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Voice acting in prominent Video Games

Camreezie

Member
So I just beat The Pathless and couldnt skip the credits, great game by the way. The game has minimal voice acting and its not in English ( don't know if its a real language).

So i wait through the credits and see two names for voice acting: Laura Bailey and Troy Baker. I know its a bit of a meme that they get all the VA work , but isnt this a bit crazy?

Do developers cast VAs solely on name recognition even in a case like this now? Like ten names in video game VA get all the prominent jobs , must be hard as hell to break through with this lot holding you down
 
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TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
I think the only thing that has a greater number than Troy Baker and Laura Bailey roles are threads about Troy Baker and Laura Bailey being in too many videogames. I swear, this is one of those things that makes me think reality is a simulation. Like the start of a new cycle is denoted by one of these threads each time it happens or something.
 

Akt

Banned
Metal Gear, and Final Fantasy series is filled with legendary Japanese voice actors who primarily borrow their voices in anime.

Although, to be fair both of those are actually anime games in their own right, but it is hard to notice when listening to English dub.
 

Kev Kev

Member
troy baker is so good i can never tell its him. problem is most of them arent that great, plus VAs in video games just kind of suck in general. theyre getting better every year, but they usually take me out of the scene and make it worse, rather than making me feel more engaged and enhancing the experience.

i usually hate subtitles but i keep them on in video games. that way im reading those and not focusing so much on the facial animations and body language that dont line up with the VAs at all. just none of it looks convincing enough to me yet.
 
troy baker is so good i can never tell its him. problem is most of them arent that great, plus VAs in video games just kind of suck in general. theyre getting better every year, but they usually take me out of the scene and make it worse, rather than making me feel more engaged and enhancing the experience.

i usually hate subtitles but i keep them on in video games. that way im reading those and not focusing so much on the facial animations and body language that dont line up with the VAs at all. just none of it looks convincing enough to me yet.
Yeah, voice work in the vast majority of games is just wretched. There are exceptions of course, but I'd rather have no voice work at all than the standard fare that we find in most games. With reading dialogue and exposition, at least there's the possibility of things being engaging, moving and authentic on their own merits without terrible voice work undermining things.
 
I'm fine with it because I never even know it's him. Joel sounds like a completely different actor from any other role.

It's like Seth McFarland doing the voices of half the cast of Family Guy and American Dad. I'd never have realized all those voices are the same person.

Then you watch Bob's Burgers and it's incredibly distracting when it's so obvious so many of the characters have the same voice.

Another example is Liam O'Brien. I thought he was awesome in Nier as Grimoire Weiss. But, then I hear him in almost every JRPG with the same very distinct voice and it is very distracting.
 

Werewolf Jones

Gold Member
I said Laura Bailey was everywhere back in 2011 and got dismissed.

Remember when her and Troy Baker were simple anime voice actors from Funimation? lol
 

Kuranghi

Member
I remember seeing that too OP, pretty mad. What a cool game btw, I really enjoyed it except I found the timing of the "perfect hit" very very hard to chain continuously, like even after 100% I still couldn't get the trophy for doing it 10x in a row, I think I was missing something there. I played it in 30fps mode and so I was like oh its just input lag making it tougher and switched over to the 60fps mode at the end for an hour to try and do it... even with an hour of learning the feeling of the 60 mode I couldn't do it.

Were you able to consistently chain perfect hits? Don't lie to me! This is the internet, I'll know!
 

Camreezie

Member
I remember seeing that too OP, pretty mad. What a cool game btw, I really enjoyed it except I found the timing of the "perfect hit" very very hard to chain continuously, like even after 100% I still couldn't get the trophy for doing it 10x in a row, I think I was missing something there. I played it in 30fps mode and so I was like oh its just input lag making it tougher and switched over to the 60fps mode at the end for an hour to try and do it... even with an hour of learning the feeling of the 60 mode I couldn't do it.

Were you able to consistently chain perfect hits? Don't lie to me! This is the internet, I'll know!
Ive only done the story so far , i'll totally go back for the trophies and try to master the timing for perfect chains
 

Kuranghi

Member
Ive only done the story so far , i'll totally go back for the trophies and try to master the timing for perfect chains

The great thing is going for 100% means you get more "flaps" and such so as you go it makes it more fun to get the other stuff, good gameplay feedback loop. So whether you mainline it or do everything (within reason) before moving on you get a good experience, unlike so many other games where theres usually a best order to do things.
 

hemo memo

Gold Member
Troy is a talented voice actor, that’s why they keep hiring him not because name recognition. TLoU, Bioshock Infinite are to me the most memorable.
 

Camreezie

Member
Troy is a talented voice actor, that’s why they keep hiring him not because name recognition. TLoU, Bioshock Infinite are to me the most memorable.
Im just saying why hire them in roles like the maw in The medium and the pathless where literally anyone could have done it
 
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