Zelda's English VA Officially Confirms Her Return In Tears Of The Kingdom

Excited for the launch of this game but I hope her VA chops have improved. I found Zeldas voice like nails on a chalkboard. Almost like Shay Cormack from AC Rogue

Terrible voice actress. I thought the game had mediocre voice acting throughout, but she was definitely stand out awful.

@Poodlestargenerica Link you must find me

@claybirds I did on my second playthrough of BOTW. Though I am heading to Japan tomorrow and will be over there when the game launches, so I'll be buying up as much merchandise as I can fit in my baggage and might even buy the Japanese version of the game as well.

Hopefully Nintendo sends her a free copy of the game this time and not make her buy her own. That's the least they can do.

@SearchingS "Please Be Careful" is what really grates on me.

@claybirds My friend does and I feel like I will try it for totk.

Pretty clearly the same actress. Never minded how she voiced the character, although I know some people feel differently.

Idk about welcome...I just know this zelda about to sound Whiny & weak SMFH

I'm okay with her Zelda voice. It sounds just fine. I haven't played Age of Calamity as I'm not into Warriors games, but I've heard people said she improved in that game, so we'll hear what her performance is like in Tears of the Kingdom soon enough.

@Poodlestargenerica that’s a bit harsh to call her a terrible voice actress. Saying her performance is bad is fine but calling her a terrible voice actress in general is a bit mean.

@Pichuka97 OI MAKE MOI OWN LUCK

@Greatluigi It may be harsh but it's true, voice acting requires a very specific skill set, and people usually do the job because they naturally have it. Compared to the people in other big games she doesn't and the result is pretty awful.

@Ade117 If you have the time I’d recommend looking up the aoc cutscenes on YouTube it has a good storyline but is not technically canon

Not really a surprise tbh. I wasn't a fan of Summersett's performance in BotW and I probably won't warm up to it in TotK. Still, glad she's at least getting work.

I am glad that she has made a comeback, though I expected nothing less. Tears of The Kingdom is a direct sequel after all, though that doesn't mean much these days.

@N00BiSH @Poodlestargenerica I saw some leaked cutscenes. IMO, she's really improved.

To be fair I'd prefer Zelda to have a fairly new voice actress than hear a voice that has been heard in hundreds of other media. I feel like it's fitting as she's such an iconic game character, I did not want to see her as just another Ellie from TLoU.

I also don't know why she gets so much hate, yes her voice acting needed work, but I've grown on the voice since Age of Calamity and I think overall she's improving, which is the point of getting more experience and taking in feedback.

Please note that "she is trash and I don't want to hear her voice Zelda" isn't helpful feedback and sounds awfully rude more than anything.

Pretty obvious it was her. I love her performance personally. She doesn’t deserve the hate.

@Varkster I going to delete my post because you said what I said better

@DrewBA77 That's good!

I'm glad Nintendo is tripling down on Patricia Summersett voicing Zelda! People have wanted voice acting in these games for how long, and the first thing they do when they finally get it is whine about how characters sound, and she doesn't even sound nearly as bad as they like to make her out to be. If you don't want to hear her voice, adjust the language settings.

Didn’t play the Eng dub in BoTW, but from what I heard so far from her in the trailers for Tears it’s gonna be a yikes from me. That is Xenoblade meme dub levels of bad which I also go to Japanese immediately too.

Edit: Also funny that the Zelda Dub VA defenders here is having so much issues with the people here voicing about how they are not pleased with her performance.

Everyone has different tastes and criteria. You enjoy hearing her Zelda performance? Good for you. Just don’t try to insist to other people that think otherwise “She is good!” or “I don’t understand them”. That is like me telling you repeatedly “No she is terrible and you all have crap taste for thinking otherwise”

A.) Were we all really wondering if the same VA would be back for the second game? Look, Nintendo (almost always) pulls out all the stops for sequels especially for the tent pole franchises like this. It would be so odd to have someone else do the voice acting. Continuity, people!
B.) I cannot believe people didn’t like Zelda’s voice in BOTW. What? I think it was perfect, for one. In fact, everyone had great voice acting but Zelda in particular somehow felt like the voice I had always heard in my head when she “spoke” in the other games in the series. I think she did a great job!
My complaint though as far as VA goes in BOTW, the cutscene dialogue was always too low I felt. Stellar performances but too low in volume.

Not sure if this is unpopular opinion, but I found her voice too high pitch and pretentious. Screamed too much as being entitled.

@Zapoo It’s not an unpopular opinion. Even outside here from a quick search people have mixed opinions about both her and Ganon’s Eng dub voice performance.

@Arawn93 I haven't played xenoblade one or two, but i love xenoblade 3s entire voice cast minus Gondor. It really brings to life. Australian for reference.

