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Topic title - No English Voice Acting Please

https://sureai.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6182

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Re: No English Voice Acting Please - by MrHappyFace

Posted: 25.02.2014 11:35

I know this is a bit of a necropost, but I agree with the OP. I much preferred playing Nehrim with German audio and English text. I also agree with the reasons he gave, but I would like to diverge away from "the quality of the voice acting" and the opinion that "the German language makes for better fantasy".

With your first language, it is very easy to recognize dialects and accents, and this influences how you think and feel. For example, if I hear someone speaking with an Aussie accent, I'm going to think of effing Kangaroos and Koalas and all things Australian. For me, being a native English speaker, this accent is going to feel like it doesn't fit into the world of Vyn, and that is NOT very good for immersion. However, for someone who has never heard English spoken before in their life, it will not be a problem.

Essentially, when you listen to a language that you did not grow up with, this cultural influence is erased. For want of a better description, you get to start with a clean slate. When exploring a foreign land, it's only right that everyone speaks a foreign language as well.

I think it is probably important to note that I experience the same thing with pretty much any genre of game. It's not just German+Gothic-Fantasy games. I put pretty much every game I play on foreign audio with English subs. Certainly, some languages suit some things better, but that's a story for another day.

Anyway, long story short; depending on how much work it is to do, I think it would probably be best if both English speakers and German speakers could play with foreign audio and native text.

Re: No English Voice Acting Please - by Hazzmat

Posted: 25.02.2014 14:20

I don't think they're going to speak aussie english in Enderal so don't worry about that.

Re: No English Voice Acting Please - by Zak

Posted: 25.02.2014 23:03

I do partly agree, I myself am torn I did find the German voice acting to be more dramatic and immersive and subtitles were indeed sufficient but then again I have never seen SureAI's work with English! So for all I know It could be amazing! For example the reason I found Skyrims Immersion bad was because everything the stories was bland unlike SureAI's which is awesome and amazing and has a sort of deep message to it

.

Nehrims certainly the best story I have found I a game.

However I would like to hear "Für die Freiheit der Menschen!" again XD.

Re: No English Voice Acting Please - by MrHappyFace

Posted: 26.02.2014 05:04

Hazzmat wrote:
I don't think they're going to speak aussie english in Enderal so don't worry about that.

Not the point. To put it into as few words as possible... The point is that foreign lands feel more foreign when people speak foreign languages.

To me, it just doesn't feel right when all people in a Gothic fantasy world speak like the people in my home country, and I do not think I am alone on this.

Re: No English Voice Acting Please - by Caleb8980

Posted: 26.02.2014 13:34

MrHappyFace wrote:
Hazzmat wrote:
I don't think they're going to speak aussie english in Enderal so don't worry about that.
Not the point. To put it into as few words as possible... The point is that foreign lands feel more foreign when people speak foreign languages.

To me, it just doesn't feel right when all people in a Gothic fantasy world speak like the people in my home country, and I do not think I am alone on this.

Well but then what should the german speaking people like myself for example feel about the german voice acting?
Imo Nehrim was immersive and had a great atmosphere especially because the german voiceacting was superb. If they make the english voiceover as good as the german one was for Nehrim I don't see a problem, if not then you have a point but I trust SureAI that they have good voice actors for both languages

Re: No English Voice Acting Please - by badgesareus

Posted: 26.02.2014 21:30

The point is that foreign lands feel more foreign when people speak foreign languages.

But the point is that you (the player/main character) are NOT in a foreign land. You are from Enderal and you hear the people speaking Enderalese, which is your native language, so of course it will not sound foreign to you.

Re: No English Voice Acting Please - by Zak

Posted: 27.02.2014 18:39

badgesareus I think this point is that you can more easily get lost in the game and forget you are playing a game and more like you are living a life at least to a certain degree. Rather then It feels like I am on holiday to a country in which I don't know the language

Re: No English Voice Acting Please - by MrHappyFace

Posted: 28.02.2014 05:57

badgesareus wrote:
But the point is that you (the player/main character) are NOT in a foreign land. You are from Enderal and you hear the people speaking Enderalese, which is your native language, so of course it will not sound foreign to you.

But Enderal IS a foreign land to the player. In fact, I think this is a big part of the reason why people play games to begin with - because the world in the game is foreign and new, and not like real life.

Zak wrote:
badgesareus I think this point is that you can more easily get lost in the game and forget you are playing a game.

Exactly

To make a cheap example... AVATAR. In AVATAR, they wrote an entirely new language for the big blue people. By giving the Na'vi a new language, they made the world in the movie feel even more foreign and uncharted, and I think that this made the movie better. Do you think that the movie would have been as good if they had just spoken English [or German] instead? I personally don't.

Some people might agree with me, and some people might not. It probably doesn't really matter anyway, because Enderal will be awesome in any language.

Re: No English Voice Acting Please - by Hazzmat

Posted: 28.02.2014 18:57

MrHappyFace wrote:
Hazzmat wrote:
I don't think they're going to speak aussie english in Enderal so don't worry about that.
Not the point. To put it into as few words as possible... The point is that foreign lands feel more foreign when people speak foreign languages.

To me, it just doesn't feel right when all people in a Gothic fantasy world speak like the people in my home country, and I do not think I am alone on this.

I think you're being totally one-sided here. So you're saying Enderal shouldn't be spoken in English just because you speak it? What about the germans themselves? In Nehrim they speak modern German so how'd that feel to the germans? If I think about it I did not hear people speak with a specific German dialect so they made sure it sounded consistent. So of course it will sound immersive in English too so you're not going to hear specific accents or as you put it, Australian (wow, really lol?) . Just because you think it isn't immersive in English that doesn't mean it's like that for everyone.

Re: No English Voice Acting Please - by badgesareus

Posted: 28.02.2014 21:47

To make a cheap example... AVATAR. In AVATAR, they wrote an entirely new language for the big blue people. By giving the Na'vi a new language, they made the world in the movie feel even more foreign and uncharted,

You are mixing apples and oranges. In Avatar, you are seeing through the eyes of an Earthman, so obviously the planet & its inhabitants are foreign to you and you would expect the language to be different. By comparison, in Enderal, you are seeing through the eyes of someone from Enderal so obviously you should understand what the other people in Enderal are speaking and it should not sound foreign.

In fact, for immersion, you become the character for the time you are playing, so the people in the country you are from should not be speaking some foreign language. It would be rather odd and non-immersive to think "I am from Enderal, all the people I am speaking to are from Enderal, yet I can't understand a word they are saying." It might be different if you were playing as John Carter of Earth and you suddenly were teleported to Enderal; then it would make sense for the language to be foreign.

Besides, it is a moot question as the developers have long ago taken the decision to have English voice acting. G'day.

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