So... Merlwyb will be voiced

[Hulan]

Obviously there are some exceptions, but I agree in general. Cowboy Bebop is the standby example, but I think my favorite would be the home grown Avatar, which has the (admittedly younger) best overall english voice acting quality I have ever heard.

But yes, unless something miraculous happens, I will be listening to my FFXIV in Japanese as well.

[Zenaku]

I worked for 6 years in anime voice acting. Despite that i will not, ever, be able to enjoy anime in any other way than subbed.

Japanese voice acting is, quality-wise, incomparable to any western counterpart. Italian voice acting (on which I worked) comes somewhat close due to an extremely old and rooted tradition (that English voice acting lacks sorely, due to the fact that they don't need to voice Hollywood movies), but even then, I just can't.

Even American video games, in many cases, sound much better dubbed in Japanese >_>

I agree but there some anime i can't stand the voice. Like DBZ and FMA they voice just don't fit the char but in ENG version just does a better job. But for other anime i agree i only watch the sub version

[Vilhem]

Oh look, more people who are already hanging the English voice overs to a cross and deeming Japanese better without even hearing them >.>

[Myranda]

I actually liked what little English voice acting we had in 1.x, for instance with Papalymo and gang (and while I'm not one of the Thancred swooners, they did nail his voice as suave and lady-killing). And Gaius... "the cloying stench of shadow lingers still"... not sure there's any other spoken dialog from 1.x close to being as badass as that.

And if it's anything like most of the English voices for FF12 (Vaan doesn't count), I would be thrilled, nay ecstatic! We already know they're bringing back one of the judges presumably for one of the Imperial legati.

[AdvancedWind]

The only correct answer is Norio Wakamoto. All languages, and all characters as well.

[Hulan]

I actually liked what little English voice acting we had in 1.x, for instance with Papalymo and gang (and while I'm not one of the Thancred swooners, they did nail his voice as suave and lady-killing). And Gaius... "the cloying stench of shadow lingers still"... not sure there's any other spoken dialog from 1.x close to being as badass as that.

And if it's anything like most of the English voices for FF12 (Vaan doesn't count), I would be thrilled, nay ecstatic! We already know they're bringing back one of the judges presumably for one of the Imperial legati.

They did a more than servicable job on FFXIII/XIII-2 as well, with a few exceptions. I have Japanese leanings when it comes to voice acting, but I'm certainly going to give the english ones a try. Also, forget that line, the only thing I remember from that cutscene is the Circle coming to save my sorry ass and being all badass about it.

The only correct answer is Norio Wakamoto. All languages, and all characters as well.

Not unless he is the Garlean Emperor.... Oh my god... What if he is the Galean Emperor, it's almost too perfect.

[AdvancedWind]

It's not impossible. He did work with SE before, for example, he voiced Chaos on Dissidia.

[Soukyuu]

Oh look, more people who are already hanging the English voice overs to a cross and deeming Japanese better without even hearing them >.>

With the majority of English voice overs being bad sloppy, you can't really blame us. We wanted the option in case we like the Japanese ones more. Or German. Or French. Choice is never bad.

1.0 voice overs were fine and did fit the characters imho.

[Vilhem]

With the majority of English voice overs being bad sloppy, you can't really blame us. We wanted the option in case we like the Japanese ones more. Or German. Or French. Choice is never bad.

1.0 voice overs were fine and did fit the characters imho.

I don't mind the choices, and to each his own of course, but those that hold Japanese to some high pedestal really need to examine just why they have a weeabo fascination with it.

(Speaking generally here)

Why not praise the upcoming French or German voice overs? What's that? You don't speak those languages, so you don't care? Alright, I can accept the indifference.

So, why then, is Japanese the exception? Because a bunch of you only know it from anime? What makes Japanese voice acting "better" than any other foreign language dub? This is the kind of thing that really confuses me, really.

Someone may bring up the idea of this being a Japanese game, so they want to experience a more "original" version. Well, the voice overs are being recorded simultaneously, so there is no one "original" source. It's not a matter of translating from Japanese to English French and German: it's a matter of them all originating at the same time.

I'm not trying to be ERMERGERD ENGLISH DUB PRO, because I do acknowledge there are horrible dubs done. What I'm trying to point out, for many, is that as long as this feeling that Japanese is superior, anything else will pretty much be DoA. In your minds, the English dub sucks mad donkey feces, and therefore you go into listening to it with a negative mindset. And of course, from tha point you're already going to be nitpicking for reasons to validate why Japanese is somehow always better.

/rant off X.x

For the record, I thought the 1.0 voice acting was done very well. The only two problems I had were the faux-Brit accents (Crispin Freeman/Thancred, looking at you >_>) and the forced cracky lalafell voices of Papalymo and the miner twins. Mind you, the acting itself was great, just not the cracky falsetto-like tone XD

Apologies if this is all over the place, typing from phone. x.x

[Hulan]

Well, while I think you have a valid point, I'd like to point out one thing myself. The animations are being developed in Japan, likely with the Japanese audio in mind. That means that technically, there is a quantifiably higher quality to the Japanese dubs as opposed to the other languages. That being said, I happen to like the cadance of the Japanese language, but if the English is better, I will listen to them, for simplicity sake.