“Playing a Japanese game with Japanese voices is what the director had in mind“ is a misconception

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I started playing Nier Automata with Japanese voices, although I don't understand Japanese. I loved the English voice works, they are among the best I have ever heard, but I thought Japanese was just more authentic.

Some hours into the game there was a fight that really stepped up the pace. There was so much going on, you really had to watch what you're doing, and on top of that, all characters, allies and foes alike, started to discuss important stuff for the whole duration of the fight. I really couldn't concentrate on one thing or the other.

People often say:

"I only play Japanese games with Japanese voices because they are what the developers had in mind when creating this game!"

No. What developers have in mind more often than not is people experiencing their game in a language they actually understand.

I'm a huge sucker for the Japanese language myself. But it really depends on the game. When the dub is good I like to play in English (which is not my mother language, but anyways).

So I continued playing Nier Automata in English and the experience was sooo much better. I could actually understand what characters were saying, including every nuance and wordplay. It gave everything that happened on screen a whole different context and allowed a much deeper emotional bonding with each character.

I'm not saying playing with English dubs is always the way to go. But it can make the whole experience much deeper.

I think this is a really interesting topic besides the usual translation vs localization discussion.

Another fantastic example is Persona 5. I know a few pronunciations are off, but whatever, the English voice actors are god-like.

I keep watching Anime in Japanese though.

 

[Abriael]

It's just better quality voice acting 9 times out of 10.

 

[HardRojo]

I'd assume Hideo expected you to play the first MGS with English audio and focused a lot on it being great, but I have no evidence to back this up since it simply is what I assume.

 

[MoonFrog]

I do Japanese precisely because I cannot understand it. Not a big VA person and having it in Japanese renders the text boxes primary for me with no fuss. Plus Japanese sounds cool.

I get that the intention is to have audible dialogue the player can understand though. I'm just not big on that intention.

 

[Deleted member 23212]

For me, I do whichever is the original. So, if English is the original (like in Bayonetta), I choose English, if it's Japanese I choose that. But I am learning Japanese too so I can understand at least a bit of what is being said through listening.

 

[Rad]

Usually the voices fit the characters more in Japanese. However not always. For example FFXII Zodiac Age has noticeably better English VA than Japanese.

 

[OrangeNova]

It's just better quality voice acting 9 times out of 10.

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It really isn't, for the most part, people who play games in Japanese because it's the intended language don't understand the language... there are just as many garbage Japanese VAs as English, we just don't know better.

 

[Maedhros]

For me, I do whichever is the original. So, if English is the original (like in Bayonetta), I choose English, if it's Japanese I choose that.

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Pretty much my instance.

 

[PSqueak]

It's just better quality voice acting 9 times out of 10.

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If it's a niche game for otakus, yeah, because the companies usually don't have the money to hire competent VAs, but in a AAA game it's very dumb to not pick English over japanese.

Hell, as a mexican were finally getting to the point where AAA games care enough to get professional LatAm VAs for game and even tho i can understand english perfectly games like Overwatch, Bloodborne, Mortal Kombat, Injustice, Breath of the Wild and Gears of war are much more amazing in LatAm spanish.

 

[Ratrat]

I'd assume Hideo expected you to play the first MGS with English audio and focused a lot on it being great, but I have no evidence to back this up since it simply is what I assume.

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Clearly.

Of course, English speakers were supposed to play it in English. But thinking that it's better or had more effort put into it is insane. I can't stand the English voice acting tbh.

 

[sensui-tomo]

It's just better quality voice acting 9 times out of 10.

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Just because you don't understand it, doesn't make it any better.
Fuck anyone who said Japanese voices are better in persona 4 when Rise was a thing.
We're for the most part away from bad voice work, now the issue is bad voice direction aka ff type 0 hd and dynasty warriors 9.

