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Why do WRPGs tend to go with British dubs while JRPGs are more Americanised?

S

skypunch

Banned
You have games such as The Witcher 3, Dragon Age, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Planescape: Torment, all of which have British voice acting, and sometimes even some Irish and Scottish, but I feel it's rare for JRPGs to be given this same kind of dub treatment. Most Japanese RPG series localised for the West (Tales Of, Persona, Neir, Fire Emblem, and recent Xenoblade) are very Americanised.

There are of course a few exceptions being Xenoblade 1, The Last Story, Pandora's Tower, Dragon Quest, and Final Fantasy XII, but it feels like the go-to, default dub treatment for JRPGs is American anime voice actors, whereas it feels like WRPGs chose from a wider pool of voice actors and accents.
 
Lord British.

EDIT: Americans (and WRPG developers in general) have an ingrained sense, supported by a hundred years of media across movies, radio, TV, and video games, of the British accent being associated with medieval/fantasy. That association is much weaker for Japanese developers, and American accents in general are more closely associated with the English language.
 
Medieval times is always british. Its the tolkien aspect. And also victorian settings like BB are always British by default

*EDIT*

DID YOU JUST SAY BLOODBORNE AND DARK SOULS WERE WRPGS?! Never played any WRPG's like that!
 
If you considering America as the main player base, it wouldn't sound like a fantasy other world if people were speaking like Americans. Thus you use a British dub to sound fantastical while being understandable to Americans.


oh right. also I guess because medieval times were in europe
 
Various British accents are just more fitting in those kinds of settings, the same reason British actors are used in Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and the like
 
McBryBry said:
JRPG vs WRPG in play style, not strictly where they are from. Referring to Soulsborne. Dragon Quest you're right though
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Soulsborne is not WRPG is play style. Its far more combat oriented like other Japanese games than WRPG's which suck at combat
 
kromeo said:
Various British accents are just more fitting in those kinds of settings, the same reason British actors are used in Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and the like
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This is why it is odd that Xenoblade 2, being of a fantasy setting like the first game and acting as its sequel, is being dubbed in American.
 
American accents in any fantasy themed game breaks my immersion immediately. To me, american is modern. It just doesn't belong in a world with swords and castles.

Doesn't matter if there's magic and unrealistic stuff, american never works. Unless we're talking modern or scifi setting obviously.
 
For WRPGs (particularly medieval-themed ones), I would say an inclination to cast actors with theatrical backgrounds to fit the usually older settings and generally more subdued mood, whereas this is rarer in the typically flashier, more over-the-top sensibilities usually associated with JRPGs and often seen in anime. I say this well aware of the fact that Xenoblade was something where the British dub still managed to suit it in spite of having those sensibilities (it was also something with a science-fantasy theme and setting, rather than something strictly medieval/low-tech, contemporary, or pure sci-fi).
 
Because the folks speaking 'English' during the medieval period, upon which traditional fantasy is based, were bopping around the British Isles. So it makes it feel more authentic, even though it really isn't.

Imagine a knight errant/peasant/halfing/elf npc speaking in a Southern drawl. It'd sound hilariously anachronistic.
 
American accent sounds modern and may feel out of place in a medieval/fantasy setting. I am guessing that's why GoT has so many British actors as well.
 
American accents generally sound terrible for fantasy settings, i know its not an rpg but i seriously think the casting director for zelda should be shot
 
I knew who made this thread without opening it.

The medieval WRPG from the West go by the trope the fantasy us typically European. I welcome changed to that.
 
McBryBry said:
JRPG vs WRPG in play style, not strictly where they are from. Referring to Soulsborne. Dragon Quest you're right though
Click to expand...
Then we needed new acronyms because the J and W are geographical locations.

I think it's mainly because the vice actors for most dubbed Japanese games crosses over with anime so it's just going to happen by default that those games are going to be more Americanized unless a studio specifically hand-picks British VAs like FromSoft does.
 
