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Topic: Somewhat-Credible Zelda U Rumors

Posts 41 to 60 of 64

Haru17

Oh my god, the silly arguments. Oh lord, oh lord, the silly, pseudo-intellectual arguments.

TO NO ONE IN PARTICULAR No one has brought up any real ways the absence of voice acting adds to the narrative. Sure, there's that flimsy project-yourself-onto-the-boring-silent-protagonist-because-he-doesn't-have-an-actual-written-character point, but I and I'm sure many others don't enjoy that approach. I minimize my ego when consuming media because, in the end, it's the creator's work and will reflect their worldview and life experiences, not mine.

You cannot just say 'Zelda isn't for you' because I, and plenty of other people love Zelda's gameplay and story, but despise silent protagonists or text-only dialogue as a lazy cop out. That kind of absence of essential humanity renders many characters stiff and awkward, preventing Link from having any sort of character whatsoever beyond 'sleeps in late' and 'is hero because reasons'.

I think Nintendo could make a great voice-acted story if they tried.

Next, 'Modern game' does not mean 'bad modern game' and 'Voice acting and cutscenes' does not mean 'Metroid Other M'.

The same age that produced Other M also made The Last of Us, the difference is effort. Go figure, the Dead or Alive devs would screw up a female protagonist while Ellie is one of the most well crafted female protagonists in all media.

The same age that made Assassin's Creed Unity with all of its DLC & bugs made Dragon Age Inquisition, which runs great, has a big voice acted story, and has no planned DLC beyond a $10 cosmetic pack.

Metroid Prime told a great story with plenty of cutscenes (just like Majora's Mask), that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to hear VO for Samus' internal monologue. Something like that could open a window into her mental state. All of that can inject life into the, characteristically lifeless (for intelligent life anyway), Metroid worlds.

Traditions have no inherent virtue not grounded entirely in merit, regardless of any history. Just as easily as Nintendo could copy their own games they could copy the thousands of games with good voice acting.

And I hate guns, cars, and reality as a setting, unless they're in a narrative as brilliant as The Last of Us. So please refrain from stereotyping me, it reflects poorly upon you, as a person (semi-serious here).

Furthermore, I like all narrative games, sometimes voice acting isn't needed, like when you're reading journal entries found in the environment. But 3D Zelda games have always had RPG-like stories and RPGs have evolved to include voice acting, especially during the main quest, if they can afford it (and Nintendo can, guys).

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kkslider5552000

I disagree, for two main reasons.

1. Many of those JRPGs are horribly inconsistent with their voice acting, in that large chunks of it isn't voice acted in games that have voice acting. My rule is that all voice acting (when it's good of course) > no voice acting >>>>>>>>> refusal to voice everything. There are very few things that take me out of games more than JRPGs being inconsistent with that.It's a big pet peeve of mine and nearly every game to do this is unquestionably worse off for it. The fact that it's blatantly for budget reasons doesn't help.
2. I have no reason to believe Nintendo would have good enough voice acting outside of Japan that would be worthy of Zelda. I mean, Kid Icarus: Uprising was good, but really much of that is because of the tone. If it wasn't for the tone, it would be mediocre tbh. And Zelda deserves soooooooo much better than mediocre and they need to do this borderline perfectly for the fans to accept it.

It is simply reality that NOA would not put the same level of care into voice acting as say, Mass Effect. Until that happens, I'm meh at best at the idea.

Edited on by kkslider5552000

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Haru17

NoA does really good translations, it's not so far fetched for me to believe that they would do work with voice actors as well. (They must have already done this at some point.)

It did bother me in Ni No Kuni where, even during the main quest, the main characters would go suddenly mute. I don't think that kind of budget concern would be the problem for Zelda U of all things, though. Zelda would probably take the Elder Scrolls' blanket approach to VO (sans the random celebrity voices).

Edited on by Haru17

Don't hate me because I'm bnahabulous.

Gerald

I don't think it's due to budget that Zelda does not use Voice Acting. I think it is done to allow the player to use imagination.
With this, the experience is unique to each player due to your own imagination. Like reading a book instead of watching a movie.

NNID: Ootfan98
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whodatninja

Haru17 wrote:

Oh my god, the silly arguments. Oh lord, oh lord, the silly, pseudo-intellectual arguments.