@Pickettfury Yeah not a fan of XB3 Eng dub. Lot of the exaggerated accents in the Xenoblade Eng dubs in general kills it for me with how hit or miss they are.

Even in the Future connected just hearing some of Glimmers dub delivery lines [especially that scene where you know who is scolding her] made me still stick with the Japanese voices. Glad you enjoyed it though.

My second playthrough I played around with language settings, and after trying a few options I actually found myself really enjoying the Spanish voice acting.

I'll probably start off in English, then switch to post game when its just going to just be "Daruk's protection is ready to roll!" and "The Blood Moon rises once again..." over and over and over again.

I liked her and I really loved this version of Zelda. I never felt I needed to put Japanese voiceovers on (like I was tempted to with Fire Emblem Engage... Ugh)

I think Patricia Summersett did a decent enough job, it sounds like she wasn't really given much voice direction. I feel like poor vocal performances are just as often due to bad voice direction as they are to bad actors. The voice felt a bit breathy to me (in the same vein as Agnes from Bravely Default) but that felt more like a choice that I didn't agree with, as opposed to an actress doing a bad job. At the very least, I never found the voice lines distracting.

Then again, I felt like the Japanese VA came off as sounding more like a child than a teen/adult, so maybe there's just no pleasing me. I thought the French VA did well!

Wasn’t amazing in the first game but I’d chalk that down to poor voice direction since she did a lot better in Age of Calamity. Can’t wait!

I won't attack her for it like some RE fans did to Ada but I just don't think BotWs voice acting was good and that especially includes Zelda herself

The voice acting in this game in general wasn’t really my favorite thing ever, however I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as some people say. Zelda wasn’t nearly as bad for me though, I do see where people are coming from, and can see why people dislike it.

She's fine as the VA, not awful like so many seem to be claiming. Her tone at least matches the situation, have you critics actually heard truly bad VAs or are you just here to whine?

Happy to see it! And I'm so stoked to see matt mercers full performance. the 12th cant come soon enough!

I thought she was great. Different strokes I guess.
I felt her voice was a great match for how Zelda was portrayed in Breath of the Wild. I am excited to see how she does in Tears of the Kingdom.

I love her as Zelda and i really hope she has a bigger part in TotK.

"Zelda's English VA Officially Confirms Her Return In Tears Of The Kingdom"

I mean. I somehow really thought you were talking about the Japanese or Spanish VA.

Also, I hated the English Zelda voice acting in BOTW. It sounds very different to every other language. Japanese is way better, and what the Zelda character is actually meant to sound like.

Oh no. I got nothing against her, I just hate how english people sound when they talk on television.

I have nothing against her or the cast of BoTW, but I did not think the game had good voice acting. ToTK is an improvement, but not much better from what I've heard. But VA is not why I play Zelda anyway so its kinda whatever.

I really don't get the (mostly rude) hate she's getting. She was a bit inexperienced in BotW, but I did like her voice acting. And I'm happy that she's back in the sequel. It would have been weird to use a different VA for the same princess in this game.

Good to stay consistent.
VA in BOTW was generally mediocre imo, even in Japanese.
Nintendo is new to it, feels like the direction is just not good enough. Having Summerset speak as if her soul is leaving her body on every breath was never going to work. Plus no dialogues existing and every piece of VA being a monologue was never going to feel natural.

So glad she is back, she was awesome as Zelda.

That’s cool, it keeps Zelda’s voice consistent through the BotW style trilology. I wonder when it’ll be revealed who voices Link, unless i missed it. I mean someone has to do the ughs and hyahs.

Her voice is so low pitched. Its way too different from all the other games where she had voice acting like Smash. And her voice acting was so terrible in Breath of the wild. Especialy the part where she breaks down in tears when she finds out she is responsible for what happened. Just compare with the japanese version and you will see what is good voice acting.

Please let the game have russian voice over again.

There should be an option to toggle the voice acting so that each line is delivered in a different language. It might not improve overall quality of the VA, but it would at least make it more entertaining.

I think she did as well a job as she could. To that point not many were going to be satisfied with her voice no matter who voiced her. The same can be said for whoever they’d choose if they ever decided to give Link a voice beyond the “hiyaaaah!”. Even that comes off a little weird. My wife and kids think he sounds like Michael Jackson…

@Pichuka97 "Moi naaime is Shoi Paaatrick Cormaac und oi am an Aaaa-ssassin no moire."

Lol omg. They really should not have brought anyone back from BotW, especially Zelda. Some of the worst voice acting I've ever heard. It's always hard to determine if it's more the direction vs. the acting, but I suppose it's usually a bit of both. All I know is I actually took to muting the game whenever there were voiced scenes. They were... so bad. :/

@FelixSandwichez

I have no idea why she gets the hate she gets, did people even play the story?