Tolkien was hugely influenced by British stories, Old English and medieval Western Europe so his stories had lots of those elements to them. Western fantasy fans/creators were largely influenced by Tolkien so of course their settings are largely (I'd say 90%) similar in that they're medieval era Western Europe, with British leanings.

I'm glad JRPGs largely eschew that and try to set themselves in WAY more varied settings
 
It's probably usually a matter of where they can get the voice actors, and I imagine for a lot of JRPG localizers it's just easier to go with teams based in NA.

Plus there's the style to keep in mind too. More anime like may arguably lend itself more readily to American accents for being "modern" as people were saying (though it could probably go either way) and a lot of those mentioned games are explicitly not in Europe such as Xenoblade X being American colonists and Persona being Japanese, meaning for the former going with British accents throughout would be going out of their way to be inaccurate and Persona a case of being "wrong" either way if you don't just use Japanese audio, but going with the norm for anime dubs would be American accents anyway.
 
The irony is that the American tendency to pronounce the letter "r" is actually an older way of accenting English and the British tendency to drop "r"s is more "modern."
 
Because WRPGs are often based in Western fantasy tropes while JRPGs don't usually go for that feel (with exceptions of course)


More logically, the companies responsible for the localization are often based in the states, so the actors are American.
 
Affeinvasion said:
The irony is that the American tendency to pronounce the letter "r" is actually an older way of accenting English and the British tendency to drop "r"s is more "modern."
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I don't think most of the people obsessed with British accents, because they sound more "authentic" even realize the English spoken at the time most western fantasies are based on didn't even sound the same
 
bonesmccoy said:
Because the folks speaking 'English' during the medieval period, upon which traditional fantasy is based, were bopping around the British Isles. So it makes it feel more authentic, even though it really isn't.

Imagine a knight errant/peasant/halfing/elf npc speaking in a Southern drawl. It'd sound hilariously anachronistic.
Click to expand...

The southern drawl would be closer to Medieval English than most modern English accents - the southern drawl is inherited from the West Country and South-west English immigrants to the American South, who happened to have the most conservative English accent that retained more of the medieval features than the English accent you'll hear today on the BBC. You'd be better off going with southern drawl than stiff upper lip - the southern drawl does things like vocalise "r"s, for example.

If you think people sounding like Colin Firth helps your immersion, you just don't know enough. There was a sharp shift in the way English was pronounced around the 16th/17th century. The 'stereotypical' British accent dates to after this. If you wanted actual realistic Medieval English accents, you'd be listening to something closer to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s (and even this is quite late).
 
kromeo said:
Actually I say Lord of The Rings, when you stop and look at the cast list it's probably 50% American :P
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ironic that most of the marvel movies take place in America with Americans have mostly british actors. Consistency would be nice!
 
Inuhanyou said:
ironic that most of the marvel movies take place in America with Americans have mostly british actors. Consistency would be nice!
Click to expand...

Lol yeah, I don't think Brits want to start a nationality war over films considering how many British actors are portraying Americans nowadays.
 
skypunch said:
We're much better trained actors, that's why we're being sought after. ;)
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That's not the argument I'm making. If you're going to mention Americans playing Brits then it's far more lopsided in one favor than the other so why even make the argument.
 
skypunch said:
This is why it is odd that Xenoblade 2, being of a fantasy setting like the first game and acting as its sequel, is being dubbed in American.
Click to expand...

Probably because the Xenoblade games are more sci-fi fantasy. The US associates the British accent with medieval fantasy. If anything, it's kind of weird that Xenoblade 1 does it.
 
GuitarAtomik said:
Probably because the Xenoblade games are more sci-fi fantasy. The US associates the British accent with medieval fantasy. If anything, it's kind of weird that Xenoblade 1 does it.
Click to expand...

The setting looks fantasy to me. I'd say it's more European-inspired.

tMQTqQD.jpg
 
most WRPGs are realisitc fantasy settings which are associated with british accents. that association doesn't usually exist for JRPGs with anime art styles even those with fantasy settings.
 
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