Xenoblade Chronicles was famous at the time of release for utilising the vocal talents of British voice actors, which gave the game a pretty unique sound – most RPGs tend to showcase an American cast when they're localised for the west.
One of the actors involved was a relatively unknown Jenna Coleman, who voiced Princess Melia Antiqua. At the time of the game's release, Coleman had a recurring role in the British TV soap Emmerdale and had just secured a part in the Marvel movie Captain America: The First Avenger. However, in 2012 her career really took off when she joined the cast of Doctor Who, bringing her to the attention of millions of viewers.
This was followed by what is perhaps her crowning glory (no pun intended), playing a young Queen Victoria in the ITV series Victoria. She won widespread critical acclaim for her performance, and her star arguably has never been higher – which is what makes her return to Xenoblade Chronicles all the more surprising.
Princess Melia is featured in Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition's Future Connected epilogue, which offers around 10-20 hours of additional gameplay. We gave the game 9/10 in our review, stating: "Even if you wouldn’t consider yourself a fan, we would still strongly encourage you to think about adding this one to your collection, as this is the standard against which most RPGs should be judged."
[source gonintendo.com]
Comments (51)
Back when Doctor Who was still good.
We have known this since the previews went live (they confirmed this in RogerBase's video)
Completely off topic but for the team @Nintendolife, when can we expect the reviews for Bioshock, Borderlands and Xcom?
I did not even know who Jenna Coleman was...
I'm sorry who is she?
knowing absolutely nothing about the actress, I was trying to connect where the hell the thumbnail was in Xenoblade Chronicles DE
It literally says in the article who she is.
I never made this connection. But I am quite glad she reprises her role. Melia is my fave. <3
I'd like to believe that some day, playing a role like this in a game wont be seen as stepping down or whatever. Like, this article is proof that people, some people at least, think that voicing a role in a game is somehow less than acting on TV or in a movie.
That just makes me sad. Xenoblade has a better story than 98% of all mainstream TV and Hollywood. No question.
@tourjeff looks like it might be shortly after launch... but we'll be publishing as soon as possible.
My god NL, slow news day? Might have been news worthy if you had an interview with her about her role, even reposted from somewhere else. Instead it looks like the work experience lad has stumbled across something on IMDB on his lunch break.
I did not know that. I really liked her in Doctor Who and was glad that they gave her a strong send off.
@Kineas no, the game comes out tomorrow and fans have wondered if she would reprise her role considering the trajectory of her career since the original release which has now been confirmed.
@antdickens thank you, much appreciate your reply.
According to DHL my copy will arrive today! Baaam, one day early!
@tourjeff I read on another site that reviewer codes weren't being sent out until launch day, so I guess most reviews are going to be late. Link to reddit article: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/gr0j9a/statement_from_switchup_that_they_are_not_giving/
@mazzel Shopto are great for getting your game a day early
@antdickens Thanks for clearing that up, I didn't realise anyone was actually asking the question. Thank god NL is here to answer these questions.
Only thing it's missing now is the ever so helpful Amazon buttons that NL provides us idiots with because we don't know how to use Amazon search ourselves, not to mention they're never the cheapest.
@mariomaster96 I think the article is just an excuse for them to repost their bogus recommendation of the game
This was confirmed 2 weeks ago.
I'm happy they were able to secure her, along with the rest of the cast though.
@Mince Not available in Germany, unfortunately. This time, MediaMarkt here was early. And it's even the collectors edition
@gcunit why is the recommendation bogus? You already played the DE and have some information, why they shouldn't recommend it?
@Kineas You OK hun?
@Damo as far as I can work out he’s upset that NL has run an article that doesn’t meet his arbitrary bar for newsworthiness and also that NL isn’t a non profit site happy to eat it’s own maintenance costs and be staffed exclusively by volunteers.
@mazzel well enjoy, I played 2 only a month or two ago so I will wait a little while before getting the remake.
I am looking forward to it though, enjoy your day!
@Kid_Sickarus I think you've nailed it.
You guys make it sound like this voice acting for the game is beneath her. They offered her the role again and she took it. She is in more roles but not on some unattainable level now.
@edhe yep. old news.
and I don’t even get how this is news?! You want money to read lines into a mic (possibly in your Pajamas while in bed)? Sure. As long as it isn’t detrimental to your image, take the $$$!
That's nice to know, it's always a shame when the voice of a character is changed between games or movies. JRPGs are still a niche genre so there was definitely cause to wonder whether she would be back. She must have enjoyed voicing Melia originally
Souffle girl. (Didn't make this, just found it.)
