I don't find her sounding anachronistic a valid criticism, when the original NPCs make pop culture references (looking at you, Tzar) and break the fourth wall with lines like, "One day, Tiax will point and click!"
Whats a Tzar?
It's the Bulgarian equivalent of a monarch or supreme ruler.
That line cringes me above all others, there is zero bemoaning in that line, when the line is all about the bemoaning. It's like he took a big shot of personality botox, which is what I'd expect from someone sitting in front of a mic, reading from script. Someone should have told him that he was being whisked away with chaotic power, not watching the all ords go down 2% from an armchair.
I'll agree with you on that one line. Given the calm, calculating tone you hear the rest of the time, that line either needed to be different, or the entire performance needed to change. Someone who sounds like that wouldn't draw more attention to the fact they've lost control with an outburst like that, they would make it seem like it was just a minor setback.
Actually, I find Dorn's voicing to be a little over-acted here and there. Otherwise it's fantastic.
Rasaad's voice is well done, although it's sort of a hybrid between Indian and something else middle-eastern. And it might have been better with a little more modulation (i.e., perhaps it's a bit monotone). But anyway, overall it's certainly well done.
They are three evocative and different types of characters. All of them well voiced. I'm very pleased with EE's new NPCs overall.
I don't like her. Her voice is sweet but she speaks so modern that it feels like she is about to call Commander Shepherd to pick her up in any moment. Maybe the rest of the characters also have jokes about clicking and pointing and all that but they feel genuine to the world, their voice and maner of speach feels in place. Hers doesn't, she is much to happy for a person who excedently blasted away half of his life, and she sounds to much like a city thief (Neeshka in that case) for a person who studied magic with the elves.
I don't know, when she speaks I see in my mind's eyes this girl Panny from Big Bang Theory.
Her voice is alright Her delivery is not And that's the case with most new voice-overs (Baeloth is another example as is the mage she zaps away when you meet her) Intonation is all wrong and pauses (if any) are all in the wrong places And that's the difference between her and Neeshka and Quara Their delivery always fits the scene, Neera's doesn't. It's like the VA was given a script with just the lines and no context
I don't find her sounding anachronistic a valid criticism, when the original NPCs make pop culture references (looking at you, Tzar) and break the fourth wall with lines like, "One day, Tiax will point and click!"
Whats a Tzar?
It's the Bulgarian equivalent of a monarch or supreme ruler.
The more you know! /starRAINBOW
Slavic* And to answer the original question, I think The_Cheeseman was referring to Xzar
I'm also not convinced on the whole "not the actors fault the director wanted it that way" line of thought.
Then you've never participated in a vocal session.
I worked at an audio book company for six years and have been on the acting and directing ends more than once. The voice actor is given a script with a ton of lines on it and asked to review it for context. Then, they sit in a booth and hammer away reading each line seperately with the director giving notes and asking for retakes as appropriate.
It is very rare to record lines in that old radio drama style format where the actors act out a whole scene together. It is much more common for all the lines to be recorded individually, and then spliced together later. A lot of the time, voice actors who play several scenes together have never even met in real life.
In a movie or a theatrical production, you have to take the scenes as is. In a recording studio, you can read a line over and over again until you get it right. The voice actor provides the performance. The director is there to provide context for the voice actor and make sure that the performance fits properly with the other elements of the story. Every actor gives a bad read now and then. It's the director's responsibility to catch those bad lines and help the actor correct them.
Even further than that, if a director discovers an actor is incapable of giving the proper performance, it's also his responsibility to determine if it's necessary to recast the role. Anything you hear coming from your speakers, the director approved of.
I don't like her. Her voice is sweet but she speaks so modern that it feels like she is about to call Commander Shepherd to pick her up in any moment. Maybe the rest of the characters also have jokes about clicking and pointing and all that but they feel genuine to the world, their voice and maner of speach feels in place. Hers doesn't, she is much to happy for a person who excedently blasted away half of his life, and she sounds to much like a city thief (Neeshka in that case) for a person who studied magic with the elves.