TO NO ONE IN PARTICULAR No one has brought up any real ways the absence of voice acting adds to the narrative. Sure, there's that flimsy project-yourself-onto-the-boring-silent-protagonist-because-he-doesn't-have-an-actual-written-character point, but I and I'm sure many others don't enjoy that approach. I minimize my ego when consuming media because, in the end, it's the creator's work and will reflect their worldview and life experiences, not mine.

You cannot just say 'Zelda isn't for you' because I, and plenty of other people love Zelda's gameplay and story, but despise silent protagonists or text-only dialogue as a lazy cop out. That kind of absence of essential humanity renders many characters stiff and awkward, preventing Link from having any sort of character whatsoever beyond 'sleeps in late' and 'is hero because reasons'.

I think Nintendo could make a great voice-acted story if they tried.

Next, 'Modern game' does not mean 'bad modern game' and 'Voice acting and cutscenes' does not mean 'Metroid Other M'.

The same age that produced Other M also made The Last of Us, the difference is effort. Go figure, the Dead or Alive devs would screw up a female protagonist while Ellie is one of the most well crafted female protagonists in all media.

The same age that made Assassin's Creed Unity with all of its DLC & bugs made Dragon Age Inquisition, which runs great, has a big voice acted story, and has no planned DLC beyond a $10 cosmetic pack.

Metroid Prime told a great story with plenty of cutscenes (just like Majora's Mask), that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to hear VO for Samus' internal monologue. Something like that could open a window into her mental state. All of that can inject life into the, characteristically lifeless (for intelligent life anyway), Metroid worlds.

Traditions have no inherent virtue not grounded entirely in merit, regardless of any history. Just as easily as Nintendo could copy their own games they could copy the thousands of games with good voice acting.

And I hate guns, cars, and reality as a setting, unless they're in a narrative as brilliant as The Last of Us. So please refrain from stereotyping me, it reflects poorly upon you, as a person (semi-serious here).

Furthermore, I like all narrative games, sometimes voice acting isn't needed, like when you're reading journal entries found in the environment. But 3D Zelda games have always had RPG-like stories and RPGs have evolved to include voice acting, especially during the main quest, if they can afford it (and Nintendo can, guys).

I agree completely. Anyone who says that video game voice acting is inherently bad has not played Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls, Last of Us, Bioshock or even Telltale's Walking Dead.

It made sense in the old days that LOZ was text based, because that's all they could do at the time, but nowadays it's completely possible to have good voice acting. The text based storytelling has had a good run. but now i think it's time to evolve! It doesn't even have to only be in English, in fact it would probably be more fitting with a Japanese voice cast with the usual dialog bubbles. (It's already JP actors doing the noises and grunts etc)

Voice acting in Zelda, if done right, can be a massive achievement in the series' storytelling and a huge step forward for Nintendo! To those who are afraid of change, remember when Wind Waker came out how everyone was complaining because it was so different? Now it's one of the most beloved in the series, and rightfully so.

PS; rip Korra! Now there was a cartoon with PITCH PERFECT voice acting!

Edited on by whodatninja

whodatninja

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kkslider5552000

Haru17 wrote:

NoA does really good translations, it's not so far fetched for me to believe that they would do work with voice actors as well. (They must have already done this at some point.)

I dunno, I think a lot of these companies don't always realize how significant having both the talent and even more importantly a good voice director when translating Japanese games. I mean, even anime dubbing companies can still fail at this, and that's basically their entire reason for existing. So the company that doesn't remotely rely on voice acted games not having the best preparations for it makes a lot of sense to me.

Pretty much any legit good voice acting in Nintendo games are usually when NOA has less to do with that. Metroid Prime 3 was basically Retro contacting Funimation's guys, Xenoblade was NOE and Wonderful 101 is just a Platinum Games game that Nintendo happens to own the IP for. And this is why I say KI: Uprising would be mediocre otherwise because Wonderful 101 has a very similar tone and yet the voice acting is soooooo much better in it, it's crazy.

I mean, NOA could make the effort in to change this, I just don't think they will. Nintendo doesn't make enough games with any significant voice acting focus that it would make a huge difference to do so in the first place. They get Charles Martinet to say a few silly lines while you jump as a plumber, that's the average work of NOA's voice acting.

