Accents and languages in game VO

[J.E. Sawyer]

What are you talking about? She managed to hit a Maine accent perfectly. I think people are so used to hearing faux-accents that real ones throw them.

I agree that Moira's VO actor did a good job, though the voice could become grating -- I think that was the point. I notice this problem a lot with how players respond to voices and accents. I'm a big fan of having crazy United Colors of Benetton casts, but I always want to have native speakers as actors for those roles. If a character is Qu

[Slowtrain]

What are you talking about? She managed to hit a Maine accent perfectly. I think people are so used to hearing faux-accents that real ones throw them.

I agree that Moira's VO actor did a good job, though the voice could become grating -- I think that was the point. I notice this problem a lot with how players respond to voices and accents. I'm a big fan of having crazy United Colors of Benetton casts, but I always want to have native speakers as actors for those roles. If a character is Qu

[Hell Kitty]

Is going out of your way to find native speakers really worth it, given that folks tend to criticize based on how they think someone is supposed to sound like, not what people of particular regions actually sound like?

[Aristes]

I think this thread is a pretty good example of one of the problems with spending the dough on bringing talent in from out of state/country.

 

Folks won't know the difference and the ones who do won't care. I mean, I thought Moire did a pretty good job. She sounds just like someone I know in real life, and she even kind of looks a little the same too. I thought it was funny. Her acting wasn't exactly top notch, but good enough for a video game, soap opera, or most sitcoms.

 

I suppose having an American voice actor step into the studio to do what most Americans think is a French accent is perfectly fine considering most Americans should then be happy with the performance. I suppose most Italian, German, French, English, Japanese, etc people do something similar? I mean, why are bad ol' Americans expected to know precisely how an honest to goodness Brazilian sounds? I mean, I don't. I guess I'm just one o' those ignornt ol' Americans, even though I did live overseas for several years and have been to both Asia and Europe. I could definitely tell you the difference between a Korean, Japanese, or Chinese accent. The difference between Brazilian or Argentinian? The difference between either one and an American who does a passable Spanish accent and for whom a Brazilian identity has been established through narrative or dialogue? Not so much.

 

Purity is great and all, but you should get bang for the buck in my ever so humble opinion.

[J.E. Sawyer]

A lot of RPG fans live in other countries (Europe in particular) and buy the English versions of games. They also tend to see previews in English, so if a French national or Quebecer hears what sounds like someone effectively making fun of their language/accent, it's probably not going to be very appealing to them. And the difference between Brazilian and Argentine accents? Well, Brazilians speak Brazilian Portuguese, not Spanish, and the languages sound pretty different. I don't expect you, the individual, to know the difference, but people who do know the difference will expect us to know the difference as well.

 

Is going out of your way to find native speakers really worth it, given that folks tend to criticize based on how they think someone is supposed to sound like, not what people of particular regions actually sound like?

I'm the guy who lobbied for over a year to have a Firefox spell check bug (which I reported) fixed so that "dialogue" would be a recognized spelling of that word. I'm almost always going to argue that getting language and accent right (even if it's intentionally wrong) is worth the effort.

[Pidesco]

Yes, we do.

[Aristes]

Aw well, I was hoping to get the Brazilian/Portuguese thing in order to shoot back that I know I already know but still couldn't tell the difference. I have to admit, though, that you have a point about foreign players. I guess the question is, which is more important for marketting purposes? That's not a snide or sarcastic question. I mean, as I understand it, you Obsidianites have pretty strong non-US sales. You might want to pay close attention to those markets and accomodate them. On the other hand, you probably don't want US customers to be confused by accents that don't sound authentic. ...And that's a problem also, since folks are sometimes fooled by fake accents and other folks are not fooled by real ones. haha Seriously, though, I get the point about intentionally wrong accents, but it seems like a whole can of worms. My point still remains, although perhaps a bit tempered now, that you need to get good bang for the buck. If it's worth the investment, and you've given a reasonable basis for why it might be, then spend the cash.

[Pidesco]

I remember seeing people complain about Sheena Easton's Scottish accent in Torment.

[Gorth]

I remember seeing people complain about Sheena Easton's Scottish accent in Torment.

