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Does anyone else not like the voice acting in SoV? Maybe it's just me, but something turned me off about it. Honestly while playing the first time, I didn't like the game as a whole and I couldn't pinpoint why, but after second run with VA off, I really like it.

And it's not like there was anything WRONG with the actual voice acting, more with the fact that EVERY SINGLE LINE is read to you and you just have to sit there and listen when you've already read what they're going to say, or just cut them off in the middle of their sentences and get weird sounds of "Alm, let's--I don't kno-- In that ca--Okay." I know this happens in many other games too but I always liked that Fire Emblem avoided it.

To contrast, I love the lines that were voiced during dungeon exploration. I wish there had been more to that, maybe because you actually have something to do while they're talking at you.

I dunno. Did anyone else feel this way? Am I just weird?

Edited by Solvaij
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I mean I doubt you're the only one.

I loved it. It added one more facet to the characters, who were already great, and made them feel a little more human and relatable. It's also nice if you have to do something else, like chores. You can autoplay and let the story parts go while you do "responsible people" things between chapters. Not that I ever really did <_<

Plus, like you said, you can just shut it off. So at least IMO, at worst it's a net zero and at best a net positive.

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I was mostly just tired of Awakening's little monosyllables and was happy to have full VA as a change of pace, though I think I would have preferred it with Dual Audio on. Plus, as bottlegnomes said, I can always leave it on auto during replays and pretend to do responsible things(like Cipher).

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It was a good idea, but it may have set a high standard. SoV has a relatively small cast compared to other games, so I'm not sure how they'll be able to do this in an original entry in the series where they'll want to voice every support. Everyone supporting with everyone will probably not be here anymore. Instead, there'll probably be more supports like the GBA games where it was limited, but plentiful.

Edited by Dandy Druid
wording.
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I mean I didn't dislike; maybe it's because I'm really into film (studying it), so full voice isn't a novel concept to me (or to be impressed by pretty presentation when there is not more to it; my thoughts on Echoes presentation). I don't think it's any better or worse than Awakening or Fates; it easily wins most voice acting in a Fire Emblem game. I didn't like the quips when you gave them food they didn't like; my thought was, "bitch I can give this to one of those poor people who are hungry if you are going to act like that".

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I do think there are cons to voice acting in these games...  Though as someone who plays big RPGs with lots of voice acting like Fallout or Mass Effect and skips through dialogue at times, the stuff that bugs you doesn't really bug me.

The main problem I usually have doesn't even come from the direct result of voice acting in the game; I'm typically at least okay with the quality, and even the weird flow breaks for skipping through it don't bug me.  It's due to what it does for the script in general; you sacrifice more content usually in favor of presentation.  You pay more to hire people to record full lines than you do for them just recording ad-libs and using the rest of the budget for script writing.  That can work out, but sometimes it doesn't.  In Fallout 4, your protagonist has less room to be your character; it's more that you can either choose to be good, selfless person or just simply a rude, selfish person.

And I know folks have complained about limited supports (as well as their lengths) in this game, which is undoubtedly partly because of voice acting.  I think apart from that,  it's fine.  It doesn't really hide any of the flaws of the story for me, but it adds some charm to the narrative at times.

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1 minute ago, Florete said:

No.

Lol

13 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

I do think there are cons to voice acting in these games...  Though as someone who plays big RPGs with lots of voice acting like Fallout or Mass Effect and skips through dialogue at times, the stuff that bugs you doesn't really bug me.

The main problem I usually have doesn't even come from the direct result of voice acting in the game; I'm typically at least okay with the quality, and even the weird flow breaks for skipping through it don't bug me.  It's due to what it does for the script in general; you sacrifice more content usually in favor of presentation.  You pay more to hire people to record full lines than you do for them just recording ad-libs and using the rest of the budget for script writing.  That can work out, but sometimes it doesn't.  In Fallout 4, your protagonist has less room to be your character; it's more that you can either choose to be good, selfless person or just simply a rude, selfish person.

And I know folks have complained about limited supports (as well as their lengths) in this game, which is undoubtedly partly because of voice acting.  I think apart from that,  it's fine.  It doesn't really hide any of the flaws of the story for me, but it adds some charm to the narrative at times.

I play those kinds of games too and I don't mind there. I think VA is great in Mass Effect, but it's a totally different format from Fire Emblem. It just felt weird in SoV.

