Spoilers below — some late-game scenes from Pokémon Scarlet & Violet appear in this video!
Amongst all the criticisms and praise for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, one particular issue has come to the surface most recently: The lack of voice acting. The Pokémon series has never had voice acting, of course, but Pokémon Scarlet and Violet feels like it should. The increase in cinematic cutscenes means that we're treated to a bunch of silent mouth-flapping that seems incredibly awkward without voice actors speaking the lines.
But YouTuber Dr. Bonehead has corralled a few of his voice-over friends to imagine a world in which the latest Pokémon games had full, professional-quality voice-over as well as audio work, and it adds a great deal of personality and emotion to the scenes portrayed.
But, yes, spoilers. Watch with caution!
We're not sure how Game Freak would handle voice acting, although we have some precedent to examine. After all, there's a whole voice-acted Pokémon anime, isn't there? But the closest we've come to a voiced Pokémon game is this clip featuring Sword and Shield's female protagonist, which is, um, very British:
Our old pal Jon Cartwright even gave voicing Nemona a go, although we don't know if he quite nailed it:
So, what do you think? Would you want a voice-acted Pokémon game, or would it ruin it for you? Do you think Game Freak would pick a good voice cast? And who would Troy Baker play? Give us your thoughts in the comments below!
Comments 35
This hurts so much seeing the potential it had. I thought Gen 8 had awkward quiet moments but so much of this game feels like they deliberately animated the scenes with voice acting in mind...
I haven't gotten far into Pokemon Violet (because I hate it) so haven't seen many of the cutscenes but Sword and Shield and Legends: Arceus both felt so awkward at times with no voice acting. At the very least, the major cutscenes should be voiced IMO. Most other modern JRPGs manage to do at least that much.
@Nikhogan Right?? I haven't played the game yet so i was like "wait the mouths move...is that the actual cutscenes and some of them are actually voice acted?" But no - the mouths do move but all of this video is these people's work who voiced it. They've done such a great job and...my god, it really makes me want to play it - but only with the voice acting. Idk, it's just so bland reading the text, i can never really connect to the characters. :/
I find it mostly odd they still use random 8 bit noises for Pokemon when we've all known they speak their own names for like 30 years.
But nah, stick to random noises and no VA because they know the dumb dumbs will still buy whatever half ass project they slop on your plate.
@theModestMouse pokemon only speak their own name in the anime which is non canon.
In the games, which are canon, they have made animal noises since gen 7. Like bird pokemon chirping and dog pokemon barking.
Pokemon games are going to continue to be subpar experiences as long as they sell well and people keep asking for the games. At this rate, I don't expect voice acting to be added until Gen 13.
This isn't much of an ask, knowing how much money the Pokemon Company has. Its just laziness to cut corners like this
The subheading killed me for some reason
@Mando44646 Would SwSh have been better games if they had voice-acting? No. If Game Freak is willing to put more time and money into their games, voice-acting should not be at the top of the priority list. Fix the graphics and optimization, first and foremost.
@darkswabber They speak in Smash...also they have dialogue in past Pokemon games, they can speak.
If the pre-release trailers and teasers are anything to go by, Game Freak may be finally considering voice acting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCEuS_7YYVc
Voice acting is the last thing this game IP needs, well that and launch on a decent state…
Other than cart storage I don’t get why these games don’t have VA. It can’t be budget, this is the Pokemon Company, with access to a full animation production pipeline. They should have access to VA if they wanted it.
@Joeynator3000
The dialogue is usually a vocal representation of the pokemons in game cry, and smash games use the anime VA, again highlighting that as always the animation and other medium is a separate continuity. Excluding pikachu and eevee ofc
Nah I don't really need VA in pokemon nothing really wrong with a bit of reading. And I very much prefer the Avatar approach used pokemon. Pokemon masters is a separate continuity in its own universe which is physically impossible in pokemo games hence Gloria's existence she's different because she is NOT the player. But honestly the author of this article always characterises the avatars in pokemon articles so I'm not surprised she mentions that awful accent.
wow, so this game has actual cut scenes, shame the voices aren't really there.
