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[Deft Beck]

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?

 

[Durante]

Well, some of us simply don't like dubs. I'd rather have the original audio with subtitles, be it in games or movies, and regardless of their country of origin.

I do feel like the original creator's intent is always most directly expressed in the original language -- that much should be obvious.

 

[ThaiGrocer]

Sometimes the intent in the voice acting + lines is lost in translation.

 

[Snakeyes]

Haven't you heard? Everything looks, tastes and sounds better in Japanese.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

I played Heavy Rain in French after hearing how terrible the English dub was.

 

[Geedorah]

I find English dub-actors just read from the lines... and often fall flat/short of my expectations. Original voice actors seem to really care, and you can feel that energy in the voice acting. Maybe it's 'cause I can't understand the original language, but the inflection just is miles ahead.

 

[LiK]

There are always exceptions to the rule. Certain dubs are improvements, imo. MGS etc

And not all Japanese dubs are good. Gaffers here will tell you games like Shenmue and Ni no Kuni are shit in their original languages.

 

[Mesoian]

I played Heavy Rain in French after hearing how terrible the English dub was.

I did the same thing for Remember Me.

 

[CSX]

Sometimes the intent in the voice acting + lines is lost in translation.

True but doesnt undubbing only "fix" one of those two? And assuming the player doesnt know the original language, all it does is force the player to fully rely on subs + text which fall under the lost in translation.

 

[ibun]

sometimes the original dub sounds better, you feel it sounds better. for non english speakers, sometimes its even worse, you know...so not just only japanese. Enslaved and Heavenly Sword for example...the english dub is much much much much much much much better than the german dub and i cant even switch it to english. i have to siwtch the system language of the ps3, even though the english is on the disc. Assassins Creed sounds better in english, you can hear the accents.

 

[Chojin]

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?

I love Canadians but I can't stand all the "aboots" in my rpgs

 

[kewlmyc]

The only undub I've played was Tales of the Abyss, and that was only to get voiced skits. Most of the time, the script is changes so much with localization that it doesn't even match the original dialog, which must be jarring if you understand Japanese.

 

[entremet]

I used to a big stickler for them. I don't care much anymore. Localizations have gotten so much better. Tales of Vesperia for example.

 

[giapel]

Dubs in movies are horrible. Dubs in games... well, it's not really a dub as the original actor is digital anyway.

 

[Durante]

sometimes the original dub sounds better, you feel it sounds better. for non english speakers, sometimes its even worse, you know...so not just only japanese. Enslaved and Heavenly Sword for example...the english dub is much much much much much much much better than the german dub and i cant even switch it to english. i have to siwtch the system language of the ps3, even though the english is on the disc. Assassins Creed sounds better in english, you can hear the accents.

Yeah, some people always try to frame this as a "oh those silly weaboos" issue, but as a native german speaker I developed my strong general distaste for dubs quite independently of any Japanese games.

 

[Village]

If the VO is bad I will turn on Japanese, but alot of times, it isn't that rather crap writing. I tend to keep the voices in English, I like how tekken does it everyone speaks whatever language. I keep street fighter and marvel voices in English, because they aren't bad and I do not see the point in hearing Japanese people butcher English words for the sake of "nostagia", in the case of morrigan specially i keep her in English because she is from isn't from japan, at all. I like the acent they got her in marvel 3.

 

[MechaBowser]

Haven't you heard? Everything looks, tastes and sounds better in Japanese.

.
Some people genuinely believe this.

It's never been an issue for me. Most of the time I read the subtitles so the voice acting doesn't matter either way. If it was something cinematic, like say The Last of Us, I don't know if I would enjoy it nearly as much with bad voice acting.

 

[raven777]

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?

I hate dubs, so I want to hear the original voice. Unfortunately, a lot of JRPGs don't get Japanese Voices in US version, so undub is great gift for me personally.

 

[RyougaSaotome]

Ni no Kuni's Japanese voice acting was awful.

I don't mean their voices were annoying or anything like that. I mean the actual acting was just terrible.

People who played the localized version got the better game.

This sort of situation isn't that rare to be honest.

 

[LeleSocho]

English voice actors most of the time are terrible for certain situations and really do not blend well with japanese culture. In fact when the theme of the game isn't based on japanese culture english voice actors works ten times better than japanese ones, an example of that is the Metal Gear series.

 

[Kiriku]

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?

I've never gone as far as deliberately patching a game for the original voices, but I usually prefer it if given the choice in a game. Even though I know some Japanese, mostly I think it's because I'm so used to hearing Japanese voices in games with Japanese aesthetics. Hearing English in such games clashes with what I'm seeing/hearing so much it becomes distracting at times.

