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[Vecks]

I usually prefer original intent. In the same way, most English-voiced games would sound really weird in Japanese, many Japanese games sound weird in English.

It's not just a language issue, it's a cultural thing as well. The way people speak goes beyond simple meaning. The inflections, the attitudes, the values, the repetition of certain words or syllables, the jokes... so many things can't simply be translated to sound natural in another language.

 

[Man God]

The only thing more weeaboo in gaming are new "more authentic" fan translations that you sometimes get for SNES classics.

 

[Polioliolio]

I played an undubbed Persona 3. It was awesome. My ears bleed when I hear someone say 'senpai' in English.

 

[Ghost_Protocol]

What people need to understand about people who complain about bad English dubs is that most of what they are actually complaining about is a bad TRANSLATION of a character's personality, attitude, or deameanor; which is amplified by, not caused by, a particular voice actor or voice performance.

You don't need to understand Japanese to recognize something like an upbeat, energetic, positive character type, only to then see that replaced with something else entirely when they're butchered by a monotone, droll, uninterested english voice over. Why don't people understand this? It's not just about the voice or sound of the language. It never has been.

Persona 4 is loved so much because it does a fantastic job of translating the character types over from Japanese AS WELL AS complimenting them with fitting voice overs. Teddie absolutley should not have worked in any language other than Japanese because his manner of speaking is so ridiculously specific to Japanese humor (puns everywhere) but localization group knocked him out of the park because they understood that just finding a dopey sounding voice wasn't going to cut it.

 

[King Tubby]

I usually prefer the English version. Understanding what they're saying is a big plus, and there are a decent amount of games where the localization is really very good. I also find Japanese voices of young female/cutesy characters (Rise dear god) will often be the most excruciating listening experiences.

 

[WrenchNinja]

It would only be hard if i was making the sweeping generalizations you seem to think i am. Not even sure what we're debating here tbh.

Well you want to play the Asian version, and youll still be stuck with the same terrible dialogue, just in text form. Thats what Im getting at. Its pretty clearly the script that is the major culprit here, rather than the actors or voice direction. This is the problem with localizations that are heavily dependent on lip syncing, and is further a problem when the original Japanese version is terrible to begin with.

 

[DangerMouse]

An undub is also the only way to play Arc Rise Fantasia. Terrible voice acting can sometimes ruin a game.

As a dub fan, this is one game I can totally agree with. It's such a shame this didn't get a real dub. It probably would have done at least a little better thanks to it being pretty good and having the awesome Eureka 7's character designer if it had gotten a proper dub from the usual teams.

 

[randomwab]

Only undub I've ever used was for Crisis Core. The English dub was pretty bad and I'd already played through the Japanese version and liked those voices, so I undubbed.

Plus, Gackt.

 

[encephalon]

Generally, if the original game is in Japanese, the original dub is best. There are examples of good English dubs and bad Japanese dubs, however. And it works both ways. Look up what Uncharted or TLOU sound like in Japanese. They're terrible. Even when the VA is okay or not offensive, it just doesn't do justice to the characters because the same cultural understanding isn't there.

 

[FSLink]

For the Tales of games, sometimes I play additional playthroughs, so I like being able to play it again but with different voices. It's a neat option if it's there, but as long as the English voices are good, I'll stick with those the majority of the time.

 

[Ashkeloth]

I tend to be a purist when it comes to games. I prefer to hear the game in the language it was designed for and I have come to associate certain styles with certain languages.

As far as undubs go, there are two reasons I can think of to use one.

If the dub in your native language is bad, even if you don't understand the alternative, it can be worth using an undub just for the sake of not having to hear bad acting, particularly if the game is story heavy. A strong example I can think of in this case is the original Valkyrie Profile. The English dub is bad enough that it actively decreases my enjoyment and turns a game that I really like a lot of the ideas behind into a cringefest.

Additionally, there are cases where an undub or playing a game in the original language can disassociate someone from something. Let's face it - some JRPGs in particular get really corny with some lines of dialog and by not hearing that dialogue in their native language, some people can distance themselves from that and continue to enjoy the game.

A lot of the times, however, undubs do seem unnecessary. Having played enough games in their original language enough to pick up on certain tropey phrases and words, when I can recognise what a character is saying in the original language, yet the subtitles in English don't match that, it makes the entire endeavour pointless. The worst relatively recent game I can think of for this is Lost Odyssey, where not only were a lot of phrases altered, but lip-synch was re-done entirely for the English version as far as I can tell. Xenoblade was also notable for changing entire lines and even character names in the translation.

