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[Blablurn]

Original version of the jail scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ9zCMBNmx4

sounds worse imo

 

[NichM]

When I first heard the original voice actor for James before SH2 was released, I hated his voice.

This is the funniest thing anyone has said in this knee-jerk dogpile of a thread. (Well, no, the Nolan North doing Pyramid Head quips was pretty good too.)

And yeah, I encourage anyone howling at how bad and unfitting these voices are to go check out that original jail cell scene.

 

[Untracked]

Original version of the jail scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ9zCMBNmx4

It's very awkward but that grew to be a big part of Silent Hill's wierd charm for me.

 

[Angry Fork]

Konami is so fucking cheap, they can't just pay the people the money owed and keep the voices?

Fuck this shit. Not buying. The point is to play these games as they were but with better visuals. Once you start changing voices and shit it changes the feel of everything.

edit - smh @ people liking the new ones because the VA is better. You completely miss the point. This is like putting out an HD version of the first Resident Evil and replacing the VA with serious acting and fucking up the charm/originality of the first version. SH2 had a mix of stilted, creepy, bad, weird, awkward dialogue that added to the atmosphere of the game.

 

[Mengetsu]

Sound fine to me. With bad lines back in the hayday anyway it wouldn't even matter to me who did them as long as it aint these group of people....*shivers*

This is gamers worst fear in voice acting...

 

[fuzzyreactor]

for correcting the misconception that SH2 fans are complaining about the quality of the voice overs instead of their originality? sounds like you still don't get it, which is the real sad thing here.

well obviously there are financial or legal reasons the original actors cant be used. So its either take the new VA or have no silent hill HD collection. Ill take the the former.

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

They seem to have upgraded from mediocre/terribad to mediocre. I'll take it.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

sounds worse imo

It sounds awkward and disjointed but it just makes James seem more insecure and Maria more unhinged, and for a Silent Hill title that is better

 

[mollipen]

the Maria/Mary performance at the end is very good though.

In the original version, there was a serious hint of "I am so totally suckering you in you stupid mortal" to her voice on the "I'm here for you James... see, I'm real" part. Now it's just a sort of soft reassurance, and looses the freakiness it once had.

YEAH I'M NITPICKING YOU BITCHES! And I'm going to keep doing so, because I'm a Silent Hill freak and stuff like this is big to me. This is like Lucas going back and fucking up the Star Wars movies. You want to include this more serious new voice acting? Great, do so! Just include the old as well, and give us the choice. I fell in love with the old voice acting, perfect or not, and that's what I want (while gaining the prettiness of HD).

 

[Commanche Raisin Toast]

Because the original voiceovers were hilariously inept, a fact that will be instantly apparent to any new players going into the game without nostalgia goggles. And, make no mistake, of course they want to draw in new players - never mind that the old players already have the original version of the game, drawing in new ones is half the point of re-releasing old games in the first place, a fact that seasoned gamers tend to completely overlook.

oh, not at all, my friend. quite the contrary.

if they are going to gear it toward gaining new players then why discuss the release as if it's a treat for the nostalgic fans? "boy you Shining fans are going to love this. Super Special Awesome Blu-Ray Edition with Jack's voice over-dubbed with Shia LaBeouf's". and again, the possibility of a "original VO's mode" has been struck simply because of konami's shady legal issues with the original cast.

i'm not arguing anything about quality of the voice overs. they sound better. definitely. are they the original ones that i, as well as other avid SH2 fans, would prefer? it's sounding like a no. im only clarifying that point, as a lot of pants-pissing here seems to be targeted toward a quality issue in regards to aforementioned avid SH2 fans.

"i like the old ones better" (because of the association)
"LOL pull the tampons out of your ears these ones sound much better recorded" (thinking it was a complaint about fidelity)

 

[randomwab]

James' voice? Fair enough.

Maria's voice? Naw.

Eddie's Voice? Odd.

I'll buy this, but I'll keep the five versions of the game I already have, yo.

 

[fuzzyreactor]

Maria's voice is soooo much better

 

[Anticitizen One]

It's not that bad. Mary & Maria sound almost identical to the originals. Eddie is the only one that sounds really different in the original he had this goofy voice that made him scary now he just sounds like a gruff drunk guy.

Knowing its not the original James's voice is gonna bug me when i play the game though :/

 

[mollipen]

This is the funniest thing anyone has said in this knee-jerk dogpile of a thread. (Well, no, the Nolan North doing Pyramid Head quips was pretty good too.)

And yeah, I encourage anyone howling at how bad and unfitting these voices are to go check out that original jail cell scene.

I don't need to go back and re-watch it, because I know it by heart. Doesn't change my opinion one bit.

For me, it's kind of like Fuuka. How many people hated Fuuka's voice? I loved it. It was something distinct, it had personality, and maybe she sounded goofy sometimes, but that was her charm. I liked that about her voice!

Same with OG James. I liked his uniqueness, flaws and all.

