Neera's Voice
GoodSteve
Member Posts: 607
Anyone else find that the voice acting for Neera is... well... bad? Rasaad (who I hate mechanicially but like otherwise) has great voice acting, Dorn is alright but still much better than Neera. Who was the voice actor for Neera? It sounds like someone at Overhaul got nagged enough by their girlfriend to let them voice one of the NPC's and that girlfriend was definitely an amateur.
7
Comments
She has absolutely fantastic voice (voice actress is Nicola Elbro btw.)
Neera is so far my favorite character in the game.
She simply doesn't sound good. Her delivery seems forced and unenthused... just sloppy. Compared to the other amazing voice sets for the rest of the NPC's she has by FAR the worst one... like it's not even close.
*Magic Missile becomes Fireball* "Fire. Definitely fire."
I think what people are noticing is that Neera sounds off. And she does. I think it largely has to do with the writing and the directing. She's written in that newer age Bioware style where characters will spew their inner thoughts out at you given the slightest provocation and never seem to want to stop talking. She's oversaturated with character quirks and given an energy that just doesn't fit well with the style that the original Baldur's Gate was written in.
This is highlighted by the voice acting. I don't know if it was the actress, the director, or both, but the actress plays Neera with a much more modern vibe. The older characters like Jaheira, Xzar, Imoen, have a much more theatrical style to them, a style that is abandoned with Neera.
As written and performed, Neera just doesn't FIT well into Baldur's Gate. She also gets way more dialogue and screentime than any of the original characters did, which only makes the fit worse. The actress performance is a little shaky at times, but I wouldn't call it outright bad. It only feels bad because of the environment the performance is in.
On the whole I'm not a huge fan of any of the voice acting in NWN2 but as shakey as it was I still find it much preferable to the voice acting of Neera.
I'm also not convinced on the whole "not the actors fault the director wanted it that way" line of thought.
"Ok... ok, good take Jessica. I have a suggestion though, could you do that again but this time... a little shittier on the delivery, if you please."
Personally, I think a scattered, distractible young wild mage works well with a hip, slightly modern voice set. They could have worked harder to make her feel medieval, but I don't take issue with it.
End of the day it's all a matter of taste.
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.