Topic: Fire Emblem - hope they don't screw up the US/EUR version

[Rincewind]

Fire Emblem looks set to be a killer Tactical RPG, spiced up with some really nice anime-style cutscenes. What I really hope is that they leave the Japanese voices intact and subtitle the whole game. You can never create the same atmosphere when the dubbing is just plain crap (and I know it will be crap, because every US version of any anime always sucks : I've seen Gundam, DBZ and so on in Japanese and then compared it to the US version : OH MY GOD !!). So please Nintendo, it's subtitles we want.

[CHEN]

There has to be English voices for the American public, that's common knowledge. Either that or no voices at all. Listening to Japanese is conceived as weird and foreign by the majority. It's possible that they'll add both language options depending on the total file sizes of the voice clips, but I won't count on it. Has there ever been a Nintendo published game that had actual Japanese voices (not the grunts and yells from for example Ocarina of Time I mean)?

[Nephilim]

"Has there ever been a Nintendo published game that had actual Japanese voices (not the grunts and yells from for example Ocarina of Time I mean)?"

Yeah Melee, and they were the fire emblem people

"and I know it will be crap, because every US version of any anime always sucks : I've seen Gundam, DBZ and so on in Japanese and then compared it to the US version : OH MY GOD !!)."
No you are wrong games like Dragonball Z and Megaman:NT sucked cause they were too lazy to dub them, seriously most RPG's allow you to read what they say during the cutscene, if you think adding high pitched japanese toon actors voices will make the game better then your awfully sad. If you have a problem with localization, then learn japanese and import, dont ruin it for the average player.

[CHEN]

Well, dammit, how could I forget that.

[Renny]

I prefer the better voice over, English if they're comparable. Japanese dubs aren't better by default. I don't see Nintendo giving the English dub much of a budget for a game this late in the Cube's life, so I would probably prefer subtitles for Fire Emblem. But that's localization for you.

[Pale]

"People will think I'm cooler because I demand the Japanese voices in games and anime."

[KnowsNothing]

"The Japanese voices are often better because they don't have to butcher the dialogue and emphasize strange syllables in order to lip synch."

[odifiend]

Bebop had a better english dub than japanese voice work.

[RABicle]

I hope people realise that the Japanese actors who do voice overs for games and anime are of the same C-Grade caliber as their American counterparts. Just because you can't understand the language, doesn't mean the acting is good.

[KnowsNothing]

Yeah, but alot of English voice-overs sounds alot more forced because they have to worry about lip-synching too.  I'm not saying that all Japanese voice acting is good, or all English is bad (Bebop is a good example of well done dubbing, even though I still prefer the original voices), I'm just syaing that it's rare to find convincing English VA.  Also, since it's different people acting the different languages, sometimes the Japanese voices are just more pleasing to the ear.  That's why I prefer the Japanese Cowboy Bebop VA- Ed's voice is just so much better =p

[ruby_onix]

There's good voice acting and there's bad voice acting. In both languages.

By my experience, most English dubbing is sub-par. Not that I really have a problem with that. It just is. And getting "professional" Hollywood actors usually makes it worse. I usually find that the original Japanese voice acting does a much better job of conveying the emotion involved. Perhaps they're being "over the top" or "hammy" to some Japanese people, but what do I care? I'm not Japanese. Whatever they're doing, it works.

IMO, the Japanese track is usually "better", nevermind the fact that it's more "authentic". Do you go to the opera and demand that people "speak English"?

BTW, I do think that one factor in the problems with dubs is that they're "tacked on". You're more likely to find better voice acting in an American cartoon than you are in an English-dubbed anime (or videogame), and I don't think it has to do with the budget, or anything like that.

Personally, I am very annoyed that Namco couldn't finish dubbing Tales of Symphonia, so they decided to leave half of the game "mute" rather than let us listen to "offensive" Japanese voice acting. But, 90% of America probably agrees with them on that.

This is the old "dubs vs subs" argument that was around in the VHS days. The hardcore are always right. The casuals always win. And we've only got Nintendo to blame for it. Because they put out a system with an inferior storage medium, that's like the videogame equivalent of VHS.

[Gamefreak]

The only reason Marth and Roy spoke Japanese in Melee was because Nintendo wanted to point out the fact that their games had never been released in the US.

And Nintendo's Treehouse has been doing an awesome job. This game will be fine. Besides, most of the game is text. There's only voice acting in cutscenes.
Since the game is far from US release, Intelligent Systems will probably go back and change the lip-syncing in the pre-rendered cutscenes to match English. It's not that hard.

Besides, I can't stand listening to Japanese anime girl voices. It's so high pitched and annoying.

[Don'tHate742]

I don't know what the hell you guys are talking about, DBZ voices were so much better in English. I hate all that high-pitched crap. Vegeta's voice compared to his Japanese counterpart was soooo much better.

Anyways, I could care less if the voice acting is great or not. The GBA Fire Emblem's story was engrossing enough that Voice Acting wasn't needed. Just as long as the story is good, then we have no problems.

[McBacon]

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=145

Answers all your questions

[CHEN]

Quote
Originally posted by: Don'tHate742
I don't know what the hell you guys are talking about, DBZ voices were so much better in English. I hate all that high-pitched crap. Vegeta's voice compared to his Japanese counterpart was soooo much better.

I recall that they changed the English voice actor somewhere during Freeza. The first VA was good, the second one stank unbelievably.

[ThePerm]

Naruto is coming out in the us...i dread hearing the english dubbing because i am so used to the japanese. I watched kenshin in english on toonami..i liked the voice acting...but iv also seen him voiced by a japanese actor. Its just games usually end up with shitty voice actors, save Metal Gear or ED.

[Rincewind]

It's not a question of being cool. I hate dubbing !  There's nothing like the original. And it's not just anime. I live in Europe (Belgium) which is next to France. We get French, German, Italian and Spanish television on cable. I dare you to come and watch a Hollywood movie with foreign dubbing. Have you ever seen a movie like Spiderman in French ?  Or enjoyed a classic western movie with Italian speaking Indians ?   Or what about Al 'Scarface' Pacino doing his thing in German ?   Makes your stomach turn, I tell you. I've seen DBZ in English... believe me, life can be cruel sometimes...  

[KDR_11k]

Eh, I won't notice bad VA as much, here in Germany everything is dubbed so we're kinda used to bad voice acting. Not Mystic Heroes bad but usually games where reviewers complain about bad dubbing seem pretty average in that area to me...

[Dirk Temporo]

I hope they leave the original Japanese voice track with subtitles option.

[MaleficentOgre]

I hope its in english with good va so this game will get some notice.  subtitles are a huge turnoff for a lot of people.