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[TanookiTom]

I think it's hard to come up with non-Japanese examples since there don't usually tend to be English dubs of those games. And considering most foreign-made games that aren't Japanese usually are voiced in English to begin with, it's a pretty small list that would be dubbed into English. Kind of hard for me to come up with a recent example tbh.

Yes but there is no word about dubs in the OT whatsoever. It's just about english voice-acting in foreign-made games. And that includes all those games made in Europe, I mentioned for example. People then just took the discussion to talking about dubs of Japanese games, but I suppose that is what OP really meant...

Should have been called something like "Why is the optional english-dub in Japanese games notoriously bad?"

 

[zeopower6]

Yes but there is no word about dubs in the OT whatsoever. It's just about english voice-acting in foreign-made games. And that includes all those games made in Europe, I mentioned for example. People then just took the discussion to talking about dubs of Japanese games, but I suppose that is what OP really meant...

Should have been called something like "Why is the optional english-dub in Japanese games notoriously bad?"

Well, I think they probably wanted to keep it open and not Japanese-centric, even though it's very hard to come up with examples of any games that aren't from Japan. -shrug- The "English voice acting" plus "notoriously bad" seems to infer Japanese games anyway.

https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1nymu8/does_japanese_voice_acting_sound_as_bad_as/

Related, but two Japanese native speakers replied to this topic and it seems like the voice acting doesn't really sound bad to natives, but they're just kind of used to the intensity in anime? However, one of the users' parents would make fun of the way that anime characters spoke, lol. Maybe it's a generational thing kind of? Asian media in general that has a flair for the dramatic tends to be acted in a bit of an exaggerated fashion and is pretty accepted for the most part, so perhaps it's also a cultural difference as well.

 

[Langdon Alger]

It's perfectly fine most of the time these days. It's usually much better than Japanese voice acting.

 

[mclem]

This makes me think that games should have outtake/blooper reels.

The Legend PC adventure Companions of Xanth plays VA bloopers over the credits.

On a non-performance front, when I worked on the original Sniper Elite one of my coworkers kept video of any amusing visual bugs that cropped up during development. I was told we couldn't release it for fear that people might take it to be what the game looks like normally (whether that's true, I dunno, but it's what I was told), which is a shame; it's pretty amusing. I wonder if it's still out there somewhere.

 

[OmegaDL50]

This has always been a weak argument to me. You don't have to understand the language to know by tone and pitch alone what emotion is meant to be there. And for those that are bilingual, they tend to agree with people who are voicing their complaints.

I don't see it weak at all. Context is a very important thing.

Some dubs are given a script of dialog with a very brief description of the setting or character personality, as said before some is just bare script with no context involve.

Case in point a line like "I'll kill you" could be taken as literal, However what in the case of the original material where a character is saying this in jest with a smile on their face.

Emotion and pitch only goes so far without appropriate context involved, and is not an exception or replacement for understanding of the actual language spoken itself.

If bad dubs exist then bad source dialog must also exist as well. The source material is not always good nor dubs always bad. It works both ways.

 

[Trigonometrize.]

If something is being localized into English, it's 99% likely that it's niche. If it's niche, it's probably just barely got the budget for a dub, let alone good actors and directors. That's the way I read it.

By the way, I have never seen the signs of an upswing in the quality of english dubs that people constantly try and purport is happening since Cowboy Bebop. On the whole, they're still unacceptably, horrendously bad.

 

[Zelias]

English dubs of games are usually fine and have been for a while now. I can't remember the last time I deliberately chose JP voices in a game over EN.

And totally agree with the praise for FFXII's dub. Didn't they use actual stage actors alongside the more obvious names to dub that one? An interesting, and apparently effective approach.

 

[Kouriozan]

French dubs are worse. Maybe it's just your native language dubs just sounds awful to you or something.
I always switch to Japanese audio when I can, most of the time the other languages feel emotionless.

 

[Parakeetman]

Dubs these days compared to the old days are fucking masterpieces. Since those of you who did not live through the dark ages of early "dubs" dear god...

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

OP, can you provide examples of recent games with bad dubs? The general quality has been extremely good in the last decade, with the occasional dud every so often, but that's to be expected of any medium.

 

[Scipio]

It's funny, because the Witcher 3 is Polish and has some of the best English voice acting.

 

[ConceptX]

I am surprised this hasn't been posted yet.

Whats the story behind this?

Low budget? Staff members voicing? Recorded on Skype via headsets? What?

I'm not familiar with the game.

 

[Dmax3901]

LOL wrong thread nevermind.