 

[ZanDatsu]

Japanese sounds better to my ears than English. It always has.

 

[Chocolate & Vanilla]

An undub is also the only way to play Arc Rise Fantasia. Terrible voice acting can sometimes ruin a game.

Came to post this. Arc Rise is a pretty decent game that has been completely fucked by one of the worst vocal performances I can remember. Undubbed though, despite the localised subs not quite matching up with the va (my Japanese is passable from 20 years of anime and imported games so I picked out expressions here and there that have been "culturalised" in the western subs, it is absolutely an enjoyable game.

So yeah, undubs are awesome but a couple of cases, namely DQVIII and Xenoblade have been terrificly localized thanks to teams based in good ol' Blighty. So mot all localisations are shit. There is hope

edit: on another not, playing FIFA with Spanish commentary instead of Martin Tyler and Alan fucking Smith is sooo much more fun. Getting some mindless drivel from Skysports quality shoot me in th face now pundits (also fuck ITV) ruins the game for me at times. Whereas scoring and getting pundit scream "goooooooooooool gol gol goool" is fucking magical

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

What people need to understand about people who complain about bad English dubs is that most of what they are actually complaining about is a bad TRANSLATION of a character's personality, attitude, or deameanor; which is amplified by, not caused by, a particular voice actor or voice performance.

You don't need to understand Japanese to recognize something like an upbeat, energetic, positive character type, only to then see that replaced with something else entirely when they're butchered by a monotone, droll, uninterested english voice over. Why don't people understand this? It's not just about the voice or sound of the language. It never has been.

Persona 4 is loved so much because it does a fantastic job of translating the character types over from Japanese AS WELL AS complimenting them with fitting voice overs. Teddie absolutley should not have worked in any language other than Japanese because his manner of speaking is so ridiculously specific to Japanese humor (puns everywhere) but localization group knocked him out of the park because they understood that just finding a dopey sounding voice wasn't going to cut it.

You are right there, people that think is only the quality of the voice actors doesn't understand how much they need to work to make a good dub of anything.
Some examples:
Sherlock (the english series) has a great spanish dub, because the actors did great, the translators did great and the voice director knows what he was directing. Same with the spanish dub of the old Simpsons (RIP Carlos Revilla) or Disney productions (this ones are amazing to get everything perfectly right).
Then comes something like Doctor Who (the new series), and the voice actors are awesome, but the translations and director are horribly mediocre, and only becuase of that, the dub falls into meh.
I've seen both Sherlock in spanish and english (im in love with british accents), and I think both are fantastic (and having to great things of the same thing makes the second experience as fantastic as the first), so its pretty sad to see what they did with doctor who becuase the director and tranlators didnt put their heart on the job.

So in summary, I dont give a shit about the "purity" of the original voicework if the product is fantastically done in my language, or in the second language im watching it (for example a japanese production with english voices like Persona 4). And that means that if voicework of the original and the dub are great, I will probably have the chance to view two incredible experiences of the same production. And if the original is the only good one, I will go with that version.

 

[Spideyknight]

I wonder why the acting could be terrible. Could it be...the script? And you want to play the subbed version that uses the same script?

This is the crux of the issue. People think that if they play in a language they can't understand that will save the script. It doesn't. A bad script is just a bad script. Also as someone who understands quite a bit of japanese, I and many others will tell you that FFXIII's VA in Japanese was just as bad as the English VA. Language doesn't save bad writing. Sazh was so bad that it was kind of campy good, but you shouldn't be relying on that to sell your VA.

A large swathe of jrpg's have bad writing and near nonsensical plots, FFXIII is a prime example. I love jrpg's, but take them for what they are, there's no need for pretense.

 

[Megidolaon]

Wow, some people are actually using Persona 4 as an example of a bad dub? Wow, really? Of all the examples?...

I pretty much always prefer English. I haven't played a JRPG where the dub was so bad I'd prefer the Japanese. I didn't buy Arc Rise or SO4, for instance. Xenoblade, FFXII, Persona, Fire Emblem all had terrific dubs.

I usually prefer the English version. Understanding what they're saying is a big plus, and there are a decent amount of games where the localization is really very good. I also find Japanese voices of young female/cutesy characters (Rise dear god) will often be the most excruciating listening experiences.