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I don't mean to be rude, but I'm genuinely surprised this is an issue. Upon reading your post, I understand where you're coming from, however I felt like Echoes of Valentia's voice acting was the phenomenal and the humanisation it gave to the characters increased the script, likability and overall presentation of the game. I've played visual novels with full voice acting (in both Japanese and English) and I too don't let the characters finish what they're saying, but I've never found it an issue despite me cutting off some of what they're saying. The only thing I'd put against Valentia's voice acting is that now there's going to be a strict standard for future Fire Emblem games, where all will be compared to Echoes of Valentia. For example, in Heroes there were some characters I got quite the shock upon hearing their voices and how... unfitting the voice direction was for some of these characters.

For example:

  • Nephenee is meant to be awkward and shy, yet her current voices would make me put her in a similar category to that of Effie, instead. 
  • Elincia being soft-spoken and reserved (although I know she develops), but her voice direction didn't portray this at all. Sounds unique enough, though.
  • Mia is probably the most egregious case. It's unique, but Lani Minella should be doing characters like Isadora, Reina or Sonia, not Mia. 
  • Ephraim. Pretty similar line as Effie. I do like the voice acting for his specials, though.
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A lot of people are saying that the voice acting covered up a lot of the problems with the script and I'm inclined to agree. I mean that as a good thing too. It'd be great to have a fantatsic story fully voiced, but in lieu of a flawless story, good presentation really helps.

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I don't have a problem cutting characters off. I tune out the voices when I do it. But I'm used to that from other games. I can see how it would feel odd if you're not. Though it sounds like you've just never liked it.

How'd you do with the VA for Awakening and Fates? I found them distracting. But I'm curious how you felt as the spoken lines were so much shorter.

5 hours ago, SoulWeaver said:

I was mostly just tired of Awakening's little monosyllables and was happy to have full VA as a change of pace, though I think I would have preferred it with Dual Audio on. Plus, as bottlegnomes said, I can always leave it on auto during replays and pretend to do responsible things(like Cipher).

I'm not sure what you mean here. If you have a chance, can you explain what having "Dual Audio on" would mean?

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2 hours ago, lyscalibur said:

I'm not sure what you mean here. If you have a chance, can you explain what having "Dual Audio on" would mean?

They mean being a WEEB and listening to japanese VA's with english text.

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Voice acting is excellent. It really helps flesh out both who the characters are, and how they feel in any given scene; it allows for significantly more rich storytelling. SoV having voice acting is pretty much the reason people say it has good story presentation (which it does, as surely as the story it is trying to tell is terrible).

Voice acting every single support may not be practical in games with more supports, but I do hope that full voice acting returns for the main story at least; it feels like most RPGs have had it since the mid 00's and Fire Emblem is a bit late to the party.

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6 hours ago, lyscalibur said:

How'd you do with the VA for Awakening and Fates? I found them distracting. But I'm curious how you felt as the spoken lines were so much shorter.

I didn't mind it... I remember it being weird the first time I played, but I guess it's grown on me since my sister and I mock it so much. (Bonus points for comedy value?) Honestly, I appreciated that it gave the characters voices without making you listen to them non-stop every cut-scene. Again, I don't mind VA in other series. It just feels forced in SoV, I think because Fire Emblem cut scenes are different from other games'. I don't really know how best to describe it but FE gameplay is fairly dissociated from the story (and I know there's an argument against that, but you guys know what I mean (I hope)). ON THE OTHER HAND I loved the audio in the towns and dungeons in SoV. THAT was the part that humanized the characters for me. Not the VA during the story. That just annoyed me.

But apparently I am, in fact, the only person who feels this way!!

 

11 hours ago, SlipperySlippy said:

I don't mean to be rude, but...

You were not rude at all, and thank you for your reply!

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I loved the voice acting. It really helped me get attached to characters that I don't think I would have otherwise and also, in my opinion help increase the quality of story telling. For example, I can't imagine listening to Berkut's iconic 'Uncle' line without Ian Sinclair VAing it. If anything, in the case of Berkut, having full VA actually made Berkut a better character in my opinion, since otherwise, Berkut is a pretty typical and boring villain. And it's the same for a whole load of other characters. I also think it helped that character death quotes and also the post-battle mourning quotes which also help add a depth of personality to characters and you attachment to said characters.

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7 hours ago, lyscalibur said:

I'm not sure what you mean here. If you have a chance, can you explain what having "Dual Audio on" would mean?