I don't know, when she speaks I see in my mind's eyes this girl Panny from Big Bang Theory.
Funny thing is that Rasaad(Commander Shepard) is right there!
I don't mind her voice. It's the accent and some of the quotes which felt very 'modern'. "You rang???" with a telephone...? o_O
I am an amateur, but definitely someone experienced with vocal work, including singing and some voice acting.
There are certain ... parts of her voice that are very clearly recognizable as the voice of Nicola Elbro. A lot of voice actors can sound completely unlike themselves, which to this day I have no idea how the hell they do it (I can't!). Rob Paulsen, for instance, is the voice of Kivan and Anomen ... also Pinky from Pinky and the Brain, and a bunch of other cartoons. I don't hear a bit of similarity there at all. Jen Taylor is the voice of Zoey (Left 4 Dead) and Cortana (Halo series). I hear a lot of similarity between voices, I could tell it was the same person. Jeff Bennett is the voice of Xan and Drizzt. I hear a bit of similarity between voices, I could tell it was the same person.
It doesn't make someone a BAD voice actor to be identifiable ... but I would argue it makes them less amazing, less technically impressive. In this way, Neera's voice acting is indeed slightly amateurish in my eyes. A very good example is in her line, "You rang?" you can hear her throat click after the "ng." This is something that people attempt to do away with in a vocal booth. We hear it in real life and think nothing of it, but in a vocal booth we attempt to get rid of those sort of things, because they can grow annoying over time, so obviously that's very important in a video game where you're hearing that line over and over.
On that note, I like her voice. But yes, I do find it slightly amateurish. To contradict everything I just said, I was thoroughly impressed when she lowered her voice for one of the more romantic dialogs. She sounded fantastic there, I was like holy crap what just happened?
I didn't like that she was American at first (doesn't really fit with the game), but she's started to grow on me. The voice actor is talented, it was just the accent I had a problem with, no idea why people have started hating on her...
To me, Neera's voice sounds beautiful. Besides, it's Faerûn, not Europe. Nothing wrong with Neera talking American. Maybe her High Forest elven accent makes her sound like an American? After all, nobody complains about Minsc's Eastern European accent either.
To me, Neera's voice sounds beautiful. Besides, it's Faerûn, not Europe. Nothing wrong with Neera talking American. Maybe her High Forest elven accent makes her sound like an American? After all, nobody complains about Minsc's Eastern European accent either.
I dare you to try and complain about Minsc in any way, shape or form. You will be lynched.
Her voice is fine. Some of the lines she's given during her loyalty quest, however, made me want to take her by the throat and throttle her. "All about me" indeed! Ungreatful *****.....
Edit: Also, it blows my mind that, at least so far, she's had nothing to say to Rasaad. At all. And vice versa.
I love Minsc, but I love a dare against the status quo so much I'm almost tempted to take up @Quartz 's gauntlet just to thumb my nose. =D
I am fine with Neera's voice, and the voice-acting in general that Beamdog hired. It felt like it might have been a smidge of a rush job, but there was a threshold of effort met. My disbelief is suspended, my game is good. Neera sounds cute and spunky.
@Quartz okay....Minsc trying to kill me when I didn't rescue Dynaheir immediately pissed me off more than a little. He's an ok character, but not a great one.
Neera reminds me of Neeshka (from NWN2), very whiny voiceset with a lot of emphasis on certain words. To be honest though, I think it is the writing that annoys me the most about her. Saying "You rang?" (MALE06 also says this) doesn't really fit the forgotten realms setting in my opinion although I understand that it makes sense in terms of language. Also, her long battle cry "Eat flaming-or possibly frosty- death!" is very annoying when you hear it every second battle. This of course, is just my opinion (I also dislike "Yes, oh omnipresent authority figure") and I thought I would share it.