 

[LRB1983]

I find english voices too weird for japanese games. I avoid them if it's possible, gladly japanese voices are usually an option for western releases.
Oh and the most horrible thing is when the localization of a game is used to "censor" the game and change what developers are trying to say, because those who localize the dialogues, texts, etc... think something couldn't be appropriate for western audiences.
Always yes for translation but never for adaptation.

 

[CopperPuppy]

I'm currently playing P4G and am honestly pretty stunned at the quality of the English VA

 

[Sphinx]

Final Fantasy Type-0 disagrees with the premise of this thread...

STRONGLY

 

[Tohsaka]

It really isn't, for the most part, people who play games in Japanese because it's the intended language don't understand the language... there are just as many garbage Japanese VAs as English, we just don't know better.

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The bolded isn't really true. The voice acting industry in Japan is way bigger and more competitive than in the west. Bad voice actors don't tend to keep getting big roles, the whole seiyuu culture is huge and people will buy games/watch anime/buy drama CDs etc. if actors they like are in them.

 

[inner-G]

It's just better quality voice acting 9 times out of 10.

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If you know Japanese, it's worse a lot of times.

 

[logash]

For the most part I play in English with a couple of exceptions. I am playing Fist of the North Star in Japanese because I think the VO sounds better and same for Shenmue. I played Nier in English and plan to play games like DMC5, Sekiro, RE2 and KH3 in English even if there is a Japanese VO option.

 

[HardRojo]

Clearly.

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Yup, tales from my ass, but it seems like he likes to work closely with the English cast so it's my natural assumption. I don't know how closely he involves himself with the Japanese dubbers, do we know?

 

[R.T Straker]

It deppends on the game really.

Dark Souls, Bayonetta, Devil May Cry and many others are pretty much the given example.

 

[Deleted member 8196]

In some japanese games, the "voices is what the director had in mind" are in english.
Bayonetta, Dark Souls, DMC, RE titles for example.

 

[sensui-tomo]

Final Fantasy Type-0 disagrees with the premise of this thread...

STRONGLY

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That game suffered from an incompetent voice director, the voice actors in it are good, but they can't do shit with no direction and a shit script.

 

[RM8]

I speak Japanese and I still set games to Spanish when possible. But then I don't play Nier, Persona, or similar games, lol.

 

[Deleted member 3815]

I just go for the one that sounds better whether it be in English or Japanese, as I am going to be reading the subtitle regardless due to my deafness.

 

[chandoog]

It's just better quality voice acting 9 times out of 10.

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For a lot of JRPG's yes.

If you know Japanese, it's worse a lot of times.

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This is a very interesting point. I remember reading that the FFXII team was more impressed with the US localization (although admittedly, FFXII has some of the highest tier localization ever).

 

[Ogami Itto]

If the setting is Japan with Japanese characters (Yakuza) then I want it in that language, otherwise I don't care.

 

[Noctis]

It's more the fact that JP voices fit the character more most of the time. For instance, Vegeta. Instead of his smoking growling eng va or Goku being super heroic eng va when he's just a dumb hick who likes to fight.

 

[Ruck]

I don't know if this is the case for Automata, but in the original Nier the English track was recorded before the Japanese voices.

 

[stinkyguy666]

I wonder if you get many non-English speakers playing a game like The Last of Us in English only

 

[justiceiro]

Sorry, op, but I don't get your argument. You basically said that using a familiar language helped your experience, but this doesn't means your experience is the best possible and that is what devs wanted. If you knew Japanese, I bet most directors would prefer you to play the games in Japanese.

 

[Spine Crawler]

i understand japanese so id rather play the game in the original language

 

[Ratrat]

Yup, tales from my ass, but it seems like he likes to work closely with the English cast so it's my natural assumption. I don't know how closely he involves himself with the Japanese dubbers, do we know?

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I don't think that he's ever even met Hayter? On the other hand, he's friends with Otsuka and we see him in the recording studio with the Japanese voice actors, even altering the script based off their performances in the MGS4 making video. Things might have changed with MGSV and Death Stranding as they use more prominent actors who do the facial animations.

 

[AwShucks]

I've never once heard that argument be used. I leave Japanese on because I can't tell if somebody is a bad VA in Japanese (well, the really bad ones I still can) but bad english VA will really hamper my enjoyment of a game.

 

[PSqueak]

The bolded isn't really true. The voice acting industry in Japan is way bigger and more competitive than in the west. Bad voice actors don't tend to keep getting big roles, the whole seiyuu culture is huge and people will buy games/watch anime/buy drama CDs etc. if actors they like are in them.

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I submit as an example, the Voiced trailer for Breath of the wild, the part where Zelda cries, the Japanese crying is so damn hammy and over the top that totally kills the mood of the scene, most other languages (but not including american english) got it much better.

The thing is, that hammy acting is standard for anime and it's what people who would rather play in japanese expect, but if you pit it against acting outside the anime medium, it absolutely can't compete.

 

[Lakershead22]

I've never played a Japanese game with the Japanese VO. I don't wanna read subs.

 

[Trigonometrize]

Yeah, games can be pretty rough with subs. I couldn't even play Danganronpa in Japanese that well because I think the non-stop debate sections suffer a lot when you can't hear what the characters are saying.

Though I disagree with OPs argument because I don't value the developers' advice on how to play their game. And even if I did, you probably should've chosen an example where you actually looked and saw that the developer agreed with you instead of just assuming they did.

I wonder if you get many non-English speakers playing a game like The Last of Us in English only

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Of course. There will always be people looking to experience things in their original language, and surely word got out at some point that the English voices and acting are incredible.

 

[HardRojo]

If you know Japanese, it's worse a lot of times.

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Yeah I think a language in dubs sounds better when you don't really speak it nor understand its pronunciation. It's jarring for me when there's a character in movies or games who speaks Spanish and this character is supposed to speak it as their native language, but you can clearly tell it's not or that they are just phoning it in if they indeed speak it as their native language, even worse when said character is supposed to be from, let's say, Cuba, but they have a Mexican accent or viceversa.
I actually hate this common line "Que será, será", because it's a wrong translation of "What will be, will be". The correct translation is "Lo que será, será".

I don't think that he's ever even met Hayter? On the other hand, he's friends with Otsuka and we see him in the recording studio with the Japanese voice actors, even altering the script based off their performances in the MGS4 making video. Things might have changed with MGSV and Death Stranding as they use more prominent actors who do the facial animations.

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Oh, see? I wasn't exactly sure and it's quite hard to be googling stuff right now as I'm at work. Thanks for the info :D Will have to learn more when I get back home.

 

[Ratrat]

I submit as an example, the Voiced trailer for Breath of the wild, the part where Zelda cries, the Japanese crying is so damn hammy and over the top that totally kills the mood of the scene, most other languages (but not including american english) got it much better.

The thing is, that hammy acting is standard for anime and it's what people who would rather play in japanese expect, but if you pit it against acting outside the anime medium, it absolutely can't compete.

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Lol. Is that really your example of bad voice acting? do you have any good ones to prop up that argument?

If you know Japanese, it's worse a lot of times.

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I disagree. The only times its 'better' is when it fits the setting. Final Fantasy XII is the best example. On the other hand, I've been forced to play a few western games in Japanese, and they were never terrible. Always solid quality.​

 

[DevilMayGuy]

VA in a language I understand >>>>>>>>>> VA in any other language.

Like, sometimes VA in Japanese is every bit as stilted and terrible as the English VA, but you just don't know it because you don't speak the language and can't pick up how bad it sounds.

The cringiest shit was when there were people who watched the Netflix Castlevania series in Japanese "as they intended" even though the primary focus was on English VA. Some people take their Japanophilia a bit too far IMO.

 

[Abriael]

It really isn't, for the most part, people who play games in Japanese because it's the intended language don't understand the language... there are just as many garbage Japanese VAs as English, we just don't know better.

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If you know Japanese, it's worse a lot of times.

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I speak Japanese. I also worked extensively in anime localization when I was younger.

Japan has a much deeper tradition of voice acting than any anglophone country. Most audio-visual productions in anglophone countries are already in English and don't need voice overs. in Japan, most audio-visual production needs voice acting, because of importing shows and movies and the prevalence of anime.

The average quality of Japanese voice acting is miles better than the average quality of British or American voice acting because in Japan said tradition means that when you're a voice actor, you're a top-tier actor. In America and Britain, in most cases, if you're a voice actor, you don't have a top-tier acting job. The best actors go to work in Hollywood or on TV shows.

Voice acting training is also not as institutionalized and extensive.

Top-tier English voice actors are very comparable to top-tier Japanese voice actors, but Japanese games 99% of the times don't get top voice actors in the west. They do get top voice actors in Japan.

 

[PandaShake]

It's more the fact that JP voices fit the character more most of the time. For instance, Vegeta. Instead of his smoking growling eng va or Goku being super heroic eng va when he's just a dumb hick who likes to fight.

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Yup. It sucks when the studio takes their own spin on the character like Fire Emblem's effie. They went from original gentle giant, to a muscle head english dub where none of the in game art matches.

I'm playing monster hunter world right now and the english lip sync is damn awful. Looked it up and it looks like japanese isn't any better.

 

[Trigonometrize]

I've never once heard that argument be used. I leave Japanese on because I can't tell if somebody is a bad VA in Japanese (well, the really bad ones I still can) but bad english VA will really hamper my enjoyment of a game.

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Even if a lot of people don't like to admit it, I think this is the most obvious argument for doing an original language. You don't see all the faults, so it works on a superficial level.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

It's just better quality voice acting 9 times out of 10.

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Honestly, not true. Japanese voice actors range in quality just as much as English ones do. The language barrier just makes some of that harder to parse.

 

[Holundrian]

If you know Japanese, it's worse a lot of times.

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Hasn't happened for me yet.
Most of the time I enjoy the original always more than whatever the translation is. It's ultra rare that I feel otherwise.

Although I'll say it's less voice related a lot of times and more translation related. Fucking glad I didn't have to deal with H'aanit nonsense.

 

[Zacmortar]

It's more the fact that JP voices fit the character more most of the time. For instance, Vegeta. Instead of his smoking growling eng va or Goku being super heroic eng va when he's just a dumb hick who likes to fight.

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every goddamn Go- character in the jpn dub is voiced by a scratchy old lady. that is the opposite of a good dub for characters that are adult men.

actively worse than women voicing young boys in dubs

 

[PSqueak]

Lol. Is that really your example of bad voice acting? do you have any good ones to prop up that argument?

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It's one im pretty sure a lot of people in here saw comparision videos of.

And for the record, the LatAm dub of Breath of the Wild is superior to all other options.

 

[Arkanim94]

I play with the dub I want.

 

[Palazzo]

Yup, tales from my ass, but it seems like he likes to work closely with the English cast so it's my natural assumption. I don't know how closely he involves himself with the Japanese dubbers, do we know?

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Kojima works very closely with his Japanese cast and will even create characters with certain actors he likes in mind just so he can work with them again. I don't believe he's ever had contact with MGS's English cast outside of Hayter and V's frontliners, so I doubt he considers them at all.

 

[Dreamboum]

Clearly.

Of course, English speakers were supposed to play it in English. But thinking that it's better or had more effort put into it is insane. I can't stand the English voice acting tbh.

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He announced Sutherland before the japanese voice cast was even a thing. All trailers were in english.

 

[Cap G]

Some games just dont have dialogue that flows well in English, nobody in Persona 5 speaks like english speaking teenagers speak. Games like that and Yakuza 0 I'd prefer to leave in japanese.

Thanks for the grub.

 

[Deleted member 8463]

For me generally it depends where the game is set. E.g. Persona games need to be in Japanese because they have a Japanese setting. Monster Hunter World I play in the MH language. I'll always watch films/TV shows in their original language for that reason too.