I'm out of ways to say wrong. You beat me. Congrats. Go pat yourself on the back, make yourself a nice WRONG sandwich and stuff it down your ignorant mouth!
Her voice set is good, but it just sounds bad compared to the other "old" npcs. Because let's be serious here, BG sports some of the best voice-acting in any game. You can really tell how much went into that bit. Because of my years of playing the BG series, I almost can't get myself to play, otherwise great, games like Skyrim, purely because of the voice-acting. If Neera was a character in Skyrim, you would all be hailing her voice acting skills.
Her voice set is good, but it just sounds bad compared to the other "old" npcs. Because let's be serious here, BG sports some of the best voice-acting in any game. You can really tell how much went into that bit. Because of my years of playing the BG series, I almost can't get myself to play, otherwise great, games like Skyrim, purely because of the voice-acting. If Neera was a character in Skyrim, you would all be hailing her voice acting skills.
Ok. I have to defend the actors and actresses in Skyrim because I know some of them and I know the they do good work.
Skyrim's acting is problamatic for a lot of reasons. They go for quality of actor over quantity, which would be good in theory, but they have way way WAY too many parts per actor. You'll hear the same actor having a conversation with themselves all the time (if you think it's noticeable now, imagine knowing some of them). And for some stupid reason, they seem to want all the actors to only use one character voice. Some of those actors are capable of sounding like several different people. Why don't they utilize that more?
Also, Skyrim's scene scripting is god awful and immersion breaking. The timing on the events in the opening is just awkward and stilted. My mouth was hanging open on how bad the opening was when the extra guy to be excecuted panics and starts running. He runs, and one of the archers draws and shoots him with an arrow. She makes a smartass comment, something along the lines of "anyone else want to try running" at the exact second the arrow peirces the dude, before the ragdoll even has a chance to drop! It's embarassingly terrible.
Baldur's Gate has a unique acting style. The main story itself is written in a very serious style, yet a lot of the voice acting seems to be done largely for laughs. It has a lot of jokes and breaking of the fourth wall. The acting team definetely has some noteworthies in them. Jennifer Hale, Jim Cummings, Michael Bell (probably one of my favorite voice actors of all time), Rob Paulsen. Very high calibur stuff.
First off, can you suggest a way to prove it without having me give out personal information on a public forumn? If you can suggest something safe, I'll prove it.
Second, I have, literally, hundreds of recording session hours logged. It was my full time job for six years. I think that might give me just a WEE bit of insight as to how vocal sessions work. Does a detective know for sure how a crime was committed? No. But based on his knowledge of crimes and the evidence left over, he can make a very very good estimate.
Nope, I can't. That doesn't mean I'm going to just believe you, sorry.
The rest is baseless conjecture. You yourself have stated that you don't have any way of knowing what went on. This argument is dead, lets move on.
I like how you give me crap about the difference between omniscient and omnipotent and fail to realize that someone that isn't great might not necessairly be bad. I'm talking great like Harrison Ford great.
I do love that you're "go to" for a great actor is Harrison Ford.
Ok, so she's "good" then but can't make bad lines sound good, something many actors are capable of. Bruce Campbell immediately springs to mind (he is the epitome of a B movie actor by the way).
You also said that her job wasn't "passable" as I quoted numerous times. I see this was avoided in your response to draw attention away from what you said then and what you're saying now.
There's a difference between a likely senario and just guessing what might have happened. I've given you several logical reasons why I'm most likely right. You've dismissed them because I can't prove it.
I also made an educated quess based off what I had heard from the lead developer of the game and you claimed it was pointless conjecture. You dismissed me because I couldn't prove it. Don't lay down rules for this little argument and expect only me to adhere to them.
Actually, I'd say Nicolas Cage is taking whatever role he can get his hands on because of his money issues. Producers go nuts because of the star name, and then the director doesn't know how to get a good performance out of em.
Actors give bad performances. Directors fail when a bad performance goes live.