Awakening has Dual Audio function, which means it offers both English and Japanese VA for those who prefer one or the other. Contrary to the statement quoted below, some players have actual reasons behind using this function - for example, I prefer the tone of voice for Olivia's Japanese VA, as I feel it does a better job of showcasing her timidity than her English one, and I prefer to watch the FMV cutscenes in Japanese because I feel like the character's mouths line up with the Japanese better than with the English, and then there's the really obnoxious English voice for village elders and Old Hubba, which I find easily trumped by the Japanese VA. Obviously, these examples may not be true for everyone, but there may be parts of the game you like better in Japanese, and Dual Audio allows players to have access to that.

5 hours ago, Tuvy said:

They mean being a WEEB and listening to japanese VA's with english text.

Just because someone happens to enjoy listening to the Japanese VA doesn't mean they fall into the Weeb category - you would have a better argument if you chose to focus on my current Avatar choice of Ring Suzune, a VOCALOID like Hatsune Miku, and assumed I listened to VOCALOID music(I do, I'll admit that quite cheerfully), and even then, the fact that I'm saying her name in English fashion as opposed to the more proper Suzunone Ring speaks against that accusation somewhat.
Also, you're using the apostrophe wrong - "VA's" indicates something belonging to VA. "VAs" is correct even though it feels a little funny to type.
Also did you just assume my lack of gender with the 'They' pronoun? Save it for robots like Arcanite XP

Quote

But apparently I am, in fact, the only person who feels this way!!

The full VA does bother me a little - Leon's lines in particular I skip through every time - but I think mostly I'm a bit concerned about the precedent it sets - we're all going to expect full VA in every game now, I know I am, and we're probably going to hold it to a pretty high standard. I'm a touch concerned we're setting ourselves up to be disappointed.

Edited by SoulWeaver
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20 hours ago, SoulWeaver said:

Just because someone happens to enjoy listening to the Japanese VA doesn't mean they fall into the Weeb category - you would have a better argument if you chose to focus on my current Avatar choice of Ring Suzune, a VOCALOID like Hatsune Miku, and assumed I listened to VOCALOID music(I do, I'll admit that quite cheerfully), and even then, the fact that I'm saying her name in English fashion as opposed to the more proper Suzunone Ring speaks against that accusation somewhat.
Also, you're using the apostrophe wrong - "VA's" indicates something belonging to VA. "VAs" is correct even though it feels a little funny to type.
Also did you just assume my lack of gender with the 'They' pronoun? Save it for robots like Arcanite XP

Yah, sorry. I didn't mean it seriously. I would take it a lot more seriously if I did mean, it, and am sorry if I offended anyone. I don't really understand why anyone would listen to Japanese VA's though.

Edited by Tuvy
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1 hour ago, Tuvy said:

Yah, sorry. I didn't mean it seriously. I would take it a lot more seriously if I did mean, it, and am sorry if I offended anyone. I don't really understand why anyone would listen to Japanese VA's though.

I find with foreign voices the cut off affect is less jarring when you read quicker than they talk. Typically I'd put on Japanese voices for that reason.

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3 hours ago, Tuvy said:

Yah, sorry. I didn't mean it seriously. I would take it a lot more seriously if I did mean, it, and am sorry if I offended anyone. I don't really understand why anyone would listen to Japanese VA's though.

Hey, it's all good, man, really I was more bugged by your misuse of the apostrophe - I'm the first one to admit I'm pretty much the closest you can get to being a Weeb without actually being one, I just don't particularly like how majorly derogatorily we use that label.

As for why we use the Dual Audio, Jotari mentioned one reason, and I gave a couple, like how the tone of voice for the JP VAs seems to fit the personality of the character more sometimes, but it really depends on the person - if you personally don't feel any benefit from using Dual Audio, I'm sure as heck not going to find fault with you not using it.

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When it comes to dual audio I just can't see any good reason why not to include it. The Japanese voice cast have alreay done the job. I don't think there's any extra licencing required to use it. Then why not provide it as an option for the people that want it? Doesn't take away from anything. Unless the game's data limit is literally so big that they can't fit both audio tracks, but I don't expect that's really much of an issue with modern games.

You know what's worse though? Dual audio existing but only getting the Japanese track. That's what happened to us Europeans with Virtue's Last Reward. Some people went to the trouble of voicing the entire game in English but they just said nah, those guys are fine with just Japanese. I mean...I would have played it on Japanese anyway for the aformentioned reason, but it just seems weird that England can't a game that's voiced in English. Maybe there are licencing reasons.

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