What would you think if there were voice-overs?

[Phoenix Rising]

When I was introducing FFVIII to my uncle Jonathan last year, one of the things he immediately noticed was the lack of voice-overs, in other words, you can't hear the characters talking and instead can only read what they say. I really didn't let this bother me, though I believe it would be an interesting concept if they tried it. Do you think having voice-overs for Final Fantasy VIII would have improved upon the experience?

 

[sein]

Hmm, I'm actually following a few fandubs of this game... Personally, I think they're quite good and makes the game all the more interesting. Though, I'm a fan/supporter of amateur voice acting in general so I may be speaking with some bias here.

You might want to see and judge those for yourself. I think these are the best ones I've heard:

A well-done fanmade skit:

Best op of the game IMO (it's in HD!!11):

Best dub of the dance IMO, didn't think there would be a dialogue in this one (which works quite well, I think).

The farthest one that got into the game (and the one that got me to these dubs):

 

[Phoenix Rising]

Those are really good, I'll definately check out some more of these fandubs. Thanks for sharing and welcome to FFF!

 

[seddy-0]

i personally am a fan of voice overs.. i don't mind reading subs.. but man.. i feel voice overs add more personality to the characters. i do get a kick out of fan dubs. yours are really good, i like how well the voices go with what is going on. like her voice etting louder with "paaar taaah". its not monotone like some i have seen i have seen some that were just horrible..

 

[Lirael]

Wow, those clips are impressive. I had originally believed adding dubs to old FF games would spoil the experience or could negatively transform my perceptions of the main characters, but I had envisioned the dubs being sub-par, a bit like Penelo, Fran, Vaan and Vanille. These actually make the character's feel more solid.

I LOVE the voices for Squall and Zell! Zell's personality has finally become concrete. I'm not as fond of Rinoa's voice in the dance scene, possibly due to the intonation when she tries to persuade Squall to dance with her, but it's good in Episode XII. Nonetheless, if Square were to dub over the game, I'd prefer a more mature voice.

It's a shame they haven't completed the game... I'd probably end up watching the entire game over time. VIII is a personal favourite with X and XIII-2.

 

[Leonheart~]

In the last two videos, the dubs for Rinoa and Zell are great. However, I'm not really digging Squall's. I'm thinking it's a little bit deeper in tone than what would suit him... However, there are some points in the videos that [the guy] hits it right, it's still not really one I'd get a feeling from.

 

[sein]

I guess its each to his own, then. Since FF8 didn't have any voiceovers to begin with I'm still pleased to see how these guys nailed some of the characters' personalities with how I pictured them in my mind.

I'd also like to point out that the op and dance dubs were not from the same people as in the Episode XII one, so different performers. (since I'm getting confused who's who) Actually there are already lotsa attempts on this game. I've searched and there are already 100s of these swarming around youtube. o_o

Anyway, I think both did awesome job with the scenes. Glad to introduce everyone to these dubs. ^^

 

[Mitsuki]

Wow, those are pretty awesome. I especially love the 2nd video. I think the voice for Squall is perfect. Thanks for sharing this, definitely going to check out the rest.

To answer the question, I actually don't mind the lack of voice-overs for FFVIII. I fell in love with this game 'as is' and I haven't really put much thought about voice-overs anyway. Would it improve the experience? Well, there's always room for improvements, and I mean in general, so I'm sure that if there were voice-overs included and depending on how well it's done, then sure - I think it might improve the experience for me. It's dependent on the players too.

 

[Dincht]

I'm unsure, but I'll admit those clips are all really well made; a person that hasn't played FFVIII could easily believe these to be lifted straight from the game.

It's tough to say how the game would be with voice overs. As is, I think voice overs would be odd - but this may be because voice overs aren't used so much with graphics such as these. That's not to say it wouldn't work, and I for one would love to see it attempted at least.

I think voices would certainly add depth to the story. People could definitely relate to the characters more. It could also make some scene's seem even more.

If there was a play-through of the game on the internet somewhere, it would be great to see.

 

[seddy-0]

i am optimistic that in the near future, we may see remakes of final fantasies VII and VIII. and if they would have voice overs, it would make the games that much better as they were both visually striking and the story lines were well told. i did get a kick out of VIII being 4 discs long. for how long thatgame was you'd think they would have done voice overs. i also watched the making of that game.. the time that went into it.. amazing.

 

[D00MTRAIN]

Voice overs would have been welcome if they were done in the first place, but they weren't.

I've always preferred reading my FF games, and the voices I imagine in my head are probably far better than any $10 an hour voice actor deliver lol.

I mean if it's done RIGHT by a professional. You know how 90% of Japanese anime sounds better than the american counter parts? It's because (in my head) I think the Japanese take it far more serious, than when translated to english the producers / directors don't seem to take the game as serious, it always sounds "goofy" when done in english.

Well, I voted for "detracted from the game", as I said, I'd rather leave some things to the imagination.

 

[seddy-0]

10.00 an hr.. that's slave labor for voice actors..lol those guys are contracted, they make a few hundred per session and most sessions are about 4-8 hours long pending what they are doing.
what makes american dubbing so hard is matching the voices up with the game since they were originally done for japanese voices.

 

[D00MTRAIN]

10.00 an hr.. that's slave labor for voice actors..lol those guys are contracted, they make a few hundred per session and most sessions are about 4-8 hours long pending what they are doing.
what makes american dubbing so hard is matching the voices up with the game since they were originally done for japanese voices.

It was a below the belt shot @ the English voice actors they've always sounded cheesy to me. I mean, I WOULD NOT give them more than $10 if we were paying them based on quality, lol. Well not ALL of them. I did like Auron, and that old guy who gave us a tour in FFX in nearly every town (and a handful of others)

And about the English voice actors, my point wasn't with the syncing up of the voices, but how it was delivered. Like take for Auron like I mentioned, he was amazing throughout the whole game, but as for Yuna or Rikku ..... meh. Don't get me wrong , I still LOVED both characters, but they could have been so much better. Those two voice actors did sound a bit better in X-2 I might add.

But I'd still like to read the text, and than imagine the voices in my head. I'm sure if voice acting WERE done for a VIII remake it would be much better than previous games, since Square seems to always up the quality of voice acting maybe they could have an option of text OR voice acting in the menu, that way we can experience both.

 

[Amy__]

I really love these voice-covers, besides I can improve my listening skills as well as speaking skills. Great! I'm going to look for the videos on youtube.