TheChillyAcademic
Member
Yeah given that the only other DQ mainline game Ive played is VIII and then Heroes I and II, not having that awesome European minded VA is a pretty big blow.
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Square Enix Explains Why Dragon Quest XI Doesnt Have Voice Acting
- Thread starter LordOfLore
- Start date
Didn't have voice acting in the Japanese release tho.
I can see it being added for western markets tbh. Would explain why there hasn't been a PS4 localization formally announced yet.
Yeah I know Heroes is an action game rather than an RPG, and Builders is a Minecraft like. Expectations are different depending on the type of game you are playing. Builders was great, but yes it didn't have VA. But that's understandable considering the type of game it is with minimal cutscenes and the like.
Heroes as an action game had VA. DQXI is a full fledged RPG and will have a far larger story and focus on them than both Heroes games and Builders had in total combined? For the type of vame it will be in the West, the expectation for having VA will be even higher.
Now I'm not saying DQXI will have VA guaranteed. I'd be surprised if it didn't, but I'd still largely enjoy it. However as a well budgeted console RPG it doesn't exist in a bubble, and the expectation for having VA will be there in the West. Lacking VA might not alter the game's quality, but it will affect it's perception
MaximumSpider
Banned
Disappointed but there's still a chance for the western release having VA, right? At least that's what I'm hoping for.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
Not if recent dq western sales are anything to go by.
thelooseteeth
Member
Honestly, I can't stand voice acting in RPGs. Voice overs slow down the pace so much it's unbearable to sit through the recitation of a sentence I finished reading 30 seconds ago.
I share these same sentiments, and the games don't sell like hot cakes over here in the west so there's no incentive for Square to invest time/money into voice acting.
DangerMouse
Member
That's true. It definitely sticks out as missing a lot more on those PS4 level visuals.
Alex_Mexico
Member
Oh bullshit, cmon GAF what's with the hyperbole?!
Metroid Other M's voice acting had a lot of problems. Voice acting was one more to add to that list. It didn't suck because of the bad voice acting alone. Prime 3 had voice acting and I never hear people complaining about that one.
And Zelda BoTW looks to be the new best Zelda ever. Sure voice acting wasn't stellar but it wasn't bad and it didn't make the game worse for it.
Which game are you playing that forces you to listen to the voice clip before letting you advance the text? Unless it's a key story scene I'm pretty sure most RPG's let you go as fast or slow as you like.
I actually quite liked the VA in Zelda. The cast as a whole were largely pretty good, particularly Revali and Urbosa. The only awkward one was Zelda herself. I don't know how accurate this is, but she sounded too much like someone who wasn't British doing a British accent. It's kinda my issue with whoever voices Lara. The English isn't quite right
Punished_Snake
Member
I hope the western release to get voice acting like DQVIII. Orchestrated music and voice acting did wonders for DQVIII.
It was still a fantastic game without those things, though. I beat the Japanese version twice before the NA version was released.
thelooseteeth
Member
Yeah, but why bother having voice acting if it just sounds like jarbled sentence fragments of interrupting voiceovers.
Punished_Snake
Member
Sure, but it enhanced the game a lot imo, to be honest with you, I can't imagine myself playing DQVIII without voice over (it was excellent) and the orchestrated ost.
The revised UI in the NA version was the main thing I disliked compared to the original. But since I grew up playing the NES games, the old school menus are second nature to me. The voice acting was well done, but personally I didn't feel like the random English accents meshed with the character art.
I'm in the same boat with the other fast (English) text readers, I rarely enjoy non-cutscene voice acting anyway in RPGs cause it all ends up as sentence fragments.
sotojuan
Member
I beat it on the 3DS on Sunday and no orchestrated OST was fine. A downgrade for sure but not the deal breaker people make it out to be. The menu is better on 3DS too (it's the JP one I think).
killatopak
Member
Please have voice acting and orchestra in the NA version just like DQVIII
spazchicken
Member
I enjoyed the VO in DQVIII and I would say that it did contribute to it being one of my favorite games of all times, even if just a little bit. The accents added a lot of atmosphere that wouldn't have translated as well with just text.
I agree with this, I'm really not a fan of silent protagonists.
I would definitely prefer voices to no voices though!
2017 - Practically all jrpgs have partial/full voice acting yet the grandaddy of them all refuses it.
Cause reasons.
If some people don't want voice acting here's an idea: they could add an audio slider to set voice level to 0 / mute!
ITS THAT SIMPLE. Everyone can be pleased both people stuck in nostalgia hell and people who live in the present!
Cause reasons.
If some people don't want voice acting here's an idea: they could add an audio slider to set voice level to 0 / mute!
