Best voice acting in a video game

thejboy88

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Aug 29, 2010
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Title says it all. Tell me what you think to be the best example of voice acting in video games, be it a character, a single scene or perhaps even a whole game.
 

Lilani

Sometimes known as CaitieLou
May 27, 2009
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The go-to answers here are going to be Portal, Half-Life 2[footnote]"Wake up, Mister Freeman...wake up and smell the ashes..."[/footnote], and Bastion. And I've got to say...I agree with every one of them. Such distinct voices performing so well. But I'd also say TF2 and Bioshock. Every line from one of the classes in TF2 is a treat, and Bioshock just has so many colorful characters and speeches.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
Legacy
Jul 18, 2009
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Troy Baker as Joel in The Last of Us. The guy just totally aced it, not a drop in delivery at any point. Everyone in that game was great, but Troy was beyond exceptional. Also, nearly everyone in Wolfenstein: The New Order. I especially liked the old Polish couple.

Special shout-out to Lorne Lanning as Abe.

 

Bergthor86

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Dec 6, 2013
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BioWare games in general really stand out when it comes to voice acting. In Dragon Age we have great performances from characters including Solas, Morrigan, Flemeth, Dorian, and Cole. In Mass Effect... Well, let me just leave this here:

 

Recusant

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Nov 4, 2014
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Grim Fandango. Even now, it stands out as amazing.
Also, Thief. I don't know what the voice actor was told; I'm assuming it was something along the lines of "You're a zombie. A zombie standing guard. A zombie, standing guard, who thinks it might've heard something", because that's exactly what conveys. I'd recommend playing the game for that alone, if it weren't for all the other reasons I recommend playing it.
 

Dizchu

...brutal
Sep 23, 2014
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Bioshock had good voice talent (Andrew Ryan and especially Sander Cohen), the first two Arkham games also had a great cast (I could listen to Joker and Harley Quinn bicker all day). Broken Sword had some great voice acting too, it was really quite fun... oh and Terri Brosius as SHODAN...

However I think my current favourite is Sarah Hamilton's performance as April Ryan in The Longest Journey. There's a lot of subtlety to her performance. She's not performing as a character in a video game, she is performing as a character. She's a very believable protagonist and she doesn't sound too goofy or too serious, there's a lot of nuance. I love it, I think April Ryan's character was the main driving force behind the whole game.
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

Alleged Feather-Rustler
Jun 5, 2013
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South Park Stick of Truth. I could listen to Cartman's disembodied laugh after I fart on Butters all day long.

Failing that, the Amnesia series actually had pretty good narrations. The Machine, on MfP, was pretty damn good, especially in the late game.



Man this scene got to me. Walking through a river of blood from the victims of the Machine, all the while the Machine has this incredible monologue about how all it was trying to do was prevent World War 1. I don't want to say I symbathize with the Machine, because its evil. I mean its powered by the still beating hearts of two murdered children. But if any reason comes even remotely close to justifying the Machine, it would be stopping World War 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VKWfEspl6g
 

Objectable

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Oct 31, 2013
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I have to say Kid Icarus Uprising. Seriously, it is amazing in so many ways.
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Also, Resident Evil
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bdeamon

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Mar 20, 2013
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What exactly qualifies something as great voice acting? The first thing that comes to my mind is believability, but is there more?
 

Glongpre

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Jun 11, 2013
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I don't know if any videogame will ever top Legacy of Kain in terms of the main characters voice acting. It is simply amazing.

Diablo 2 also had top notch voice acting, all around, even though that may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Diablo.
Oh the nostalgia!!!!

Come to think of it, most blizzard games have really good soundbites. Starcraft and Warcraft units always have really good voices. The cinematics are good too.

But for number one, I gotta say Legacy of Kain.
 

Chester Rabbit

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Dec 7, 2011
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I'm just gonna point to the Legacy of Kain series excluding Blood Omen 2 of course. That game is just mediocre at every corner.
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
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Bioshck Infinite is defiantly a standout

Bioware tends to be hit and miss but when they hit they hit very well, I particularly like the British Female inquisitor who while she's fairly "standard" a lot of the time she feels alittle more "real" than Femshep ever did (please don't kill me I like Jennifer Hale as much as anyone)

I also paritcually love Daisy Fitzroy from Bioshock Infinite
Braddon Dent said:
What exactly qualifies something as great voice acting? The first thing that comes to my mind is believability, but is there more?
Voice acting is tough because more often than not its just the actor in a booth, so its easy to sound flat/disconnected

honestly? games don't really lack quality voice acting...what they lack is quality writing, so something well written is bound to stand out
 

Fdzzaigl

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Mar 31, 2010
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Kreia from Kotor 2 (Sarah Kestelman).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrZzNbtjt7A
 

Spider RedNight

There are holes in my brain
Oct 8, 2011
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Troy Baker. Period. All the Troy Baker-- *shot*

Seriously though, I felt SO much gravity as his Joel from Last of Us. At the risk of gathering scorn from others, I'll also extend the fact that I loved him as James Sunderland in the Silent Hill 2 HD Collection.

Speaking of Silent Hill, I liked Kirk Thornton as Harry Mason from Silent Hill: Shattered Memories as well.

The writing for the Spyro games has never been.... phenomenal but it's one of the few instances where I'd take Tom Kenny over Elijah Wood; Tom's Spyro just sounds young and bad butt. (TVTropes)

And then there's the "Bioshock had notable ones" and "Bioware has notable ones" but I'm trying to think outside the... box, so to speak.

OH WAIT I GOT IT Dameon Clarke from Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel. GOD I can listen to Handsome Jack and his Doppelganger ALL freakin' day. The voice acting in those games is good overall but DAMN does he stand out to me. And it's amazing how cocky he can sound as Handsome Jack then turn around and sound like a complete dweeb loser-turned-clone as Timothy in the Doppelganger role.

(I'll probably be back later with more but I'll leave it at this for now before I get kicked off for having too many choices. I can't help it I just love voice acting so much-- *shot again*)
 

Zhukov

The Laughing Arsehole
Dec 29, 2009
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Naughty Dog and Bioware are pretty much the last word on voice acting these days. They seem to make a point of hiring the best.

For lesser known examples, there's Sexy Narrator Guy from Bastion and Transistor. Also, Telltale Games tend to be very solid with few exceptions. Given how reliant their games are on dialogue, it makes sense that they'd take the time to get it right.


Vault101 said:
I also paritcually love Daisy Fitzroy from Bioshock Infinite
Fun Fact: That's the same voice actor as Ash from Mass Effect.

I can't recall the actor's name off the top of my head, but she's actually in quite a few games. Has a pretty distinctive voice, to the point that I remember recognizing it as Random Soldier #17 in the new XCOM.
 

WhiteFangofWhoa

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Jan 11, 2008
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I don't play many modern games so I'm probably missing some good ones, but I felt most of Metal Gear's characters were pretty good. Not just David Hayter, but Paul Eiding (Colonel Campbell AND Wall-E!), Patrick Byrd (Gray Fox and others), Grant Albrecht (The End) and Patrick Zimmerman (Ocelot).

It's a thin line of perception between ham and true emotion in delivery sometimes, and quantity can mean a drop in quality. At the time I felt MGS1 was amazing for having hours of good voicework in the same year we got 'the master of unlocking'.

On an individual basis I really enjoy Crispin Freeman's work (Axel/Lea, Albel Nox, Albedo). He's got natural talent for young, brash fighter characters like the kind I'd like to voice someday.

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