Because in the pantheon of North American voice actors doing rubbish British accents in popular media, she is only narrowly edged out by Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. It was gratingly atrocious and broke my immersion every time she voice a line.

And if you broaden that to include Irish accents, yes, that includes Christopher Walken in Wild Mountain Thyme.

I'm really happy to see her return. I think she does a great job as the character. I would personally be disappointed if she was re-cast. I feel there would be heavy criticism if the situation was reversed and she was re-cast, so neither side has a leg to stand on in this argument, haha. Glad I'm able to stay on the positive side of the fence on this one!

Glad she's back, I really loved her performance in BotW and AoC

@Poodlestargenerica like you can do any better.

@RiasGremory At Zelda? No. I think what you're conflating with my presumed lack of talent, is actually your own insecurities, and your willingness to accept something lower in quality based on it being better than what you can do. Which is very much your problem.

I never really had an issue with her tbh, i'd have been more annoyed if they replaced her if anything, if only for the sake of consistency.

@GrandAlex64 See this is why it's all subjective. I can't watch that scene in Japanese, it's so hammy and over the top it makes me cringe! Patricia delivered that scene with a bit of subtly which I thought was much more appropriate. Listing everyone who's died, and then just kind of giving into despair and collapsing with a sob was much better than randomly starting to scream-wail in a way that didn't remotely match the body language of the character model. But, that is just me bringing my interpretation that is no doubt coloured by my taste.

For the record I think Patricia is great and it's a bonus she was also just a lovely human when I met her at a con when BotW released. Can't wait to see what she gets up to in this game.

I remember people pitching a fit when she did the voice last time. There were some especially harsh comments. I personally found nothing wrong with her voice. I think some of the haters were just zelda purists who were upset that she was speaking at all. Can't wait to see the complaints about Ganons voice this time around however Mathew mercer probably has more respect in the gaming community.

Just wait until Nintendo decides to make a Zelda movie. They'll cast Justin bieber as Link and people will riot LOL!

Oh my god her voice is annoying and there’s a lot of it at the start isn’t there!

I like her voice. Accent is a bit strong at times and I think that part is what annoys me but I deal with it and enjoy it mostly. Meanwhile, others will find a way on here to cry and degrade her and it’s just sad.

The English VA was kinda bad imo, I think making random characters British was a weird option, and a lot of the voices feel forced.
The game felt more serious with Japanese dialogue

Can't wait for Link's voice actor to make a public announcement as well

@Ulysses He will tweet: "Hyyyahhh!!!!"

Sadly agree on the subpar performance of Zelda's English VA. I switched to Japanese + Subs the moment I first heard it to make it more bearable. Even the Spanish dub has more emotion than the English VA.

I don't know that it's fair to call her a bad voice actor due to her portrayal of Zelda. I think the issues with her performance are more likely a result of how she was directed. She's definitely affecting a kind of very high-pitched, regal tone which isn't something that just happens by accident.

Gotta keep in mind that these performances are always directed. If any of y'all have played many JRPGs, you're probably (very) familiar with the English voiceovers completely butchering Japanese nouns... which, on the face of it, is very odd, since Japanese is a phonetic language and the correct pronunciation is always gonna be right there on the page. Is it because the actors are ignorant or apathetic? Maybe sometimes, but I've seen enough of 'em on Twitter specify that they were specifically instructed to mispronounce things by the Voiceover director(s).

And at least in terms of Zelda's pitch, that very light, high-pitched voice is very closely associated with the Yamato Nadeshiko archetype, and I could easily see it being mandated from the Nintendo higher-ups who simply don't understand how that association does not exist outside of Japan.

Her voice acting as Zelda is pretty poor, yeah.
But what's really funny is people making every excuse under the sun as to why people dare mention they're not completely satisfied with mediocrity. Or that this is a thick British accent.
You guys have heard of Xenoblade's accents, right? Those are done by actual British people. Hylians barely sound British in Botw. It's so flimsy. You just know the voice director didn't know what they're doing.
Speaking of, the voice director must've changed in AoC because Sidon and Mipha suddenly sounded more British. Sidon especially sounded like he had a completely different personality. Whoever's the voice director now I hope they can at least improve on their predecessors.
Oh, and to clarify, I've seen Patricia in person. She seems nice.
Seriously didn't want to see her coming back as Zelda though.
Americans who can do good British accents are hard to find.

She was kinda bad in botw but there was definitely some notable improvement in aoc. I don't really mind her coming back.

@Poodlestargenerica nope but keep telling yourself that.

@abbyhitter Miyamoto buys his own games.