85 réponses à ce sujet

[upsettingshorts]

Red Templar wrote...

It bothered me additionally because the only reason that that character had to be South African was to perpetuate an American stereotype that white South African men are prone to being amoral mercenaries.

[Anarya]

The only accent I really found unbearable was Marjolaine and Erlina's Orlesian accent, which was a fake one.

Riordan and Leliana sounded nice. If we're going to have a lot of French accents I'd rather they be in this vein.

[Brodoteau]

I've said this before in other threads, and I'll say it again in this thread. I would rather my Orlesians have Quebecois accents... but maybe I would just like Bioware to have some more CanCon in general. I really don't think non-French speakers would notice a big difference if they were Quebeckers and it would be more authentic. If nothing else, could some Orlesians at least use some French-Canadian slang (or curses)? 

Modifié par Brodoteau, 22 septembre 2012 - 01:02 .

[o Ventus]

As an American... I didn't have very many problems with the accents. Of course, some felt fake (Isolde and... Elthina, I believe her name is), but most sounded legit.

I guess I could ignore Zevran because I enjoyed his character.

[henkez3]

David Gaider wrote...

Plaintiff wrote...
I find it hilarious that people cry foul over Leliana and Merrill's accents (both of which are totally genuine), but nobody ever makes a fuss about Zevran's sounding fake, even though it actually is.

Yes, it's interesting. We tend to use genuine accents whenever we can, though that's not always possible-- it's sometimes difficult to find someone with the needed accent who has both the voice we want (as in the sound of it, not just the accent), the acting ability we like and who is available. This is getting easier as we develop relationships with certain studios overseas-- for instance, it used to be a pain to record in England, but now it's actually our default and almost easier than recording in L.A.

As for the Orlesian accents, as I've said before if we have a game where a greater volume of Orlesian accents are necessary then we'll simply change our approach. We can have more varieties in the regional accents we use, as well as their intensity, since there's no need to highlight an Orlesian in such an instance as being somehow unique.

Does this mean there will be less people complaining about all the "fake" accents? Nah. Sometimes people have strange ideas about how an accent is supposed to sound. If it doesn't sound like they think it should, they think it's fake. It may very well be (chances are it's not), but that's also not necessarily a bad thing except in the minds of people who probably aren't expressing themselves very well. You don't need a justification for not liking how someone sounds, after all, regardless of how authentic their accent may or may not be.

May I ask if there will be an option to have the characters speak french and use english subtitles? I might prefer that to hearing french accents, fake or not. No offence to french speaking people.

[Dhiro]

henkez3 wrote...

David Gaider wrote...

Plaintiff wrote...
I find it hilarious that people cry foul over Leliana and Merrill's accents (both of which are totally genuine), but nobody ever makes a fuss about Zevran's sounding fake, even though it actually is.

Yes, it's interesting. We tend to use genuine accents whenever we can, though that's not always possible-- it's sometimes difficult to find someone with the needed accent who has both the voice we want (as in the sound of it, not just the accent), the acting ability we like and who is available. This is getting easier as we develop relationships with certain studios overseas-- for instance, it used to be a pain to record in England, but now it's actually our default and almost easier than recording in L.A.

As for the Orlesian accents, as I've said before if we have a game where a greater volume of Orlesian accents are necessary then we'll simply change our approach. We can have more varieties in the regional accents we use, as well as their intensity, since there's no need to highlight an Orlesian in such an instance as being somehow unique.

Does this mean there will be less people complaining about all the "fake" accents? Nah. Sometimes people have strange ideas about how an accent is supposed to sound. If it doesn't sound like they think it should, they think it's fake. It may very well be (chances are it's not), but that's also not necessarily a bad thing except in the minds of people who probably aren't expressing themselves very well. You don't need a justification for not liking how someone sounds, after all, regardless of how authentic their accent may or may not be.

May I ask if there will be an option to have the characters speak french and use english subtitles? I might prefer that to hearing french accents, fake or not. No offence to french speaking people.