That's because she wasn't a dwarf. Everybody knows that dwarves are the ones with Scottish accents.

[Tigranes]

Moira succeeded in the effect they were aiming for I think, but they were aiming at the wrong things. Yes, sometimes voices are MEANT to be obnoxious and annoying, but not to the point that you abuse your mute button every time she talks. It's also much too upbeat and I get visions of pink ponies in my Fallout.

 

I do have an allergic reaction to happy fluffy voices though.

 

edit: and about accents - you wouldn't believe the difference between San Andreas' Asians and, say, well, every other game out there (including Jade Empire). In SA I think they actually used a Korean for Koreans, Chinese for Chinese, etc.

 

Or my ears are horrid little pluckers.

[Gorgon]

I'm the guy who lobbied for over a year to have a Firefox spell check bug (which I reported) fixed so that "dialogue" would be a recognized spelling of that word. I'm almost always going to argue that getting language and accent right (even if it's intentionally wrong) is worth the effort.

I don't get it, how else would you spell 'dialogue'.

[Gorgon]

Without the 'u' apparently.

 

Anyway webster's says either work, the firefox spellchecker is no dictionary.

Edited December 5, 2008 by Gorgon

[CoM_Solaufein]

Dialogue French/British spelling, dialog American English spelling.

 

On topic. After playing Fallout 3 two times, I'll give it a rest for now. Bethsda did a fine job with it and hopefully they'll make a fourth.

[Killian Kalthorne]

I remember seeing people complain about Sheena Easton's Scottish accent in Torment.

That's because she wasn't a dwarf. Everybody knows that dwarves are the ones with Scottish accents.

 

If it's not dwarvish, IT'S CRAP!

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Without the 'u' apparently.

 

I've also seen it spelled without the "u" and "e".

[Slowtrain]

I would like to see more games that are not so tied to English as the primary language of the entire game. Spoken languages should be appropriate for the location in which gameplay is occuring. If part of a game is occuring in France, then most of the voice actors should be speaking French, not French accented English. One things I really like in STALKER was the fact that much of the spoken language was not English and no attempt was even made to intrepet it for you. It really added to the awesome factor of the game. I would have preferred that all the dialogue in the game have been non-ENglish, but no such luck.

[Gromnir]

I remember seeing people complain about Sheena Easton's Scottish accent in Torment.

That's because she wasn't a dwarf. Everybody knows that dwarves are the ones with Scottish accents.

 

dwarves is scottish? we always imagine 'em with a brooklyn accent.

 

*shrug*

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Maria Caliban]

I remember seeing people complain about Sheena Easton's Scottish accent in Torment.

 

It sounded fake to me.

 

But come on, she sounds like this sometimes. When she starts up with Scottish accent, I don't immedately think 'of course, she's probably from Scotland.'

[Aristes]

I would like to see more games that are not so tied to English as the primary language of the entire game. Spoken languages should be appropriate for the location in which gameplay is occuring. If part of a game is occuring in France, then most of the voice actors should be speaking French, not French accented English. One things I really like in STALKER was the fact that much of the spoken language was not English and no attempt was even made to intrepet it for you. It really added to the awesome factor of the game. I would have preferred that all the dialogue in the game have been non-ENglish, but no such luck.

 

I think there are a couple of good points in here.

 

I'd like to see games where the folks speak languages of the area. In those cases, simple subtitles would suffice for me. After all, I turn on subtitles for English dialgue (I've always seen and read dialogue spelled as dialogue and I've been an American for... let's see... all my life!). Like most folks, I read the dialogue faster than the voice actor says it. Unless the acting is truly superb, I generally skip it. Even if it's superb, I almost always skip it after the first run. So, English subtitles and authentic voice acting would probably add a certain something to the game.

 

If this were the plan, then we could see a truly international game. I like that idea. Very cosmopolitan.

 

On the other hand, Stalker was localized. In my version, the background chatter remained in Russian.* The actual dialogue was in English. I figured you already knew that, since it would have been pretty damned hard to play the game without understanding any of the interactive dialogue. (Maybe not impossible for a lot of games out there though. haha) So, if you mean background chatter and whatnot, I completely agree with you. I thought it really did help promote the feeling of being in Chernobyl. However, there is a caveat. First of all, STALKER was developed by Russian (again, I'm assuming here, but they were certainly eastern European) designers. It makes sense that they'd make the game in a certain language and then localize for the US.

