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[GuitarAtomik]

I always assumed the deal with the first Xenoblade was simply that when the localization was being done it was for Europe. A Europe-only localization with American voices would've been the strangest of all.

That makes sense.

 

[funroll-loops]

If you're dubbing a WRPG, you're probably in continental Europe already so you might as well get some British people. If you're dubbing a JRPG, you already have to go out of Japan to find a ton of English language actors so why not do it in America?

 

[Ikuu]

It's funny to see people so desperately claim Dark Souls as a JRPG, genre is dead and you people just need to accept it ✌

 

[skypunch]

That makes sense.

So, it's true that Nintendo don't take into account the setting of a game when dubbing it and that it has more to do with whether it's NoE or NoA handling the dub?

That sort of sucks. I wish there wasn't such a huge divide between Nintendo America and Nintendo Europe.

 

[ScrabbleBanshee]

Most Japanese games could just do without voice acting at all. Actually, most of the time even written English in them is so painful that I can't even play most of them half due to the bad translating and half because of the paradoxically ridiculous and formulaic stories.

 

[Ridley327]

It's funny to see people so desperately claim Dark Souls as a JRPG, genre is dead and you people just need to accept it ✌

How is a genre dead when it's continually getting games? Christ, damn near half this board is playing one right now.

 

[ShinMaruku]

The day a dog uses patios is the day I am done.

 

[JonnyDBrit]

I feel like the major point of contrast with JRPGs - or indeed, many a visibly 'Japanese' game - is that unless voice actors are hired directly, or pulled from in-house staff, a lot of the time publishers will rely on agencies whose immediate conclusion with the material is to... well... make it sound like an anime, because it looks like an anime or is expected to appeal to that sort of niche userbase. Moreover, most voice acting for such is done in the Americas because that's the major sector in the english-speaking market for such material, and consequently games end up sounding like an American anime localisation, which care roughly fuck-all about accents most of the time.

Examples like Xenoblade Chronicles occur specifically because that anime voice acting pool was not available in the initial localisation - it was handled by Nintendo of Europe, who had to go fishing around for whatever voice actors they could actually find around the British Isles. Western RPGs (and other productions in general) aren't held to quite those same expectations for obvious reasons, and so will more readily look further afield for people willing to fake varying degrees of British accents.

 

[Elaugaufein]

I'm pretty sure the reason JRPGs tend to get American dubs is that most of the localization companies are American and fairly small so it's cheaper.

Some of the Nintendo localised JRPGs have had mostly British voices because they were done by Nintendo EU.

 

[Valonquar]

Because all the JRPGs are translated and dubbed in California for a cheaply as possible?

 

[GoldandBlue]

2017 and there's people on GAF confused what a JRPG means? To those saying Dark Souls is a JRPG, sorry, but you's wrong.

Child of Light - developed in Montreal, Canada - IS a JRPG.
Dark Souls - developed in Japan - ISN'T a JRPG.

Genres are those with common form, elements, or style. Not regions of development.

RPGs are RPGs. The J and W are by definition their region.

 

[GuitarAtomik]

So, it's true that Nintendo don't take into account the setting of a game when dubbing it and that it has more to do with whether it's NoE or NoA handling the dub?

That sort of sucks. I wish there wasn't such a huge divide between Nintendo America and Nintendo Europe.

As others have said, the talent pool would definitely be a major factor. If they're recording in Europe, they're going to have a proportionally larger talent pool with European accents. Vice versa for the US. It's not a situation unique to Nintendo either. That's most definitely why you rarely hear British actors in anime dubs. Ubisoft tends to be guilty of this too where they end up with a lot of French-Canadian actors. Budget is always going to be a factor too since it's cheaper to hire local talent rather than recruit from all over the country or world.

 

[chrominance]

I did find it interesting that even Mass Effect Andromeda, which is about as far from medieval fantasy as you can get, also has a lot of British voices for no apparent reason.

 

[Lord of Ostia]

I kind of hope Xenoblade 2 is localized with British VA, just so we don't get 7 Skypunch threads whining about it. Why you gotta make another stealth 'Xenoblade 2 should have British VA' thread again?

 

[JusDoIt]

Wasn't no kings and queens and dragons in America like you had in the UK.

 

[NolbertoS]

Actually old school JRPGs had British text im them. The old school DQ games had "Medievil English" like " A slime approaches, thou hast vanquished the slime"

 

[Hades Hotgun]

You need to chill. One of my favourite video game characters is voiced by an American.

Some of your best friends huh?

I never said American voice acting is inferior.

BULL

You can feel the weight behind every word in that line Dunban says. This kind of voice delivery is straight out of theatre acting. I think classically trained UK actors put a lot of power behind what they say. Maybe you can't hear this, but I can, and I really like it.

There are subtle difference in the style of UK voice acting which brings with it a different air: UK actors tend to be classically trained and learn their acting chops in theatre. It's more than just the accents for me.