Some of the lines she's given during her loyalty quest, however, made me want to take her by the throat and throttle her. "All about me" indeed! Ungreatful *****.....
Indeedy, was tempted to give her the Girdle of Masculinity, stab her in the throat, set her on fire and reform party her outta existence while dead. I won't put up with more of that, though luckily she hasn't displayed similar behaviour again... yet.
Then you've never participated in a vocal session.
I worked at an audio book company for six years and have been on the acting and directing ends more than once. The voice actor is given a script with a ton of lines on it and asked to review it for context. Then, they sit in a booth and hammer away reading each line seperately with the director giving notes and asking for retakes as appropriate.
It is very rare to record lines in that old radio drama style format where the actors act out a whole scene together. It is much more common for all the lines to be recorded individually, and then spliced together later. A lot of the time, voice actors who play several scenes together have never even met in real life.
In a movie or a theatrical production, you have to take the scenes as is. In a recording studio, you can read a line over and over again until you get it right. The voice actor provides the performance. The director is there to provide context for the voice actor and make sure that the performance fits properly with the other elements of the story. Every actor gives a bad read now and then. It's the director's responsibility to catch those bad lines and help the actor correct them.
Even further than that, if a director discovers an actor is incapable of giving the proper performance, it's also his responsibility to determine if it's necessary to recast the role. Anything you hear coming from your speakers, the director approved of.
No I've never participated in a vocal session but everything you just said me and my 5 year old niece know from watching extras on her Pixar DVD's.
Let's look at what we know about the voice acting so far with BG:EE.
1) The rest of the voice acting, while not stellar, is far above the level of Neera's.
2) Neera's voice acting isn't good.
So, since we know these two things how does one come to the conclusion that it is the voice directors fault that only 1 out of 3 voice acting jobs suck? Wouldn't it be more logical to assume that Jessica Elbro did a bad job than to say the voice acting director, who did a fair job with the other two voice actors, did a poor job?
None of this was actually the point of this thread though. I didn't create it to lay blame for the shitty job. I merely wanted to express that said job, was in fact, shitty.
@Xriah Your analysis obvious comes from experience, thanks for the point of view. I've always thought that RPGs would benefit from hiring voice actors from the theatre or radio performance world (AFTRA?). There is definitely something about the way the lines are delivered in BG1/2, and perhaps it is a theatrical quality, that is missing in the new NPCs. Do you know if the original BG voices were recorded in that radio drama style (together, in joint sessions)?
Also the production of the new voices is different than the old. I think they compressed / normalized the hell out of them so that the dynamic range is killed, something that gives voice a lot of life.
I've never understood how people can think they know anything about acting from watching movies. Do you think you're an engineer because you drive over bridges? When your criticism merely amounts to, "I don't like it, so it is shitty" your arguments don't carry much weight. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not liking something doesn't make it objectively bad.
American accents aren't exactly uncommon in the Baldur's Gate games, in fact I'm pretty sure there's more characters with American accents than any sort of European accent. At least this was the case in the Baldur's Gate games that I played.
Comments
The more you know! /starRAINBOW
* Or Australian, a New Zealander, English-speaking South African, Canadian etc. too, of course. I wasn't trying to be "exclusive' :-)
Actually, I find Dorn's voicing to be a little over-acted here and there. Otherwise it's fantastic.
Rasaad's voice is well done, although it's sort of a hybrid between Indian and something else middle-eastern. And it might have been better with a little more modulation (i.e., perhaps it's a bit monotone). But anyway, overall it's certainly well done.
They are three evocative and different types of characters. All of them well voiced. I'm very pleased with EE's new NPCs overall.
The "different" accent suits her due to being a character with unusual backstory.
As for people moaning about her battle cry, it's no worse than hearing "FOR THE FALLEEEEEEN" 50,000 times.
I don't know, when she speaks I see in my mind's eyes this girl Panny from Big Bang Theory.
