[Try it] Cutscene Audio > Japanese

[Kat_Manx]

Doesn't anyone ever realize you might find it "good" only because you don't understand it? You don't know if it's bad, really.

[Renvalt]

Honestly, some of the Japanese voices are hit or miss for me. Like with the English cast, my preferences are based on the characters themselves, rather than the prestige of the one doing the voicing.

In this case, I cannot tolerate the Male Narrator being in Japanese - somehow he lacks the gruff sexiness in his voice that his English counterpart does (btw, I'm perfectly straight, but dat voice mang).

Same with Hydaelyn. I'm not fond of her Japanese voice, but her English voice is okay.

Examples where I'm grated, however, are the voiced Lalafell - specifically Nanamo, Papalymo, and Wedge. The only thing I will say is that Papalymo's one-liner witty remarks are better in English, and when Nanamo gets all serious her English voice is right there.

Yda's an example where I'll take either or. Hearing Rachel Alucard (Mela Lee) or Lucky Star's Miyuki Takara (Aya Endo) can be a case where both are pretty good to listen to, IMO. This same rule applies to the following characters: Urianger, Merlwyb, Kan-E-Senna, Y'shtola, & Lahabrea.

tl;dr - The voices I prefer are as follows:

English: Male Narrator, Raubahn, Hydaelyn, Thancred, Alphinaud, Gaius, Livia, Nero
Japanese: Nanamo, Papalymo, Minfilia, Wedge, Alisaie, Cid
Either Or: Yda, Y'shtola, Lahabrea, Urianger, Merlwyb, Kan-E-Senna, Biggs, Rhitahtyn

P.S. Apparently Louisoix is doing the narration? If so, dayum. A grizzled old guard I can actually stand.

[Gilthas]

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?

If you're talking about French or Chinese live action movies, that's a big difference compared to animations.

A dub over live-action always sounds bad to me because the dub voices can't really stick to the original live humans voice. Animated characters don't have this problem since they never had a real voice to begin with.

[SarcasmMisser]

^^ Yeah it's not really fair comparing films, but the localization budget for many things compared to initial development means that there is usually an obvious difference in voice talent. But also the underlying point of why it is suddenly not kosher for Japanese stuff to be in Japanese.

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?

This weirds me out too, I watch a lot of foreign films and the idea of dubbing is a joke until you get to Japanese and suddenly it's widespread and the idea of listening to a language other than English is undesirable. In HK films it's a common thing too, not just English dubs but Mandarin, but they are rightfully rejected by most fans.

[Assirra]

Doesn't anyone ever realize you might find it "good" only because you don't understand it? You don't know if it's bad, really.

Speak for yourself, i understand spoken japanese, and you simply feel more passion from them most of the time. In japan Voice acting is a bigger deal then other places simply because of the ton of anime that has to be voiced. Not to mention they can voice children without turning them into screeching babies.

I always prefer the native voices over a dub.
With the native persons they were there when the game was made and have more understanding about the whole thing.
The only thing dubbers got was a load of text and the command to voice it.

[Gilthas]

With the native persons they were there when the game was made and have more understanding about the whole thing.
The only thing dubbers got was a load of text and the command to voice it.

I'm pretty sure that most of the time the native voice-actors also only get a load of text and the command to voice it.

[TeaTimeBear]

Oh boy these threads always end up like this... Always.

[Rissy]

I'm pretty sure that most of the time the native voice-actors also only get a load of text and the command to voice it.

I think a lot of the time the native voice actors at least get to be recording a scene together, and the animation is adapted for the audio rather than the voice actors adapting for the animation. For dubbing, the voice actors are usually alone in the booth going through line after line with no one react off of and only the director and such to explain the context or ask for different tone. The main cast don't even get to know each other, sometimes they'll meet for the first time at a convention. English voice actors are a lot more talented than people give them credit for. If a line is flat there's probably more blame on a director for taking that cut.

I really don't find the Japanese voice-acting to be any better than the English voice acting in this game. I mean there's preferences to be had, but that would lead me to desire a audio language toggle for each character, and German and French voice actors would have a chance too. Really most people like Japanese audio for the novelty of it being foreign.

[Volsung]

I don't mind the VA in the EN version.
The only thing that really gets to me is
when some of the background voices
stick out like a sore thumb and sound terrible.

Ad lib can be great or it can ruin things like
in the speeches when there is some big burly
guy in the background going "haha year" and
its way too loud! xD

[Ricky]

Both languages have their winners and losers, for example Merlwyb and Cid English versions sound much more like I'd imagine, but Alphinaud English sounds.. off, doesn't match him. Not necessarily bad, just off. And you know Japanese VA tend to fit into certain stereotypes, this game is no exception. Also Gaius English is WAY BETTER than Gaius Japanese, just imo

However the biggest lol moment with voices for me are when the Amalj'aa is calling out Ifrit in English, that was just BAD

Anywho, this thread makes me kind of sad. I remember watching the "Crystal's Call" trailer and thinking "wow, these voices are going to be awesome" and we didn't get a whole lot at release, and none since
Still they did great