What do you think about FFXV's English localization so far?

[BladeRunner]

I was going to ask this in the general news thread but I figured the localization discussion may be worth its own thread.

So, we've got a taste of FFXV English voice acting a year ago with Episode Duscae. It got mixed reception from the fans, but it was supposedly a rushed job just for the demo which excused its shortcommings. During this year's E3 we got many samples of what is likely final (or close to final) voice acting and I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on it. If you haven't seen it, here's the video with story cinematics in English (contains some early game spoilers).

Personally, I have to say that I'm rather disappointed with the voice work, even though Noctis is an improvement over the Bat-Noctis. Most of the cast sound stilted and the dialogues feel unnatural. I still like Prompto the most even though at some moments he sounds a bit too cartoonish. Cindy is awful. I'm not an expert on accents but hers feels really forced.
Overall, I find the VA mediocre. Of course it's not nearly the worst I've heard, but for a massive franchise like FF it's pretty bad.

Also, it's mind-boggling that we still don't know who any of the English voice actors are.

 

[DrBretto]

likely final (or close to final)

I don't think that's likely at all. The quips in the regular clips of in-game action are identical to the placeholder quips in ED (reused, not re-recorded). The scenes they finally released scream rough draft all over them. I wouldn't consider any of that final yet. It all sounds like placeholders to me.

 

[BladeRunner]

I don't think that's likely at all. The quips in the regular clips of in-game action are identical to the placeholder quips in ED (reused, not re-recorded). The scenes they finally released scream rough draft all over them. I wouldn't consider any of that final yet. It all sounds like placeholders to me.

Why would they release scenes with placeholder voices three months from the release? When the voice recording has to be close to finished?
Of course I won't complain if I'm proven wrong, but hoping for major improvements in the final version seems like wishful thinking.

 

[yeah_93]

Voice direction is mediocre. It's a lost cause. They all sound detached from what's happening. Prompto talks like he was an anime character. People say it doesn't matter since the game will have dual audio, but I plan on playing it in English.

 

[Lulcielid]

I don't think I (or we) can make a final veredict with just that video. They probably maybe off in those cutscenes and may be not in others. This is a bit cherry picking at the moment.

Outside of VA, it's still a bit bugging that they keep calling her Cindy instead of Cidney but then I remember that we gave Square a free pass from turning Mash into Sabin.

 

[XvoltaireX]

Sure the voice acting is not FF 12 levels of stellar, but it's really not that bad...

I think people are being a bit melodramatic about this. As someone who has family in the southern states of the US, Cidney's voice is spot on. It's not forced, just mildly cartoonish, much like Prompto. I also can't take seriously the complaints about Noctis having a tenor voice. It's a refresher from the same old mid alto MC males we get in every Final Fantasy game. I understand you have a right to your opinion but "Bat-Noctis"? Really? His voice was deep and slightly rough, not gravely and constipated.

 

[BladeRunner]

I don't think I (or we) can make a final veredict with just that video. They probably maybe off in those cutscenes and may be not in others. This is a bit cherry picking at the moment.

Outside of VA, it's still a bit bugging that they keep calling her Cindy instead of Cidney but then I remember that we gave Square a free pass from turning Mash into Sabin.

Sure, maybe these cutscenes were unfortunate and the rest of the game is better, I don't know. But I think it's okay to simply judge what we were presented until now. No need to make a "final" verdict.

And yeah, the Cindy thing is bugging me too. I'm mostly okay with stuff like Mash->Sabin or Tina->Terra but in this case the translation completely loses the point of her name, which is a reference to Cid.

 

[Chocobocoholic]

I thought she was called Cindy and the whole Cidney thing was just a mistranslation?

Anyway, I don't mind the voice acting. It's not amazing but it's not terrible - Gladio is the worst. He sounds really bored. The red haired guy, Ardyn, is it? I like his.

I think it might all come together with a bit of background music to add to the drama.

 

[BladeRunner]

Sure the voice acting is not FF 12 levels of stellar, but it's really not that bad...

I think people are being a bit melodramatic about this. As someone who has family in the southern states of the US, Cidney's voice is spot on. It's not forced, just mildly cartoonish, much like Prompto. I also can't take seriously the complaints about Noctis having a tenor voice. It's a refresher from the same old mid alto MC males we get in every Final Fantasy game. I understand you have a right to your opinion but "Bat-Noctis"? Really? His voice was deep and slightly rough, not gravely and constipated.

Really? You think I'm complaining about tenor? His voice was very coarse, as if he was 20 years older than he's supposed to be.
But whatever, it doesn't matter now that it was changed.

