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Topic: Dual Audio should not be a Necessity

Posts 21 to 39 of 39

Octane

@Snaplocket Those are safe estimates. Sony doesn't report numbers for the Vita I think. Vita is 15.6 million according to VGChartz. 10.5 million figure was from 2015, two years ago, so around 15 million is believable.

Octane

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LuckyLand

@SMEXIZELDAMAN videogames are better than life. Life is immensely overrated, often it is really unpleasant. Even mediocre games are better than life and you don't even need to buy a new game, there are already plenty of games good enough to be played again and again. However, there can't be many reason valid enough to skip on a game that you really like unless it has some REALLY bad bugs and glitches that make it unplayable - or something like that

Only other valid reason I can think of is a game that forces you to stay online otherwise it won't work at all. I could skip a game like this even if I wanted it.

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Ryu_Niiyama

@SMEXIZELDAMAN Red? You from Krypton? Better leave soon. I hear there is some pretty dangerous seismic activity going on there. Bring the dog.

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kkslider5552000

I do tend to agree, especially since "bad English voice acting" has become a rarity for larger games (even RE games get good voice actors nowadays). That being said, it shouldn't be a necessity because a game with a lot of voice acting should reasonably be able to hire decent voice actors and people who work with and direct the voice actors for what is almost always it's biggest release (the English language version). And sometimes, they still don't.

Even when it isn't a big focus, it's still absurd how little thought or effort was given. I refuse to believe the narrator for Hyrule Warriors did more than a day's worth of voice acting. They just found some random person, said "hey you can voice act!" and gave them 300 bucks to monotone their way through a story summary. Or at least that's what it seems like. Either Japanese VO isn't needed or the people localizing it have no effort/money left. Simple as that.

Edited on by kkslider5552000

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shaneoh

The voice acting in BotW is balls, at least in a language I can't understand I can't tell the difference. Shouldn't have been VA'ed anyway...

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kkslider5552000

I agree, I just don't think it matters, even if it's dumb (and most of it is in fact, just weirdos complaining about games they wouldn't have bought anyway). But, I think if people are buying it specifically for the story or for good voice acting and they don't get it, fair enough. Especially if they have limited money. I can name at least a few story driven games I wouldn't have liked REMOTELY as much without good voice acting, because it would've killed my investment in the characters.

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Sisilly_G

I can't stand American dubs. At least if there was some variation from game to game (say, Canadian actors in one game, Kiwis in another, Aussies in other, English/Irish/Scots in another etc.), then I may be more inclined to be more tolerant of it, but considering that most dubs are recorded in the U.S., we are unfortunately stuck with vacuous American accents in the vast majority of cases, and oftentimes, the performances are weak, disingenuous, and the accents usually hail from more socioeconomically provileged parts of the country, which also limits the range of accents that we hear in these games. Whenever dual language options are available, I will choose Japanese every time. I may be tempted otherwise if the cast is not American, however. We already hear their voices in music, commercials, films and TV shows, and I have become jaded by the U.S. cultural imperialism that is imposed upon the rest of the world, and even more so by their choice of leaders, which only makes me want to disassociate from them further.

Puyo was almost damn near unbearable with its horrible English VOs (which took some time to get used to, though I still hate them, especially after being spoiled by the Japanese demo). The characters in FE: Fates are also a lot less endearing as a result as well. It's particularly jarring when there are games with a strong Japanese aesthetic that are limited to American audio only.

Xenoblade Chronicles was a pleasant exception as U.K. accents lend themselves better to dubs IMO, but unfortunately U.K. dubs are quite rare.

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Ralizah

@Snaplocket No, I liked the voice acting in BotW as well. I mean, it wasn't fantastic or anything, but perfectly adequate for the purposes of the game.

Oh, and I couldn't stand the godawful British voices in Xenoblade. I'm playing XB2 in Japanese if I'm given the option. At least then I won't be subjected to cockney robots.

Edited on by Ralizah

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Haru17

sillygostly wrote:

Xenoblade Chronicles was a pleasant exception as U.K. accents lend themselves better to dubs IMO, but unfortunately U.K. dubs are quite rare.

That's a pretty absurd notion, especially considering that the voice cast of that particular game were always either talking in a flat, emotionless expository tone OR SCREAMING!!!