ITS THAT SIMPLE. Everyone can be pleased both people stuck in nostalgia hell and people who live in the present!
Because people like voice acting. I might skip throwaway quest stuff but during key character moments I let the the dialog flow. A characters voice is part of their identity.
MoogleMan
Member
Same. I didn't like VIII at all but I'll be getting XI day one.
That's the weird thing about it even in Japan. Especially the PS4 commercials where the guy is reminiscing about playing old DQ on his Famicom or whatever. Like, the series never changed in any significant way aside from becoming 3D (and in some cases going portable and/or online), so what are you missing?
Now if you were going to say FF is going back to its roots, that could constitute some big changes. Imagine if FFXVI has no voice acting, MIDI music, and is back to turn-based battle systems with random encounters. That would certainly be "going back to roots" in a way, but I think that would tank pretty hard.
TheChillyAcademic
Member
Well I wonder if its more a matter not so much that people don't want it included, just more that they aren't upset it isn't there.
The n00b Avenger
Member
It didn't really change much, but its golden age was back in 1988 to 1992. It's more about hearkening back to those days I'd guess. It has actually been a while since they've done a traditional yuusha vs. maou story which is what the series has become associated with. Granted there's no guarantee 11 will have a maou.
(Unless they did that in 10, I have no idea about anything in that game lol)
(Unless they did that in 10, I have no idea about anything in that game lol)
KainXVIII
Member
Yeah, forgot about Dragon Quest Heroes, it also have fantastic english dub (at least in cutscenes)
The replaced Jessica's original English voice actress? DQVIII 3DS keeps on losing. That also means if DQVIII ever does get an HD port it'll probably be with this new voice actress, eh?
She was replaced first in Heroes and that actress rerecorded her lines for VIII 3DS, so yes, she's probably Jessica from now on in future stuff. I believe the original VA retired.
Astral Dog
Member
It didn't work for Zelda :'(
joe_zazen
Member
Just found out the other day as I was reading annotated dickens that 'cor blimey' is a contraction of 'God blind me'. just thought I'd share.
I'm happy with no VA as that means maybe a better story or more options for the player with dialog choices, if there are any (I've never played a Dragon Quest game).
I find text games to be more immersive for some reason.
dreamlongdead
Member
A lack of VA is disappointing, but I guess it won't kill the game.
Mediking
Member
The game looks great and is on multiple great platforms. Everybody should be happy.
Wonderful attitude, and I concur. I have friends who have been out of the JRPG game since they started talking at us, which I can very much understand, even if I don't entirely agree with it. May hurt its mainstream chances, sure, but is anyone really expecting mainstream numbers from DQ in the west in 2017?
It just might for me. Voice acting is incredibly important to me, reason I don't play many visual novels.
I mean, it wouldn't hurt to try, would it? If there's any chance for a niche Japanese series to become mainstream in the west, it's right now. Chances like this don't come that often, and missing out could be a big mistake.
potatohead
Member
Surprised it's not limited voice acting.
But I came from the era of non-voiced JRPGs so I don't really care, I want a good JRPG game first and foremost.
But I came from the era of non-voiced JRPGs so I don't really care, I want a good JRPG game first and foremost.
Choppasmith
Member
How does no VA make for a better story? If anything adding VA can add immersion, besides I'm sure they'd add an option to turn voice acting off anyway.
And no DQ really isn't much different than the likes of Zelda for dialog choices.
I'm sure they'll add an option for the Western release. I'm really surprised that voice acting for the series wasn't a given after Heroes.
Fair point. Localisations have dug the series a fairly deep pun hole at this point, though, and that's the kind of thing I would rather read than hear - I can't imagine some of the gags in DQIX if they were voiced, and I think I'd rather not.
The last entry in the series was an MMO and the one before that had a heavy focus on coop. I can understand SE being careful to emphasize the traditional aspects of DQ this time around to appeal to those that felt left out by previous releases.
Hooooly moly just looked that up. Welp. That sucks.
That might be true for the combat, slightly. But IX and X are pretty different from old DQ. X being an MMORPG and IX having less emphasis on story / random generated side dungeons / co-op. It was originally going to be an arpg, though in the end I guess the closest to IX was 3? Anyways the story was weak in IX.
From that perspective, the last real DQ was 8, for the PS2, about 10 years ago. Thats definitely enough time to cache in on nostalgia.
Lunarwhale
Member
I really can't bring myself to care much. Not that I don't enjoy good voice acting, but it's very low on the totem of what matters to me, and DQXI looks so good in everything else that it really doesn't matter. Scope of the game especially seems incredible - if this is what they had to sacrifice to get there in a timely manner, I'm more than fine with that.