Bungie Boots Dinklage, Nolan North Takes over as Destiny's Ghost

[Metadigital]

So Dinklage is taking the bullet on this one, eh?

I've tried seeing if I could say the lines any better. I mean, you hear them again and again. It's not like they don't get committed to memory. I don't think it can be done. If Nolan North can do it, then I'll be impressed. Unless he changes the lines, though, I suspect it'll just be upgraded to an entirely forgettable rather than infuriating part of the game. Maybe that's for the best where Destiny is concerned.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Considering how awful the script was, I doubt even Nolan North can get it to work. Dinklage clearly knew what sort of crap he was working on and decided to give as little effort as possible and who can blame him?

 

[NiPah]

Yeah, that's all kinds of bullshit.

Nothing against Nolan North since I like him as a voice actor, but that's really not cool. There were problems with Destiny, but I really doubt Peter Dinklage's voice performance was one of them.

Are they doing this because his acting was bad? Or is this because they can't afford to hire him.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Snippity snip snip

Yeah, that's all kinds of bullshit.

Nothing against Nolan North since I like him as a voice actor, but that's really not cool. There were problems with Destiny, but I really doubt Peter Dinklage's voice performance was one of them.

Are they doing this because his acting was bad? Or is this because they can't afford to hire him.

I'm inclined to think they couldn't afford him.

I don't think his acting was bad, and it might be the direction that they gave him while he was doing his lines. I don't know, but this is just not cool.

I mean, if you plan on making it a huge franchise and giving the IP a long life with DLC and expansion packs you probably shouldn't hire someone that is a huge part of the game. That's just me though. Again, nothing against Nolan North, but I think they should have gone with him first and not grab someone on name recognition alone.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Now if they brought that mindset to the story narrative I might give a damn about the game again.

I agree. I got Destiny for free and I tried it. It sure is pretty, but it's just so...mind numbing. The story...it's like reading a bare-bones script with placeholder names.
On occasion I feel like I want to try it again, but the urge just vanishes as soon as I think about the story.

Anyway, I wonder why they're doing this switch. Is it really like everyone says, and that Dinklage's version just wasn't enjoyable to players?

 

[Sarge034]

I agree. I got Destiny for free and I tried it. It sure is pretty, but it's just so...mind numbing. The story...it's like reading a bare-bones script with placeholder names.
On occasion I feel like I want to try it again, but the urge just vanishes as soon as I think about the story.

Anyway, I wonder why they're doing this switch. Is it really like everyone says, and that Dinklage's version just wasn't enjoyable to players?

I agree, the game handled great, but I was promised a galaxy spanning saga and got this...
Seriously, for those of you who finished the game think about how many times the dinklebot said something was "amazing".

But if I had to guess, they couldn't get Dinklage to sign on for more because this performance really did hurt his credit. You can't have one voice and style just switch to another without a story reason so I figure it was just simpler to pay North a little more money to just redo it all.

 

[Spider RedNight]

Hmmmmmmm maybe once Dinklage is gone and North shows back up (in yet another game I own), maybe it'll be less grating for me to play all the while thinking "such a good actor why is he wasting his time on this".

That being said, I've no aversion to Nolan. I love Nolan. At least I think bored Nolan will sound less bored than bored Dinklage - and I'm one of the .002 percent of the population that thought "Dinklebot" was a stupid name.

 

[Tohuvabohu]

Anyway, I wonder why they're doing this switch. Is it really like everyone says, and that Dinklage's version just wasn't enjoyable to players?

I answered this earlier.

While Dinklage's performance was criticized, I think the bigger problem was getting Dinklage onboard with recording more lines alongside the release of more content. Given his involvement in all kinds of major acting roles, he must be way too busy (and probably even more expensive) to record lines of dialogue for the game.

Bottom line; there needs to be more Ghost dialogue. And Dinklage is either too expensive, too busy, or too undesirable to record more lines. I'm inclined to believe he's too expensive at this point, and working around his schedule may not be worth it.

Bringing in a new voice actor to record more lines, it only makes sense to go back and record the entire performance for consistency. Bungie really screwed this up by having Dinklage voice the Ghost to begin with. Given the circumstances, this is the best thing they could have done.

 

[DeaDRabbiT]

Should have booted the voice director who didn't do his job worth shit. I guess it is cheaper to just blame Dinklage and replace him with a cheapo VA.

Looks like someone liked space robot from Portal 2.

I don't think anyone is blaming Dinklage. I think the reason for re-recording all the ghost dialogue is both Nolan North admittedly not wanting to have his performance influenced by this perceived idea of what the Ghost should sound like, as well as offering continuity to the playerbase.

How disconcerting would it be switching back and forth from Dinklage sections to North sections.

I for one would hate it.

 

[Fox12]

Eh...kind of a shame they got rid of Dinklage but he did not bring any energy to the role. Just because the Ghosts are AI doesn't mean they can't emote, something numerous fan writings have taken into account.

Can't wait to see how Nolan North tackles the little glowing resurrection machine. Should be interesting after his performances as the Boss from Saints Row and The Penguin.