This too. Certain JRPG females are likable characters to me in English, but if I had to play with Japanese audio I would probably hate them. Rise, Rikku, for instance.

 

[Korigama]

That all being said, if you ever played Xenogears and heard that dub, you would completely understand why there are undubs. Even in 1998, it was crystal clear that the translation was horrible. It made later SQ localizations like FFIX and Vagrant Story seem like Shakespeare in comparison.

Dubs like the one in Xenogears are by all means the exception today, not the rule. Short of disasters like Arc Rise Fantasia, you actually have to try to find anything handled as poorly as the majority of dubs from the PS1 days.

 

[charlequin]

original intent

This is the great invention that people use to justify this concept to themselves. Despite not actually understanding a language, people tell themselves that they're somehow grasping some nuance of the work that's being lost in the process of translation.

It's not real. Yes, there are elements of any work that aren't carried over when it's translated. That's why, for someone with fluency, experiencing a work in its original language can be so rewarding. But all those lost elements are still lost in a dub, because you're still experiencing the translated language of the work, not the original. Whatever wording choices, whatever subtle linguistic puns, whatever levels of seriousness and social interaction and intention are embedded in the script are all going to be lost -- or, in a good localization, transformed and reworked -- by the process of putting the work in a new language.

Talking about the "original intention" conveyed by the untranslated voices is a way to feel like you're getting the untranslated experience, but the reality is that a translated game is never going to provide the original experience -- nothing will except playing in the original game.

(In terms of bad dubs, there are certainly some that are quite poor, but we're in 2013 now -- the number of poor English dubs is vanishingly small these days.)

I'm probably misunderstanding this, but how is it different from subtitled movies? If I watch a Japanese movie, or a French movie, I prefer to hear the actors voices, and read the subtitles.

Movies have real actors (which means a dub causes cognitive dissonance at hearing the wrong voice for the person you see) who you can see the facial movements of as they speak (meaning they dub also causes dissonance at hearing voices that don't match the visual speech you see.)

Games generally don't have this problem; you have virtual actors and most of the voice-acting isn't lip-synced (or can be reanimated.)

Wow, some people are actually using Persona 4 as an example of a bad dub? Wow, really?

Every time Atlus announces another title without Japanese voice support, I'm pleased again that they aren't giving in to the people who (entirely unfairly) shit on their excellent localizations.

 

[mapachealocado]

What people need to understand about people who complain about bad English dubs is that most of what they are actually complaining about is a bad TRANSLATION of a character's personality, attitude, or deameanor; which is amplified by, not caused by, a particular voice actor or voice performance.

You don't need to understand Japanese to recognize something like an upbeat, energetic, positive character type, only to then see that replaced with something else entirely when they're butchered by a monotone, droll, uninterested english voice over. Why don't people understand this? It's not just about the voice or sound of the language. It never has been.

Persona 4 is loved so much because it does a fantastic job of translating the character types over from Japanese AS WELL AS complimenting them with fitting voice overs. Teddie absolutley should not have worked in any language other than Japanese because his manner of speaking is so ridiculously specific to Japanese humor (puns everywhere) but localization group knocked him out of the park because they understood that just finding a dopey sounding voice wasn't going to cut it.

Yes. Localizations should be more than translating text and just dubbing. Choosing the right voice actor that fits the nature of the character is really, really important as well as their background. The Teddie example is spot on.

Wow, some people are actually using Persona 4 as an example of a bad dub? Wow, really? Of all the examples?...

It's not that the dub of P4 is bad. It's certainly one of the better dubbing jobs. It's just that the game is very, very anime (in style) and japanese (in customs) and if you watch a lot of anime (like me) or whatever that has japanese voices, you cringe every time they say a name. It takes like 15 seconds (exaggerating a bit) for them to say a japanese last name. I'd much rather hear the original voices as if I was watching anime. But that's me. I grew up watching anime and that's why I would've liked an original audio option. I understand that someone with a different background might not care at all and that is perfectly fine. It's more of a pet peeve of mine. The localization was really well done.

Every time Atlus announces another title without Japanese voice support, I'm pleased again that they aren't giving in to the people who (entirely unfairly) shit on their excellent localizations.

I agree with some of your points but I don't see why you'd be "pleased" that they don't include it. It's a preference.

 

[hackdog]

I'm very used to subtitles and I can't stand the change of 'rhythm' you get when you try and get english dialogue to match the mouth movements of someone speaking Japanese/Chinese/German/French. This is particularly bad with Japanese. Dragonball was really bad.