 

[XvoltaireX]

Really? You think I'm complaining about tenor? His voice was very coarse, as if he was 20 years older than he's supposed to be.
But whatever, it doesn't matter now that it was changed.

I am 19 and have a baritone speaking voice. I was already a tenor when i was 16. It is not as unusual as you would like to believe it is. Vocal development does not correspond with one's age. And trust me, his voice is still coarse. The world will not end. Relax.

 

[DrBretto]

Why would they release scenes with placeholder voices three months from the release? When the voice recording has to be close to finished?
Of course I won't complain if I'm proven wrong, but hoping for major improvements in the final version seems like wishful thinking.

Because it's demo footage from months and months ago. At least the cutscenes. That's the same thing gameinformers saw. They've been showing incomplete works-in-progress throughout the whole process and people have panicked over things like this at every turn.

They're letting us see the process. Every bit of that screams rough footage. There's no background music, the faces look wooden, it's not complete. Compared to the emotion shown in the Japanese Uncovered trailer, and the rest of it to the Polish on the January ATR gameplay footage.

They're also clearly still using the exact same clips during gameplay as they have been using since ED. This is most likely some stuff they recorded for testing purposes or leftover stuff from auditions that they're using as placeholders.

It's not wishful thinking. They've acknowledged the lack of polish on things throughout. It's intentional. Tabata himself talking about how all that stuff comes last. Talking about his employees spending too much time polishing things when it doesn't matter yet, and most recently letting us know that the whole UI and everything is still using placeholders, too.

It's just behind the scenes stuff. Nothing to fret over yet.

 

[DrBretto]

It's a lost cause

Seriously, guys. How many end of the world scenarios have to end up being for naught before you just take a step back?

It'll be fine. Wait until it's all put together to give it your review.

 

[yeah_93]

Seriously, guys. How many end of the world scenarios have to end up being for naught before you just take a step back?

It'll be fine. Wait until it's all put together to give it your review.

I wouldn't be so sure these voices are placeholders. But we'll have to wait and see.

 

[Storm]

I really don't like that much, they all sound cartoon-ish except for Noctis; watch that scene of them discovering about the invasion in japanese, it's miles better.

 

[DrBretto]

I wouldn't be so sure these voices are placeholders. But we'll have to wait and see.

Yes. We will. Soon enough (but not soon enough!)

 

[Rin]

Cindy is called "Shidoni" (transliterated into "Cidney") in Japanese, that's where the "Cidney" came from. It isn't a mistranslation.

Besides Gladiolus's voice, I actually am enjoying the English voice work so far. I say this as someone who thinks the Japanese voices, especially Noctis's, are GOAT, by the way. Some of the lines in English are actually even better than the Japanese equivalents (and others, not so much...). If only we could have Japanese voice work quality with the English script, lol.

 

[BladeRunner]

I am 19 and have a baritone speaking voice. I was already a tenor when i was 16. It is not as unusual as you would like to believe it is. Vocal development does not correspond with one's age. And trust me, his voice is still coarse. The world will not end. Relax.

Oh man, I feel like we're talking past each other. Yes, people can have deep voices at young age, but being a tenor is not the problem I had with Noctis. I know many people with deep voices but no one who talks like ED Noctis (unless they're tryin to do Bale's Batman impression ). Yes, his voice is still a bit coarse but there's a big difference in how he sounded in Duscae and now.

 

[XvoltaireX]

Oh man, I feel like we're talking past each other. Yes, people can have deep voices at young age, but being a tenor is not the problem I had with Noctis. I know many people with deep voices but no one who talks like ED Noctis (unless they're tryin to do Bale's Batman impression ). Yes, his voice is still a bit coarse but there's a big difference in how he sounded in Duscae and now.

He sounded nothing like batman in the slightest during Duscae. That is one adamantly childish exaggeration, over a character having a voice you don't approve of. In other words, making a mountain out of a mole hill.

I mean, because listening to this, it's evidently not at all what you're claiming.

 

[Lulcielid]

Speaking of Gladioulus (and VA in general), another reason to believe @DrBretto theory of "placeholder VA" or my theory of "some VA scenes being off and other not", look a clip from 1:39 to 1:57 (spoilers, I guess?). You can notice that Gladioulus performance is pretty different.

 

[Noctis_Caelum]

For me, the eng voices sounds good.
I don't like the jap ones (Gladiolus' is good), because the voice actors just overreact with their feelings that sounds unnatural.