[Feba]

Kotaku - Japanese Voices On Xbox 360 Final Fantasy XIII, Who Needs 'Em? - Yoshinori kitase

wait, what?

[hexx]

o_O; my thoughts exactly *foresees a Malacite rant in the near future*

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

We don't need the otaku vs. sensible english dub discussion to start again, do we?

Also, I'm pretty sure the people who care about having japanese voices that badly are actually in the minority, they're just whiny motherfuckers when you give them a keyboard and a forum to post on. Not to mention they wouldn't know acting if it walked up and kicked them in the nuts. In either language. They're just enamored with hearing the games in a language they think they understand, but don't natively speak.

And any japanese person they'd try to hold a conversation with would cringe.

Last week or so, I've read people bitch about how Super Robot Taien OG Saga left the JP voicework in, but didn't sub the voicework that appeared, just the character diolouge in scense. Here's what they were doing in Japanese:

Haken: Lastu Showdouw! Klondike Nodeu!
KOS-MOS: Spell Bladeu!
Ashen: Ascehn Pawnch! Aschen Keeck!

Seriously, half of what they were saying was in broken english anyway. I need a translator for this?

Now, I'm willing to bet if we get both versions of the dub on the PS3 version, the basement-dweller crowd is going to listen to the English dub just to bitch about it even though they have they dub they want to fap to.

[hexx]

Originally Posted by Omgwtfbbqkitten

We don't need the otaku vs. sensible english dub discussion to start again, do we?

Also, I'm pretty sure the people who care about having japanese voices that badly are actually in the minority, they're just whiny motherfuckers when you give them a keyboard and a forum to post on. Not to mention they wouldn't know acting if it walked up and kicked them in the nuts. In either language.

That right there is hilarious im getting wierd stares at work cuz of how hard im laughing!

[Malacite]

Originally Posted by Omgwtfbbqkitten

We don't need the otaku vs. sensible english dub discussion to start again, do we?

For the love of God, this. Ty BBQ for saying it. Yes, when anime started NA VA was pretty bad, and still is bad in some games here and there but overall it's been getting better. <3 Ocean Group!

That said, Blu Ray ftw mother fuckers (Of course I'm making assumptions here but in all likeliness it will be the PS3 version that will have JP voices as an option if at all)

[Tickmeoff]

Did anyone expect either version to have both language tracks? I can't think of any game SE actually gave the option in.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

I'd sooner expect a New Game Plus mode, really. But last time that happened was Chrono Trigger and FFX-2.

Hell, I'd like that more than a Japanese dub anyday. The way it was used in CT and the Shin Megami Tensei games is a blast.

Also I thought the FFXI question posed toward Kitase was eye-roll worthy because, you know, he's totally been in on the FFXI project.

He's not really been vital to the series since FFVI and FFVII, I'm hoping he's taken some notes from FFXI and FFXI on top of the FFIV remake and can fashion something better than another "emo kids save the world" plot.

[Armando]

Every RPG should have a either a New Game+, a Fast Forward button or a Skip Dialogue/Cutscene feature after clearing the game once.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

They actually did add the Auto-Battle functions and flagged weaknesses in the Final Fantasy IV remake. This is the sort of stuff you typically see an SMT game do, though when you exploit weaknesses in those games you get free attack turns. I like the inclusion simply because I'll remember the weakness when I hit them and don't have to sift through the beastiary to find this stuff out.

Auto-Battle also just lets me take out weak crap without having to pay attention. Dirty, but still helpful.

I think New Game Plus kinda stuff is even cooler when it unlocks more optional bosses.

[Malacite]

Originally Posted by Armando

Every RPG should have a either a New Game+, a Fast Forward button or a Skip Dialogue/Cutscene feature after clearing the game once.

*glares menacingly at FFX and Xenogears*

Actually, Xenosaga Episode 1 too. God I hated that long ass seen before the boss inside the Gnosis ship or w.e that was (you have to ride an elevator down to the boss IIRC. There's a save point right there but the CS before the fight is sooooooo long @_@)

[TheGrandMom]

You can think what you want because you're entitled to that but I prefer the Japanese voices. The JP actors are more professional and actually care about the part. The US actors are usually a bunch of young people that went out to CA dreaming of hitting it big and found out that waiting tables was the best they could do. So they take whatever is thrown at them from an extra in a commercial to voice acting because they need the money. There are occasional games that employ more well known people that actually give a damn but for 95% of games thats not what happens.