 

[plagiarize]

SH2 had a mix of stilted, creepy, bad, weird, awkward dialogue that added to the atmosphere of the game.

for me it completely undermined the tension and the believability of the world. it just sounded like bad acting and made it very hard for me to invest in the characters.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I'll really miss James' SH2 voice.

"Leave us the hell alone!"

 

[Erebus]

Mary & Maria sound almost identical to the originals.

What?
The new voice is a lot deeper and makes her sound more mature and older.

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

edit - smh @ people liking the new ones because the VA is better. You completely miss the point. This is like putting out an HD version of the first Resident Evil and replacing the VA with serious acting and fucking up the charm/originality of the first version.

They did that. I remember it being a hit.

 

[Broder Salsa]

Haha it's pretty rare that the dislike bar is that high on a game, think it's only Rebecca Black videos I have seen where it's actually bigger than the like bar.

 

[mollipen]

for correcting the misconception that SH2 fans are complaining about the quality of the voice overs instead of their originality? sounds like you still don't get it, which is the real sad thing here.

I'm quoting this in hopes that people will start to understand this point.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

Maria's voice is soooo much better

I really disagree, obviously this is just conjecture from the small clip but the new voice sounds too old and sultry whereas the old voice was young/flirty but gave an almost demonic undercurrent
I just think the old VA had more character, the new stuff is obviously more professional but Troy Baker is in like every game ever so suddenly James loses some of his unique character which came through with the original voice

 

[gatotsu911]

if they are going to gear it toward gaining new players then why discuss the release as if it's a treat for the nostalgic fans? "boy you Shining fans are going to love this. Super Special Awesome Blu-Ray Edition with Jack's voice over-dubbed with Shia LaBeouf's". and again, the possibility of a "original VO's mode" has been struck simply because of konami's shady legal issues with the original cast.

Are you really, seriously equating the voice acting in Silent Hill 2 to Jack Nicholson's performance in The Shining? Really now??

 

[eggerland]

I like the new Maria voice, not so sure about Mary's. I know it's the same actress, but still.

I guess the real test to me will be the final letter with Mary's new voice. The first time I heard it was very touching and emotional.

 

[Erebus]

I really disagree, obviously this is just conjecture from the small clip but the new voice sounds too old and sultry whereas the old voice was young/flirty but gave an almost demonic undercurrent
I just think the old VA had more character, the new stuff is obviously more professional but Troy Baker is in like every game ever so suddenly James loses some of his unique character which came through with the original voice

Completely agree on the bolded part.

 

[Seraphinianus]

for correcting the misconception that SH2 fans are complaining about the quality of the voice overs instead of their originality? sounds like you still don't get it, which is the real sad thing here.

is there a gif with a guy whose mouth is wide open with his eyebrows furrowed in disbelief?

you can't honestly think that was originality in Silent Hill? How about shitty writing and no budget to the voice work can we put that in bold too?

Silent Hill's voice acting is the equivalent of Engrish in old arcade games-- they just wrote a bunch of "dialogue" without thinking about how to translate it or investing in some proper voice acting then called it a day.

 

[brandonh83]

Maria's voice is soooo much better

we'll see about that, particularly during the ending. her original monologue at the end of SH2 is what I consider to be the greatest voice performance in any videogame. not exactly high praise all things considered, but it's seriously fantastic.

 

[plagiarize]

is there a gif with a guy whose mouth is wide open with his eyebrows furrowed in disbelief?

you can't honestly think that was originality in Silent Hill?

Silent Hill's voice acting is the equivalent of Engrish in old arcade games-- they just wrote a bunch of "dialogue" without thinking about how to translate it or investing in some proper voice acting then called it a day.

and like every other flaw in SH2, for some reason, some people argue it makes the game BETTER.

there's some really crazy SH2 fans out there.

 

[Reknoc]

That... actually wasn't that bad. Quite good actually.

 

[gatotsu911]

I think fans of the old voiceovers need to realize that whatever connotations they read into the original performances were almost certainly not intentional on the part of the voice actors. Examined in a vacuum, the voiceovers are about as affective, smooth and emotional as your average grocery store intercom announcer.

 

[Seraphinianus]

and like every other flaw in SH2, for some reason, some people argue it makes the game BETTER.

there's some really crazy SH2 fans out there.

i would agree with this if it were so bad it's good. but it's like funny for 5 minutes and then you realize it's a 10 hour long game or whatever.

 

[NichM]

and like every other flaw in SH2, for some reason, some people argue it makes the game BETTER.

there's some really crazy SH2 fans out there.

"Out there"? A lot of them seem to be in here.

 

[brandonh83]

I think fans of the old voiceovers need to realize that whatever connotations they read into the original performances were almost certainly not intentional on the part of the voice actors. Examined in a vacuum, the voiceovers are about as affective, smooth and emotional as your average grocery store intercom announcer.

Maybe but again Mary's ending monologue in the original is fucking amazing.

 

[fuzzyreactor]

lol at cheesy VA being part of the charm..facepalm all day

 

[BlazingDarkness]

I think fans of the old voiceovers need to realize that whatever connotations they read into the original performances were almost certainly not intentional on the part of the voice actors. Examined in a vacuum, the voiceovers are about as affective, smooth and emotional as your average grocery store intercom announcer.

