Voice Acting *SHUDDERS*

First of all I'd like to apologize for the sudden stream of hatred most of you probably had when you read the title. Second of all this idea is mostly something I'm toying with at the moment, I'm not even sure I'd like it.

As most of you should know (SPOILERS if you don't), the only cases of voice acting in the N-64 series were grunts, laughing, and general onomatopoeias. None them had voiced dialogue, this changed when a few characters in TWW could be heard speaking along to the text, mainly Jabun and the King when he made the wish to fully flood Hyrule. And then there is the case of Midna, whose dialogue is voiced. All of these examples were done in an incoherent language and worked well with the series but they made the absence of voiced dialogue in other characters seem strangely sad (at least for me).

At the same time giving them a range of voice actors for both Japanese and English dubs would be preposterous. It would ruin the experience of a distant land. So I wondered if they would go a different route one that would expand on where the series is already in this field. What if instead, voiced dialogue is done in a made up language like the games Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. This would essentially fill a certain vocal void without risking the mystical elements of the game to be ruined by cheesy voice acting.

Of course it's just a thought. In fact I'm not all too sure that it would work. Make no mistake though, I don't think Link should be given dialogue. His words and responses are always something that the player should imagine.

I like the idea. Midna's voice is mysterious because it's jibberish so it adds to the game. If she was achually speaking something I could understand it would be sort of destracting. My favorite games consist of jibberish: Animal Crossing (English but still hard to understand) and Sims.

I wouldn't really care, but this wouldn't solve the main problem. Regardless of whether they're speaking English or Hylian, they can still sound good or fail epically. ...Chances are, the latter.

I'll never understand why it is good voice actors are so hard to find.

Originally Posted by LordSothe

I wouldn't really care, but this wouldn't solve the main problem. Regardless of whether they're speaking English or Hylian, they can still sound good or fail epically. ...Chances are, the latter.

I'll never understand why it is good voice actors are so hard to find.

In my opinion there are some good English voice actors in the business, it's just hard to fit the language to mouthing in Anime dubs. But given the terrible English voice choices they did for the Fire Emblem games, I don't think that Nintendo is good at localizations in their first party games. Having the characters voice dialogue would resolve this dilemma.

I think it could work if they invested time in making it sound as if it were an actual language but not one spoken in the world. They could incorporate elements from Gaelic and Japanese since those are the cultures that the game series usually draws elements from. Perhaps they could hire someone like Morioka.

If anyone wants to know why Zelda games don't have voice acting then it's b/c of voice actors like the one in this Youtube Video and Nintendo wants to stay away from bad voice actors. But if they look hard enough then they should find a good one since the Zelda series is so popular.

YouTube - Tidus and Yuna Laughing in Japanese

^Actually, they're both very good voice actors. I thought that they did a wonderful job in FFX. It was supposed to sound like bad acting in that scene. You'll notice that right after they "fake laugh" that they do some real laughing, which sounds much better. I'm becoming increasingly annoyed by people who post an out of context video, or post one video and pretend like that's the end of discussion even though that's just one example out of many.

The people could speak either Hylian or the language of the region. As for the mouth fitting the words, the characters are computer generated. The developers could easily change the motion of the mouth to fit the words when translating to a different language.

A friend of mine said that the lack of voice acting was a good thing. He said that it made Zelda more mysterious or something. I personally would like to hear Ganondorf say, "These toys are too much for you. I command you to return them to me!"

I don't mind there not being voice acting in Zelda games. However, I was extremely disappointed in Twilight Princess when there would be dialogue between... Say, Midna and Princess Zelda. As Midna speaks, you can hear her odd language, and the text box works sorta like subtitles. And to an extent, I could hear that voice speaking in English along with me reading it. Then it pans over to Zelda, who starts talking... With no sound. Midna's voice worked perfectly fine, and then all voicing is ripped away from you with anyone else. If you're gonna go with all silence, don't tease us by giving one character an awesome voice, and then giving everyone else the silent treatment.

Voice acting works well in other video games. Those same video games look realistic. TP looked realistic but it did not have voice acting. If one thing in modern video games works on Zelda than surely other things present in modern video games could work for Zelda. Some future characters could be good at singing but we may never hear them.