Yes I don't know what they are saying but I can read subtitles (oooo I can read!) and I listen to the inflections of emotion in their voices and apply that to what I'm reading. This makes the game more immersive for me because I'm getting the feel that the producer wanted me to have. Many times when the game is done in English the original producer isn't even involved in the process so the feel that he wanted can be lost in translation and that does affect the game.

Many times the English voices are annoying and its nice to have an option to get rid of them for something that you can tolerate more. One thing that I like about JP male voices is that many times they have a lower vocal range than English voices. It's a personal preference but I like that more.

So to each their own but some of your comments Kitten were frankly abrasive, ignorant, and rude.

[Raydeus]

Nothing new from BBQ though.

Either way, I'm getting the PS3 version of the game. If the NA version includes Japanese option I'll go with that, if not I'll import the Japanese game and practice my kanjis for a while.

So Win +1 no matter what.

*hugs his blu-ray discs*




PS > It would be worrisome if the PS3 version didn't include Japanese audio though, it's become a default feature* already so if they skipped it it would say a lot about their localization efforts.


*Unless the game is soooooo huge another soundtrack wouldn't fit in... yeah right.

[Tickmeoff]

The way I see it is this:


In Japan, if you are a voice actor then your career is voice acting and maybe singing. You don't do anything else, your job is lending your voice talent to characters in games/anime/whatev. You are given a script, probably a background story of the character to have an idea of what their emotional state and personality should be and you make that character with your voice.


In America, having "famous voice talent" means having famous actors doing the voice acting. Only recently has anime gained enough popularity that we are actually getting real, talented English voice actors. In addition to that, somebody else has already done all of the work once, so all they have to do is go along with a character that's already been created.


Personally, either way is fine with me as long as one isn't especially terrible. I feel that most games have gotten to the point where I can listen to the voices in both languages and not really care which one I use.

Disgaea series is the most notable exception to this I can think of. Never in English shall you be, Disgaea.

[Pai Pai Master]

You spinning more options for the consumer as a negative now?

[Vyuru]

TGM for great justice!

Now my preference for the Japanese voice actors is partly due to watching anime, for instance have you heard the abomination that is Naruto in English? For the vast majority of anime that I have seen, the Japanese is always better than the English. The English normally doesn't have the proper tone of voice, they don't pick up on the nuances of the Japanese phrasing, and often I think they have an incorrect or flat out wrong translation.

Now granted, from my limited experience with it, voice actors for games tend to be better. However let's look at my prime example of being royally pissed off that I didn't get the Japanese voices, Onimusha 3. Now the English voice actors did fine, I have to start with that. However I am rather unhappy that I didn't get even an option to have the Japanese voices, frankly if I could have gotten the Japanese version for a reasonable price I would have.

And more importantly, why the !$!@# am I listening to these Japanese samurai and demons talking to each other in English in feudal Japan? Since Ako has some magical powers of auto translation, I could see having it in English whenever she's around, although I think it could be nice to have it in French when controlling Jacques and Japanese when controlling Samanosuke. But I can also see where that'd have conflicts when Jacques and Samanosuke are together, hence why I'd probably go with English as the language you hear when Ako is around.

Still, I have seen it in other games where having played the game with the Japanese voices, then to play it in English, where I did not like the English for a number of reasons. Could be I didn't agree with the translations, could be that I didn't like the fact that a woman who speaks like a little girl in Japanese, and to be more accurate, using phrasing that a little girl would use and then is given a sultry seductive adult voice in English, competely contrary to her character, or else the English actors don't get the appropriate emotional tone to their voice or just sound flat and emotionless, or any number of other reasons.

I like things that were originally in Japanese to be in Japanese because there are nuances that I can pick up that aren't there in the English version. I can also tell when there are nuances that I am not picking up, which I find enjoyable.

Also, while people who really care about the Japanese voices might be in the minority, I do take some offense at the rest. While granted, I have not done any studying of Japanese in something like 4-5 years, but if I was good enough to read books in Japanese, granted kid books without the kanji, although I may not call the Three Musketeers a kiddie book. If I was good enough to have been able to go into the translator/interpreter fields, then I am confidant enough to state that I have, or more accurately had, a decent to good understanding of the language. And in a very, VERY rare case of humility, the humbleness to acknowledge that there was still much for me to learn.