But if they speak in french, won't they have french accent?

[henkez3]

I meant speaking english with a french accent...

[Dhiro]

So the problem isn't the french accent, just speaking english while having a french accent? What about other aceents? Merrill's, for example?

[henkez3]

The french language is not my problem, no. Dialogue with characters speaking english with french accents gets old, fast. Merrill's accent was fine, so was Zevran's imo.

[Dhiro]

Well, if you think that Merrrill's accent was fine and that Zevran's (fake) accent was fine, but that french accent isn't fine then the problem may, in fact, be the french accent.

But opionions etc. I hope to see many french accents in Orlais.

[The Night Haunter]

David Gaider wrote...

And can I make a plaintive request that if we're going to have more of Orlais and more Orlesians, could you make sure their accents are genuinely French instead of having them sound like a bad imitation of Maurice Chevalier?

You can request it, sure.

Haha, love this. Go get 'em Gaider

[MKDAWUSS]

henkez3 wrote...

David Gaider wrote...

Plaintiff wrote...
I find it hilarious that people cry foul over Leliana and Merrill's accents (both of which are totally genuine), but nobody ever makes a fuss about Zevran's sounding fake, even though it actually is.

Yes, it's interesting. We tend to use genuine accents whenever we can, though that's not always possible-- it's sometimes difficult to find someone with the needed accent who has both the voice we want (as in the sound of it, not just the accent), the acting ability we like and who is available. This is getting easier as we develop relationships with certain studios overseas-- for instance, it used to be a pain to record in England, but now it's actually our default and almost easier than recording in L.A.

As for the Orlesian accents, as I've said before if we have a game where a greater volume of Orlesian accents are necessary then we'll simply change our approach. We can have more varieties in the regional accents we use, as well as their intensity, since there's no need to highlight an Orlesian in such an instance as being somehow unique.

Does this mean there will be less people complaining about all the "fake" accents? Nah. Sometimes people have strange ideas about how an accent is supposed to sound. If it doesn't sound like they think it should, they think it's fake. It may very well be (chances are it's not), but that's also not necessarily a bad thing except in the minds of people who probably aren't expressing themselves very well. You don't need a justification for not liking how someone sounds, after all, regardless of how authentic their accent may or may not be.

May I ask if there will be an option to have the characters speak french and use english subtitles? I might prefer that to hearing french accents, fake or not. No offence to french speaking people.

I'd prefer this, and it has nothing to do with accents. That said, there should be some multilinguals out there, but the majority of Orlesians should be speaking something other than the primary language of Ferelden.

Modifié par MKDAWUSS, 22 septembre 2012 - 01:59 .

[labargegrrrl]

to describe an accent as "real" or "fake" is strange to me because it implies authenticity. that's kind of difficult to ascribe to an accent, given that all spoken language is accented. how is one accent any more real or fake than any other one?

i think that "subtle," "thick" or "over-the-top" are a little bit more accurate.

for instance, merril came off as thick at times, but never seemed fake (nor was she!) to me. lel's accent seemed sometimes subtle and sometimes thick. zev's just seemed subtle most of the time, but had the occasional over-the-top moment. same with manHawke. isolde came off as just annoyingly and overbearingly over-the-top, and even while she had a couple of genuine moments as a character, there was never a subtle moment in any single instance of her speech. which is why so very many of us love to hate her.

but that doesn't make it fake.

[CasbynessPC]

I won't be satisfied until the Orlesians are voiced by ACTUAL Orlesians! Anything less is just fakery and wrong.

[nightscrawl]

David Gaider wrote...

You can request it, sure.

More Scottish accents!

MKDAWUSS wrote...

I'd prefer this, and it has nothing to do with accents. That said, there should be some multilinguals out there, but the majority of Orlesians should be speaking something other than the primary language of Ferelden.

In movies and TV the reason they have people with accents even when they are supposed to be speaking a non-English language is to give a feeling of immersion and to have consistency throughout the film.

