[Request] David Warner

LuciusDei

This is, of course, a request that would be more of a dream than possible reality, but I would love to see, or rather hear, David Warner back voicing all of Irenicus' lines.

I know part of Baldur's Gate's charm is that not everything is voiced like today's games are, but Warner gave Irenicus such a presence (a presence, which, in my opinion, made Irenicus the 'beloved' villain he is today) that it would truly enhance his character even more. I admit, when I encountered Irenicus I got a little sad when I got to lines that weren't voiced, because David Warner did such a great job in the delivery.

Of course, I understand, hiring him once again may be difficult and costly, which is why I say this is more of a dream than anything else, but I would be more than thrilled to see him back.

unfortunate_one

"End of line"

Yeah, I'm with you. One of the greatest bad guy voice of all time.

O_Bruce

It's ok, but on the other hand, there is certain problem. BG2:EE will be (as I have heard) supporting many languages, Polish included. The problem is, that in some language (Polish particulary) version extending speaking parts will be impossible, due to original voice actor's death. RIP Krzysztof Kolberger.

I don't think it is 100% right to give English people additional content, but skip it for other language versions.

Seldar

The voice for the French version was also very good. I love listen Irenicus speaking just to hear that voice.

Elys

@Seldar: French dubbing is usually of good quality for movies, and for games but to sadly a less extent. Unless of course when a cheap and crappy dubbing company is chosen, like it can be more often encountered for low-budget titles.

It can even happen when the original actor voice play is bad or with poor dialogues, that the dubbed version sounds better xD

ElectricMonk

It's ok, but on the other hand, there is certain problem. BG2:EE will be (as I have heard) supporting many languages, Polish included...
I don't think it is 100% right to give English people additional content, but skip it for other language versions.

@ZelgadisGW This doesn't really make sense (to me at least). So, because the dev team goes out of their way to have the game support multiple languages, they suddenly have to restrict all the voice acting that is in their own native language for the sake of not appearing to give preferential treatment to English? Baldur's Gate is an English game, and Trent Oster & Team are at least predominantly English speaking (Canadian), and the game is being developed in Canada, a predominantly English speaking country. the fact that they are ensuring support for other languages is just something to be grateful for, not a way to find some other reason to potentially cause problems.

This is exactly like a primarily English speaking person complaining that a game that was made by a Spanish team of devs and released in Spain doesn't have enough support for English; and then if they go out of their way to support English-language players, that same person complaining if they add anything (even superficial things like voice-acting) to the Spanish version only.

As for the OP, I completely agree. It might be difficult to obtain him (also he most likely won't have much/any new dialogue), but if he does have new dialogue I'd love for him to voice new lines. Irenicus is just such an iconic villain in my mind, just such a great character, and has so many amazing lines. David Warner's voice acting definitely added something great to the character.

O_Bruce

@jaysl649 I believe I clearly said it is OK to apply this, I just mentioned that in some language versions of the game it is impossible to imply into game. I never thougt that what I just said is requiring explanation.

ElectricMonk

@ZelgadisGW You aren't required to explain yourself, but you said that it "isn't 100% right" to allow the English speaking version of the game to have more voice acting ("additional content"), and I was simply responding to what you said with my opinion. This is a forum after all, a place to exchange ideas... no offense was intended.

O_Bruce

@jaysl649 You're not quite right. It was more like: "It is alright to have new content in English version, but it's not quite ok for other language versions to lack of it".

And no offence is taken.

ElectricMonk

@ZelgadisGW ah okay, I think I see what you were saying, my mistake.

norolim

The thing I would really want to know is whether Overhaul will be using the original voiceovers of the various language versions. Because Trent's previous comments on Twitter suggested that they won't.

In some cases it's very important, because, e.g. the Polish VOs were so good (many believe, they were better than the original) that many fans in Poland can't imagine playing BG EE and BG2 EE with captions or other VOs. I normally play games in English, but BG is an exception. I just won't play it with anything else, than the old VOs. So really, for me it's a matter of buy or pass.

That's why I would really appreciate if someone from Overhaul could clear this up. And if you're not planning to use the original VOs, will it be possible to switch some files if you own both versions of the games, to gate the old VOs work with BG EE?

technophobe

I'd rather BG2EE leave the main plot alone. Irenicus doesn't need more content.

(Warner was awesome as Jack the Ripper in Time After Time -- bonus with Malcolm McDowell as HG Wells.)

KillBoY_UK

Well I'm off to Star Trek London in a couple of weeks and was planning on getting him to sign my BG2 poster (from my old BG2 collectors edition) I might as well ask him if he be up for it!

Sceptenar

I seriously doubt they have the budget to do a bunch of recordings.

lordkim

Ill bet he do a few lines for free if they ask him nicely

Cheesebelly

Nowadays... nothing is free O_O

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Silence

I decided to like this even before reading your post. I would also like to request David Warner for my home. Maybe I can get him to do my voicemail away message.