Like not the voice acting is 💯 necessary I think this game definitely would have benefited from it. this showcase literally sound like they did in my head when i read their individual voices<3 also certain events like the ones with arven and the ending are way more emotional and this game actually had a good storyline.
If Jon did that voice, I'd buy it.
It's funny when much less profitable games like Fire Emblem and Persona feature full voice acting. Pokemon makes way more money and should be able to have this.
And for those that say, "Well I don't mind it being silent." Good for you. Then you can just mute the voices if they ever do add them. But that doesn't mean the rest of us should have to play through a JRPG in 2022 in absolute silence.
I don't think anyone cares about full voice acting, but the cutscenes just lose so much when there's pure silence as the characters are speaking. It's especially annoying when characters talk in the advertising, but not in the game itself.
@JR150 Sorry, but voice-acting is at the bottom of the totem poles when it comes to things Game Freak needs to work on. If you can't play a JRPG without voice-acting, that says more about you.
Cutscenes in this game really should have had voice acting.
Hiring voice actors would cut into their profit margins same as game testers 😂 , the voice acting in genshin is great I'm sure one of the voice actors in that voices ash Ketchum in Pokémon aswell
the Pokémon franchise need urgently to have voice acting the games, as the franchise progress, it plot become more complex and developed, with just text you can't tell if this character is angry, happy or disapoited, for Arceus sake, Pokémon is the largest media franchise of the world, they can aford voice acting the games, Xenoblade Chonicles a franchise that is less popular then Pokémon could aford voice acting(same for Fire Emblem, both featuring fully voiced cinematics).
Game Freak needs to get it together not yesterday but last decade. They're so behind, it's embarrassing.
Considering the shoddy effort they've been exerting on the franchise lately, did anyone really expect them to go the extra mile with voice acting?
It's all about the Benjamins...
I for one dont wish for voice acting. The last thing I want is having to listen to some cringey voice lines like "Oh my gosh, you and your pokemon have a strong bond!" after choosing an obvious super-effective move.
Most fans want voice acting in some capacity. I wouldn't expect every single interaction to have voice work but they could do it for cut scenes and in some other important places. I'm sure this would be odd for such a big brand but would settle for even Japanese so there's something.
@theModestMouse Actually, they only speak their own names in the anime, which isn't canon to the games. In the games, they've always had more 8-bit animal-like cries. Pikachu and Eevee once had their anime cries, since Gamefreak wanted to try it out in a mainline game, but seeing how they quickly went back on that, I'm guessing they decided it was a bad idea.
I'm probably one of the people who detests the idea of Pokemon having voice acting, as I can't see gamefreak doing it remotely right in the slightest, and I feel like it'll end up being as horrid as the anime's english dub.
@StefanN Why do i feel like this game was planned to have voice acting but got scrapped cause it didnt have enough time to do recordings but thats just a wild speculation.
Proper voice acting will make the games look good in my opinion.
Shame on blind Pokemon fans for keeping their status quo.
It will not hurt your feeling to see actual voice acting from Pokemon games.
The 3rd party games already done and they have better presentation.
Pokken Tournament, Pokemon Puzzle League, and Pokemon Battle Revolution are the closest we get to having VA with Pokemon and those aren't even mainline games.
I also do NOT want the Pokémon to be voice-acted like they are in the anime. Imagine running around in the wilderness while you hear a bunch of names being chanted ad nauseum? Gross.
It's bad enough that they shoehorned Pikachu and Eevee's anime voices into some of the games, which is jarring, and even more so considering that other members of their evolutionary families aren't voiced. With that said though, I did find them to be a mild source of amusement (especially Gigantamax Meowth).
I don't think it would hurt to have voice acting for the handful of key cinematic scenes in the game, but I'd rather forego voice acting altogether, as games tend to get it wrong far more often than they get it right. They should absolutely include some Zelda/Fire Emblem style grunts/murmurs for the NPCs throughout the game though, which would go a long way in making the experience more immersive.
@UltimateInkling Welp, i think with the mouth movements being there, it's not too far fetched to assume voice acting was planned :/
What's funnier is that there are fans who say and will say: "None of that matters and I'm having a great time even with bugs and numerous problems"
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