So... Merlwyb will be voiced

[Obsy]

Another thing to consider when it comes to spoken language preference (and may already be taken into consideration by the cutscene directors for ARR) is the element of storyboarding and pacing.

One of the things that breaks a lot of characters/worlds/immersion in foreign dubbed media the most (aside from poor voice acting) is the fact that when a particular scene was shot or recorded in its native language, characters' screentimes, lines, gestures, and so on are in sync with what's being natively spoken. When that scene gets brought over to another language, the translated lines don't necessarily sync up when it comes to timing and sometimes even emphasis and tone within even a single sentence.

That'swhysomanyoldschoolKungFuflickssoundlikethisHYAAAAAA!!!

If you watch the behind the scenes clips for dubbing, say, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, they actually acknowledged that many lines spoken in English had to be deliveredreallyquickly in order to fit the limited time a character was visually speaking, ultimately detracting from the quality of the scene.

With traditional animation and the magic of more current technology, that problem can now be circumvented by adding/removing animated frames to match another language that's being dubbed in. The English dub of Ranma 1/2 was one project to take advantage of this early on, and it difference it made compared to other media that didn't was night and day.

Unless things have changed in recent years, I recall the tradition for producing animation Japan involved creating the visuals before voices were recorded (as opposed to the opposite order in the west), making room for the estimated length of time a specific line would take to be spoken in Japanese. I'm assuming that the same tradition follows here, though there's a chance that they're taking more than one language into consideration, given the circumstances, but that's not the point I'm trying to make here.

My point is that you can't really fault people for preferring subs over dubs when there are so many underlying factors that can potentially detract from the overall end product.

[Kallera]

Calling it now: Kan E Senna will be voiced by Dr. Girlfriend.

[Deli]

Fernehalwes is so naughty!
<3 /tackle /hug

[Jacien]

Please SE, let us select Japanese audio and English subtitles. I don't think it'd be hard (as a matter of fact, I know it wouldn't), and it would make a *lot* of people happy.

I would only consider this they decided to get rid of the great British voice acting from 1.0. It fit so well and was very nicely done.

[Andrien]

Thank goodness! Screw subtitles, I like to listen to a language I understand.

options is nice too.

[Rowyne]

When it comes to video games, I will always prefer to hear the dialogue in my native language. It makes me feel more immersed in the game to instantly hear and understand what's being said. If I have to read subtitles, it's an added barrier between me and the game world.

For example, the 1.0 Gridania opening with Yda and Papalymo had me in stitches! I don't think I would have found it nearly as humorous if it had been in another language. I still laugh and say every so often, "Oh, Rhalgar take you and your great beyond."

Besides, I can't say that Japanese is always done better. A friend of mine who is obsessed with anime tried to convince me the Japanese version of FFXIII had better voice acting by showing me the scene where Snow proposes to Serah. In what should have been a very intimate moment, he was screaming at her! It was very bizarre. I think your native language will have a better chance of taking cultural differences into account. So, I'll take English, thanks.

Only exception is anime that is dubbed very badly. I can only stand to watch Sailor Moon in Japanese with English subtitles. The English dub is terribly voiced and the plot is all mangled.

[Vilhem]

When it comes to video games, I will always prefer to hear the dialogue in my native language. It makes me feel more immersed in the game to instantly hear and understand what's being said. If I have to read subtitles, it's an added barrier between me and the game world.

For example, the 1.0 Gridania opening with Yda and Papalymo had me in stitches! I don't think I would have found it nearly as humorous if it had been in another language. I still laugh and say every so often, "Oh, Rhalgar take you and your great beyond."

Besides, I can't say that Japanese is always done better. A friend of mine who is obsessed with anime tried to convince me the Japanese version of FFXIII had better voice acting by showing me the scene where Snow proposes to Serah. In what should have been a very intimate moment, he was screaming at her! It was very bizarre. I think your native language will have a better chance of taking cultural differences into account. So, I'll take English, thanks.

Only exception is anime that is dubbed very badly. I can only stand to watch Sailor Moon in Japanese with English subtitles. The English dub is terribly voiced and the plot is all mangled.

I agree! Yda and Papalymo were the best! I kinda say "Rhalgr take you and your great beyond" to Keith when he acts up xD

As for Sailor Moon..I think everyone can agree unanimously that it was destroyed. But this is something that makes it interesting: the ACTUAL voice acting was great. The characters weren't flat, or monotone. Their intonations and whatnot were excellent. (am referring to the first two seasons only btw: the shit that was the third and fourth season I tend to pretend they don't exist in English >_>)

The dialogue (cheesy valley girl 90s talk) and cuts/scripts, altered storylines are what destroyed the show in the English language adaptation, not shoddy voice acting.

Still, I find Sailor Moon memorable for one reason: The characters. Even though a lot of the dialogue was altered, the ESSENCE of the characters was still there. Serena/Usagi was still a clutz, Ami was a nerd, Rei was a bitch, Lita/Mako was a strong tomboy, Mina was a ditz. In Sailor Moon's case, I watch it in Spanish, since that is the language I saw it in when I was growing up. The Japanese version does nothing for me (and I get headaches hearing Usagi shriek and cry so much with her high pitched voice X.x)

And I agree with you on FF XIII! The only problem I had with XIII's dub was Vanille's accent...or lack thereof in some scenes. It's like the VA couldn't decide whether or not to use her accent for that day's session haha.

[Pwnagraphic]

This is who Merlwyb reminds me of.

[Keith_Dragoon]

Also for those arguing animations are based around Japanese keep in mind all players of 1.0 had to watch all cutscenes in English with their native language subbed in so I find it hard to believe that the animations were created for Japanese. Even with the new and improved multilingual voice-overs the language won't make much any difference with the body language at least for the English version so that argument is invalid in this circumstance.

It is just people bringing their anime bias into this game because it is developed in Japan, nothing more.

[Abriael]

Also for those arguing animations are based around Japanese keep in mind all players of 1.0 had to watch all cutscenes in English with their native language subbed in so I find it hard to believe that the animations were created for Japanese. Even with the new and improved multilingual voice-overs the language won't make much any difference with the body language at least for the English version so that argument is invalid in this circumstance.

That doesn't matter. Lip movement for games and animation is extremely generic. Basically every language can be easily adapted to it given a decent scriptwriter.

It is just people bringing their anime bias into this game because it is developed in Japan, nothing more.

No. In general it's just people recognizing that some countries have a more solid voice acting tradition than others, creating a very large quality gap.

I'm sorry, but anyone saying that American/British voice acting is generally on par (even more so for games) with Japanese voice acting simply lacks the technical tools to judge. It's a really ridiculous statement.

Some may have an "anime bias", but correlation doesn't imply causation. The difference in quality exists, and it's very visible.