 

[Lalalandia]

Because I can't tell bad acting in French. It's a big part of why translations can sound goofy to native speakers. Hell it's the same reason why regional accents frequently sound like crap to people from that region.

The other reason is budget.

'Me spoons Joseph, me spoons!!!'

 

[Sakujou]

its only a matter of money.

you know, some countries have a history of good or bad VA so sometimes it turns out bad, sometimes it turns out good.

 

[Zelias]

Whats the story behind this?

Low budget? Staff members voicing? Recorded on Skype via headsets? What?

I'm not familiar with the game.

Supposedly a dub was required for Sony to approve the game at retail, so the head of the localization company got his own family to do it.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

Not willing or able to spend the time and money on doing it right and doing it well or they have a shitty director or a combination, if not all three.


That said, I'd generally take a not so well done English VA over Japanese voice acting much of the time because I find a lot of the performances grating in being overly theatrical acting style and generic in their sameness, maybe it's gotten better but I could swear that there were only a handful of VAs in Japan at one point.

 

[Yabberwocky]

Hyrule Warrior's narration is one of the worst examples I can think of in recent memory.

 

[Akhe]

I hate SO much Japanese games (except Bayonetta and DMC) with english VA and vice-versa.

 

[charlequin]

At what point are you able to "accurately judge" the voice acting if it's not your native tongue? Are you just not allowed to have an opinion until you are fluent?

You're allowed to have an opinion whenever you want, but I would probably start considering it informed around when you can play a game entirely in that language without stopping frequently to consult a dictionary.

On the whole, they're still unacceptably, horrendously bad.

Are you talking about anime? Because I can't speak to that, but there is no position with the slightest basis in reality that doesn't recognize an immense improvement in game dubs from 1999 to today.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

I guess this is one of those threads where the OP says something totally inaccurate and runs off without providing sort of proof or response at all.

 

[Wagram]

Voice acting doesn't bother me normally, but good lord the VA in Minecraft story mode is horrible. Clearly actors that aren't used to voicing in games.

 

[Terareflection]

Voice acting in most games have been pretty solid lately. The only one that I can think of not being up to par was The Evil Within.

A bigger problem is the script writing, honestly.

 

[Drilbit777]

English dubs are far more better now compared to 90's/early 2000's. The reason why some dubs turn out subpar is mainly because of time constraints and budget reasons,

Fatal Frame 5's dub is a godsend compared to Arc Rise Fantasias dub.

 

[Dragonslayer_023]

Low budgets, time constraints, poor or no direction, and just less talented VAs in general.

 

[Mr-Joker]

Basically a combination of hiring cheap actors and sticking to the original script that doesn't translate well when spoken in English.

I mean compare Metroid Other M, which had terrible voice acting due to Nintendo sticking very closely to the original Japanese script and Kid Icarus Uprising, which had good voice acting because Nintendo rewrote the script for western audience.

The difference is like day and night.

Hyrule Warrior's narration is one of the worst examples I can think of in recent memory.

Oh god, I really hated that narration and really wished that I could turn it off.

Voice acting should never be in a Zelda game.

 

[Shizuka]

Nier is GOAT in terms of english voice acting in japanese games.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

Right now I'm playing Type O HD and it adds a delightful camp value to the game's story moments. Not only are the actors bad but it seems like many of them have trouble reading sentences, so they'll like stop and start awkwardly. You can tell the script's formatting must have ended a line at a certain word or something and they didn't opt for doing many extra takes.

That's such an odd choice to pick as a cast that doesn't know what its doing as its cast is made up primarily of the most well famous VOs in the business.

 

[Chase17]

Oh god, I really hated that narration and really wished that I could turn it off.

Voice acting should never be in a Zelda game.

Triforce Heroes had a narrated trailer. I'm wondering if there will be any kind of narration in the game (I'd guess not though).

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Souls games have a major advantage in that they have little to no conversations - all the dialogue is essentially monologues since the main character is silent. And given the general atmosphere of those games, if the dub is a little awkward, it just adds to the ambience.

 

[stargateheaven]

There's alot of voice actors who are good for cartoons, but don't suit games. But they get used anyway.

That and JP voice acting is BIG SERIOUS BUSINESS.

here it's like... oh, you're a voice actor? do some funny voices.

although as someone else said, it's WAY better than it was. (Although i cringed earlier this morning when i heard SLIME in the new dragon quest heroes trailer)

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

Voice acting should never be in a Zelda game.

You mean to say BAD voice acting should never be in a Zelda game. If anything Hyrule Warriors is one of the games that needed full voice acting the most. Musou games are constantly throwing information at you during gameplay in the form of story dialogue, and having to constantly take your eyes off the action on screen to read the developments every 10 seconds was extremely irritating.