I gave you reasons of why it's not always a directors fault when a bad performance goes live. Money constraints, contract obligations etc. You've chosen to ignore them and that's fine but don't desperately try and prove me wrong while ignoring sensible arguments to the contrary.
Haha...again, good and great are two different concepts.
And "not passable" and "not passable" are the same thing. You blatantly said she failed at her job and now you want to take it back because of semantics? Who's being childish now?
A stellar actor could have gone above and beyond the call of duty and really sold the performace. She didn't. However, her performance isn't so bad as to say she couldn't have done it.
Do you have any proof that she is a good enough actor to have done it? Otherwise, again, baseless conjecture.
And condenser mic tech hasn't really changed much in 15 - 20 years, right? everything is miniaturized but the hardware is essential the same.
Not too much, but different brands with different materials just produce different qualities of sound. Some are a little more base heavy. Some can be more tinny.
We actually had an issue with studio scheduling because of this. We had to ensure any performance that started in a certain booth ended there as well because if we started in studio I and ended in studio J then you'd hear an audible change of quality. Studio J was pretty old and had a different mic than I.
I'm not an American but I'm a sucker for american accents. There are many in BG1. Kivan's voice is one of the best. If you don't think American accents sound medieval: note - back in ye olde days of merry Englande the accent sounded much more american than british. We don't have recordings - of course - but you can trace the DNA of an accent by studying words that were spelled phonetically and traces of different accents that migrated with people. Where did the american accent come from - if not from the pilgrim fathers and early Europeans immigrants? Shakespeare probably sounded more like Barack Obama than Ralph Fiennes.
Dude, you can't form a logical argument. what do you want? you think she sounds shitty, audio guys says its more complicated, you say nope. the end.
ta-da, we're all more dumb for having read your posts.
What exactly are you trying to accomplish here, agris?
"you THINK she sounds shitty, audio guys says its more complicated, you say nope. the end."
So, he was trying to tell me my opinion was wrong? That's not at all what was happening in the argument, but if you think that Xriah's opinion was somehow 'more correct' than mine you are indeed a moron.
Incidentally, anyone who doesn't think voice direction makes a difference needs to look at GW2 or SWTOR vs The Secret World. Almost all video games use the same "core" of a few dozen voice actors, and yet most of them give radically different performances depending on context. The voice work in GW2 is generally atrocious, for example, even from otherwise solid actors like Kari Wahlgren (who was very good in SWTOR and plenty of other places). There's a reason why Blizzard and Bioware started hiring Andrea Romano to do their voice direction.
Anyway, I have no idea if Neera's VA is good in other places or not, but it's easily the worst of the new voices in this one. Honesty the quality is barely better than random fan mods where they had a roommate record some lines. I couldn't even keep her in my party.
Dorn and Rasaad are considerably better. Even the sound recording quality sounds better.
So, he was trying to tell me my opinion was wrong? That's not at all what was happening in the argument, but if you think that Xriah's opinion was somehow 'more correct' than mine you are indeed a moron.
I dunno if that's what he was implying but I will say I definetely don't begrudge you your opinion of the performance. I don't think you're right about why the performance was bad, but hey.
Actually, I was playing this game again yesterday. Went through the opening scene with Neera again, listening more critically because of this arguement. I realized something else that might make you think twice on your stance.
If you watch that scene again, pay close attention not only to Neera, but the mage she plays across from. Again, his acting is werid, but I could roll with it. At least, until the god awful "What? Not again!" line. It's a very short line and it's absolutely dreadful. Even a bad actor could have done better with a second take. There's absolutely no reason that line should have gone live. That falls squarely on the director's shoulders. He should have asked for a better take.
Comments
If Neera was a character in Skyrim, you would all be hailing her voice acting skills.
Skyrim's acting is problamatic for a lot of reasons. They go for quality of actor over quantity, which would be good in theory, but they have way way WAY too many parts per actor. You'll hear the same actor having a conversation with themselves all the time (if you think it's noticeable now, imagine knowing some of them). And for some stupid reason, they seem to want all the actors to only use one character voice. Some of those actors are capable of sounding like several different people. Why don't they utilize that more?
