I have always heard reviewers mention about what Good and Bad voice acting I really don't know the difference can someone explain what good and bad voice acting in a video game is or show an example of both?
Bad and Good voice acting
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Good Voice Acting:
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
Half-Life 2
Halo
Bad Voice Acting:
Resident Evil 4, 5, 6
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
Half-Life 2
Halo
Bad Voice Acting:
Resident Evil 4, 5, 6
Some people just tend to spot bad voice acting, while others can't. I can't, because I grew up watching shitty Russian voice over VHS. Although, I do have a number of my favorite voice actors who I love to discover in games. People like Liam O'Brien, Yuri Lowenthal, Erin Fitzgerald (good fucking luck trying to find her), Tara Platt, Karen Strassman (<3) and many more. They are really talented and usually their presence indicate more or less high level of voice acting.
Good (I mean REALLY good):
Far Cry 3
Enslaved
Bad (actually hurts the game):
Far Cry 3 - main character and villagers
Just Cause 2 - they just dont give a fuck, it shouldnt matter as the game doesnt take itself seriously but its just that bad
Metal Gear Solid - everything is so forced, it makes sense when they are trying to be funny but when they go all serious that voice acting really hurts
Its all about selling the character and making the player/viewer understand exactly how the character feels at the moment, if the character is scared you really feel how much they are scared instead of just "he is either scared or not".
A character can even be scared and angry at the same time, good acting manages to show that to the viewer. In Far Cry 3 the main character usually says his lines in the same "talking to myself in the toilet" way meaning that you never really understand what he exactly feels about most stuff (the way you say things change the meaning of a line).
Far Cry 3
Enslaved
Bad (actually hurts the game):
Far Cry 3 - main character and villagers
Just Cause 2 - they just dont give a fuck, it shouldnt matter as the game doesnt take itself seriously but its just that bad
Metal Gear Solid - everything is so forced, it makes sense when they are trying to be funny but when they go all serious that voice acting really hurts
Its all about selling the character and making the player/viewer understand exactly how the character feels at the moment, if the character is scared you really feel how much they are scared instead of just "he is either scared or not".
A character can even be scared and angry at the same time, good acting manages to show that to the viewer. In Far Cry 3 the main character usually says his lines in the same "talking to myself in the toilet" way meaning that you never really understand what he exactly feels about most stuff (the way you say things change the meaning of a line).
Good:
The Saints Row series has really good voice acting.
Mass Effect series as well.
Fallout 1 and 2
Most Star Wars games that I've played, especially Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 as well as the Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic.
WarCraft 3
StarCraft 1 and 2
Diablo 1, 2, and 3.
World of WarCraft has mostly good voice acting, but there have been a few characters here and there that were just horrible.
Dragon Age - all games in the series.
Team Fortress 2
I've seen people complain about the main character in Far Cry 3 sucking, but I think he did fine as a voice actor it's more that he's sometimes a bit whiny and little too much like a little ***** that people see it as being bad. That's just bad character design.
Bad:
Mars Wars has bad voice acting and dialogue.
World of Tanks. But it's minimal and doesn't really affect the game as a whole.
Arma, all games in the series really. Well, Arma 3 seems to be improving it.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Bad voice acting, although it is minimal. Game itself is pretty awesome though.
The Saints Row series has really good voice acting.
Mass Effect series as well.
Fallout 1 and 2
Most Star Wars games that I've played, especially Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 as well as the Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic.
WarCraft 3
StarCraft 1 and 2
Diablo 1, 2, and 3.
World of WarCraft has mostly good voice acting, but there have been a few characters here and there that were just horrible.
Dragon Age - all games in the series.
Team Fortress 2
I've seen people complain about the main character in Far Cry 3 sucking, but I think he did fine as a voice actor it's more that he's sometimes a bit whiny and little too much like a little ***** that people see it as being bad. That's just bad character design.
Bad:
Mars Wars has bad voice acting and dialogue.
World of Tanks. But it's minimal and doesn't really affect the game as a whole.
Arma, all games in the series really. Well, Arma 3 seems to be improving it.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Bad voice acting, although it is minimal. Game itself is pretty awesome though.
Amnesia, Alan Wake, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Diablo 2, Saints Row, Bastion, Dead Space... All make you feel like there COULD be people saying exactly that, in that way, if that situation ever happened. Or in some cases, such as Diablo 2, the voices are astoundingly compelling. The kind of phrases that you will tell to some friend who also played it in a random situation.
Then you got Just Cause 2, which I thought it was because my localization, but when I changed to english still was as bad, where the characters talk in a pompous way, never coordinated with their lips, or about just plain boring things.
Then you got Just Cause 2, which I thought it was because my localization, but when I changed to english still was as bad, where the characters talk in a pompous way, never coordinated with their lips, or about just plain boring things.
It sure is!Zhukov said:
It all really depends on how much it detracts from the experience. You can have top tier voice acting on the level of The Last of Us, but put it in a game like Ratchet and Clank and it'll sound terrible.
If you take a script like Resident Evil you can't have voice actors play it totally straight. That was the big difference between RE4 and RE5. RE4 was very much aware of how corny it all was and ran with it, while RE5 was trying to be all serious and ended up sounding even stupider in the process.
