General Zelda Voice Acting In Future Zelda Games

[Deeds]

Ugh so many topics about Zelda and Voice acting, it's getting a little repetitive =/

I'll say it once, I'll say it again: Zelda does not need voice acting. Maybe Voice Acting is a good thing in general, but Nintendo aren't gonna add it just to please the fans. There has to have some valid excuse to include it, just to catch up with other games isn't a very good excuse. Zelda has done very well without it so there really is no need to include Voice acting.

Well, thank you. Now I know that my reasoning actually makes sense.

 

[Lamentizer]

My thoughts on voice acting:

I think they should tweet out a script, nothing long, and then setup a YouTube channel for people to send in auditions to. Let the fans decide. They pick the 5 they think are the best candidates for the job and then let us pick who we like out of those 5. I mean, we are the ones that are going to be playing the game, I think this seems more than fair. We should get someone who's voice we don't mind hearing all the time.

...

I think whoever voices everyone else is up to them to decide. But considering we play as Link, we should get a say in what he sounds like. We have to hear it throughout the entire game.

Your idea is good and all. I totally like it, but not a lot of people really wants to hear what Link would really sound like. What he sounds like to me is different from what he sounds like to you. Yeah, everybody hears the same battle cries, but that's just his voice making sounds. His voice could be low and manly or high and squeaky like someone who just started puberty.

 

[linkypete]

It is a good idea, but I think that the "silent Hero" thing should stay. I loved Kid icarus: Uprising's voice acting, but I just think that zelda would be better with text. Besides, isn't it fun to argue with friends over pronunciations of enemy names and everything else?

 

[JuicieJ]

Besides, isn't it fun to argue with friends over pronunciations of enemy names and everything else?

Nope.

 

[DarkestLink]

Absolutely not. That's one of the Top 5 worst things Nintendo could do to Zelda. I've seen VA several times with Nintendo and not once did it help the game, but I've seen poor VA with Nintendo all the time.

1) There's no basis for the argument that they would automatically have bad voice actors (seriously, that's a straw man)

CD-i games and Mario. Mario is Nintendo's baby and he still gets crappy VA. Why would you expect better from their 2nd banana game?

I hate that saying. People tend to just use it as an excuse not to take risks just because they're afraid of change, which is a terrible mindset. By that logic, what's the point of changing anything? Zelda just needs to catch-up and add voice acting already.

...What IS the point of changing anything? Nintendo had a nice set up by the time OoT came around, but they've kept on adding needless changes like sailing, toon-style, touch controls, motion controls, etc. and it's almost never worked in their favor. If they want to make improvements TP to OoT or ST to PH, that's fine. And don't get me wrong, I liked touch controls and M+, but it clearly didn't end up working for Nintendo as a business in the long run. From the very first time they tried to change Zelda (AoL) it's failed...and it's been constantly failing. So why keep doing it? It's like they still haven't learned that touching the stove is going to burn your hand and you should stop doing it.

 

[Midna666]

I don't think that Zelda needs voice acting. Plus I don't think that there's a voice actor who could do the characters justice.

In our head we all have an idea about how the characters sound and nothing could live up to that.

 

[.:Brony:.]

Your idea is good and all. I totally like it, but not a lot of people really wants to hear what Link would really sound like. What he sounds like to me is different from what he sounds like to you. Yeah, everybody hears the same battle cries, but that's just his voice making sounds. His voice could be low and manly or high and squeaky like someone who just started puberty.

Basically what I'm getting from this thread is: Link & Zelda don't need voice acting.

Personally, I think if neither of them have voice actors then no one should have a voice actor. It would be odd if everyone else but these 2 in the entire game didn't talk. I don't really think it's up to us in the long run anyway and that we're all basically just here sharing opinions.

I think if anything they should do what I suggested before or just keep the games the way they are with no one ever talking.

 

[ihateghirahim]

I don't want any form of English voice-acting in Zelda ever. Nintendo characters have performed flawlessly without voice acting. For when they do voice act, it's terrible, and it ruins the characters. If you don't believe me, look at Metroid: Other M, Super Mario Sunshine, and the evil Zelda: Wand of Gamelon. These characters just need to stay the same characters we know. It's different from other games, but I enjoy nintendo's unique creativity.

 

[Ronin]

Voice acting should at least be tried once, then dropped for a bit. Give it time for the fans to analyze their likes and dislikes about the VA aspects in that game. Let Nintendo employ their own approach firstly, though, and incorporate it how they will. If Link isn't given a voice, but the other NPCs are, and that turns out fine, then good for those who actually liked it. Heck, even make the NPCs speak in Hylian, yet keep the text boxes if they feel so obligated. But overall, I personally don't want voice acting to become a core part of this series; just using it sparsely is fine enough.

 

[Sir Quaffler]

If they want to incorporate a spoken Hylian language, that is actually a coherent language instead of random gibberish, I'd be fine with that. It'd save on translation costs, as it would only need to be done once, and it would flesh Hyrule out more as a fantasy setting.

