[Try it] Cutscene Audio > Japanese

[Arkghyom]

This so much, we all get taken away by the foreign accent that we forget that the meaning and feel of the conversation is not translated unless we hear it on our own language.

For example, I speak with a spanish accent, which a lot of people find it "pleasant to listen to" while I find myself telling me how bad i just chopped that last sentence with my screwy accent. What some might find nice to listen to, others find a cacophony.

Accent can be either a social aspect of language or a physical one (measurable.) Concerning translations, I really don't mind as long as I can decode context and meaning interpretation.

[Galactimus]

The moment I heard this horrendous squeaky child in English I immediately switched to Japanese voice overs. Native tongue preference? Yeah right, her EN voice can't even be considered human; let alone English. I'd rather have no idea what she's saying in Japanese then listen to this child in English.

[FJerome]

The moment I heard this horrendous squeaky child in English I immediately switched to Japanese voice overs. Native tongue preference? Yeah right, her EN voice can't even be considered human; let alone English. I'd rather have no idea what she's saying in Japanese then listen to this child in English.

The difference in casting is really interesting when it comes to her, because she sounds like a little girl in English and a mature woman in Japanese, which really affects how her relationship with Raubahn comes across.

In general I prefer the Japanese voice-tracks for better emoting but the English writing for the more high-fantasy feel.

[Shyluv]

Changed it to JP voices ASAP during early access.

[Rissy]

The moment I heard this horrendous squeaky child in English I immediately switched to Japanese voice overs. Native tongue preference? Yeah right, her EN voice can't even be considered human; let alone English. I'd rather have no idea what she's saying in Japanese then listen to this child in English.

I take it you've never heard the efforts and reactions of a typical lalafell player character...

[NintenPyjak64]

I turned this on when I finally had enough of hearing that one elf kid and the Limsa GC leader's voice acting. So much better on the ears. Also changed it because Raubahn isn't Steven Blum

[Vensaval]

I turned this on when I finally had enough of hearing that one elf kid and the Limsa GC leader's voice acting. So much better on the ears. Also changed it because Raubahn isn't Steven Blum

That's funny. I find the voice actor of Alphinaud's performance to be one of the best in the game.

[MeeDeggiThePunisher]

It's often really hard to tell how good or bad acting is unless you fluently speak that language, so this doesn't surprise me at all. Way, way too many people praise Japanese VAs when they have absolutely no idea what an actual conversation in Japanese sounds like.

This is such a huge pet peeve of mine being an anime fan and all.

Why would that be a pet peeve? I can't understand french or chinese either but there is no way in hell I'm watching a french or chinese film dubbed. Most people are fine with this but what is it with people that are fans of japanese media not able to understand?

[mouseno4]

They (obviously) dont speak english. Why would i do this?

[Moirear]

Until you get it pointed out to you how many times the subtitles don't match what's being said in Japanese.

If you don't understand them anyway, why does it matter if it just sounds better?

I have a basic understanding of spoken Japanese language so I can even hear it when the dialogue boxes and the Japanese dub don't match in content. I really could care less though because the voices of the talent in the Japanese dub matched better with the ones I had in my head for those characters when I played the beta where there was no VA in the game yet (other than the cutscene featuring Gaius' speech).

What baffles me is that the English VA for Gaius there was good. Real good. When I got to the VA in Early Access and finally heard a bunch from several characters, most notably Thancred, in the English dub, I switched to the JP dub and never switched back.