Voice acting so bad

[WinterLuna]

Have to agree here.. I mean some of it I like, I like Lucia's, Y'shtola's and Aymeric's. When you guys said about the lady who drugged us though, yeah, that was embarrassing. It doesn't fit at all. I think the voice actors need to really get themselves involved more and use more passion in their voices. That's actually the reason most people prefer Japanese voice actors - they use more emotion.

I'm British too. I just think the voices sound forced. A lot of people have this image that all people from the UK sound some type of way (either "posh" or "farmer like") and it's not the case at all. Idk why it bugs me but it does.

[KeluBehemoth]

I don't understand why so many people are comparing this to an Anime English Dub.

This is a Final Fantasy title. A Triple A, World Renowned RPG epic. Comparing it to an Anime Dub is silly. Compare it to other FF titles.

FF10-13 all had top notch VAs.

Not every character needs an American accent. Not every character needs an Old Timey English accent. There should be flavour. Emotion.

There is nothing.

Like I said, in a studio, most good VAs will act out their part in the studio. They will jump around, move, cry, huff puff and pant. They act out the role.

Most of these VAs in HW are literally just standing infront of a mic with no directional audio, in a sound proof room reading their lines. Absolutely nothing has been done to add directional audio, reverb, echo, anything. Its all very flat, boring and voices like Kriles (especially) hurt my ears.

There is a small handfull that do good but most of them sound god awful and I can't even remember the story from HW because it is so painful to get through the cutscenes. I barely even know what this story is about in this expansion.

When Ser aymeric talks, I love to hear it. When Lucia talks, yeah. When Haurchefaunt talks, yes... All the rest of them nope. Just no.

[KeluBehemoth]

Have to agree here.. I mean some of it I like, I like Lucia's, Y'shtola's and Aymeric's. When you guys said about the lady who drugged us though, yeah, that was embarrassing. It doesn't fit at all. I think the voice actors need to really get themselves involved more and use more passion in their voices. That's actually the reason most people prefer Japanese voice actors - they use more emotion.

I'm British too. I just think the voices sound forced. A lot of people have this image that all people from the UK sound some type of way (either "posh" or "farmer like") and it's not the case at all. Idk why it bugs me but it does.

Exactly. Not to mention theres like what, 10 different dialects of English in Britan? I talked to a guy in his 30s who spoke Cockney the other week and it sounded nothing like this. Ive heard tons of English people talk.

I feel like the people who do like all the VAs just like that theyre accents and they don't care that it sounds forced or theyre used to sub par voice acting from Anime.

They all sound like whiney bitches out of a Harry Potter movie. English people don't all sound like whiney twelve year olds or "posh/farmer" as you said.

Im Canadian and I do a pretty good English accent. I couldn't fool an actual Englishman but I could do better VA than most of whats in the game.



It just really bothers me that with how awful the voice acting is, that they have done pretty much nothing to the audio recordings themselves. Theres no atmosphere at all in the recordings. Like they haven't even been edited at all. Maybe a tiny bit of equalization...

[KeluBehemoth]

As for who said "OP couldn't do better".

Here is better.

Here is atmosphere: https://soundcloud.com/illeptik/wip

Added tons of atmosphere within a day to some vocal recordings produced at a novice level.

[MugenMugetsu]

Ok, ummmm, that song doesn't make a good comparison to voice acting, imo. Clicked on the link and was hoping for you reading lines from the game with emotion. Was disappointed. Good music though. I like the beat.

[whiskeybravo]

I don't understand why so many people are comparing this to an Anime English Dub.

IDK about others but the difference between JP and EN dubs are about the only parallel I could think of to describe it. And I think it's for this reason:

most good VAs will act out their part in the studio. They will jump around, move, cry, huff puff and pant. They act out the role.

It doesn't sound like most english VAs do this, they are doing what you described, standing in front of a mic reading lines just to get a check and gtfo. No enthusiasm, no emotion.

Granted they aren't all bad. Like others said there are some decent ones but for the most part they aren't on the same level. Personally I just think it has more to do with the culture, anime is a huge part of JP culture (I think?) and the actors just put more effort into their roles. I mean there are plenty of american cartoons that have good voice acting, it's just the anime disconnect.

Would a JP dub of an american cartoon be as bad as most of our EN dubs? I don't think they would.

[Ashkendor]

FF10-13 all had top notch VAs.

FF 10-13 were also all one shot deals that didn't have to worry about things like periodic patch updates.

As for who said "OP couldn't do better".

Here is better.

Here is atmosphere: https://soundcloud.com/illeptik/wip

Added tons of atmosphere within a day to some vocal recordings produced at a novice level.

That's something you did? Was it actually done with your cell phone and 20 minutes in FL studio?

Cool song but it's not voice acting. Apples and oranges, that.

[Anselmet]

I have tried using the English voices on and off since HW released.

I just can't do it any more.

They're so terrible. None of the voices match the characters faces or personalities.

I hope they change in the next expansion.

I wish they used American voices or at least good English ones.

I do t understand why some people actually really like them.

It's at the point where I'm actually embarrassed to have audio enabled while people are around me because it sounds so bad

I can see some of your complaints, but I think Alphinaud was a big improvement. His voice matches his age.

[Ranulf]

X/X-2 had a terrible English cast, lol.

Matt McKenzie (Auron) was the only good one.

Go ahead and watch a few Japanese and then watch the same in English.

Meeting with Yunalesca is a great example.

[Remus]

I have heard bad voice acting and this isn't one of them. The voice acting isn't the greatest but it doesn't annoy to the point of me not wanting to listen to it anymore. I think it's pretty good voice acting you also need to remember they can't keep bringing high profile voice actors because it is a MMO and they would need to pay them continuously at a high price and I don't think FFXIV has the budget for that but they do have enough to make ok voice acting which I enjoy personally.