@siavm I don't think that's necessarily what they are saying. It's more likely that her price has gone up so they have to decide if it's worth paying that or get a cheaper replacement.
I don’t know her reason but I respect her decision a lot to come back and work on Xenoblade.
@rjejr I watched Doctor Who at the time but I didn't understand a thing in that video 😂
@Mince I played 2 at release, so it's more than 2 years now DHL just rang the door bell and I'm holding the Collectors Edition in my hands right now!!! Enjoy your day, too
@Ralizah Yup
I never knew Jenna was in Xenoblade, that's cool, i really liked her character in Emmerdale
@mariomaster96 Many other sources confirmed it before that video.
@JokerCK so, you are too lazy to read the article, but not too lazy to comment? huh.
That pun was 100% intended.
Lots of people: Melia is Clara from Doctor Who!
Me: Melia is Jasmine from Emmerdale!
I thought she was a great choice for the companion, but that was during a time where the writer was really dragging the show down. There were only a few standout episodes, and they then made the show about her instead of the doctor. There was a lack of balance. Capaldi and Clara got screwed by the writers. They could have been amazing as they were both great pics. But you can only do so much with a limiting script.
@clvr The only thing you have to understand from that video is that Jenna Coleman is a beautiful actress who was on Dr. Who. 😍
I like to think Melia was good practice for her playing Victoria.
And I'm sorry but you don't have to ask "who is she" if you live outside the UK, because that's a given. She's a british TV star, no one's ever said she's global so it's unlikely you'll have seen anything she's in. Unless you like Doctor Who.
Same for the **** comments on here about it not being news. It is news, everyone was asking it when the trailers were released before any clips of Melia were included. And the same again when we learned about the epilogue but didn't hear her. And the same again when she was featured in the new content and people suspected she sounded different. Yes, we had some confirmation a few weeks back but it's nice to hear from actual reviewers who have played the game. Get off your high horse and enjoy the sunshine (responsibly)
@rjejr yeah she is very pretty indeed!
There is a very good reason why the game used British voice actors instead of Americans. The game was originally only going to be localized for Europe while skipping North America, so naturally they used British voice actors for the English dub that was primarily only going to be heard in the U.K., Ireland, and Australia. When they decided to bring the game to North America after all, they decided to lessen the risk by just porting over the English voice track they already had rather than waste money redubbing the game with American voice actors.
@Ralizah back when every fan base hadn’t gone to war on itself.
Until regular film shooting schedules are fully reestablished, I could imagine we'll see some high profile stars doing voice-over acting.
@Heavyarms55 I agree. It's a mix of the stigma games in general still have, plus the history that game voicing generally was a budget affair for a long, long time, not really utilizing top tier talent.
Though I'd also go in the other direction and say that "big name stars" are little more than a gimmick and draw attention to a particular film or show that games, seemingly, don't need to succeed the way film and TV does, and many of the very best actors are people nobody has ever heard of and make virtually no money (half of Broadway, and most live theater stages, for example.)
I still say Polar Express was ruined by Tom Hanks and would have been a much better show with virtually anybody but him starring in it. I do like Hanks the person, but I don't think he's an amazing actor, always comes across as Hanks playing a role, and in Polar Express was simply grating, throughout. I think I cringe more when I see a big name doing VA work rather than less (except in this case where it's the original actor, of course. And Claudia Black. Anything with Claudia is hysterical.)
@Ralizah Absolutely and has nothing to do with the Whitaker. She's a terrific actor, the writing is just plain ***** and all about pandering.
@tseliot I think I tapped out a few episodes after that one with the time-traveling white supremacist whose nefarious plan was to... er... make sure Rosa Parks didn't get on a bus. lol.
And, look: I could even look past the occasional bit of pandering social commentary. But the doctor's writing sucked. The companions were non-entities. The show was no fun, and felt nothing like Doctor Who. I've never seen a show go down hill so quickly.
Granted, in hindsight, I should have expected this, considering how bad Capaldi's last season was as well. Not THIS bad, but still pretty bad.
I have a few family members and friends who still watch it, and they inform me that it has gotten slightly better... imagine that said with a tint of desperation to it.
@Ralizah Arguable considering the Moffat era.
@Ralizah I think a lot of companies feel that extreme pandering is the only way to survive. I don't mind some thought provoking episodes that make you want to be a better human but earlier episodes with David Tennant and Matt Smith were able to pull off similar messages without beating you over the head with it. Now it just feels like an overt after school special.
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