 

[Madouu]

This is the great invention that people use to justify this concept to themselves. Despite not actually understanding a language, people tell themselves that they're somehow grasping some nuance of the work that's being lost in the process of translation.

It's not real. Yes, there are elements of any work that aren't carried over when it's translated. That's why, for someone with fluency, experiencing a work in its original language can be so rewarding. But all those lost elements are still lost in a dub, because you're still experiencing the translated language of the work, not the original. Whatever wording choices, whatever subtle linguistic puns, whatever levels of seriousness and social interaction and intention are embedded in the script are all going to be lost -- or, in a good localization, transformed and reworked -- by the process of putting the work in a new language.

Talking about the "original intention" conveyed by the untranslated voices is a way to feel like you're getting the untranslated experience, but the reality is that a translated game is never going to provide the original experience -- nothing will except playing in the original game.

(In terms of bad dubs, there are certainly some that are quite poor, but we're in 2013 now -- the number of poor English dubs is vanishingly small these days.)

Even if we suppose that your point is right and that all I'm doing while watching an italian movie for example in its original language rather than the arabic dub is just convincing myself that I am somehow grasping some missing content that would be lost in translation, odds are I'd be learning much more about the italian language, expressions and how it is spoken in general using the knowledgethat I have at my disposal and good subtitles rather than a dub in my mother tongue, so wouldn't it ultimately still be preferable?

I have to note though that I do not agree with your original point and the way you present it is overly simplistic painting the people that do not share your opinion as Don Quixotes chasing some silly illusions, through a clever choice of words but no solid evidence. I don't think that is the case at all. Your point is that nothing will be like experiencing the original content. No one will disagree with that. The question is rather, among the tools that are our disposal, what is the closest thing to the original content that we can get? Personally, through my experience which I've detailed in my earlier post, I think that experiencing the original audio is closer to it and much more educational. It is something that should be encouraged when possible as it gets the person watching much more closer to experiencing the original content in its full glory one day even if it means learning one word or one expression at a time.

I understand that not everyone wants to engage in this process and that we only have so much time to learn different languages or about different cultures, but on the other hand, I expect people to also understand when somebody wants to watch a material in its original audio and not dismiss it as some "weaboo" obsession or illusion.

 

[Loomer]

I don't have all the time in the world to learn the languages of all the stuff I listen to or watch, so subs are the closest thing I'll ever get to the true experience, it's not perfect but I'd rather deal with it than to hear dubbed stuff.

Video games are a bit different because the character models themselves don't have actual voices, but I'd still rather go with the more fitting VO.

Playig Metro 2033 with the Russian audio was still one of the finest gaming experiences I've had, and even though I can't understand a lick of Russian it still sounded better to me than some American or British dude speaking in a crap Russian accent.

 

[B.K.]

The only time I've ever used an undub was for Xenosaga Episode III. Even then, I didn't use it for the Japanese voices. I used the undub kit and some instructions I found online to make an uncut English version. The censoring in the game was horrible. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have bothered. I don't care how "bad" a dub is. I prefer games in languages I know.

 

[charlequin]

odds are I'd be learning much more about the italian language, expressions and how it is spoken in general using the knowledgethat I have at my disposal and good subtitles rather than a dub in my mother tongue, so wouldn't it ultimately still be preferable?

Listening to a language you don't understand with one you do underlying it isn't actually all that helpful for comprehension. You don't really have time to try to parse both at once; you're going to wind up leaning on the familiar language to carry the meaning, and missing whatever's in the other language. (Going through slowly and translating manually, on the other hand, can be quite valuable.)

The question is rather, among the tools that are our disposal, what is the closest thing to the original content that we can get?

A complete localization by a talented team.

It is something that should be encouraged when possible as it gets the person watching much more closer to experiencing the original content in its full glory one day even if it means learning one word or one expression at a time.

If people want to experience the original, they should jump in the whole way and play the game in the original language with a dictionary on hand. (Luckily there are a decent number of region-free systems these days that make this a lot easier than it used to be.)

 

[Thoraxes]

I did it because the dub in Persona 4 was horrible. Thank goodness you could turn them off though.

 

[Snowden's Secret]

I've watched undubbed anime with friends and it sounds like Animal Crossing gibberish because I don't know the language. I've never understood; things like tone and inflections etc aren't universal across all languages, right? So what does it matter ifthe author's original intent is lost in a dub; you aren't going to pick up on tthose subtle nuances anyway.