 

The real crux is, how do you think this game would do? You'd love to see it. I agree. If the design team is really clever and does a good job with it, then I'm sure that gamers would receive it well. ...But as a general rule, I'm not so sure it would fare well. It certainly couldn't come accross as a gimmick. As part of a real effor to draw in the player? Sure. As a half-assed attempt to show off for the player? Not so much.

 

Of course, I'm someone who went to seeThe Passion of the Christ[/b] because of how Gibbson handled language and then complained because he used church Latin pronunciations. It's no surprise I would like to see more games done the same way.

 

On the other hand, even if it's well received, will such design features pay for themselves? That's the real issue. If you start having games set in a variety of countries, you not only have to make sure the voice actors are from those countries, but that the dialogue is well written in both American English and the country that provides the setting.** That's not only going to entail extra costs for the talent but also to prepare the manuscript.

 

*I guess it's Russian. Sounded eastern European, but I don't know the difference between Russian and Polish offhand, even though I'm sure they're vastly different. Same goes for other Slavic languages.

 

**I'm putting the developer in the US for convenience, but the same principle would apply to any nation.

[Diogo Ribeiro]

*I guess it's Russian. Sounded eastern European, but I don't know the difference between Russian and Polish offhand, even though I'm sure they're vastly different. Same goes for other Slavic languages.

 

Just call it Vodkaspeak.

[Hurlshort]

I'd like to see better voice work in games, but it just doesn't have enough of an impact on sales to be a giant concern for developers (or it might be more accurate to say publishers.) Do you think Fallout 3 sold more copies because of Liam Neeson? Games like Halo sell phenomenally without and voice talent at all.

[Enoch]

I'd like to see better voice work in games, but it just doesn't have enough of an impact on sales to be a giant concern for developers (or it might be more accurate to say publishers.) Do you think Fallout 3 sold more copies because of Liam Neeson? Games like Halo sell phenomenally without and voice talent at all.

I don't think anyone went out and bought FO3 specifically to hear Mr. Neeson's performance, but his inclusion probably helped in other ways. I'm thinking specifically of media coverage outside the gaming media. Since Bethesda is a local company around here, their stuff usually gets some coverage in the Washington Post and other local outlets. The fact that Neeson was involved in the game usually figured pretty prominently in this kind of non-gaming-media coverage-- non-gamers (and non-gamer reporters) tend to take a project more seriously if they see a serious celebrity involved in it. That shift in attitudes probably does help sales in subtle ways.

[Pop]

Actually Halo's voice talent I would say is no better or worse than those any other game. Bioware poached Captain Anderson from Halo, after all.

[Aristes]

I'd like to see better voice work in games, but it just doesn't have enough of an impact on sales to be a giant concern for developers (or it might be more accurate to say publishers.) Do you think Fallout 3 sold more copies because of Liam Neeson? Games like Halo sell phenomenally without and voice talent at all.

I don't think anyone went out and bought FO3 specifically to hear Mr. Neeson's performance, but his inclusion probably helped in other ways. I'm thinking specifically of media coverage outside the gaming media. Since Bethesda is a local company around here, their stuff usually gets some coverage in the Washington Post and other local outlets. The fact that Neeson was involved in the game usually figured pretty prominently in this kind of non-gaming-media coverage-- non-gamers (and non-gamer reporters) tend to take a project more seriously if they see a serious celebrity involved in it. That shift in attitudes probably does help sales in subtle ways.

 

There's also the fact that better voice over work is part of a well finished game. Sure, it might not be an initial draw, but it does pay somewhere along the line. At the end of the day, the gameplay is probably the most important selling factor over the long term, but all of these other pieces must fit into the puzzle somewhere. The question isn't whether or not the voice-over work pays. If it didn't pay at all, developers/publishers would have abandoned in a long time ago. The question is how much it pays and how much you get back for every dollar you spend on it.

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Games like Halo sell phenomenally without any voice talent at all.