Many of those tend to use language transition scenes. Three great examples are the transition from Russian to English in The Hunt for Red October, German to English in Judgement at Nuremburg, and from Klingon to English in Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country. All three of these movies make use of various techniques (mouth zooming, actors holding translation devices, spoken lines referring to the language) to keep the immersion going and to continually remind the audience that although they are hearing English, the characters are really speaking in whatever language.

Modifié par nightscrawl, 22 septembre 2012 - 04:45 .

[Chiramu]

Any actor should be able to pull off a decent accent. The problem with a lot of voice acting is that the actors don't get much notice before they have to do the work :<. If the actors were given some prep time to get into character, sort out where their accent is from, the personality then the performance would be WAY better.

Any actor from anywhere can do accents, and well. The voice director is responsible for a lot of the sub-par work in the games as well as the actors.

But like everything, the actors should get some TIME to work out their characters.

[TEWR]

David Gaider wrote...

we can't always get what we want.

But if you try sometimes you just might find.... you get what you need

[nightscrawl]

Red Templar wrote...

Galatean wrote...

I dunno, I found it pretty acceptable, and I'm from South Africa. What exactly about it was abysmal?

Having been born and raised in the culture he was trying to emulate, I didn't even realise that was what he was going for until half way through his speech. He manages to get a couple of elements right, enough to mark the attempt, but nowhere in the country would that accent be mistaken for a local speaker. It is a very difficult accent to emulate, and the voice actor sounds, at best, like an English speaking South African trying to mimick an Afrikaans accent. Perhaps after a glass of brandy.

Here you have two people who are South African and one found it "pretty acceptable" while the other found it "abysmal." It's a great example of why it's hard to please everyone. =/

I can't really empathize though. I'm American and there really isn't any such thing as a "fake American accent." The nearest example I can think of are those occasions where someone is putting on a really exaggerated Southern accent (see movie In & Out for a great/hilarious example), and even that isn't reflective of the whole country since it's so huge and varied regionally. But I'll go as far to suggest that no matter how exaggerated an American accent is, there is probably at least ONE person who actually sounds like that.

Chiramu wrote...

But like everything, the actors should get some TIME to work out their characters.

I do agree with this.

However, have you looked at the credits for DAO and DA2? Some actors have over 10 characters. Some play several minor NPCs scattered around, and some play a mix of significant NPCs (companions or major leaders) and minor characters. Some of these actors will have hundreds of lines as they go from person to person. Exactly how much "time" do you want to give them?

Modifié par nightscrawl, 22 septembre 2012 - 10:26 .

[CaisLaochach]

So long as the Irish accents for the Dalish are better I don't mind. Those were shockingly bad in DA2.

[snackrat]

This is a case of Reality is Unrealistic. People are so used to fake accents as they are portrayed in common media that many do not recognise the genuine ones.

[BlenderisedMind]

Red Templar wrote...

Orian Tabris wrote...
Is it just me, or do people actually believe that BioWare would hire actors to do cheap imitation accents?

To be entirely fair, Bioware has done exactly that. The South African accent in the Mass Effect 2 Kasumi DLC was utterly, unequivocally abysmal. Having been performed by a Canadian voice actor.

ME was done by a different Bioware division, but I have no idea how centralized or decentralized the matter of voice acting is for the company.

Wait, there was a South African accent in the DLC?? Why, oh why haven't I heard of this! Off to youtube...

Edit: So, I watched it and we don't sound like that. Still pretty cool though that we at least got some sort of SA accent put in a game.

Modifié par BlenderisedMind, 22 septembre 2012 - 12:36 .

[raven_corrino]

Speaking of which, when I was listening to Aveline, I heard her mentioning Lieutenant as "Luh-tenant", instead of "Leftenant". She's supposed to be speaking non-American English isn't she?

[El Mito]

ClaomhScathach wrote...

So long as the Irish accents for the Dalish are better I don't mind. Those were shockingly bad in DA2.

That's because they weren't Irish, dummy.

[EpicBoot2daFace]

They sounded more Scottish to me.