 

[Village]

English voice actors most of the time are terrible for certain situations and really do not blend well with japanese culture. In fact when the theme of the game isn't based on japanese culture english voice actors works ten times better than japanese ones, an example of that is the Metal Gear series.

Thats some generalized generalization right there.

 

[ThaiGrocer]

True but doesnt undubbing only "fix" one of those two? And assuming the player doesnt know the original language, all it does is force the player to fully rely on subs + text which fall under the lost in translation.

It's the least worst considering that the original director (director?) to the voice is making sure the right notes and intentions are hit and it's aligning with the culture of the developers in the region. Hopefully it doesn't sound like I'm spewing BS here.

Like Japanese undubs, I have a personal confidence of understanding the voice 'notes' from watching anime. There's a lot of 'data' stripped out when it's a voice actor in English.

 

[WrenchNinja]

That some generalized generalization right there.

No dude, every Japanese game dub has the quality of Chaos Wars, dont you know.

 

[RoninChaos]

How can you get the tone and inflection if you don't speak the language?

 

[Durante]

No dude, every Japanese game dumb has the quality of Chaos Wars, dont you know.

I like this word for dub.

How can you get the tone and inflection if you don't speak the language?

As someone who doesn't know (much) Japanese, French, Russian or Polish, but has played games and watched movies in all those languages: easily. I don't get how this is even a question.

 

[Kinyou]

Usually has the original version more effort put into it.

Playing The last of Us or Bioshock Infinite with a dub would probably not do it justice.

 

[LiK]

That some generalized generalization right there.

yep. there are many excellent dubs especially from this gen.

Usually has the original version more effort put into it.

Playing The last of Us or Bioshock Infinite with a dub would probably not do it justice.

i dunno about that. i've heard certain dubs in other regions are better but that's me hearing about it from other people.

 

[gngf123]

It's much harder to spot bad voice acting in a language you don't understand. Even crazy ONII-CHANNN anime-esque voices don't sound too annoying to me, but I'm sure would drive me insane if I knew Japanese.

Most of the time I'll prefer to play in whatever language the game was initially meant to be in, but I have nothing against good dubs.

 

[TouchMyBox]

It's really silly seeing everyone in non-english countries speaking english like a first-language.

 

[Snakeyes]

I love Canadians but I can't stand all the "aboots" in my rpgs

I don't remember hearing "aboots" in over 15 years of living in Canada.

 

[injurai]

I don't think I have ever played a non-localized video game. I do however watch foreign movies, shows and anime almost always with subtitles.

I do know that awful english voice acting has really killed some games for me. Like FFX I would mind to be undubbed I suppose. But this sort of thing isn't really something I concern myself with. Overall I feel most are pretty good, at least localization as of late.

 

[nmanma]

I prefer things in their original language. Even if I don't understand it completely, in my experience the intent is transmitted better that way than with dubs

And when the voice acting is bad all around, I find it less annoying if it's in a language where I can't understand.what it's being said. Or British dubs, I like the way they talk

 

[Dawg]

I remember playing Uncharted in Dutch for about five minutes.

Changed my system language to English right after and never looked back.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

I appreciate that people are willing to do it, so I''m covered whenever a truly awful dub comes along.

See: Arc Rise Fantasia

 

[Pooya]

- Sometimes dubs entirely change the intended personality of a character. Somethings don't translate, you don't even need to know the language, ever watched a foreign movie dubbed? no? Imagine Tarantino made all the scenes in Inglorious Bastards in English instead of German with subtitle? Do you think it would feel the same? nope, not by a long shot. It's like that for most Japanese games too. Specially all the 'cute' and comical scenes just come off horrible in English as the voice actors usually can't covey the same thing.

- There is no lip syncing at all, making it all more jarring, or lines written and forced to the original lip syncing.

example: The 3rd Birthday

- If you've seen recording sessions of Japanese voice actors, they actually often are in the same room and act together for a scene, while for English dubs it's not common at all, mostly actors don't even meet each other at all! That's why performance capture is becoming more popular, because the actors actually play the scene themselves and say the lines together.

example: look for FFXIII interviews with voice actors, they didn't know each other until the game was done... it's not really specific to this game, this one is just more public.

Good enough reasons to me to demand dual audio. But again there are some games with dual audio like Ni No Kuni that has changed all the names in English transcript making the Japanese VA useless. There are lots of cases like that there is a big difference between what is said and the subtitles and if you understand the language making it pretty bad to play like that.

And at last, I think there are dubs that are superior to the original but it happens rarely. Like FFXII. I think British English is better for Japanese game myself, it works better. Resonance of Fate is another good recent dub in American English.