In any case, the notion of letting some niche anime community preference affect review verdicts for all Japanese games is worryingly daft. Consider that, as a journalist under time constraints, you can only ever feasibly review one version of a game. One platform, one language, one playthrough (for the most part). So, by all means evaluate the quality of the voice work in the language your audience is going to be playing it in. However, casual consumers (the vast majority of people who play games) don't even know about the whole Japanese dub conversation for the most part. No one reviewer is going to sufficiently evaluate every language major AAAs are released in, and most aren't even bilingual so factoring language options into a review verdict just turns into a bunch of meaningless guesswork.

Edited on by Haru17

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BakaKnight

To be honest Dual Audio feels like the option to change the controller's settings, it's not a necessity for all games, but when you find one that actually needs it, you'll definitely notice and get mad if the option is not there XD

Personally I experienced both cases, with some games offering a dub I was okay with, if not even prefering it to the original version, and others really making me wish there was a dual or even multi audio option.

Overall it's really a matter of case by case and personal opinions, I think we could easily make a topic for every game that gets dubbed and (except few cases) people may keep splitting unpredictabily on which they prefer between the dubbed or original version.
Personally I hope the developers will always try to go the extra mile and add multiple audio option whenever they can, sure it may not be a "necessity", and games like Xeno2 are unlikely to fail only for lacking that, but it's one of the many extra touches that, while not for everyone, can really improve the experience of the game for some users.

Edited on by BakaKnight

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crimsontadpoles

Dual audio is a good option to have. if the only VAs available on a game is a mediocre dub, then that would make the game slightly less enjoyable for me than if it had good voices. Lack of dual audio is unlikely to stop me from buying something, unless it was a game that I was already unsure about getting.

Edited on by crimsontadpoles

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BakaKnight

@Snaplocket I do agree is not a necessity, as I said, I consider dual-audio a nice extra touch, not a necessity.

When talking about dub, voice acting and even localization, I think it's a given that alone they can't destroy a good game (maybe in some cases it happened, but those would be just awful exceptions), but there is no doubt that they are a part of the whole product and as such they play a role in the player experience.

For put it bluntly, while I can't think of a game I would stricly avoid for a lack of dual-audio, I can definitely think of games where the option really made the experience more enjoyable to me.

Regarding the main topic and people complaining if a game lack a dual-audio option, I think the problem is exactly that dual-audio is a not necessity, but just an extra thing some people enjoy. Being something not mandatory, those really wishing to have this option have to show their interest in it so that the developers can be aware and see if and what they can do about it (sure then there is the matter that when people voice their wishes and complains online then things may turn into an exagerated tragedy, but that's a point for a different topic XD).

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NaviAndMii

@BakaKnight 100% agree!

To use Breath of the Wild as an example, I thoroughly enjoyed what I initially played of it with English audio - but when they later added the Japanese audio etc as additional options, I thought it was a really nice touch which only added to the overall experience (and was easily ignored for those that weren't interested)

Personally, I prefer to watch anime/J-horror etc - and ideally play the majority of Japanese games - with the original Japanese audio track and English text/subs...just a personal preference of mine - and by no means a 'deal breaker' - but I always appreciate the option if it's there (and done well!) ..if not (which is often the case) I don't cry about it - it's more that I consider the option to be a nice little bonus!

Edited on by NaviAndMii

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Ryu_Niiyama

@Snaplocket I promised myself I'd stay out of this thread, but I have to ask what is wrong with importing? (based upon your response to tobibra) I thought your complaint was with people not supporting a domestic release if if doesn't have Japanese audio (which by the way I would have sent xenoblade 2 back if not for the JPN audio option...geez the dubbing is BAD)? An importer is getting something they can't get otherwise (on occasion at the expense of a domestic purchase) but they aren't boycotting a game on principle. Most folks in that situation either speak the language or are willing to slog though to play something they enjoy.

For clarification is your issue with not supporting a domestic release no matter the language ability (or version availability for those that import to get a certain collectors edition...I've done that before and JaxonH does that a lot) or is it in playing in a non English release in general? Does imports that have no domestic equivalent have factor into this complaint? What about the other way around (take this site for instance, many of the posters here are not native english speakers and some play their games in english despite that)? Do you only want people to play domestic games? Just curious.

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Octane

This is so random. I seriously wonder how you guys dig this stuff up only to reply to a comment that was made a long time before your own last comment...

Octane

Ryu_Niiyama

He is (I am assuming here) talking about the fact that the thread was necro'ed and that you the OP necro'ed it. Which is usually frowned upon in internet forums. I only replied because there were folks ahead of me that responded today.

Edited on by Ryu_Niiyama

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