Spoken Dialogue

[Oppenheimer]

I was thinking while watching the suikox translated video that it would be nice to keep the original Japanese voice acting and just subtitle it. That's how I watch most of my anime anyway. Unless they do a really good job in english. But, so far they haven't (Kika anyone?). Does anyone agree?

One of the major things in Suikoden IV about the voice acting (besides that it was generally bad) was that they just paused whenever the heros name should be said. That's awful, very much tears the viewer out of the game. I'd much rather not name my hero than have it be silent when they speak. But I think they've found a way around that in this one. The hero is the prince right? Well they just call him "prince". That's pretty smart. It's kind of along the same lines as Tyr being called "Young Master" by Greimo the whole time. Do you think they'll be able to keep this up consitently throughout or will they resort to silences again?

I wait for the day where there's technology to just create a name that you type in so it's spoken regardless of what it is.

[RageRune]

One of the major things in Suikoden IV about the voice acting (besides that it was generally bad) was that they just paused whenever the heros name should be said. That's awful, very much tears the viewer out of the game. I'd much rather not name my hero than have it be silent when they speak. But I think they've found a way around that in this one. The hero is the prince right? Well they just call him "prince". That's pretty smart. It's kind of along the same lines as Tyr being called "Young Master" by Greimo the whole time. Do you think they'll be able to keep this up consitently throughout or will they resort to silences again?

Oh yes I hated how the hero in Suiko4 was refreed to in slience. It made the already awkward VA in that game even worse. Hero5 being called the "prince" in the game would make alot of sense and it would make dialouge better. So hopefully that'll be something to hear thoroughout the game.

I like the idea of subtitles for the Japanese VA also. I personally get tired of English VA because it seems like their always use the same voice actors (Crispin Freeman is an example of this, despite him being the best voice actor I know) for every game. Not to mention that most of the time the English VA are a bunch of amatuers. Konami should do that instead, that way there won't be any delays for translation and us fans can get the game sooner.

I doubt that Konami would do that though.

[Eric]

I was thinking while watching the suikox translated video that it would be nice to keep the original Japanese voice acting and just subtitle it. That's how I watch most of my anime anyway. Unless they do a really good job in english. But, so far they haven't (Kika anyone?). Does anyone agree?

No, I do not agree. You may prefer subtitles over English dubbing, but not everyone does. In fact, I can almost guarantee you that the majority of English-speaking gamers will not play a game that is in another language. The same goes for anime. Why do you think dubs exist in the first place? You want this game to sell well, don't you?

Anyway, it would be nice if they catered to both tastes and present us with a dual language audio track, but that probably won't happen until next-generation gaming.

One of the major things in Suikoden IV about the voice acting (besides that it was generally bad) was that they just paused whenever the heros name should be said. That's awful, very much tears the viewer out of the game. I'd much rather not name my hero than have it be silent when they speak. But I think they've found a way around that in this one. The hero is the prince right? Well they just call him "prince". That's pretty smart. It's kind of along the same lines as Tyr being called "Young Master" by Greimo the whole time. Do you think they'll be able to keep this up consitently throughout or will they resort to silences again?

I'd actually prefer for the hero to have a set name and to have his own voice. It's just too awkward to have everyone else speaking freely while the hero just stands there silent. Or, they could have the hero be an actual mute as part of the story, then that would at least explain his lack of speech.

I wait for the day where there's technology to just create a name that you type in so it's spoken regardless of what it is.

Ditto.

[Geddoe]

I agree with the thought that the hero should have a set name and voice, I loved Final Fantasy X for one main reason, no silent hero. I didn't like the fact that you could name him so they never said his name. I would prefer a name and voice for him. That's just my thought though.

[Tyrantblade]

Tidus: Hello Yuna.

Yuna: Hello.....you.

Tidus: ....

Wakka: Hey there Yuna! Hey there......buddy.

Tidus: Do any of you actually know my name?

Auron: Well if it isn't the son of Jecht!

Tidus: ....Dammit.

[son_michael]

lol thats mad funny

[Crowley's_Apprentice]

Hahah But oppenheimer i disagree with you on the point of the AI automatically saying whatever name you program in, because knowing America, people are gonna ruin it and put in names that are offensive...... also, its mainly the little kids who would do that anyway, and if their parents caught them, the game goes back, therefore i dont konami would do that.... just my opinion though.

[son_michael]

nah they could program the game to not accept certain words as names or they could make the voices and text shut off for certain words

[Jowy Atreides]

No, I do not agree. You may prefer subtitles over English dubbing, but not everyone does. In fact, I can almost guarantee you that the majority of English-speaking gamers will not play a game that is in another language. The same goes for anime. Why do you think dubs exist in the first place? You want this game to sell well, don't you?

Anyway, it would be nice if they catered to both tastes and present us with a dual language audio track, but that probably won't happen until next-generation gaming.

If I remember correctly, the .hack video game series had the option of either subbing or dubbing. We wouldn't necessarily have to wait for the next-generation consoles in order to utilize the options of both subbing and dubbing.

I'd actually prefer for the hero to have a set name and to have his own voice. It's just too awkward to have everyone else speaking freely while the hero just stands there silent. Or, they could have the hero be an actual mute as part of the story, then that would at least explain his lack of speech.

Agreed.

I wait for the day where there's technology to just create a name that you type in so it's spoken regardless of what it is.

Ditto.

It seems impossible, but I'd like that too.

[KoyuRedd]

It seems impossible, but I'd like that too.

It's not impossible. Computers can do that (at least Macs do it properly), so why not give the game some text-to-speech capability and make it say your name?

[Red Killey]

It seems impossible, but I'd like that too.

It's not impossible. Computers can do that (at least Macs do it properly), so why not give the game some text-to-speech capability and make it say your name?

Well yeah, it's not impossible. It already exists. It's just that I don't think it's practical enough to be put in a video game yet. To be able to do such thing, it'd cost them a lot, and it's not worth it if it's only for saying the Hero's name.

Plus, how ugly do you want it to be if people make silly names? Personally, voice acting when it comes to the hero's name is fine, just make it scripted and not up to the players.

[Oppenheimer]

I tend to agree with everyone. They shouldn't let you choose the heros name now that it's voice acted. Most people don't want to bother coming up with interesting names anyway I don't think.

[Sasarai is cute]

I agree with Oppenheimer and the rest and I also think that the voice overs shold be optional. You should be able to switch them off and view the cutscenes with only text windows if you prefer that. That would make everyone happy and no one would be able to complain about the voice-overs and it's effects.

[soulmate]

I'd really love it if you could switch between the languages(english and japanese). So far I love the japanese voice acting after watching the trailer. One game I know that made you capable of switching between the dialogue languages is Disgaea.

[dragonmasterx]

Nippon1's US releases can allow for a dual language option because the original Japanese versions were on CD. Assuming SuikodenV will be on a single typical DVD, having a dual voice option would likely require two DVDs or a dual layer DVD.