Also, Skyrim's scene scripting is god awful and immersion breaking. The timing on the events in the opening is just awkward and stilted. My mouth was hanging open on how bad the opening was when the extra guy to be excecuted panics and starts running. He runs, and one of the archers draws and shoots him with an arrow. She makes a smartass comment, something along the lines of "anyone else want to try running" at the exact second the arrow peirces the dude, before the ragdoll even has a chance to drop! It's embarassingly terrible.
Baldur's Gate has a unique acting style. The main story itself is written in a very serious style, yet a lot of the voice acting seems to be done largely for laughs. It has a lot of jokes and breaking of the fourth wall. The acting team definetely has some noteworthies in them. Jennifer Hale, Jim Cummings, Michael Bell (probably one of my favorite voice actors of all time), Rob Paulsen. Very high calibur stuff.
The rest is baseless conjecture. You yourself have stated that you don't have any way of knowing what went on. This argument is dead, lets move on. No, it isn't. Does one have to see them blow the glass for a stained glass window to appraise it? No. I do love that you're "go to" for a great actor is Harrison Ford.
Ok, so she's "good" then but can't make bad lines sound good, something many actors are capable of. Bruce Campbell immediately springs to mind (he is the epitome of a B movie actor by the way).
You also said that her job wasn't "passable" as I quoted numerous times. I see this was avoided in your response to draw attention away from what you said then and what you're saying now. I also made an educated quess based off what I had heard from the lead developer of the game and you claimed it was pointless conjecture. You dismissed me because I couldn't prove it. Don't lay down rules for this little argument and expect only me to adhere to them. I gave you reasons of why it's not always a directors fault when a bad performance goes live. Money constraints, contract obligations etc. You've chosen to ignore them and that's fine but don't desperately try and prove me wrong while ignoring sensible arguments to the contrary. And "not passable" and "not passable" are the same thing. You blatantly said she failed at her job and now you want to take it back because of semantics? Who's being childish now? Do you have any proof that she is a good enough actor to have done it? Otherwise, again, baseless conjecture. Wow, cracked me up, honestly.
Are you and agris gonna share a round of high fives now while exclaiming how extreme that was? I hope so. I didn't say that, you misquoted me.
Happy end of the world day everyone.
If you don't think American accents sound medieval: note - back in ye olde days of merry Englande the accent sounded much more american than british.
We don't have recordings - of course - but you can trace the DNA of an accent by studying words that were spelled phonetically and traces of different accents that migrated with people. Where did the american accent come from - if not from the pilgrim fathers and early Europeans immigrants?
Shakespeare probably sounded more like Barack Obama than Ralph Fiennes.
Though Gandalf can only sound like Ian McKellan.
Here's an article on the BBC website about something similar.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17554816
ta-da, we're all more dumb for having read your posts.
"you THINK she sounds shitty, audio guys says its more complicated, you say nope. the end."
So, he was trying to tell me my opinion was wrong? That's not at all what was happening in the argument, but if you think that Xriah's opinion was somehow 'more correct' than mine you are indeed a moron.
Anyway, I have no idea if Neera's VA is good in other places or not, but it's easily the worst of the new voices in this one. Honesty the quality is barely better than random fan mods where they had a roommate record some lines. I couldn't even keep her in my party.
Dorn and Rasaad are considerably better. Even the sound recording quality sounds better.
Actually, I was playing this game again yesterday. Went through the opening scene with Neera again, listening more critically because of this arguement. I realized something else that might make you think twice on your stance.
If you watch that scene again, pay close attention not only to Neera, but the mage she plays across from. Again, his acting is werid, but I could roll with it. At least, until the god awful "What? Not again!" line. It's a very short line and it's absolutely dreadful. Even a bad actor could have done better with a second take. There's absolutely no reason that line should have gone live. That falls squarely on the director's shoulders. He should have asked for a better take.
That being said, my favorite NPC voice is still Aerie from BG2.