Funny that, that's exactly how this new VA sounds, no character whatsoever.

 

[plagiarize]

"Out there"? A lot of them seem to be in here.

i'm trying to play as nicely as possible.

brandon, never had any real issues with Mary/Maria in the original. the new performance sounds good... but that's just replacing something that i didn't have issues with with something else i don't have issues with.

i had issues with Eddie and James, and at least based on this unfinished video, i think i'm still going to have issues.

still, it'll be hard to make James sound like MORE of a complete moron in the opening monologue than Cihi managed.

 

[storafötter]

I wouldn't say they others are any worse, but I don't like James new voice.

 

[RomanticHeroX]

Miles ahead of the original. Watch the original prison scene after the new one, the acting is stunningly bad. James in particular.

 

[Windom Earle]

Meh, not gonna buy this, PS2 versions forever!

 

[gatotsu911]

Funny that, that's exactly how this new VA sounds, no character whatsoever.

The new VOs don't look to be contending for any Oscars, but at least they are reasonably professional and show signs of actual effort.

 

[fuzzyreactor]

Funny that, that's exactly how this new VA sounds, no character whatsoever.

idk to me old maria sounds like someone reading off a paper. the tone doesnt change and very little emotion is presented. The new one actually sounds like something is at least trying to act

 

[Muffdraul]

It's not that I prefer bad voice acting per se, it's just that I would prefer it if Konami stopped constantly finding new ways to destroy Silent Hill.

 

[MichaelEM3]

SO maria is Mary-Elizabeth Mcglynn? I am ok with that.

That's what I heard, too.

Didn't she sing a lot of the music in the Silent Hill series? Makes sense.

 

[Mr_Zombie]

I don't like new voices. Watching those scenes my brain expects to hear something much different; it felt like watching some bad ("bad" as in "don't fit" not "bad voice acting") fan dub

Keeping that in mind, Maria's new voice sounds great. James sounds ok, at least in the given context. Mary sounds a little bit off (too calm in that scene), but I blame nostalgia for that.

However, the worst is Eddie. At that point in the game Eddie had that crazy look in his eyes, he was becoming insane about killing stuff and his original voice did a great job to show this. This one, I dunno, I don't like it. :/

I really disagree, obviously this is just conjecture from the small clip but the new voice sounds too old and sultry whereas the old voice was young/flirty but gave an almost demonic undercurrent

.
Yep, that too.

 

[Zombie James]

This is like Twin Snakes all over again. Yeah, the voice acting is technically better but there's more that goes into voice acting than just good timing and delivery. Maria/Mary's new voice sounds like she's 20 or 30 years older than she should be. The new James sounds bored instead of confused. The voices just don't fit the characters.

 

[Goron2000]

Konami is so fucking cheap, they can't just pay the people the money owed and keep the voices?

Fuck this shit. Not buying. The point is to play these games as they were but with better visuals. Once you start changing voices and shit it changes the feel of everything.

edit - smh @ people liking the new ones because the VA is better. You completely miss the point. This is like putting out an HD version of the first Resident Evil and replacing the VA with serious acting and fucking up the charm/originality of the first version. SH2 had a mix of stilted, creepy, bad, weird, awkward dialogue that added to the atmosphere of the game.

While i understand that changing the voices is a blow to nostalgia. Why would Konami not pay the original voice actors? Surely paying them is a lot cheaper than getting professional voice actors and having to put the new audio into the game? there has to be another reason they changed the voices.

 

[BocoDragon]

I was ready to NERD RAAAAAAGE !!!

but it's not that bad. Yeah, it's different. Yeah, something will be lost from the original. But it seems like a reasonably competent set of work.. I can live with it.

 

[badcrumble]

This is like Twin Snakes all over again. Yeah, the voice acting is technically better but there's more that goes into voice acting than just good timing and delivery. Maria/Mary's new voice sounds like she's 20 or 30 years older than she should be. The new James sounds bored instead of confused. The voices just don't fit the characters.

That's a good comparison, yeah.

 

[Doomrider]

That's what I heard, too.

Didn't she sing a lot of the music in the Silent Hill series? Makes sense.

She did. She's also the voice-over director, if I'm not mistaken.

Edit: That's actually mentioned in the video, oops.

 

[KageMaru]

Expected the worst after reading the comments here, but they aren't half bad. I'll wait until they are properly mixed before judging.

 

[Broder Salsa]

Maria sounds fine but James and Eddie are just downright bad. Replacing bad voice acting with some other bad voice acting... That's not the way to do it. It's like they are trying to badly imitate the old actors.

While i understand that changing the voices is a blow to nostalgia. Why would Konami not pay the original voice actors? Surely paying them is a lot cheaper than getting professional voice actors and having to put the new audio into the game? there has to be another reason they changed the voices.

They owe them money (according the them of course) and the dude playing James has already said he will sue them again.