The British cast *did* add a certain charm and a fresh, uncommon tone to the characters that you wouldn't be able to achieve with a typical American anime dub, and people loved this.

FUCKING

Fantasy JRPGs aren't the only fantasy settings I've come into contact with. I prefer British voice acting in general over American voice acting. There are some exceptions, of course, but if I had to choose: British accents >>>> American accents any day.

We're much better trained actors, that's why we're being sought after.

NoA seem to be pretty behind when it comes to dubs. Other companies utterly annihilate Nintendo when it comes to variety of accents in video game dubs as well as quality. With the kind of video game dubs you hear in games such as The Witcher 3, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, there's no excuse for NoA to keep picking from the same pool of FUNimation anime voice actors and other American anime voice actors.

SHIT

 

[emag]

Actually old school JRPGs had British text im them. The old school DQ games had "Medievil English" like " A slime approaches, thou hast vanquished the slime"

How is that British text? Also, medieval English read more like:

SIÞEN þe sege and þe assaut watz sesed at Troye,
þe bor3 brittened and brent to bronde3 and askez,
þe tulk þat þe trammes of tresoun þer wro3t
Watz tried for his tricherie, þe trewest on erþe:
Hit watz Ennias þe athel, and his highe kynde,
þat siþen depreced prouinces, and patrounes bicome
Welne3e of al þe wele in þe west iles.
Fro riche Romulus to Rome ricchis hym swyþe,
With gret bobbaunce þat bur3e he biges vpon fyrst,
And neuenes hit his aune nome, as hit now hat;
Ticius to Tuskan and teldes bigynnes,
Langaberde in Lumbardie lyftes vp homes,
And fer ouer þe French flod Felix Brutus
On mony bonkkes ful brode Bretayn he settez wyth wynne,
Where werre and wrake and wonder
Bi syþez hatz wont þerinne,
And oft boþe blysse and blunder
Ful skete hatz skyfted synne.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

Some of your best friends huh?

BULL

FUCKING

SHIT

It should be obvious to most people that skypunch is obsessed with British people and their (and, apparently, his/her) voice

 

[petran79]

It also has to do that American voice actors were already involved in JRPG dubs since the 90s so they had the relevant experience.
Eg Lunar: Eternal Blue, Popful Mail and Magic Knight Rayearth share some actors

 

[Red Liquorice]

This thread reads like a tipping or circumcision thread. Chill out guys, sheesh.

 

[Bod]

Here's an example of an old English accent where you can quite clearly here where bits and pieces of where an American accent came from. It's not tripe at all, you yourself said that accents develop as people intermingle. That's exactly what happened with all of these dialects.

Bits and pieces may have come from old English accents but that is not what an old English accent sounds like which is my entire point.. There are still accents in the Uk that are old English and what would have been used back then, not this mash up.

 

[skypunch]

It should be obvious to most people that skypunch is obsessed with British people and their (and, apparently, his/her) voice

Sorry. I do prefer British accents. I watch a lot of British drama here in the UK and really appreciate our acting culture so that's why I love the British VO in Xenoblade. It just "speaks" to me a lot more. I admit I'm not the biggest fan of American accents, at least not in JRPGs. I'm not a fan of American anime voice actors and that area of voice acting.

SIDE is also my favourite VO company. The good thing about British dubs is there's no VA "scene" here really, you're getting people who primarily do stage and British TV dramas as well. I think that's awesome.

 

[Forsaken82]

Soulsborne is not WRPG is play style. Its far more combat oriented like other Japanese games than WRPG's which suck at combat

You need to play more WRPGs if you think all the combat in them suck. I can name just as many JRPGs with shitty combat as I can WRPGs with fantastic combat.

 

[NewGame]

When people think of mideval settings they think 'ello gubna

or

 

[Lord of Ostia]

Sorry. I do prefer British accents. I watch a lot of British drama here in the UK and really appreciate our acting culture so that's why I love the British VO in Xenoblade. It just "speaks" to me a lot more. I admit I'm not the biggest fan of American accents, at least not in JRPGs. I'm not a fan of American anime voice actors and that area of voice acting.

SIDE is also my favourite VO company. The good thing about British dubs is there's no VA "scene" here really, you're getting people who primarily do stage and British TV dramas as well. I think that's awesome.

I think you've confused a preference with an obsession.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Bits and pieces may have come from old English accents but that is not what an old English accent sounds like which is my entire point.. There are still accents in the Uk that are old English and what would have been used back then, not this mash up.

There are myriad "old English accents" and pretty much none of them sound like the modern English accents we hear in RPGs. There is no one "old English accent," but this Chesapeake dialect is pretty distinct and very likely passed down from English migrants and left (relatively) untouched due to their remote location over the years. Where do you suggest it came from if not?

 

[JayEH]

It's funny to see people so desperately claim Dark Souls as a JRPG, genre is dead and you people just need to accept it ✌

persona 5 came out last week

 

[-tetsuo-]

Soulsborne is not WRPG is play style. Its far more combat oriented like other Japanese games than WRPG's which suck at combat

Lots of WRPGs are very combat heavy with great combat systems

 

[FStubbs]

This is retarded.