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shaneoh

Ootfan98 wrote:

I don't think it's due to budget that Zelda does not use Voice Acting. I think it is done to allow the player to use imagination.
With this, the experience is unique to each player due to your own imagination. Like reading a book instead of watching a movie.

Problem is kids today are too lazy to read. I prefer my Zelda voice acting free.

whodatninja wrote:

I agree completely. Anyone who says that video game voice acting is inherently bad has not played Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls, Last of Us, Bioshock or even Telltale's Walking Dead.

I'm not saying it's inherently bad, but half the time I skip through the dialogue and just read the subtitles because they are taking too damn long to say something. Morrowind is better than Oblivion and Skyrim for the sheer quantity of dialogue, they couldn't have voice acting and have so many quests and lore at the same time

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iKhan

I'm not getting into this futile argument. Whether you want it or not, Zelda U isn't getting it. The fact that Hyrule Warriors, a crossover in a series that that has had voice acting for years lacked voice acting itself is a pretty strong indication that Nintendo's vision for the series doesn't include it.

Currently Playing: Steamworld Heist, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Tales of Graces F

LzWinky

And to be fair, it's really not that necessary

Current games: Everything on Switch

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Dezzy

kkslider5552000 wrote:

I disagree, for two main reasons.

1. Many of those JRPGs are horribly inconsistent with their voice acting, in that large chunks of it isn't voice acted in games that have voice acting. My rule is that all voice acting (when it's good of course) > no voice acting >>>>>>>>> refusal to voice everything. There are very few things that take me out of games more than JRPGs being inconsistent with that.It's a big pet peeve of mine and nearly every game to do this is unquestionably worse off for it. The fact that it's blatantly for budget reasons doesn't help.

Lol, I'd never even thought about that but I completely agree. It's very annoying.

It's dangerous to go alone! Stay at home.

steamhare

Let's not cite the elder scrolls as an example of good voice acting. There are far too many examples of it being abhorrent.

steamhare

Dezzy

iKhan wrote:

I'm not getting into this futile argument. Whether you want it or not, Zelda U isn't getting it. The fact that Hyrule Warriors, a crossover in a series that that has had voice acting for years lacked voice acting itself is a pretty strong indication that Nintendo's vision for the series doesn't include it.

Lol that's a very authoritiative tone you have for saying you have no idea. This could easily be their first attempt at voice acting. They know a lot of people have been asking for it for a long time so they're obviously going to consider it!

It's dangerous to go alone! Stay at home.

Haru17

steamhare wrote:

Let's not cite the elder scrolls as an example of good voice acting. There are far too many examples of it being abhorrent.

Strongly disagree. Skyrim, Dragon Age Inquisition, and the Tales of Symphonia games got me much more invested in their respective worlds by having the characters actually talk to you. I never found any clip in Skyrim to be particularly bad. In fact, the companion character in the Dawnguard DLC was one of the best VO performances I heard that year. Besides, when you're in the mood you can speed read and skip dialogue in all of those games, and Zelda.

But anyway, I didn't mean for this thread to become about VO, so let's agree to disagree about that.

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LzWinky

I think Zelda shows that VA really isn't that necessary. I've enjoyed plenty of games without VA just as much as those with VA. Heck, sometimes I find VA more annoying than not

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Endriu7777

Haru17 wrote:

I want the dungeons to have journal entries and hints as to the history in the construction of the level. I still want that big main storyline chock-full of cutscenes and voice acting, if they want to finally be seen as a modern AAA game.

And obviously Zelda U was internally delayed to 2015 and hasn't got a good subtitle yet.

While I agree with you that this is what is expected from a AAA-title - I hope they will stick to the old formula...

I got Wind Waker HD yesterday and have been playing a little. Its a wonderful game that is still holding up!!! - I am kinda happy about not having bought the GameCube back in the day... so I dont treat Wind Waker as a remake of a game that I already know but as a completely new game. The lack of voice acting makes the game actually more charming! Just imagine they had chosen voice actors that you didnt like! Like people people complaining about xenoblade british voice cast. Besides as far as I have realized during my somewhat limited experience with Zelda that the games are less about cutscenes and more about actually playing the game. Cut scenes have become more prevalent and very often I felt as if they were interrupting the flow of the game, but thats just my opinion/experience. So I am quite content with the way Zelda games are designed and hope they will stick to the formula!