To be fair, the greatest actor in the world can only do so much with a script like that. I think Bungie needed to be brought down a peg or two, they were getting arrogant.

They took the obvious and safe route, which says something.

 

[ccggenius12]

A quick perusal of North's Filmography indicates he voices The Kraang in the current iteration of TMNT. Knowing nothing about Destiny except some excerpts from Penny Arcade. #EpicEngram, and this site, I feel like that would be an entertaining fit that would never grow old. "The one known as 'Ghost' is informing the one known as *PLAYERCHARACTER* about that which is known as, *STUFF*". This writes itself.
Alternatively, he did a stint as the TF2 Soldier, so "John Doe" is an acceptable Ghost name, and you can look forward to the copious quantities of bread it will teleport within the space of a few days, culminating in a carbohydrate-heavy boss fight.
PS. I think the most tongue-in-cheek option will be to name it "Additional-Voices".

 

[sXeth]

Should have booted the voice director who didn't do his job worth shit. I guess it is cheaper to just blame Dinklage and replace him with a cheapo VA.

Looks like someone liked space robot from Portal 2.

I don't think anyone is blaming Dinklage. I think the reason for re-recording all the ghost dialogue is both Nolan North admittedly not wanting to have his performance influenced by this perceived idea of what the Ghost should sound like, as well as offering continuity to the playerbase.

How disconcerting would it be switching back and forth from Dinklage sections to North sections.

I for one would hate it.

If they were just putting out Taken King, I think they might've left it alone. But they're releasing the full bundle version too, and I guess they don't want people to play through Vanilla then suddenly switch the voice at Taken King.

I doubt much of the current playerbase has heard more then scattered lines in weekly nightfall missions from the Ghost in months.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Considering how awful the script was, I doubt even Nolan North can get it to work. Dinklage clearly knew what sort of crap he was working on and decided to give as little effort as possible and who can blame him?

Just as Ron Perlman did in Turok, if I may recall an early ZP video.

 

[RJ 17]

I wonder how much money they flushed down the toilet by hiring Dinklage

That's what I'm curious about as well. Now that they're completely replacing all the work they did, they completely just pissed all that money away. It's gone with absolutely nothing to show for it now. With budget decisions like this, is it any wonder why the game cost $500 million to make while the game in no way reflects of $500 million budget?

 

[The Bucket]

I wonder how much money they flushed down the toilet by hiring Dinklage

That's what I'm curious about as well. Now that they're completely replacing all the work they did, they completely just pissed all that money away. It's gone with absolutely nothing to show for it now. With budget decisions like this, is it any wonder why the game cost $500 million to make while the game in no way reflects of $500 million budget?

To be fair, they leaned on him pretty hard in marketing as it was coming out. I doubt anyone cares Dinklage is in it anymore, but I have no doubt his involvement at launch at least shifted some copies. Without any kind of data I have no idea how many, but they could very well have made their money off his involvement then reasoned forking out for him anymore would just be diminishing returns.

 

[Hatchet90]

Who will say, "Opening the door will take a few minutes. Uh oh enemies detected outside." now?

 

[soren7550]

Who will say, "Opening the door will take a few minutes. Uh oh enemies detected outside." now?

... Nolan North ... it's in the article's title...

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

To be fair, they leaned on him pretty hard in marketing as it was coming out. I doubt anyone cares Dinklage is in it anymore, but I have no doubt his involvement at launch at least shifted some copies. Without any kind of data I have no idea how many, but they could very well have made their money off his involvement then reasoned forking out for him anymore would just be diminishing returns.

That is the thing, Acti and the game wouldn't have caught so much flack if it weren't for them BRAGGING about getting Dinklage to do voice work. That is the big thing right now is having game companies brag about voice talent, like how CD Project Red bragged about Charles Dance in The Witcher III (whose character didn't really do much) or with Dishonored wasting the talents of Lena Headey and BRAD FREAKING DOURIF. I can't help but feel we're in for more of this, sort of like a new wave of the FMV craze where we had great dramatic talent wasting their time.

 

[Ishigami]

Not that I care much since I won't buy their expansions... but anyway in general I think this is a good move.
I'm on board with people thinking that it was probably too difficult to organize the recordings with Dinklage.
In general if you have a long term plan in store for your franchise I think you should NOT chose an actor but voice actor for reoccurring characters.

Actor might get famous or are famous to begin with and that is why you would book them in the first place: To get the marketing machine rolling on their back etc. but since their schedule is probably pretty busy because of that if your plans change you are way more likely to be fucked with your project.
And I think that happened to Bungie and Activision.
They booked Dinklage because he was trendy but for him that job is just a side business. Everything else probably goes before recording lines for a video game.
They coped out in their DLC by giving the exposition dialog to another character leaving your Ghost strangely silent all the time.
But you can't go on like this if you want to continue the main story and expand on the relationship between the Guardian and the Ghost.

So yea... don't hire trendy actors and hire professional voice actors.
Nolan North knows how the stuffs works in this industry. He is in every video game ever after all.