And what if the dubbed performance was better than the original? How would you even know?

 

[squidyj]

I guess I can see if the dub of a game is bad enough that one would just want the original audio, but most of the time it's not as if the typical person applying an undub patch understands, say, Japanese.

Is it just putting the game's voiced audio back to its original state for "purity" reasons, or is there an exotic factor?

alright, there's an actor working in the original language, he's getting direction from the people directly involved with the creation of the game/movie/whatever, the creators. He is participating in creating the game


now there's an actor who's dubbing over a preexisting work from lines that were translated from another language, who doesn't really have a relationship with anyone who created the work.

 

[Dremark]

People have their own preferences and want the choice. Not very difficult to understand imo.

 

[pa22word]

Never really saw the point in undubs, and the the people citing original intent is hilarious given you can't even understand what is going on anyways, thus all that "intent" is completely lost on you, lol...

That being said, live-action dubs are really weird and unnatural. I'd unanimously take subs in that situation.

I did it because the dub in Persona 4 was horrible. Thank goodness you could turn them off though.

There's always gotta be one in here.

 

[vulva]

Well then it must have been my imagination! I was completely baseless in my assumptions that Canadians are stereotyped in having a slightly different accent than american accents! Nobody in the history of histories has ever heard about that stereotype. So nobody, including you, could have gotten that glib remark.

I apologize.

as long as you're sorry

 

[akaoni]

This always brings out the worst cognitive dissonance, "WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IT THE WAY I DO!?".

I set out with the intention to play most games with their original language. Exceptions on the JP developed games would be Metal Gear, Resident Evil (REV has been the only JP dub one I know exists), and maybe Platinum games, mostly stuff where it seems like the English language is their focus, the setting does not affect this decision. Most recently I was playing Remember Me in French.

English is my only language, but the ability for me to understand what is being said does not change much because most games have subtitles, and I have this amazing ability called reading. English centric countries in particular grow up with an extremely lazy attitude towards subtitles as if it's work, while Europeans for example being raised with subtitles tend to find it more natural. An American-English dub intended to replace a Japanese one, is not localisation just because it's English, for me that is.

On the other side of things, when they're replacing an existing dub it's done on the cheap most of the time, and thanks to the union stuff we get the same few voices (more or less all residing in Texas?). People notice this and it comes across as a weak/lazy effort, especially when you compare it to the original dubs of games developed in the USA or Japanese games with an English only voice track.

Dubtitles are a mostly minor problem for me. It's a given that it's not going to be wholly accurate, but it's the most reasonable option available. If the English subtitles matching the dub track deviate from the JP VO that much to be worth raising an issue, then that isn't exactly a compliment for the dub track....

The Tales and Atlus forums are the strongholds for American replacement dub lovers in games. Simply the question of dual audio will get you skinned alive before you can click the post button and you're quickly degraded to being nothing more than a 'weeaboo'. "Just go learn a whole language bro", "buy the Japanese copy then bro", their suggestions are deliberately unreasonable to the point I love reading those threads.

In the end I care about the integrity, and I don't believe replacing existing voice overs is necessary to allow me to adequately understand the game as long as there is subtitles, it would be merely a convenience, which makes the former a stronger position.

Is there a slur for people preferring American stuff?

 

[mullet2000]

The only time I've ever used an undub was for Xenosaga Episode III. Even then, I didn't use it for the Japanese voices. I used the undub kit and some instructions I found online to make an uncut English version. The censoring in the game was horrible. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have bothered. I don't care how "bad" a dub is. I prefer games in languages I know.

Yeah, that's honestly the worst case of censoring I've EVER seen in a game in the last decade. Awful awful stuff. It actually made a certain important scene literally not make sense.

Every time Atlus announces another title without Japanese voice support, I'm pleased again that they aren't giving in to the people who (entirely unfairly) shit on their excellent localizations.

Maybe it makes me an asshole but I kind of feel a hint of the same thing.

At the very least, I think the current trend of the japanese dub being a $1.99 download on PSN or something is a pretty good one, as it costs additional money for them to pay for the rights to the japanese dub and gives people the option of getting it if they really want it so badly.

 

[ZachDeKoromaru]

I just like most Japanese voice actors more than any English voice actors due to the amount of anime I watch. That and a lot of the more niche Japanese game dubs are just kind of bad.

