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In the past, I resisted the idea of voice acting in RPGs. I thought that it was going to always be a non-factor in enjoying a game for the reasons that I find important: its plot and characters. I insisted that a voice actor is unimportant to a character's portrayal and development, and that it would always solely be, as it had in the past, the character's dialog and actions that developed him, her, or it.

Now, I wasn't entirely off--the above two aspects of a character are still the greatest defining parts of that character in an RPG. And, as a plethora of RPGs from the NES, Genesis, SNES, Gameboy/Gameboy Advance, and even PSX, PS2, Game Cube, and PC prove, you can have fantastic characters without any voice acting at all. But truth be told, I was wrong. And--

What? Oh fine, yes, you MAY take a screenshot of this historic event. Assholes.

As I was saying, voice acting CAN make a significant difference in a character. Now, in most cases, it's not going to be enough to make or break a character. It may have sounded like Yuna in Final Fantasy 10 was voiced by an illiterate who hadn't slept in the past 48 hours, which did make her character somewhat less enjoyable and have somewhat less impact, but she was still overall an excellent, deep, and moving person. Conversely, the fact that Flotsam of Dark Cloud 2 had a skilled voice actor who emphasized the idea of a hostile and violent mad clown in his acting without getting too over the top with it can't change the fact that Flotsam's just a rather boring and generally unimportant throw-away villain in the game.

But even so, there's definitely a great potential to enhance a game character through the right voice acting. You get someone distinctive enough to do the work, and you get a more memorable character. You get someone who really knows how to portray that kind of character believably and enthusiastically, and it DOES make an impression on the audience.

So, in this thread, we discuss RPG voice acting, actors, and actresses. Anything you want to say about'em, go ahead. For those of you who are quiet and need prodding (which is pretty much ALL of you; this guild is more silent than a mouse in a den of lions), here're some topic ideas.

A. Which RPG characters do you feel were really made better by their voice actors? If you had to pick a favorite character for voice acting alone, who would it be?

B. Do you have any favorite voice actors? Are you actually a big enough fan that you'll pursue their works at least partially just because they're in it?

C. Has a voice actor ever been the deciding factor in your liking a character? Who was it?



And to answer:

A. There are a lot of them; however, a few really stick out in my mind. The first would be Kreia, of Knights of the Old Republic 2. Now, it's no secret that I think Kreia is the greatest character in that game, and one of the greatest RPG characters of all time--I did a rant on her alone, after all. But her insanely great dialog and development was all made even better by the flawless voice acting behind her--the voice emphasized age, cunning, and wisdom mixed with darkness beautifully. And the second would be Zetta, of Makai Kingdom. Crispin Freeman plays the character to perfection, and I seriously doubt Zetta would have been half as enjoyable and terrific a character without such terrific acting behind him.

B. If a game's got voice actors from Robotech in it (particularly the first season of Robotech), there is a good chance that I will someday get that game. If a game has Cam Clarke or Mark Hamill in it, though, there is a pretty good chance that I am currently out buying that game. Cam Clarke I still associate with Max Sterling, who I would be gay for any and every time he asked in that awesome voice. As for Mark Hamill, I think the character of the Joker has never been better played and defined than by Mark Hamill's voice talents in Batman: The Animated series. Hamill always plays his characters with accomplished skill and enthusiasm, and adds a special touch to each of them--particularly villains, as the Joker, the Hobgoblin (Spiderman: The Animated Series), and Emperor Griffin (Dark Cloud 2) show.

C. No. Even at the best (or worst) of times, voice acting alone hasn't determined whether I like or dislike a character. I love Final Fantasy 12's Balthier regardless of his voice actor, I love the cast of Grandia 1 in spite of 80% of their voice acting "talents," and so on.


Now. Discuss. Let's see some conversation in here, already.

That's just an instinctual survival reaction. If you don't like Raquel enough to offset the rest of the game, you won't make it to the end alive. WA4 is so bad that it is LETHAL without her to protect you.

I'm about the same way as you are. At first, I didn't like the idea of voice actings in RPGs, however, I quickly came to love it. I also came to realize that some characters wouldn't be half as amazing as they are were it not for their amazing voices. A prime example is Albedo from Xenosaga. He was an already amazing character, but Crispin Freeman's voice for the character made him even more amazing. For an added note, Crispin Freeman is my favorite voice actor. I just believe that he is very talented and does such a great job no matter what role you place him in. A few of my other favorites are: Lex Lang, Sandy Fox, Johnny Yong Bosh, Lia Sergant, Mona Marshell, Dave Wittenberg, Steve Staey, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, and Steve Blum.

It's been a while since I've been in here. I hate being so busy. Any ways, time ot answer the questions.

A. Honestly, I've enjoyed characters that talk since they first started with that. The cheesy dialogue and bad sounding voices at the beginning were always funny to me. To pick one character is hard for me to do. I'd have to say, anything Crispin Freeman has done are my favorites.

B. I'm a huge fan of Johnny Young Bosh, Barbra Goodson, Steven Jay Blum, Vic Mignoia, Crispin Freeman, Kirk Thornton, Robin Atkins Downs, Quinton Flynn, John Di Maggio, Richard Epcarr, Dave Wittenbergm Yuri Lowenthal, Lex Lang, Michael McConnohie, Jamieson Price, Wendee Lee, and the list goes on.

C. That would be Crispin, since he's either playing a true badass character, the protector type character, or the sadistic enemy. His voice is one I could listen to for hours. Yes, I'm a huge Crispin fanboy.