Not to mention the absurdity of characters in every cutscene in a Zelda game obnoxiously mimining their actions. Skyward Sword was probably several hours longer than it had to be from the endless, drawn out miming happening in that game. It was nearly reaching Okami levels.

Either do no story at all or fully voiced cutscenes. This inbetween nonsense is archaic and detrimental to the entire experience.

 

[MrHoot]

Souls games have a major advantage in that they have little to no conversations - all the dialogue is essentially monologues since the main character is silent. And given the general atmosphere of those games, if the dub is a little awkward, it just adds to the ambience.

After playing all of them, I do hear some improvements, even if you're still pretty right as the voice acting is not as heavy as in most games. But you can hear in bloodborne how it's still more intricate and with personality compared to Souls 1 (The Doll, Iosefka and Gehrman are really nice, especially when Gehrman has his sad episodes. And I find some of the work from Alfred's voice actor to be outstanding)

 

[Eusis]

Are you talking about anime? Because I can't speak to that, but there is no position with the slightest basis in reality that doesn't recognize an immense improvement in game dubs from 1999 to today.

Honestly I think anime dubs were improving a few years ahead of game dubbing (when was Cowboy Bebop localized, 1999 or 2000?) And it should say everything when we've gone from no name hacks in that field to people who tend to go on to voicing major AAA game roles like Troy Baker, Laura Bailey, and Steve Blum.

I also feel that usually if there's VA issues there it's because of the same sort of issues with game dubs in that the material may just sound awful in English... If it even ever sounded fine spoken in the first place.

 

[Theonik]

It's not notoriously bad anymore, not like it used to be. The thing you have to realize, is usually these days if the English voice acting is bad, so is the native language voice acting. You just can't tell because you aren't a native speaker. And some times the English voice acting is better than the native VA.

This is not strictly true no. For a start, foreign dubs often receive much lower budgets than the original dubs do and are done by entirely different people often with no direct input from the original directors. (and given that the language is different they wouldn't be able to assist anyhow)

Though of course the real disasters happen when you do in fact ask foreign speakers to assess and direct a dub in a different language than their own. (some really funny examples when this happens including Shenmue)

You simply cannot extend that "If the x dub is bad they must all be bad but you can't tell". It is relatively rare that this is the case on anything that's decently produced these days.

 

[Piers]

The quality of English voice acting is pretty good lately. I think a better question is "why do people still just automatically assume it's bad?" because that seems more apt to me. Not to say that there aren't examples of pretty crappy VA, and the reason for those tends to be poor voice direction more than anything else, but I think that's bandied about a great deal more often than is remotely warranted.

I often assume that anime dubs get bashed quickly because hearing it in English won't cover up how bad the writing and story is. (Although translation itself can also be an issue)

Hearing something in a language you're unfamiliar with leaves some leeway in interpreting it how you want -- meaning it could sound better in one's own mind.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

Dragon Quest Heroes has very likable voice acting. No big voice actors, and a variety of it. It works reallllly well.

 

[Princess Viola]

English dubs are far more better now compared to 90's/early 2000's. The reason why some dubs turn out subpar is mainly because of time constraints and budget reasons,

Fatal Frame 5's dub is a godsend compared to Arc Rise Fantasias dub.

is the character at 1:54 voiced by fucking jerry seinfeld

 

[QisTopTier]

I like Disgaea dubs

 

[aadiboy]

A recent interview with Alexander O. Smith and Joseph Reed that goes into the localization process of FFXII: http://www.usgamer.net/articles/a-v...zation-and-voice-acting-of-final-fantasy-xii#

Wow. These guys are truly ahead of everyone else. The effort they took to write the script for XII and choose the amazing cast is astounding. Square, fire whoever is localizing FFXV and just hire these guys to start from scratch!

 

[Hypron]

French dubs are worse. Maybe it's just your native language dubs just sounds awful to you or something.
I always switch to Japanese audio when I can, most of the time the other languages feel emotionless.

I tend to find them horrendous but I'm not sure I'd say they are worse than English dubs. It's just that the vast, vast majority of games are initially voice acted in English so they don't need to be dubbed. There are far fewer opportunities to be exposed to bad English dubbing in video-games.

On the other hand, if you look at Anime where the amount of stuff dubbed in French and English is relatively similar, the quality is pretty similar (i.e. not something I'd like listening to).

I often assume that anime dubs get bashed quickly because hearing it in English won't cover up how bad the writing and story is. (Although translation itself can also be an issue)

Hearing something in a language you're unfamiliar with leaves some leeway in interpreting it how you want -- meaning it could sound better in one's own mind.