 

[Zukuu]

And what if the dubbed performance was better than the original? How would you even know?

Internet. A wonderful thing. Tho, 99.999% of the time that's just not the case.


Also, you get the intention, I'm very sure of that. You're just in denial. You CLEARLY hear if someone is angry or swearing or... it's just part of the human nature to get things like that.

Most dubs are just lazily and cheaply done without proper adjusting of the source material (like lip syncing), fitting casting and professional VAs (which is a rarity anywhere but in japan).

TL;DR
dubs sucks. in any language; at least in GAMES.

Do dual-audio or just save the money and leave the OV in it. I'm sure people can READ nowadays.


I played both personas as undubs. Hearing the english VA now gives me shit-bumps. It's so damn cheesy.

 

[luka]

good post

Indeed. Ultimately it comes down to a matter of authenticity. I have a very hard time playing games like STALKER or Cryostatis in English because, even if some of the meaning would be lost on me in the original Russian, I find the experience a lot more believable than if I played them with badly accented English actors. It's the same problem when I watch a WWII movie and the Nazis sound like Indiana Jones villains. I can't take it seriously.

Persona's English dub is a great one and extremely well produced, but if I didn't know Japanese and I had no choice but to play it in English I would definitely resort to an undub because of the severe dissonance between the setting/culture and the spoken language. When I hear American voices refer to each other with Japanese names and honorifics, I don't buy it. It doesn't matter how good the dub is because sometimes you can't separate the language and the context. If it were a pure fantasy scenario it's less of a problem, but it IS a problem... to some people. If you're not one of them that's all well and good, but maybe try to be a little less hostile about it.

 

[RyougaSaotome]

I played both personas as undubs. Hearing the english VA now gives me shit-bumps. It's so damn cheesy.

As someone fluent in English and Japanese, let me just jump in here one last time.

It's just as cheesy and melodramatic in Japanese. Though I love the Persona 4 script for that.

Sorry. =/

 

[GooeyHeat]

I'm not entirely sure why someone would undub. If a game has bad voice acting for dialogue, I'd just (hopefully be able to) turn it off. If the voices are just yells and taunts, like in a fighting game, then, well, maybe I'll switch it to the original if we're at, like, KOFXIII unfinished English voices bad.

 

[charlequin]

I have this amazing ability called reading.

Which enables you to helpfully understand the translated text, rather than the "original," untouched "intent" of the creators.

The Tales and Atlus forums are the strongholds for American replacement dub lovers in games.

Shocking news that fans of games that receive top-tier US English localizations are fans of properly localized games. Just so you understand, the hostility you describe comes from attitudes like this:

Do dual-audio or just save the money and leave the OV in it.

People who enjoy well-translated games (rightly) find this attitude pretty disrespectful to the localization teams that bring games into additional languages in the first place, and aren't excited about the idea of getting butchered localizations to "save the money" or to pander to a dubious concept of authenticity.

"Just go learn a whole language bro", "buy the Japanese copy then bro", their suggestions are deliberately unreasonable to the point I love reading those threads.

Nothing unreasonable here. PS3 games are region-free and many can be played very easily with a translation guide and a dictionary, helping you start learning another language and get a completely unfiltered exposure to the "original intent." If someone really cares about experiencing something in its original form, without any translation getting in the way, this is the only real way to do it -- i.e. to do the hard work and actually understand it.

 

[Zukuu]

I'm not entirely sure why someone would undub. If a game has bad voice acting for dialogue, I'd just (hopefully be able to) turn it off. If the voices are just yells and taunts, like in a fighting game, then, well, maybe I'll switch it to the original if we're at, like, KOFXIII unfinished English voices bad.

I don't get that logic. So if a DUB is bad you want to mute the entire thing isntead of using the good quality original voices?!?! "okay"

As someone fluent in English and Japanese, let me just jump in here one last time.

It's just as cheesy and melodramatic in Japanese. Though I love the Persona 4 script for that.

Sorry. =/

With cheesy I rather mean the voice / style itself, in particular Aegis. Omg...

 

[Red Blaster]

patching a voicetrack back to a language you don't understand for exoticized 'immersion' is one of the most pathetically lame things ever

 

[Solid Samus]

Try playing Valkyria Chronicles 2 without an undub.

Then you'll understand

 

[encephalon]

Try playing Valkyria Chronicles 2 without an undub.