They are ALL RPGs. The only real distinction between games in the genre is whether or not it's turn-based or action.

Planescape Torment, Dragon Quest 7, Final Fantasy 9, Baldur's Gate. All 4 of them are RPGs that came out somewhat around the same time, but come on. Which are in the same sub-genre?

The middle 2 are Japanese-style RPGs (jRPGs) and the other two are Western-style RPGs (wRPGs).

 

[skypunch]

I think you've confused a preference with an obsession.

It's 70% preference, 30% obsession, haha.

 

[Chill Penguin]

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.

That's pretty much it. The fantasy or medieval genre has to seem like its from a distant land and time. The US is way too young for American accents to elicit that type of feeling.

 

[rhandino]

Some of your best friends huh?

BULL

FUCKING

SHIT

Expose ha!

 

[NoblesseOblige]

RPGs are RPGs. The J and W are by definition their region.

JRPG is a genre.

edit: or more accurately a sub-genre

 

[Chill Penguin]

On another note, is it just me or does it sound like people sing in American accents? Listen to Celine Dione or Adele and you would never guess they were French Canadian and British respectively.

 

[The Hamburglar]

kevin costner

 

[Rellik]

I did find it interesting that even Mass Effect Andromeda, which is about as far from medieval fantasy as you can get, also has a lot of British voices for no apparent reason.

From what I played, it was full of space Aussies.

 

[Stallion Dan]

Because wtf is medieval America?

I did find it interesting that even Mass Effect Andromeda, which is about as far from medieval fantasy as you can get, also has a lot of British voices for no apparent reason.

Best thing about ME series series is in ME3 when fighting in London at the end they still have red telephone boxes.

 

[Carn82]

Why are dwarves always Scottish?

 

[HStallion]

When I read fantasy novels I like to imagine everyone speaking with heavy stereotypical New Jersey accents. When everyone in the Lord of the Rings sounds like they go spray tanning after getting pumped at the gym it really paints things in a whole new light.

 

[emag]

Bits and pieces may have come from old English accents but that is not what an old English accent sounds like which is my entire point.. There are still accents in the Uk that are old English and what would have been used back then, not this mash up.

Old English was a significantly different language from modern English to the point that, regardless of accent, they are mutually unintelligible. There's zero evidence that anyone still speaks with an "old English" accent anywhere in the world.

Here's a little bit of text in old English (on the left), from Beowulf:

 

[Carn82]

Actually old school JRPGs had British text im them. The old school DQ games had "Medievil English" like " A slime approaches, thou hast vanquished the slime"

I think that's more inspired by Shakesperian English used in plays, I'm not sure if anyone actually even talked liked that in regular conversations.

 

[StarStabbedMoon]

Kind of surprised most people say it's a creative decision as opposed to a more practical one: British english is more common than American english, especially in untapped growth markets. Britain had alot of territory back in the day and the commonwealth covers over 2 billion people. I always assumed WRPG devs are either americans focused on a global market or are european devs that would naturally do so anyway.

 

[GLAMr]

Why are dwarves always Scottish?

I too wonder where this trope came from. Tolkien's dwarves were based on the Jews, he even admitted as much. It wasn't even an antisemitic thing; he admired the solidarity, industriousness and overcoming of hardships he had witnessed.

I find it annoying when Americans say "British accent" when they mean "English accent". Scottish, English, Welsh, Faroese and Irish accents are all "British".

It's like id I called somebody with a Mexican accent "American". It's technically correct, but insultingly broad.

 

[emag]

Why are dwarves always Scottish?

Gygax and a lot of the early Dungeons & Dragons players were fans of Three Hearts and Three Lions, which introduced this trope (to the best of my knowledge).

Notably, Tolkien's dwarves were NOT Scottish in the text or even in earlier adaptions than Peter Jackson's.

 

[Starlightmuse]

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.

Grimoire Weiss tho

 

[skypunch]

I too wonder where this trope came from. Tolkien's dwarves were based on the Jews, he even admitted as much. It wasn't even an antisemitic thing; he admired the solidarity, industriousness and overcoming of hardships he had witnessed.

I find it annoying when Americans say "British accent" when they mean "English accent". Scottish, English, Welsh, Faroese and Irish accents are all "British".

It's like id I called somebody with a Mexican accent "American". It's technically correct, but insultingly broad.

Is it not also insultingly broad to call the Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Faroese "British"?

 

[GLAMr]

Is it not also insultingly broad to call the Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Faroese "British"?

I suppose it would. It doesn't seem to come up. I've never hears an American call a Scottish or Welsh accent British.

I'd be careful about calling an Irish accent British; it could get heated

 

[Owlowiscious]

Why aren't cowboy games dubbed in British

 

[WarWolf]

Come on, you got a Witcher avatar and don't note the American accents in that game?