New Silent Hill 2 Voice Actor Defends Changes

[FaceFaceFace]

Did anyone complaining about this even play Silent Hill 2, or do they just have nostalgia glasses (or earphones, I guess) on? I played SH2 just a few months ago, and boy was James's voice-acting BAD. If I were planning on playing this (which I'm not) I would be super excited for the inclusion of voice acting that didn't, you know, suck. But to each his own, I suppose.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Having watched some comparisons between the HD remake and the original... actually, some of that original voicework is pretty damn iffy. Maybe Konami has the right idea after all?

Probably for copyright reasons. They may need his permission to use the recordings. Not too much of a stretch of the imagination. I know it happens quite a bit in movie sequels when the original actor won't give permission.

Could be a compatibility issue too... Who knows.

I think you quoted the wrong person there.

But in any case, you might be right, but this is all probably has to deal with how the contract was written years ago and something happened where they can't use it.

Both could be right, who knows.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Having watched some comparisons between the HD remake and the original... actually, some of that original voicework is pretty damn iffy. Maybe Konami has the right idea after all?

And I'm pretty damn sure Maria has the same voice as Mona Sax. If so, I'm certainly not going to say no to more of that sweet, husky ear honey. Mmm...

For people that've never played Silent Hill 2 the new voices won't be a problem, but for fans that have played it left, right, up, and down it's going to be extremely jarring. The old voices were a bit campy and even slightly goofy at times, but it was those voices that told us the story of Silent hill and uttered some of the most classic quotes and one-liners. It was these voices that shared the characters' dark and twisted secrets.

Changing the voices makes the dialoge feel disconnected from the characters. Atleast, it does for me.

 

[Sovvolf]

Having watched some comparisons between the HD remake and the original... actually, some of that original voicework is pretty damn iffy. Maybe Konami has the right idea after all?

Probably for copyright reasons. They may need his permission to use the recordings. Not too much of a stretch of the imagination. I know it happens quite a bit in movie sequels when the original actor won't give permission.

Could be a compatibility issue too... Who knows.

I think you quoted the wrong person there.

But in any case, you might be right, but this is all probably has to deal with how the contract was written years ago and something happened where they can't use it.

Both could be right, who knows.

I was quoting you but in my attempts to shorten down the post... I quoted the wrong paragraph

I'm wondering that as well, why did they feel the need to re-record the voices? I don't get it, but this is Konami, and they have a strange way of doing things.

That's the part I was originally intending to quote. Sorry bout that.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Having watched some comparisons between the HD remake and the original... actually, some of that original voicework is pretty damn iffy. Maybe Konami has the right idea after all?

Probably for copyright reasons. They may need his permission to use the recordings. Not too much of a stretch of the imagination. I know it happens quite a bit in movie sequels when the original actor won't give permission.

Could be a compatibility issue too... Who knows.

I think you quoted the wrong person there.

But in any case, you might be right, but this is all probably has to deal with how the contract was written years ago and something happened where they can't use it.

Both could be right, who knows.

I was quoting you but in my attempts to shorten down the post... I quoted the wrong paragraph

I'm wondering that as well, why did they feel the need to re-record the voices? I don't get it, but this is Konami, and they have a strange way of doing things.

That's the part I was originally intending to quote. Sorry bout that.

Ah! It all makes sense now! It's cool though, no worries.

 

[ace_of_something]

Wow, Mr. Baker seemed to handle that very professionally, explaining his point and then moving on. Seems like in today's (video game) world usually you call the fans a mean name before you move on.

Honestly I thought the voice acting in the original was pretty bad anyway though if you're trying to sinc with already made animation i can see how that would be difficult.

 

[vxicepickxv]

From TwinPerfect, who made a great Silent Hill documenetary...

Details on Guy Cihi's side of the story: http://youtu.be/TRtrO-eSwVw

and a comparison of the voices: http://youtu.be/7GKtsHcJOMI


Personally, I think the new voice acting is bad, and doesn't fit the characters. I'm going to stick with the original games.

The original voice acting wasn't exactly what I would call stellar though.