Then you'll understand

I had an easier time with this than with the little I played of Persona 4. I don't remember if the dub work was necessarily "bad" or not, but it didn't seem to fit.

 

[Solid Samus]

patching a voicetrack back to a language you don't understand for exoticized 'immersion' is one of the most pathetically lame things ever

calling it pathetically lame is pretty fucking lame and a little pathetic.

I don't think you've ever played a game with truly bad voice acting or you might understand how much it can ruin the experience. I'd rather play an awesome game with foreign VA and subtitles that I can voice with my own mind, than an awesome game with shitty english VA that features shitty voice actors who read their lines and then go the fuck home

 

[Zukuu]

People who enjoy well-translated games (rightly) find this attitude pretty disrespectful to the localization teams that bring games into additional languages in the first place, and aren't excited about the idea of getting butchered localizations to "save the money" or to pander to a dubious concept of authenticity.

Localisation for the text is fine and dandy and if done correctly, can be a great thing on its own (Nintendo is a fucking godfather when it comes to that). However, voice actors just suck the majority of the time. They just don't have the professional education that the japanese VAs undergo. Hell, it's a huge and big business over their, it's natural that they have way more talented people at their expense to choose from.

I find bad localisations very disrespectful to the ORGINAL creators of the game (whether written or spoken). I can't tell you how bad most VAs are if you take the time to actually compare them. It's not hard to hear the difference in quality at all.

99.99% of dubs are simply inferior. At least for games. I can't even try to play any game in german. It's cruelty to the ears (even tho for movies they are quite great and among the best dubs in the world - games just won't catch up). Think about it. It's a shame to play Portal 1 + 2, or The Last of Us is any other language than english. Just like that you don't play Persona in any language but japanese.

 

[Salsa]

I just dont like any sort of dub. Im not into Anime much but the stuff I watched I strictly did so in Japanese (except for stuff when I was a kid like pokemon or dragon ball) and I played Persona 3 with an undub

 

[Wyndstryker]

I'm too lazy to change the language. However I'll play with whatever "sounds right" to me. If it's English, Japanese, or some made up language, if it sounds good I'm fine with it. Moment it feels fake or forced or just downright atrocious it's getting changed or muted.

 

[nded]

Apparently there's no undub for Yakuza 1, but if there was I'd disrespect the English voice actors for that game all day, every day. Yes, even Mark Hamill.

I don't really get the hate for people who want to play with original audio w/ subs. Is it perceived weeaboo pretentiousness?

 

[AnkiRendan]

I'm also confused as to why people who want the original game as intended just don't import the game in its original language rather than whine about dual audio. Just seems strange to me.

I also don't get people who complain about the pool of American VAs. If anything, the Japanese pool talent seems to repeat itself quite a bit.

 

[Blusby]

In every localized JRPG game I've ever played the dubs have always been pretty horrendous, the lines sound like they're read by people in different rooms (which they are) so conversations sound fragmented and awkward. Anyways, pretty much the original voice acting is always, or rather more often than not superior. Want to dismiss this? Go watch a cutscene in both ENG and JPN for a side by side comparison and you'll hear it. Also I didn't like Persona 3 and 4's VA-ing either, I mean Chie and Fuuka, damn, my ears.

Spoiler

Long live Nippon.

 

[Kasumin]

People hating on Atlus localizations/dubs... now I've seen it all.

I agree that it sounds kind of awkward in Persona 4 when they use honorifics. But I seem to remember Atlus's localization team explaining exactly why they did that. It wasn't like it was some thoughtless, lazy translating on their part. Atlus seems to put way more work into their localizations than a lot of other companies. When it's clear that a dub has had a ton of effort put into it, then I don't see much reason for an undub.

I mean, sure, I prefer to watch anime subbed. But I don't turn around and say that my reason is because the dub is crap. I'm rewatching Code Geass right now dubbed and I'm having a blast. Since I don't have to read subs, I've also been able to catch stuff that characters say in the background or in passing that I missed originally.

I'm cool with people preferring undubs. But this attitude of "Dubs always suck" seems so unnecessary. Especially when dubs in games have improved so much over the past 10-15 years.

Edit: I also wanted to add that I used to be pretty harsh on English VAs until I read Yuri Lowenthal's book on voice acting. It really opened my eyes to how the entire process for voice acting works for games and anime in the U.S. Especially the role of the director. A lot of times subpar VA in games can be attributed to a crappy director, not crappy VAs.