Her delivery is not
And that's the case with most new voice-overs (Baeloth is another example as is the mage she zaps away when you meet her)
Intonation is all wrong and pauses (if any) are all in the wrong places
And that's the difference between her and Neeshka and Quara
Their delivery always fits the scene, Neera's doesn't. It's like the VA was given a script with just the lines and no context
edit: Slavic*
And to answer the original question, I think The_Cheeseman was referring to Xzar
I worked at an audio book company for six years and have been on the acting and directing ends more than once. The voice actor is given a script with a ton of lines on it and asked to review it for context. Then, they sit in a booth and hammer away reading each line seperately with the director giving notes and asking for retakes as appropriate.
It is very rare to record lines in that old radio drama style format where the actors act out a whole scene together. It is much more common for all the lines to be recorded individually, and then spliced together later. A lot of the time, voice actors who play several scenes together have never even met in real life.
In a movie or a theatrical production, you have to take the scenes as is. In a recording studio, you can read a line over and over again until you get it right. The voice actor provides the performance. The director is there to provide context for the voice actor and make sure that the performance fits properly with the other elements of the story. Every actor gives a bad read now and then. It's the director's responsibility to catch those bad lines and help the actor correct them.
Even further than that, if a director discovers an actor is incapable of giving the proper performance, it's also his responsibility to determine if it's necessary to recast the role. Anything you hear coming from your speakers, the director approved of.
I don't mind her voice. It's the accent and some of the quotes which felt very 'modern'. "You rang???" with a telephone...? o_O
There are certain ... parts of her voice that are very clearly recognizable as the voice of Nicola Elbro. A lot of voice actors can sound completely unlike themselves, which to this day I have no idea how the hell they do it (I can't!). Rob Paulsen, for instance, is the voice of Kivan and Anomen ... also Pinky from Pinky and the Brain, and a bunch of other cartoons. I don't hear a bit of similarity there at all. Jen Taylor is the voice of Zoey (Left 4 Dead) and Cortana (Halo series). I hear a lot of similarity between voices, I could tell it was the same person. Jeff Bennett is the voice of Xan and Drizzt. I hear a bit of similarity between voices, I could tell it was the same person.
It doesn't make someone a BAD voice actor to be identifiable ... but I would argue it makes them less amazing, less technically impressive. In this way, Neera's voice acting is indeed slightly amateurish in my eyes. A very good example is in her line, "You rang?" you can hear her throat click after the "ng." This is something that people attempt to do away with in a vocal booth. We hear it in real life and think nothing of it, but in a vocal booth we attempt to get rid of those sort of things, because they can grow annoying over time, so obviously that's very important in a video game where you're hearing that line over and over.
On that note, I like her voice. But yes, I do find it slightly amateurish. To contradict everything I just said, I was thoroughly impressed when she lowered her voice for one of the more romantic dialogs. She sounded fantastic there, I was like holy crap what just happened?
Edit: Also, it blows my mind that, at least so far, she's had nothing to say to Rasaad. At all. And vice versa.
I am fine with Neera's voice, and the voice-acting in general that Beamdog hired. It felt like it might have been a smidge of a rush job, but there was a threshold of effort met. My disbelief is suspended, my game is good. Neera sounds cute and spunky.
Let's look at what we know about the voice acting so far with BG:EE.
1) The rest of the voice acting, while not stellar, is far above the level of Neera's.
2) Neera's voice acting isn't good.
So, since we know these two things how does one come to the conclusion that it is the voice directors fault that only 1 out of 3 voice acting jobs suck? Wouldn't it be more logical to assume that Jessica Elbro did a bad job than to say the voice acting director, who did a fair job with the other two voice actors, did a poor job?
None of this was actually the point of this thread though. I didn't create it to lay blame for the shitty job. I merely wanted to express that said job, was in fact, shitty.
Also the production of the new voices is different than the old. I think they compressed / normalized the hell out of them so that the dynamic range is killed, something that gives voice a lot of life.
And frankly I think it works better than making the voice of Commander Shepard do a goofy accent.