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psychospacecow · (This post was last modified: 04-06-2015, 11:48 PM by psychospacecow.)

We can all appreciate good sound design, but sometimes a series just does a really good job with voice actors. So, what's a game you think is worth mentioning on the merit of its voice work?
Also, in the same light, what is a game you can think of that offers an example of bad voice work?

For good voice work, I could mention most Blizzard games if I'll be honest. From Starcraft, to Warcraft, and all affiliated games between them, there's a lot of great Easter Eggs and jokes.

For example, in Hearthstone, you get the cobalt guardian. When he dies you get his message "Error 37".

If you've played Diablo 3, that was a significant error for you at launch.

There's even a youtube dedicated exclusively to Starcraft 2 unit quotes.

Now, to give an example of bad VA work, I'll use Dragon Ball Xenoverse. I don't have any particular example in mind, but the voices don't sync with talking animations, you get a lot of subtitles that don't meet what the characters say, the audio balance is questionable at best, stuff like that.

Also, title is courtesy of Grim Patron from Hearthstone.

Kosheh · (This post was last modified: 04-07-2015, 06:38 AM by Kosheh.)

I like when voice acting is so bad sometimes that they forget to add it. Like Crash Team Racing.
In the US version of the game, they shipped it without the penguin character's VO completed, and the placeholders left intact.
It's fixed in the EU versions of this game.

penguinyay1.wav...penguinyay2.wav

Dolphman · (This post was last modified: 04-07-2015, 07:52 AM by Dolphman.)

Lucasarts' Adventure games had excellent voice acting, mostly helped with the fact they had professional actors providing the voices.
Goofy himself, Bill Farmer was the original voice for Sam the Dog in Sam & Max Hit the Road. Shame he didn't come back for the new games.

Some voice acting in games i remember was the cheesy voices from Wolfenstein 3D's enemies, due to the how hard they were to make out.
It was just the guys at ID software saying German phrases in stupid accents. Later games would use actors who can speak German.
notably, the main guards shout out "achtung!" when they see you, but it sounded more like "hot dog!" to me as a kid.

Koh · (This post was last modified: 04-07-2015, 08:16 AM by Koh.)

Most iconic voice acting ever~

daemoth · 04-07-2015, 10:12 AM

I dont even play that game but the shouting is done very well, you can really feel the energy behind it:

Mystie · 04-07-2015, 12:09 PM

(04-07-2015, 07:51 AM)dolphman Wrote: Lucasarts' Adventure games had excellent voice acting, mostly helped with the fact they had professional actors providing the voices.
Goofy himself, Bill Farmer was the original voice for Sam the Dog in Sam & Max Hit the Road. Shame he didn't come back for the new games.

Meh, I prefer Sam's Telltale voice actor over his LucasArts one any day. His LucasArts one just doesn't sound right to me. Same goes for Max. Then again, I played Hit the Road after I finished the Telltale series, so...

E-Man · 04-09-2015, 05:56 AM

As far as video game voice actors go, I'm still in awe that one of the most iconic actors in that field got his start to his character by not only "crashing" an audition where he constantly talked about chasing people with sausages for thirty minutes or so, but also played that same character in a couple of cheesy computer games.

Ark Kuvis · 04-09-2015, 11:03 AM

I once saw this game at a local Wal-Mart I worked at and I totally wanted to pick it up because it looked ~cool~ and ~anime~ and I thought the main character looked cool but I didn't and then I learned that the voice acting is unbelievably awful.

**Dazz** · (This post was last modified: 04-09-2015, 05:20 PM by Dazz.)

I ripped sprites from this. I wanted to buy it. The voice acting is so shit, and it's believed that it's because the localisation team just hired their kids to do the voiceovers to give them a start in the industry...

Koh · 04-09-2015, 07:40 PM

Dazz, that made me appreciate the voice acting in the CDI games more.

Kosheh · (This post was last modified: 04-09-2015, 08:52 PM by Kosheh.)

(04-09-2015, 05:19 PM)Dazz Wrote:

I ripped sprites from this. I wanted to buy it. The voice acting is so shit, and it's believed that it's because the localisation team just hired their kids to do the voiceovers to give them a start in the industry...

CHAOS WARS

I've actually been looking for this game for the same reason ever since GameStop was getting rid of their PS2 games. aaaaaaaaaaaaa (it was retailer exclusive, making finding it all the more frustrating)

It's also incredibly hard to find. ):
Eh whatever I'm sure it'll pop up on eBay at some point. I hear the gameplay's alright but this incredibly lousy voiceacting compels me to pick this up for some crazy reason.

*TomGuycott* · (This post was last modified: 04-09-2015, 09:54 PM by TomGuycott.)

I can't beat Dazz's entry by any stretch, but at the same time it does appear to be from a more obscure game, where low-paid or no-paid voice actors are the only option.

My favorite example of bad voice acting comes from Mega Man ZX: Advent. Some people apparently disliked the fact that the original ZX removed voice acting in the English version, as if it diminished the gameplay.

Boy, were they wrong

For as bad as the voice acting is in this game, it actually does have a character whose voice actually sounds good with the character, that being the Trilobite boss. For some reason, I really like how genuinely creepy his voice is, especially when he reverses time in his boss fight and says "Run!" as all the missiles he just fired fly back at you in reverse. Another genuinely creepy moment (also in the video I posted) is only in the Ashe story, because he says how he's going to "manhandle" her, which got a little TOO creepy. I:

An easy target for bad voice acting is Dreamcast era games, like House of the Dead 2:

To protect the Loyfe Cycle!

But my FAVORITE gem in bad voice acting has GOT to be Dynasty Warriors 3:

Break the siege of the Yellow Turbans!

An example of (arguably) good voice acting I like is Kid Icarus: Uprising. The characters just have good dynamic and cheeky dialogue that makes me happy. For some reason I can't find any good compilations, so here's a common funny scene: