To those who prefer Japanese voices...

Strain42

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This is a legitimate question. I'm not trying to mock anyone's opinion. I'm looking for a serious answer.

I play a lot of Atlus games, and one of the things I hear most often is something along the lines of "I wish Atlus would include a dual audio option. I want the original Japanese voices."

Now let me ask something. What exactly does that mean? Does it just mean the first voices recorded? To explain further, let me use two Atlus games as an example. Devil Survivor: Overclocked and Catherine.

Devil Survivor: Overclocked is a very rare case (the first for Atlus, I believe) of a game that came out in the states first. Granted, only by a couple days, but the game was released in English first. Do you prefer the English voices because they would be the original voices, or would you still prefer Japanese voices because these are all Japanese characters and it would be more realistic?

On the exact opposite side of the coin, we have Catherine. Catherine was released in Japan first and so the Japanese recordings were first and would be considered the original. But these are all American characters who realistically would be speaking English.

Or do neither of those points really matter at all and some people just automatically want Japanese voices because they think they sound better (I've noticed even acting considered pretty bad in a foreign language is still often praised by English audiences)

Thoughts? (from anyone, not just people who prefer Japanese acting)
 

Wolfram23

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I haven't played too many Japanese games to be honest, but I do watch a lot of movies and have seen my fair share of Japanese and Chinese movies. I vastly prefer sub titles to dubbed because, frankly, they usually have really bad english voice actors and scripts. I'm thinking it's much the same with games.

I just watched the first episode of FullMetal Alchemist on Netflix and I really wish it had subtitles instead of being dubbed. Ugh!
 

Korten12

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Wolfram01 said:
I haven't played too many Japanese games to be honest, but I do watch a lot of movies and have seen my fair share of Japanese and Chinese movies. I vastly prefer sub titles to dubbed because, frankly, they usually have really bad english voice actors and scripts. I'm thinking it's much the same with games.

I just watched the first episode of FullMetal Alchemist on Netflix and I really wish it had subtitles instead of being dubbed. Ugh!
Really? Honestly everyone I talk to says the opposite about FMA. Almost everyone I heard says the dub is much better. I remember trying to watch the Brotherhood sub and I couldn't take it. The voices were horrible and Edward sounded like a six year old girl.
 

Strain42

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I always prefer the native language when it comes to live action movies because dubs for those are voice actors trying to capture something that an actor has already put themselves into. Putting dubs over those almost seems insulting to the original actor (and lets face it...lip sync issues lol)

For games and anime though I prefer English. It's not even that I think the Japanese acting is bad.
 

Neverhoodian

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To be honest, it all depends on the quality of the voice work. Sometimes the English dub is so atrocious that it's nice to have the original Japanese voices to fall back to. I'm by no means a "purist" that only wants Japanese voices though, as I'm not always a fan of their preferred styles. For example, would it kill them to have their female characters not sound like a hyperactive eight year old so often, particularly when they're supposed to be grown women?
 

RedEyesBlackGamer

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I'd prefer dual-audio just for the option. If I don't like the dub, I can flip to the sub and not have to worry. I prefer the Japanese voice acting most of the time, it feels more natural and it sounds good to me whether it is good or bad because I don't know the language.
 

Epona

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I don't understand it! Unless you speak Japanese how would you know if the Japanese audio track is superior and how could it be if you can't understand it, may as well turn it off completely. So why don't people ask for a option to turn the voice acting off completely instead of a "foreign language I don't understand" option? I guess it's cool at the moment, fads often don't make sense though.
 

Strain42

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RedEyesBlackGamer said:
it feels more natural and it sounds good to me whether it is good or bad because I don't know the language.
If only there were more people like you. (Not sarcasm. I mean that) Most people I see just can't even fathom admitting that might be the reason they prefer foreign dialogues.
 

TehCookie

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I tend to find the original voices to be the best. Doesn't matter what is was spoken in first, dubs always tend to suck. There are exceptions, but that applies both ways. With the dual audio you have options. A game dubbed in Japanese may be just as good as the English. As for why would would want to listen to a foreign language if the English sounds just as good, there may be some people studying the language or like you said, others think a game that takes place in Japan should be spoken in Japanese.

Of course there are people who are think Japan is magic and the best thing ever and all other cultures and languages are shit compared to GLORIOUS NIHON! They're crazy weeaboos, don't take them too seriously.
 

boag

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Crono1973 said:
I don't understand it! Unless you speak Japanese how would you know if the Japanese audio track is superior and how could it be if you can't understand it, may as well turn it off completely. So why don't people ask for a option to turn the voice acting off completely instead of a "foreign language I don't understand" option? I guess it's cool at the moment, fads often don't make sense though.
Usually its because by not understanding the words directly, the corniness of the dialog virtually disappears, while the emotion of the actor remains.
 

Wolfram23

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Korten12 said:
Wolfram01 said:
I haven't played too many Japanese games to be honest, but I do watch a lot of movies and have seen my fair share of Japanese and Chinese movies. I vastly prefer sub titles to dubbed because, frankly, they usually have really bad english voice actors and scripts. I'm thinking it's much the same with games.

I just watched the first episode of FullMetal Alchemist on Netflix and I really wish it had subtitles instead of being dubbed. Ugh!
Really? Honestly everyone I talk to says the opposite about FMA. Almost everyone I heard says the dub is much better. I remember trying to watch the Brotherhood sub and I couldn't take it. The voices were horrible and Edward sounded like a six year old girl.
Well I've never heard the original. I'm not really into Anime but a friend recommended this so I thought I'd give it a go. I suppose if the original was kinda bad then it's not a big deal.

Still, generally speaking I prefer subtitles.
 

geK0

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There's something about Japanese voices that just make things seem better to me.

It's either because the voice acting is just better, or that when people are speaking in English I games I realize how stupid everything they're saying actually is : \

This goes mostly for animes.... Ive never actually played any Atlus games.
 

Weaver

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I prefer whatever I'm watching or playing to be as close as possible to the original work; for better or worse. As such subs are way more along what I want.

Coupled with the fact that the English is usually awful. Look at, say, Disgaea 4. The Japanese voices are miles better.

This doesn't just extend to Japanese either. If i'm watching a German, French, Sweedish, etc. movie I want it to be in their native language as well.
 

krazykidd

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I prefer japanese , simply because there is a better flow to it compared to badly done dubs . That and i don't mind reading . Voice acting is overrated.
 

Weaver

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Wolfram01 said:
Korten12 said:
Wolfram01 said:
I haven't played too many Japanese games to be honest, but I do watch a lot of movies and have seen my fair share of Japanese and Chinese movies. I vastly prefer sub titles to dubbed because, frankly, they usually have really bad english voice actors and scripts. I'm thinking it's much the same with games.

I just watched the first episode of FullMetal Alchemist on Netflix and I really wish it had subtitles instead of being dubbed. Ugh!
Really? Honestly everyone I talk to says the opposite about FMA. Almost everyone I heard says the dub is much better. I remember trying to watch the Brotherhood sub and I couldn't take it. The voices were horrible and Edward sounded like a six year old girl.
Well I've never heard the original. I'm not really into Anime but a friend recommended this so I thought I'd give it a go. I suppose if the original was kinda bad then it's not a big deal.

Still, generally speaking I prefer subtitles.
I prefer the Japanese voices in FMA and FMA: Brotherhood.
 

Rack

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Strain42 said:
This is a legitimate question. I'm not trying to mock anyone's opinion. I'm looking for a serious answer.

I play a lot of Atlus games, and one of the things I hear most often is something along the lines of "I wish Atlus would include a dual audio option. I want the original Japanese voices."

Now let me ask something. What exactly does that mean? Does it just mean the first voices recorded? ...
It's the original version, but that isn't necessarily the first version. In a Japanese produced game the Japanese language is normally the one with the directors support and with a decent budget. If these things are equal and it makes sense for the characters to speak English then I'll prefer the English version. But that's so rarely the case I'll rarely bother trying.
 

boag

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In terms of animation one of the biggest reasons I prefer subs over dubs, is that Anime seldom animates mouth movements, most of the time its mouth flapping animation. With the Japanese Language, which uses lots of AH and OH syllables, it becomes a lot less noticeable than with the English language.

When a Dub its very jarring to see a character speaking but their lips not synching to what is being said.
 

Scarim Coral

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Honestly I prefer the English dubbing just as long the dubbing and lip syncing are good otherwise I switch back to the Japanese voice.
While I do prefer the original Japanese voices but the thing is that during the cutscene the dialogue may get too fast meaning you only cut a few sec to read it. Unlike anime you can't pause the cutscene to read it.