OT: As for good voice acting... The Last of Us. The fact that I didn't even recognize Nolan North as David says it all. And the subtle inflections in Troy Baker's performance as Joel is something I haven't seen in any other game.
I struggle to tell the difference between bad voice acting and a bad script most of the time.
People tell me the voice acting in Deus Ex is poor (and there are some lines where I can see that's the case) but for the most part the script is so awesome I just don't see it.
People tell me the voice acting in Deus Ex is poor (and there are some lines where I can see that's the case) but for the most part the script is so awesome I just don't see it.
Here's a question:
Does the Shenmue series have bad or good voice acting? Because I love it, but I am aware that it is the WORST.
Does the Shenmue series have bad or good voice acting? Because I love it, but I am aware that it is the WORST.
That's pretty much what I was going to say. Often times it can be difficult to distinguish between bad voice acting and a just a poorly written script. If the script is piss poor not even the best voice actor in the world can do much with it.Smeatza said:
Although I'm sure we can all agree that Metroid: Other M has both.
The thing is, voice acting quality depends on a few things; the actual voice actor, the material they have to work with (script), the style and tone of the game and whether they can bring the character to life and sound believable as a character.
Mass effect has good VA for the most part, Bastion has good VA, the Portal games have great VA.
As for bad, well, the Metal Gear Solid series has always not quite sat right, David Hayter was good, but Raiden wasn't. Just Cause 2 has bad VA.
RE5 wasn't so great, the voice actors themselves weren't the issue, it was the conflict in tones.
Mass effect has good VA for the most part, Bastion has good VA, the Portal games have great VA.
As for bad, well, the Metal Gear Solid series has always not quite sat right, David Hayter was good, but Raiden wasn't. Just Cause 2 has bad VA.
RE5 wasn't so great, the voice actors themselves weren't the issue, it was the conflict in tones.
that wasn't so much bad voice acting as bad script.Silvanus said:
I have to admit, I do find it a little irritating when people equate "cheesy/hammy" with "bad". Being camp =/= being bad. It can be very easy to make something campy also be bad, but it's not automatically bad just by virtue of how campy it is.Casual Shinji said:
Anyway.
Bad voice acting: Metroid: Other M. Although there's some dispute of this, because it's rumored that Sakamoto actually directed the lass to voice Samus that way, in which case it would... debatably... be an example of good voice acting. Sort of. The whole thing is a clusterfuck, but in the general scheme of things, a person reading off their lines like Samus does in Other M is pretty much a textbook example of 'bad' voice acting.
If you ask me, it was a mix of both. The script was cheesy as all get-out, and the acting was also pretty cheesy, but in a B-movie kind of way. Wesker's line of "WAIT. DON'T - OPEN - THAT - DOOR." was pretty bad. Though, Resident Evil hasn't been exactly a 10/10 story kind of game, so it kind of makes up for it a little bit.lunavixen said:
OT: Good or bad voice acting is all subjective. What one person finds good, another may find bad. I personally found Metal Gear Solid games to be somewhat decent, in terms of voice acting, but others would say it sounds too forced or drawn out. Quinton Flynn wasn't exactly my nominee for voice actor of the year, when it came to Raiden in MGR, but Hideo Kojima isn't someone I take completely seriously, anyway.
In terms of bad voice acting, I would have to say the Sega Saturn game Deep Fear is a notable example for me. It's kinda of like Sega's answer to Resident Evil, cheesy dialogue and all.
Best voice acting I've heard to date is still From the Legacy of Kain Series. Whatever those VA's were paid it wasn't enough.
Bad, hmm. Not too sure on that. Bad VA tends to break immersion for me so I usually avoid them.
EDIT: No wait, I got one. The Mega Man series. I honestly can't think of a game with VA in it that got above an "okay" rating from me. Then you have the likes of MM8 where you could have Mega Man's voice in Roll and it would be no less acceptable or Dr. Fudd, er I mean Light.
Bad, hmm. Not too sure on that. Bad VA tends to break immersion for me so I usually avoid them.
EDIT: No wait, I got one. The Mega Man series. I honestly can't think of a game with VA in it that got above an "okay" rating from me. Then you have the likes of MM8 where you could have Mega Man's voice in Roll and it would be no less acceptable or Dr. Fudd, er I mean Light.
Good Voice Acting:
David Warner as Jon Irenicus in Baldurs Gate 2; Shadows of Amn
"I can not be contained"
Metal Gear Solid, with David Hayter as Snake
Fallout Intro
"War...war never changes"
Last of Us
Bad VA:
Every villager in Oblivion
"I saw a mudcrab the other day"
Or just watch this clip...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJN6x62Q5Ds&noredirect=1
David Warner as Jon Irenicus in Baldurs Gate 2; Shadows of Amn
"I can not be contained"
Metal Gear Solid, with David Hayter as Snake
Fallout Intro
"War...war never changes"
Last of Us
Bad VA:
Every villager in Oblivion
"I saw a mudcrab the other day"
Or just watch this clip...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJN6x62Q5Ds&noredirect=1
Hah, yeah, that was pretty bad. I love the way the characters and plot all seem to completely ignore the fact that there are monsters roaming around killing everything as if it's an everyday occurrence to them.Duraine said: