To our Weeabos

[Devianne]

im not sure if weeabo also applies to blade and soul but well idk. I am quite pissed off on the ppl ranting the VA of the western version of BnS. As if the voices compared to the asian counterpart are so terrible.... i mean literally wtf. These are the kinds of people complaining about bots etc over and over again. If you enjoy the korean storyline and voice acting so much please leave the western version alone. Coming here and saying the voices are "horrible" or "shit" is quite an offense to the VA that did the clips. I myself dont like the current Soha voice but that was said to be a bug. That being said with not liking i meant i prefered the release version of western Soha. Theres not a single voice i can think of right now that sucked compared to KR version. It just lead me to believe that these anime hunting weeabo ppl dislike the western version generally because well its not in korean anymore.

 

I feel sorry for the original VA of Soha when there was so many complaints everywhere (Ingame, reddit, forum) how bad that voice is. If i was that VA and read the forums and realized everyone dislikes my voice i would be very disappointed without really realizing that most of the criticism was made by weeabo loving fanboys.

 

TL;DR

Most ppl behave like animals without a sense of morality. I highly doubt you would say the exact same to that person face2face.

[Zuzu]

I smell a bait post.

Anyways, you'll have complainers about anything in the game.

Whether it's a known bug or not. Let them do as they please, you don't have to pay attention to them if it makes you that angry.

[NueHoujuu]

If I didn't like an actor's acting and they came up to me and asked how their acting is I would tell them the truth face2face.

 

If I didn't have a way to contact that actor but I thought it was bad enough that it needed to be changed, I'd go to the next best way of communication which is social media and making the company aware.

 

If a voice actor's work is so bad that a lot of people dislike it, it's a problem for the popularity of the game. Movie producers won't let you get into acting just because you're disabled or were in the army and *need* work.

 

I like VA like Junghado, Old Man Cho, that corpse burning guy near the Stalker Jiangshi, and Ben Ido (the naryu clown guy).

 

But some of the pirate NPC in BHS sound more like church nuns than pirates. The guy who gives you half of the dailies for that area has a voice that doesn't fit the NPC's face at all, and the voice itself is very annoying/high pitched/condescending sounding.

 

Poharan's voice is okay but when she says, "Did that hurt" or something before her fire bomb, the voice literally sounds like it has some kind of clipping issue in the sound file.

 

And this criticism isn't because I like to watch anime, as you seem to like to generalize people as some sort of hate group if they do, it's because the voice acting actually is bad or half-hearted or unfitting.

 

Yes - people get offended and/or feel bad when they get voted off of American Idol or whatever singing/acting/beauty show they get kicked from. It's not like working as a cashier where all of that doesn't matter.

 

Anime in US only has a 500k level market, whereas Japan has a 5b level market or so. Our good voice actors get put into live action movies instead of anime.

[Devianne]

i did not mean everyone that dislikes the VA is an animelover. As i said i also didnt find that new or well "old" voice as good as the one we had before. But i do find that many ppl complain purely for it not being asian /korean as in the original. As to the VA herself: i highly doubt they just take any random person to do voice overs. I am quite sure the old soha voice is also a professional too and was not just taken by surprise.

 

That being said i also dont have anything against anime either. Just the part where ppl take anime over to here and compare it to western part which imo doesnt make any sense cuz we r not in japan/korea/insert other asian country >.<

 

[Reaper00]

What I always wonder about when these discussions come up, is if the people saying that the VA in the Korean version is so much better can actually speak fluent Korean. Because if they can't, how exactly would they know the voice acting was better?

[Devianne]

1 minute ago, Reaper00 said:

What I always wonder about when these discussions come up, is if the people saying that the VA in the Korean version is so much better can actually speak fluent Korean. Because if they can't, how exactly would they know the voice acting was better?

This is another point which lead me to believe that most critics from from anime lovers that do not even understand korean/jap hence the title includes weeabo >.< not saying that no one does but i do doubt that they all do. at least to a certain degree that they would understand korean convos fluently. i may be wrong tho who knows x.x

[Lurkios]

Problem with the western VAs is that they don't sound like you'd expect the characters to sound.

 

Take Granny for example, she sounds like a 30 year old smoker, not a 60 year old Granny. That's true of most of the characters really, basically everyone sounds like a middle aged male/female. Older characters, younger... Doesn't matter. Except Soha. Soha sounds like a stereotype.

[Devianne]

2 minutes ago, Lurkios said:

Problem with the western VAs is that they don't sound like you'd expect the characters to sound.

 

Take Granny for example, she sounds like a 30 year old smoker, not a 60 year old Granny. That's true of most of the characters really, basically everyone sounds like a middle aged male/female. Older characters, younger... Doesn't matter. Except Soha. Soha sounds like a stereotype.

mhm u do have a point there. as i said previously i do not rlly find any VA bad but some dialogs are .... questionable. specifically blackram dialogs.

[BattleKat]

Well...i am going to be honest, the VA in our server is yes...terrible, it take away the immersive feeling, like you are in a tragic moment, and a character with dumb voice, and bad acting talk, pooff! rip the moment, now everything is a joke.

 

Currently, the only voice acting that i have liked are:  Jinsoyun, Junhado (seriusly i like a lot junhado VA), Soha, Yura...and...ya thats it, i think also Mushin but i expected a bit better on him, but is not bad.

[OniOfTheSword]

I believe it has more to do with the voice fitting the character's personality, and the intonation, than with just the voice itself. The dialogues have to describe and add depth to the situation, and intonation is key here. This is something that most voice acting in BnS lacks.

 

Also, I find that Juwol's voice fits her personality well, whereas Soha's (current) voice is just completely out of whack. Just because she holds a gun and is drunk all day, doesn't mean that a Southern US accent she has right now will suit her. 

 

PS: I haven't played any version of BnS other than NA.

[Els]

There are some voices that does not corresponds to the character, like the dude in NSH between the 2 wheels of fate, his voice sounds too young compared to his looks. And the granny. Those 2 are the one that are really off. 
My favorite voice is Mak Sobo.

[Devianne]

1 minute ago, BattleKat said:

Well...i am going to be honest, the VA in our server is yes...terrible, it take away the immersive feeling, like you are in a tragic moment, and a character with dumb voice, and bad acting talk, pooff! rip the moment, now everything is a joke.

 

Currently, the only voice acting that i have liked are:  Jinsoyun, Junhado (seriusly i like a lot junhado VA), Soha, Yura...and...ya thats it, i think also Mushin but i expected a bit better on him, but is not bad.

mhm i like all the ones you mentioned too. yura mmm is barely in tho. she sounds a bit too squeaky but still alright. which scene did u feel got ruined by poor VA tho? o.o

[Enhance]

The problem is often not so much the VA, it also has to do with the scripting and timing.

 

For example,

SPOILER ALERT

 

When young Jinsoyun says "It wasn't me, it was Mu--"  and Mushin goes "SILENCE!", you'd expect Mushin to interrupt Jinsoyun with his shout.

 

Instead you get,

Jinsoyun: "It wasn't me, it was Mu."

. . . 

Mushin: "Silence!"

 

(the VA was clearly told to stop at "Mu". Needless to say it sounds as unnatural as they come.)

 

END SPOILER ALERT

 

It happens a lot of times around the story.

Same for constantly repeating enemy lines (Awwww, they changed our hours again?) which should logically have a long cooldown on them.

 

Just now, Devianne said:

mhm i like all the ones you mentioned too. yura mmm is barely in tho. she sounds a bit too squeaky but still alright. which scene did u feel got ruined by poor VA tho? o.o

The scene in spoiler was a complete trainwreck, but not as much because of VA, but because of scripting. 

 

[Devianne]

3 minutes ago, Els said:

There are some voices that does not corresponds to the character, like the dude in NSH between the 2 wheels of fate, his voice sounds too young compared to his looks. And the granny. Those 2 are the one that are really off. 
My favorite voice is Mak Sobo.

i understand that. its why i find that yura's voice is "almost" a bit too young but i still find it acceptable >.<

1 minute ago, Enhance said:

The problem is often not so much the VA, it also has to do with the scripting and timing.

 

For example,

SPOILER ALERT

 

When young Jinsoyun says "It wasn't me, it was Mu--"  and Mushin goes "SILENCE!", you'd expect Mushin to interrupt Jinsoyun with his shout.

 

Instead you get,

Jinsoyun: "It wasn't me, it was Mu."

. . . 

Mushin: "Silence!"

 

(the VA was clearly told to stop at "Mu". Needless to say it sounds as unnatural as they come.)

 

END SPOILER ALERT

 

It happens a lot of times around the story.

Same for constantly repeating enemy lines (Awwww, they changed our hours again?) which should logically have a long cooldown on them.

 

The scene in spoiler was a complete trainwreck, but not as much because of VA, but because of scripting. 

 

that is one of my fav scenes (in original) >.< im not playing main atm cuz its a bit overcrowded so i started a blade dancer lol x.x

i cannot rlly comment on that scene as i havent seen it in the western version tho. but that is indeed a key scene that should be good and shows character development etc blabla. as for the random npc dialogs aka "what shall we have for dinner", etc. yeaaaaaa well these are kinda annoying but they also exist in the KR version too just with different language :p

 

Soha can shoot me anytime! (sry had to) XD

[BattleKat]

3 minutes ago, Devianne said:

mhm i like all the ones you mentioned too. yura mmm is barely in tho. she sounds a bit too squeaky but still alright. which scene did u feel got ruined by poor VA tho? o.o

Every scene with Hajoon, every scene with Iksanun (seriusly neither KR or JP voices sound nothing like ours, and is terrible), let met remind the SAVE MASTER DODAN!, and i can keep going...

[Enhance]

4 minutes ago, Devianne said:

i understand that. its why i find that yura's voice is "almost" a bit too young but i still find it acceptable >.<

that is one of my fav scenes (in original) >.< im not playing main atm cuz its a bit overcrowded so i started a blade dancer lol x.x

i cannot rlly comment on that scene as i havent seen it in the western version tho. but that is indeed a key scene that should be good and shows character development etc blabla. as for the random npc dialogs aka "what shall we have for dinner", etc. yeaaaaaa well these are kinda annoying but they also exist in the KR version too just with different language :p

 

Soha can shoot me anytime! (sry had to) XD

I really liked that scene's content, but on top of Jinsoyun's voice sounding unnatural, they had that gem.

It just feels like they hired the VAs and gave them a list of lines to say without any explanation what it's about or what intonation they should make.

[Moggie]

To be fair, the voice acting is pretty mediocre. Normally I'm not too picky but a lot of times it just sounds like they didn't even try. Most of the time when they talk, it makes me visualize the person with a mic in front of them in the recording studio, more than the actual character in front of me. It's not just this game though, Vindictus's voice acting was atrocious as well.

[Bezerko]

I had heard rumors that the VA was done in house by the GM's and staff.  Can't find proof on that though.

[Devianne]

doesnt it say the VO artists in the credits? i cant check now sadly >.<

[NueHoujuu]

53 minutes ago, Reaper00 said:

What I always wonder about when these discussions come up, is if the people saying that the VA in the Korean version is so much better can actually speak fluent Korean. Because if they can't, how exactly would they know the voice acting was better?

What I always wonder about when these discussions come up, is if the people saying that scratching a chalkboard is so much better can actually speak fluent chalkboard. Because if they can't, how exactly would they know the voice acting was better?

55 minutes ago, Devianne said:

 

That being said i also dont have anything against anime either. Just the part where ppl take anime over to here and compare it to western part which imo doesnt make any sense cuz we r not in japan/korea/insert other asian country >.<

 

So they're wrong for comparing a game made in Asia, with Asian voice acting?

 

Going back to the 'scratching a chalkboard' example, I used to only watch anime if it had English dub, because it was convenient to not have to squint at subtitles all the time instead of what was actually happening.

 

I was fine with most dubbing for the most part, but lately I only watch subs because so few anime get dubbed.

 

And after 300 different anime I notice the difference in VA quality in general. Only super popular anime like Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Durarara, Steins Gate tend to get really good VA. Then there's this other eschelon of anime that get a 'lesser set' of dub VAers. Blade and Soul right now feels like a little under half of their dub are this kind of dubbing. The other half is pretty good/fitting though.

 

As soon as I got into SilverFrost though, I heard that same VA from BSH for the daily guy between the two wheels of fate. That guy's voice is still annoying. They should use him on a character that's purposefully supposed to sound like a condescending *grasshopper*.

 

Anyway, the same anime that I've seen dubbed - the original JP VA subbed versions voice acting is usually never bad - though part of it may be because I don't like with Japanese people and thus don't hear what kind of accent the average JP person actually has and thus I can't differentiate people with an "ugly" voice from good, but for anime with good JP voice acting, even if I don't know most of their language, I can hear when they are appropriately voice acting some loud war cry when they fight and etc. I would almost never expect an EN VA to properly VA a war cry for something like Sabre's Excalibur scene in Fate/Zero.

[Devianne]

16 minutes ago, NueHoujuu said:

What I always wonder about when these discussions come up, is if the people saying that scratching a chalkboard is so much better can actually speak fluent chalkboard. Because if they can't, how exactly would they know the voice acting was better?

So they're wrong for comparing a game made in Asia, with Asian voice acting?

 

Going back to the 'scratching a chalkboard' example, I used to only watch anime if it had English dub, because it was convenient to not have to squint at subtitles all the time instead of what was actually happening.

 

I was fine with most dubbing for the most part, but lately I only watch subs because so few anime get dubbed.

 

And after 300 different anime I notice the difference in VA quality in general. Only super popular anime like Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Durarara, Steins Gate tend to get really good VA. Then there's this other eschelon of anime that get a 'lesser set' of dub VAers. Blade and Soul right now feels like a little under half of their dub are this kind of dubbing. The other half is pretty good/fitting though.

 

As soon as I got into SilverFrost though, I heard that same VA from BSH for the daily guy between the two wheels of fate. That guy's voice is still annoying. They should use him on a character that's purposefully supposed to sound like a condescending *grasshopper*.

 

Anyway, the same anime that I've seen dubbed - the original JP VA subbed versions voice acting is usually never bad - though part of it may be because I don't like with Japanese people and thus don't hear what kind of accent the average JP person actually has and thus I can't differentiate people with an "ugly" voice from good, but for anime with good JP voice acting, even if I don't know most of their language, I can hear when they are appropriately voice acting some loud war cry when they fight and etc. I would almost never expect an EN VA to properly VA a war cry for something like Sabre's Excalibur scene in Fate/Zero.

This game is not korean or asian so comparing to the "original korean" version does not work. We do not have any option to use the original voices either because that is not wanted. Not every korean line can be 1:1 translated. This rarely works. There is infact a lot of censorship in the western version. As to the VAs themselves. Most of the time they see the script for the dialogs first time they go to the studio. Still i find the english voices quite ok

[Reaper00]

17 minutes ago, NueHoujuu said:

What I always wonder about when these discussions come up, is if the people saying that scratching a chalkboard is so much better can actually speak fluent chalkboard. Because if they can't, how exactly would they know the voice acting was better?

Because random sounds from an inanimate object is the same as understanding the nuances of a language you do not know right?

[Enhance]

7 minutes ago, Reaper00 said:

Because random sounds from an inanimate object is the same as understanding the nuances of a language you do not know right?

To be fair, even without knowing Korean, you can sometimes hear emotions better than feel like they're read in monotone. 

For example (this may be subjective):

 

 

 

If the English TL is right, I know what they're saying, and I feel like they deliver the intonation better than western counterparts.

 

It's not really black-and-white, if I knew Korean it's entirely possible that I would've found their pronunciation laughable, but - as I mentioned - I feel like the intonation suits the lines better from the KR cutscenes I've seen so far.

 

Then again, I can't be assed to do anything about it.

[Lambda]

2 hours ago, Devianne said:

 

Most ppl behave like animals without a sense of morality. I highly doubt you would say the exact same to that person face2face.

 

This is true. However. I haven't formally said this but I will say some of the voice actors really phone it in.  All main and serious-story characters are done well though, so I can see why some people would be irritated and others would not.

[Rasky]

You don't have to play another version of the game to know that some of the VA clips are beyond crap. There are some fantastic ones that people have already mentioned like Junghado, Yura, Iksanun, Hajoon etc, Tae Jengum. Poharan's voice actress is actually superb and bang on to her personality type/description, but sounds like it's been recorded by a mic made from a potato. But common, some of them are so bad, like the really big guy quest giver in NSH that people have mentioned. To be honest, if they are just going to slap in a mediocre level VA on, I'd rather they don't insert one at all and spend that effort/resources on something else.

 

When the voice acting sounds so fake, as another person has said, it ruins immersion. Have you played FFXIV's localized VA? Now that is how they should do it.