Endriu7777

Endriu7777

Haru17 wrote:

steamhare wrote:

Let's not cite the elder scrolls as an example of good voice acting. There are far too many examples of it being abhorrent.

Strongly disagree. Skyrim, Dragon Age Inquisition, and the Tales of Symphonia games got me much more invested in their respective worlds by having the characters actually talk to you. I never found any clip in Skyrim to be particularly bad. In fact, the companion character in the Dawnguard DLC was one of the best VO performances I heard that year. Besides, when you're in the mood you can speed read and skip dialogue in all of those games, and Zelda.

But anyway, I didn't mean for this thread to become about VO, so let's agree to disagree about that.

I agree with you here, the voice acting in skyrim was very well done. It contributed to the atmosphere and believability of the world. A game like skyrim without voice acting would a step back but in the Zelda universe it is quite fitting IMHO.

Endriu7777

iKhan

Dezzy wrote:

iKhan wrote:

I'm not getting into this futile argument. Whether you want it or not, Zelda U isn't getting it. The fact that Hyrule Warriors, a crossover in a series that that has had voice acting for years lacked voice acting itself is a pretty strong indication that Nintendo's vision for the series doesn't include it.

Lol that's a very authoritiative tone you have for saying you have no idea. This could easily be their first attempt at voice acting. They know a lot of people have been asking for it for a long time so they're obviously going to consider it!

I'm not sure about that. There are certain aspects that developers simply put out of the question. For example, some people ask for it, but a mature Pokemon game isn't ever happening. If the Zelda team feels that a lack of voice acting is an important part of the Zelda experience, it's entirely possible that it's not going to be considered. I think that the lack of VA in Hyrule Warriors is a pretty strong indication that that is exactly how, at the very least, Aonuma feels.

Currently Playing: Steamworld Heist, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Tales of Graces F

Haru17

iKhan wrote:

Dezzy wrote:

iKhan wrote:

I'm not getting into this futile argument. Whether you want it or not, Zelda U isn't getting it. The fact that Hyrule Warriors, a crossover in a series that that has had voice acting for years lacked voice acting itself is a pretty strong indication that Nintendo's vision for the series doesn't include it.

Lol that's a very authoritiative tone you have for saying you have no idea. This could easily be their first attempt at voice acting. They know a lot of people have been asking for it for a long time so they're obviously going to consider it!

I'm not sure about that. There are certain aspects that developers simply put out of the question. For example, some people ask for it, but a mature Pokemon game isn't ever happening. If the Zelda team feels that a lack of voice acting is an important part of the Zelda experience, it's entirely possible that it's not going to be considered. I think that the lack of VA in Hyrule Warriors is a pretty strong indication that that is exactly how, at the very least, Aonuma feels.

I'm not sure Hyrule Warriors has any influence over Zelda U. And the mature pokemon game won't happen for the obvious reason that it will cost the company millions of sales to children, whereas voice acting doesn't really affect ratings. Either way, we'll know at E3.

If you all would like to discuss voice acting in Zelda, or its absence further, please make another thread. This one was made to discuss what these rumors could hypothetically mean (none of them concerned voice acting) and I would rather discuss any other aspect of Zelda than have yet another fruitless debate over VO. After all, no one ever changes their mind because it hasn't had a chance to prove itself in Zelda games yet, which makes it a boring debate.

Don't hate me because I'm bnahabulous.

Dezzy

iKhan wrote:

I'm not sure about that. There are certain aspects that developers simply put out of the question. For example, some people ask for it, but a mature Pokemon game isn't ever happening. If the Zelda team feels that a lack of voice acting is an important part of the Zelda experience, it's entirely possible that it's not going to be considered. I think that the lack of VA in Hyrule Warriors is a pretty strong indication that that is exactly how, at the very least, Aonuma feels.

I haven't Pokemon'd since the Gameboy days, so I'm not really informed enough to comment on the analogy. But as for Hyrule Warriors. I wouldn't draw that conclusion at all. Hyrule Warriors was clearly a lot smaller a project than a main Zelda and was much more about just filling up the release schedule. Whereas the main Zelda series has traditionally been where Nintendo have often tried to push new ideas.
I don't actually care about voice acting that much myself. If they announce there is none, it would change my excitement level by about 0.1%. But I bet they are considering it. A lot of sites mentioned it in their review for Skyward Sword. I bet that was enough to put it on their radar.

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