogue and story was bad in that game, but at least the voice acting was palatable. XV sounds just way too cartoony...perfect for World of Final Fantasy, terrible for this.
YankeeDonB
Member
Didn't mean to single you out I'm nitpicking too!
DiipuSurotu
Banned
https://youtu.be/NDHg-OsoSyU
gamespot intentionally removed its BGM considering this vid
gamespot intentionally removed its BGM considering this vid
XIIIs voices are marginally better (I never cared for them myself), but even this I think is in part a result of the larger gap in fidelity. XV looks a generation more realistic, but the acting, animation, and overall direction just doesn't match.
GS is posting B-roll SE gave them access to. The posts about them cutting out the music are a little silly. Why would they do that?
They did, though. I posted this back on page 1 to show that there is normally music in those scenes:
They do have music, of course. It just seems Gamespot or the developers turned it off. The Cidney/Cindy video is partly shown with music at 0:15 here, though it's not really listenable with the people talking over it.
Also note that they're still using "Gratia Mundi"p) as exploration music at 1:18, even though it also seems to be the theme of Altissia. They'll probably have a larger variety of music by the final release of the game though.
OmegaDL50
Member
I'm not sure I entirely agree with this. TV / Film actors are generally more notably recognized by their stage and film acting and aren't particularly notable for the quality of their speech, There are SOME exceptions for example. Case in point I'd love Morgan Freeman to do VA work.
The quality of the voice and the actual VA direction should matter, and not some Hollywood name to attach the project to.
I didn't say anything about Hollywood or anyone at the level of Morgan Freeman. I said they need to hire actors that work in TV/film and not anime. Most of those people aren't famous, nor are they millionaires. They're working actors, many of them are really quite talented, and they're being put to decent use in video games.
Wait, what?
LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII - Retro-spective Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQrBSO74DzA
Professor Oak
Neo Member
It's almost as if the game isn't done yet. This thread is appearing as less educated on game design than the youtube comments section (that's not a good thing).
I agree with you (and most in this thread) that there is reason to worry due to the up coming release date but I think you people can wait another three months before completely writing off this game.
I think you need to go back to school, Professor. Look up the definition of "criticism" once you're there.
I'm not writing anything off and my comments really have nothing to do with development. We're, what? Three and a half months from launch? If the game hasn't come together by now, it's not going to. They might sync the lips (I certainly hope so) and obviously music will be present, but beyond that? These are the scenes we're getting. This is their acting, this is their direction, and it's not good; It's honestly pretty bad!
Context is everything though. Given that we've more or less pieced together the first hour or two of the game over the past year, I very much doubt full context will redeem any of these scenes, but we're probably talking about a ~40 hour game here. So we'll see.
I'm the meantime though, what we have isn't great by any modern standard.
Sums up the thought process behind that creative decision, I'd say.
Bethesda copyright claims?
Yeah I can't play persona 5 without the Japanese VA. Unless dual audio magically comes in I'm not holding out my luck.
Good thing ffxv has dual audio though lol
Haha oh man...
CrimsonSquall
Member
Not true. FF XII has some of the best voice acting in any game
Heh.
JuanLatino
Member
its actually not that bad - i was expecting worse. I guess the other JRPG Games hardened me on that matter
Edit: im talking about the dialog
Edit: im talking about the dialog
Is SE using some of Bethesda's music or something?
Digital-Hero
Member
Do you understand Japanese?
Some people are getting Skyrim music vibes from Yoko music for the Titan battle.
what yoko music is nothing like skyrim music
Yabberwocky
Member
I know we all make jokes about FFX's laugh scene, or FFXIII's 'mom's are tough', but the mainline FF series has always had fairly high quality voice-over and localisation. (Cue a choir of angels for FFXII's!) I'm quite shocked that none of tthe above in FFXV has improved from the first demo. The dialogue is still comprised of weird one liners where it doesn't seem like characters are entirely interacting with each other, and the voice work is still really flat, especially for such an emotional scene. I just can't believe this is what they're putting out for a mainline FF. I'm a huge dub fan, but damn. What in the hell, Square? The dialogue in the Japanese version actually sounds like human beings are having conversations with each other, and reacting accordingly.
Pretty sure they're still using Jack Fletcher as voice director with a lot of very detrimental oversight from Japanese producers that don't understand we think this shit sounds awful. That's what got FFXIII anyway, e.g. Vanille's voice/tone being the way it is in English.
Though I don't know who did XII's voices. That might be Fletcher, too.
Edit: Wikipedia says he did do XII. No source for it though.
Do we know if it's going to be possible to play with Japanese text like it was in Duscae when it releases? I'm really not a fan of most of the English cast to say the least (Ardyn in particular sounds so much better to me in the JP version) but I don't really want to play the game with non-Japanese subtitles if I end up switching to JP voices.
Similar threads
- Poll