It's not really specific to Japanese games, English isn't my first language but I play games in English all the time and not the localized one, voice or text. Because it's awful mostly compared with the original to me, and there are often a lot of spelling errors and alike...

 

[WrenchNinja]

How can you get the tone and inflection if you don't speak the language?

Because I watch lots of anime and now Im an expert in Japanese linguistics

 

[LiK]

I prefer things in their original language. Even if I don't understand it completely, in my experience the intent is transmitted better that way than with dubs

And when the voice acting is bad all around, I find it less annoying if it's in a language where I can't understand.what it's being said. Or British dubs, I like the way they talk

I love the Layton dubs. Besides, they're in London, gotta have dat British VO.

 

[Kinyou]

i dunno about that. i've heard certain dubs in other regions are better but that's me hearing about it from other people.

It can certainly vary but my experiences have been rather negative.

 

[Crub]

Growing up in a country where english isn't spoken and dubs are uncommon in everything that isn't aimed at children, subs don't bother me at all. I'd take subtitles over bad voice acting every day of the week. Besides, if you don't understand the language the voice actors are speaking, it won't be as obvious if it's bad.

 

[Hagi]

I wish there was an Undub for Final Fantasy XIII a lot of the voices and acting in general is just downright terrible, it'd be nice to experience the original version. Sure i read that the Japanese budget release has english subtitles hopefully thats true.

 

[injurai]

I prefer things in their original language. Even if I don't understand it completely, in my experience the intent is transmitted better that way than with dubs

And when the voice acting is bad all around, I find it less annoying if it's in a language where I can't understand.what it's being said. Or British dubs, I like the way they talk

There can definitely be a level of emotion that gets lost in even the most well done dubs. I also mirror the sentiment of english voices for dubs. Sometimes the American accents feel too forced for games that aren't conveying an american setting or culture. Might drive brits crazy though iunno...

 

[King of the Potato People]

Most dubs are perfectly acceptable nowadays (the problem is more to do with cliched story lines), I think some people are just being a bit pretentious.

 

[Mazzo]

I've learned english mostly through games and movies, and that wouldn't be possible with portuguese dubs ;D

I intend to practice my japanese the same way.

 

[BRocknRolla]

Well, some of us simply don't like dubs. I'd rather have the original audio with subtitles, be it in games or movies, and regardless of their country of origin.

I do feel like the original creator's intent is always most directly expressed in the original language -- that much should be obvious.

This exactly. Has nothing to do with it being "exotic." I just have no problem reading subtitles, and the original audio tends to fit much better. Good translation is a lot harder than most people give it credit for, and most games and movies don't put the necessary care to translate the more nuanced aspects of dialogue in a way that fully conveys the same messages. The quality of the voice actors plays a huge role too, and many have been pretty subpar over the years.

That said, I've seen some dubs/translations of games that were done excellently. The Persona series comes to mind. Generally speaking though, these kinds of games are the exception to the rule.

 

[Savitar]

I will always listen to English dubs even if it's not high grade. Why? Because I simply want to listen to something I understand. Nothing more to it then that.

 

[RyougaSaotome]

I can't stand playing localized Japanese games with Japanese voice over. The localization often clashes with what the characters are saying in JP and vice versa, which pulls me away from the experience. This isn't the fault of either, but rather the end result of speaking both languages.

If I'm gonna play a localized game, I'm want to play it with English voice acting. Which, to be frank, is pretty great most of the time.

This is a problem that Japanese speakers aren't going to have, but it bugs the shit out of me these days.

Additionally, it's also about setting for me. If I'm going to play Layton, I'd much rather play it in English because it makes no goddamn sense for them to be speaking Japanese. Likewise, I'd rather play Muramasa in Japanese because well, Japan.

On the anime end, something like Baccano plays better in English because it takes place in America.

And I should add that a lot of translation efforts these days get the tone and meaning down extremely well.

 

[WrenchNinja]

I wish there was an Undub for Final Fantasy XIII a lot of the voices and acting in general is just downright terrible, it'd be nice to experience the original version. Sure i read that the Japanese budget release has english subtitles hopefully thats true.

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?

 

[Chojin]

I don't remember hearing "aboots" in over 15 years of living in Canada.

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.

 

[Durante]

Usually has the original version more effort put into it.

Playing The last of Us or Bioshock Infinite with a dub would probably not do it justice.

That's pretty much exactly what it comes down to.

I really dislike how these threads always focus on just Japanese games, since I have to think that's only so that the detractors can more easily dismiss the whole thing.