Other than that, I'm not a big fan of voice-acting. Most games I've seen voice-acting in, it's either been terribly-executed, or they spend so much development getting the voices right that it cuts into the rest of the game, dragging the rest of it down with it. Not to say that there aren't examples of it done well, I really liked the voice-acting in Metroid Prime 3, and that was a series that went from no voice-acting to selective voice-acting. So it CAN be done right. I just don't see why it's such a big deal, I fill in the voices of the characters in my own head anyway, so voice-acting is kinda needless in this case.

If they actually do something useful and world-building with voice-acting like with that spoken Hylian I was talking about earlier, then yeah that sounds awesome. But if it's just to please the fans or to "catch up" to other games then I don't see the point.

 

[.:Brony:.]

I don't want any form of English voice-acting in Zelda ever. Nintendo characters have performed flawlessly without voice acting. For when they do voice act, it's terrible, and it ruins the characters. If you don't believe me, look at Metroid: Other M, Super Mario Sunshine, and the evil Zelda: Wand of Gamelon. These characters just need to stay the same characters we know. It's different from other games, but I enjoy nintendo's unique creativity.

I don't think it's the problem of the voice acting being terrible, I think it's the fact that for so many yrs these characters that we've come to know & love have been voiceless and how they sound has always been up to our imagination. I think that when they finally do get voices it just disappoints us because they sound nothin' like we thought they would.
--

I still wouldn't mind a voice over during the first 10 minutes of starting a LoZ game where it goes over the legend of the current game that you're playing. Like in tWW it was like 10 minutes of reading before you got to even see the game.

 

[Justac00lguy]

I think if the Zelda franchise adopted Voice acting earlier on in the game then maybe we would have gotten used to the idea....

However I just think it would be to big of a switch now, I have got used to the silence of Link the random mumbles of Npc's and I know this might sound weird but I think this adds to the whole charm of the Zelda series. There is also the whole controversy aspect this would cause, how good the voice acting was, did it fit the character Etc. I can see all the debates now....I just think Zelda should stay the way it is, it doesn't need voice acting, we have seen with the likes of Wind Waker and Skyward Sword that we can indeed interoperate facial expressions much easier. Plus with the likes of Twilight Princess and the great narrative in this game I just don't think the Zelda series necessarily needs voice acting in order to move forward.

 

[Wolf Sage]

Voice Acting and Zelda

>Implying this article will sway my opinion.

Can... can you please provide some actual reasoning as to why you oppose voice acting? What I got of this was basically "just because".

Dude... First off, I am not obligated to give you anything. Secondly, I have already given you my personal reason as to why I am opposed to voice-acting—because it'd annoy me to no end. I can't speak for everyone else, and I prefer not to. If you want their opinion, ask them. That is all. Have a nice day.

 

[Ventus]

If we get a cast that is as good as Fire Emblem: Awakening's cast, then yes we can do voice acting in Zelda. But, I highly doubt Nintendo would venture forth the cash; they're terribly minimalist and love to take all the wrong risks (motion controls :brow: ) instead of investing in the seemingly right ones. Hell, I don't know who hired FE13's cast. Was it IS? Or Nintendo themselves?!

Anywho...there are many pros and cons to VAing in Zelda. People in this thread love to say "you assume there will be bad voice actors". Well, get this: Nintendo hasn't ONCE hired some good voice actors to do prolonged, voiced lines. They managed to get Megumi Toyoguchi to play Zelda in Skyward Sword, but Zelda had like...well damn, around 2 minutes worth of unintelligible speak. On the flip side, Megumi played tons of lines for Aqua in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. Really, Nintendo isn't trustworthy with voice acting at this moment. Zelda isn't a a series for experimentation (although every title after MM belied that); Zelda is a series for concrete action that will entrap the masses.

Until Nintendo can get their game face on with the BASICS of Zelda, I wouldn't recommend they even try voice acting for one game.

 

[Spirit]

If we get a cast that is as good as Fire Emblem: Awakening's cast, then yes we can do voice acting in Zelda. But, I highly doubt Nintendo would venture forth the cash; they're terribly minimalist and love to take all the wrong risks (motion controls :brow: ) instead of investing in the seemingly right ones. Hell, I don't know who hired FE13's cast. Was it IS? Or Nintendo themselves?!

Anywho...there are many pros and cons to VAing in Zelda. People in this thread love to say "you assume there will be bad voice actors". Well, get this: Nintendo hasn't ONCE hired some good voice actors to do prolonged, voiced lines. They managed to get Megumi Toyoguchi to play Zelda in Skyward Sword, but Zelda had like...well damn, around 2 minutes worth of unintelligible speak. On the flip side, Megumi played tons of lines for Aqua in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. Really, Nintendo isn't trustworthy with voice acting at this moment. Zelda isn't a a series for experimentation (although every title after MM belied that); Zelda is a series for concrete action that will entrap the masses.

Until Nintendo can get their game face on with the BASICS of Zelda, I wouldn't recommend they even try voice acting for one game.

ANOTHER VA thread? wow, man. Anyway, gonna agree with Ven on this since he got here first to repeat himself before me. I dont care about VA either way, if they include it then i just hope its good.