English dubs on Japanese games

silverkitsune · Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 10:27 pm Post subject: English dubs on Japanese games

I don't know if this is just me, but whenever they release a Japanese RPG for English, I'm always worried about the voice dub quality.
So much so that it seriously affects my decision to buy the game, even if the game itself is good. Even though this is so important to me, most game reviewers hardly put a sentence or two to comment on the voice dubs.

Whenever they do a English dub on it, it's like the game gets downgraded. They take away all the high profile Japanese voice actors/actresses for some acting school drop outs to do the English dub. It's like hiring a butcher for a surgeon's work.

If this was the case in some action games (Ace combat 5 had great English dub, AND it gave us the option of Japanese audio) where you wouldn't have time to read the written dialogue, I wouldn't complain as much, but in RPGs I really wish they would at least give us the option of using either Japanese or English voices. But, I think big reason is because the PS2 disk can't hold both languages because of limited storage. I hope maybe the PS3's new disk can do a better job.

Some games have decent English dubs though, although if I had the choice, I'd choose to play with Japanese audio on.
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VuDynasty · Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 12:59 am Post subject:

There have been times when I felt like that, but sometimes the voice actors/actresses pull through can give us a quality product. But I do agree with keeping japanese voices as an option at least. It would be likened to watching anime subbed. Though there's still that one aspect of actually hearing the game in your own language and being able to understand it without having to read the subtitling.

In my opinion, Tales of Symphonia had pretty good voice dubbing, but I wished they kept the dubbing with the skits though. I guess that could be considered downgraded, but the game was still very good, and even though the dubs were missing and some parts of the game voice acting not so great, but it didnt detract from the overall game and i still enjoyed it.

Blay · Heimin (Commoner) Joined: Nov 23, 2005 Posts: 52

yeah but usually its ok. I mean FFX was ok with the voices. Some i admit need some work but for the most part they do ok *plus most rpg's dont do the voice anyways*

subzero · Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 7:03 am Post subject:

I prefer if they just make the game with original subb but with subtitle... just like disgaea... so I can enjoy thier original character voice and able to learn some of thier language...
luckily the dubb for game wasn't that bad compare to dubb for anime...

Raiden · Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:28 am Post subject:

yes...I also feel that way for Japanese games. I've always wanted to play Metal gear Solid in Japanese Dub. Since I want to hear their voices in Jap. I'm not saying MGS English Dub was poor...it was one of the greatest dub out there.
che...I even Have MGS Integaral but it's still in English dub and you can change it to Japanese Subs, which is not very helpful.
the .hack games also have this feature...If I can play a Japanese game in it's original Language, I always choose it as much as possible.
Disgaea was one of them. Shinobi, Castlevania:LOI...but AC5, I have to play it on English language since I mostly need to concentrate on what infront and not reading the subs. Since it distracts me and I can't tell if a threat is behind me and usually crash or get shot down a lot.
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silverkitsune · Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 1:45 pm Post subject:

Yeah, .Hack had the dual voices and so did Disgaea and Phantom Brave.
But, Disgaea and Phantom Brave still retains English dubbed voices during gameplay. It really annoys me to hear different voice languages for gameplay and cut scenes... Though I must say, Mastiff did a great job at localization of La Pucelle Tactics. It's a shame not all Nippon Ichi games are done the way La Pucelle was done.

With MGS series, I'd probably prefer the English voices. Main reason being, the characters are SUPPOSE to speak English. I'm pretty sure even Japanese players would prefer English voices if they could understand it.
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Granzon · Conscript Joined: Aug 08, 2005 Posts: 143

Yea, I feel that there should be an option for Japanese audio with subs on ALL games, or at least audio that suits the setting with subs ie Tekken 5, where you have Koreans speaking Korean, Japanese ppl speaking Japanese, English ppl speaking English, etc.

It may not matter as much in some games, but it matters a lot to me when it comes to anime games. There is never an option for Jp audio with subs in anime games for some retarded reason, and it kinda makes me not want to buy the game.

But yea, I'd say that it matters in RPGs a lot, cuz that's where they do a lot of talking. Worst example I'd say is Grandia II (havent played any other Grandia games yet). The dubs were so bad that it turned me off after a few minutes of playing and I never touched it again.

Soujiroh · Heimin (Commoner) Joined: Apr 27, 2005 Posts: 57

If it was me, I would prefer the japanese dub with English subtitles. My reason for this is bias because I enjoy Japanese anime and I usually prefer them in Japanse dub over English Dub.

silverkitsune · Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 6:08 pm Post subject:

the_waltz · Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 6:14 pm Post subject:

personally, i hate anything that's dubbed. when it comes to games, i'm totally against it, because it ruins the original feel to the game, and i always want to end a game with a lasting impression. so far, the only bad experience with gaming dubs i've had is FFX and FFX-2. however, there are some dubs which i find quite alright. examples would be castlevania: symphony of the night, castlevania: lament of innocence, all MGS titles and riviera: the promised land. come to think of it, i find it quite odd that a company like konami would be the one who invests more in voice acting than squeenix does[/i]

Raiden · Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 7:35 pm Post subject:

Square-Enix must be having difficulty finding great voice actors like David Hayter.
And I know what you mean about Disgaea's voices in gameplay. Especially when i use Laharl's Meteor Crush I think...I can't remember the name. his laugh was...horrible. Flonne's was...too soft and high?

And what they did to Megaman 8...I caompared the VA's from Rockman 8 and my decision was...Rockman's voice in english is kinda *coughgaycough* when he dies. While in japanese he really screams in pain!

but SO3's English VA's are quite good don't ya think? but I really want to hear Maria Traydor's voice in Japanese...wonder what she sounded like?
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silverkitsune · Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 8:11 pm Post subject:

Elvin · Yari Ashigaru Joined: Jun 08, 2005 Posts: 283

I actually thought the voice actors in Disgaea were pretty good. It's the only game where I preferred the engish VA over the japanese ones. I wish more games had the option to switch in between, I really want to hear the Star Ocean 3 and growlanser japanese voices

Razgriz01 · newbie! Joined: Dec 07, 2005 Posts: 12

I share your sentiments exactly. Its not that the english dub are bad, at times it even excels its japanese counterpart, but whenever I watch/play an english dub, I just feel like something is amiss, like something that is distinct was taken away and being replaced with another completely different thing. The same goes vice versa (The Simpsons in japanese is just wrong). Again I would like to state that I am not criticizing dubs, but on a personal level, if given a choice between dubs, subs or original I would choose original or subs.

Outlaw-2 · Heimin (Commoner) Joined: Nov 29, 2005 Posts: 71

Well, some dubs may even change the humour for the westerners to understand. Take 'Thousand Arms' as an example.
Most of the jokes are Americanized when dubbing, but at least, it still retained the humour. And I heard thet the Japanese version of Thousand Arms had more random battles than the American ones, and a lot harder as well...

But at least I like the part where the characters are supposed to shout out vulgar words are censored with a short and unique beep sound.

Example...

"Holy *beep* shit!" - From Wyna, I think.
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