It's not just Zelda that needs this. Super Mario Galaxy had little voice compared to lots of text. Metroid Prime 3 had many characters that talked but none of them were Samus.

Personally I think Zelda is better off without voice acting. Mostly because it makes it feel more like a book to me, I can implant whatever voice or expression I want.

If no other alternative though, I do Like Red Dingo's idea. Just as long as it didn't sound like babbling. Or that it wasn't a made up language like in Star Fox Adventures (P=N, A=E) That's just stupid.

If nothing else, Speak Elvish.

I've never really been bothered with zelda games not having voice acting. Even if it were to sound descent, I'd rather them be more concerned with making the game rather than recording the voices and such.

Originally Posted by Catch~22

If no other alternative though, I do Like Red Dingo's idea. Just as long as it didn't sound like babbling. Or that it wasn't a made up language like in Star Fox Adventures (P=N, A=E) That's just stupid.

If nothing else, Speak Elvish.

That's why I think they should hire someone like Morioka if they go with this idea. He's a novelist from Japan who created his own language for his book series. They should consult linguists and people like him.

I think voice acting like midnas would be nice to have on all characters, but keep it the same as to where Link doesn't talk.

If they do ever make the change into voice acting it would also change the cinema scenes. Most of them you have to press A to continue the text which then continues the movement of the characters. With the game having a lot of them that on top of the voices would be a very very big change. I however think its fine the way it is. But if they ever do change Link must continue to never talk.

If there was voice acting in future Zelda games following the language of Hyrule (in other words, speaking in Hylian), chances are that most people and fans will be disappointed. They did this in Star Fox Adventures on Gamecube and it was just terrible. They also had English to it and most of the characters spoke in an ancient language known as the dinosaur language and it became distracting and annoying.

I like having most of Nintendo's made games as being titled English with some jibberish in it. Midna's voice was really cool in TP. It did not distract me and I found it very unique.

I wholeheartedly agree with this idea. It's common knowledge that Hylian is it's own language, so therefore, voice actors should speak Hylian. (shock, horror) Think dinosaur Planet on before you get the translator...obviously done much more professionally though.

Originally Posted by Eternal Legend

If there was voice acting in future Zelda games following the language of Hyrule (in other words, speaking in Hylian), chances are that most people and fans will be disappointed. They did this in Star Fox Adventures on Gamecube and it was just terrible. They also had English to it and most of the characters spoke in an ancient language known as the dinosaur language and it became distracting and annoying.

True, but many games have added their own language with great success, just look at Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Besides, EVERY aspect of Starfox Adventures was dire, not just the voice acting.

I definantly think zelda needs voice acting. Theres been voice acting since 1997, get up to date alrady. I don't belive link should talk, but everyone else should.

If there was voice acting in future Zelda games following the language of Hyrule (in other words, speaking in Hylian), chances are that most people and fans will be disappointed. They did this in Star Fox Adventures on Gamecube and it was just terrible. They also had English to it and most of the characters spoke in an ancient language known as the dinosaur language and it became distracting and annoying.

Not true. In KotOR, the aliens all spoke in diffrent languages. It was not annoying, it added to the expirience.

Anyway, in Zelda there is no need to use diffrent languages. It has already been established that all races speak the same language. They should just have everyone speak english.

I really liked the language of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, it sounded like it had some weight and history to it. Midna's mumbles didn't have that same impact on me, but, they were able to convey some real emotion and feeling like pain, anger and joy.

But to have either of those rather than strong FF-worthy voice acting? I don't think so.
I'll take true phonetic comprehension over artificial mysticism anyday.

I actually like the gibberish, but it might get annoying if everyone used it. I think voice acting would be alright as long as the actors don't suck. I mean, look at Super Mario Sunshine, for example. The voice actors were terrible.

Originally Posted by Crimson_Hero

But to have either of those rather than strong FF-worthy voice acting? I don't think so.
I'll take true phonetic comprehension over artificial mysticism anyday.

Personally, even though I do like the FF voice acting, I think Final Fantasy is a very different game from Zelda. And Nintendo isn't as well connected in the English voice actor industry as Square Enix.

Of course the moment they have Link talk is the end of his role as Link in the Zelda franchise (it's probably the end of the franchise as well).