As someone who's made the transition of watching English movies and games with French dubs -> English VA w/ French subs -> English VA w/ English subs -> English VA, I kinda disagree with that. Sure, it's a bit harder to tell bad voice acting but it's not like you can't tell at all. It doesn't go from sounding great to sounding terrible. If anything, knowing more about the language made me appreciate the original VA even more and find the dubs worse.

I'd be highly surprised if I started feeling differently after starting to learn Japanese.

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

I think it depends on the language, too... not all languages use tone the same way. tone in english is mostly for emotion, context, etc... tone in mandarin changes the word and may have zero bearing at all on emotion, context, etc. to an english speaker it may sound like an increasingly passionate or angry sentence but to a mandarin speaker it may sound like a robot. which i have no idea if it has much relevance for most modern games since it probably mostly pertains to tone-less languages, but it does sort of add to what charlequin was saying about how being able to recognize tone or emotion in language doesn't necessarily mean you can recognize voice acting quality. perhaps for some games varying on the language (e.g. maybe playing witcher in polish?) but not all (e.g. playing 300 heroes in chinese?) precisely because some languages use tone to actually create different words or grammar.

 

[dadjumper]

How do you think it is the other way around? I'm sure games of English-speaking origin have bad voice acting in other languages

 

[The real Butters]

Its been said a few times but I really like the souls voice overs. Even more than games that's been 100% made in the states.

They are just oozing with creepy wickedness and atmosphere.

 

[charlequin]

I often assume that anime dubs get bashed quickly because hearing it in English won't cover up how bad the writing and story is. (Although translation itself can also be an issue)

In fairness, it's also much harder to redub something in a different language when you can't control the timing. Most game voice acting is over talking heads or dialog boxes, so there's much more freedom to write lines in a way that flows elegantly, instead of having to translate well and match the meter of the other language.

 

[Neoxon]

*points at the recent MGS games, Platinum's games, the DMC games, & the Persona games (especially 3/3FES/3P & 4/4G)*

It all depends on the amount of effort put into the dub. And

 

[Modest Mauser]

Recently English dub acting has largely been solid imo

The budget for these things just used to not be what it is now, probably. Voice acting for games in general has been improved greatly in recent years.

*points at the recent MGS games, Platinum's games, the DMC games, & the Persona games (especially 3/3FES/3P & 4/4G)*

It all depends on the amount of effort put into the dub. And

Well, to be fair, Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain were written and acted in English first, then dubbed into other languages.

 

[Hypron]

Recently English dub acting has largely been solid imo

The budget for these things just used to not be what it is now, probably. Voice acting for games in general has been improved greatly in recent years.



Well, to be fair, Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain were written and acted in English first, then dubbed into other languages.

Same thing for DMC and Platinum's games. For example the DMC games didn't even have Japanese dubs until the Special Edition of DMC4. Same thing for Bayonetta 1, it only got a Japanese dub for the Wii U version. Those games are not dubbed in English, they are made in that language.

 

[Funyarinpa]

There's plenty of exceptions. Any Souls game, most of Atlus USA's work(meaning stuff Atlus JP developed), The Last Story, No More Heroes, Killer7(which was released in Japan with English dialogue), etc.

Virtue's Last Fucking Reward.

Played the Vita demo (which has ENG dub) and now I literally can't get myself to play the game on my PAL 3DS (JP dub only). Will get the Vita physical down the line.

 

[wbEMX]

You should have heard german dubs. That stuff made me want to learn english as a kid as fast as possible since even then I knew these lines weren't supposed to sound like that. Add some pretty rough translations too for good measure.

Don't know how good they are these days though. I've played all my games in english or japanesebwith subs for like 15 years as a standard now.

The ironic thing is that german dubs were much, much better in the early 2000s and 90's than today, that especially counts for anime. Now everything that isn't dubbed by a high-profile studio is produced on a shoestring budget and very quickly. So while english dubs got much better over the years, in Germany the exact opposite happened. One of the few pretty good german game dubs from recent years that I remember was for the Uncharted series, but I still played it in english, because Nolan North is still much better. And concerning anime... just compare the dubs for something like Vision of Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop or Neon Genesis Evangelion to Haruhi Suzumiya or Kill la Kill. It's a huge drop in quality.

But yeah, I think the reason for the worse quality of english dubs back then was just the fact that there wasn't really a big voice acting-industry and culture behind it until anime and CD-based games hit the market big time. There is so much stuff produced in english-speaking countries - especially movies - that there was not a big need for a voice-acting industry. Sure, dubbing was commonplace back then, but not as much as now, I suppose.