 

[JKain]

1st time watching the new voice-overs made me cringe as well - before forcing me to hear it more open-minded

I think James voice is good.(after hearing it a few times)
Maria is just too breathy and monotone imo (which just bothers me hearing)
Mary I think should be ok (once it's better implemented and doesn't sound like a lazy unedited voiceover)
As SH2 was my favorite Game for PS2 - I might be biased towards the character-voices in general...
except for Eddie!!! I didn't like his voice-acting in the original
but this is even worse- just terrible and cheesy and unworthy of 1st year acting-class

That being said...I had no intention of buying the HD-Collection anyway (original cast or not)

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I didn't really like or dislike the new James vs. old James when I watched the footage, because I was too busy cringing at Mary/Maria and gagging.

I love Mary Elizabeth McGlynn's voice in most every situation, and I like her singing voice too, but it is really not appropriate in this case to me.

As I don't think I've ever heard her use the range of emotions required of these characters before. She tends to speak matter of factly, calmly, and at times quite boringly as Motoko Kusanagi. As Julia it was basically the same exact voice. On her spoken word parts of the SH3 soundtrack it was the same breathless monotone but it kinda fit as it was supposed to be pseudo religious creepy.

I am both intrigued and worried at how in the hell she will deal with such scenes as the elevator, the hospital recording, and generally anything in which she is supposed to convey anger/resentment/fear or any emotion at all really.

There is a reason she is best known as the voice of a cyborg.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Judging by this guy's reaction, I like him already. I only played a little bit of Silent Hill 2 because I already knew the twist, and that just killed the story for me. But because of that, Silent Hill's voice actors aren't burned into my brain, so this should be okay.

Now, Silent Hill 3...hm. I hope they get that one right, which I'm sure they will.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I didn't really like or dislike the new James vs. old James when I watched the footage, because I was too busy cringing at Mary/Maria and gagging.

I love Mary Elizabeth McGlynn's voice in most every situation, and I like her singing voice too, but it is really not appropriate in this case to me.

As I don't think I've ever heard her use the range of emotions required of these characters before. She tends to speak matter of factly, calmly, and at times quite boringly as Motoko Kusanagi. As Julia it was basically the same exact voice. On her spoken word parts of the SH3 soundtrack it was the same breathless monotone but it kinda fit as it was supposed to be pseudo religious creepy.

I am both intrigued and worried at how in the hell she will deal with such scenes as the elevator, the hospital recording, and generally anything in which she is supposed to convey anger/resentment/fear or any emotion at all really.

There is a reason she is best known as the voice of a cyborg.

She does Kurenai in Naruto and she's good at emotions in that one. Still, I completely understand what you're saying. Even in that show, Kurenai is the most down-to-earth character, but there are a few episodes where she does show emotion, and Mary does it well.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I was mildly intrigued by the idea of a rerelease of one of my favorite games. Unfortunately, it looks like it is going to end up going down the toilet, no surprise there. On the upside, I am hoping Yahtzee reviews it.

 

[Cloake]

I'm not sure I understand why it's okay to update the graphics and change the aspect ratio, but not okay to update the voice acting.

 

[Trogdor1138]

When I played Silent Hill 2 I found the voice acting quite terrible, but apparently people found it fantastic? -raises fan wrath shield-

Watching the comparison clip, I actually prefer the re-records. There I said it.

EDIT: Also, as Cloake above made a good point. They're changing the aspect ratio of the game among other things, yet people aren't going all "fan purist" about things like that? Maybe it's just because I've always been a ratio perfectionist when it comes to watching films and such...

 

[Infernai]

My question is, why bother re-recording in the first place?

I mean, you've already made the game once so why not just take the audio from the old game and reuse it? No seriously, i don't see why they don't do that: The actors have grown up a bit and will likely sound different now then before, or some of them just might not have much love for the role anymore to come back so...why not just take the lines from the old game and put them in the new one? (I ask this same question of the metal gear solid gamecube remake)

It just seems logical and easier to me for them to just rip the lines....so why don't they just do that?