Voices

[Tamur]

The demo voices have received a lot of press in threads here but I'm wondering if anyone has noticed... all the voices we've heard so far have been American English.

Not saying I have anything against American English (I'm married to an American so I hear a lot of it), but I do wonder why a UK/Australia developer would choose to have voiceovers done by American actors when the previous products have all been in British English?

[ShellShock]

I suspect the voices in the demo were just placeholders, and not what will be in the final game. Let's hope so anyway, because they were so cheesy.

[Tamur]

The family intros that IGN posted today also have American voiceovers -- that was what triggered the question.

[Steppe Merc]

There should be no stinking English in the first place! Latin, Gallic, Phoencian etc. should be in there.
I hope that some of the guys in EU can voice record and speak those languages...

[ShellShock]

The family intros that IGN posted today also have American voiceovers -- that was what triggered the question.

That sounds really bad...perhaps CA farmed out the voices to Activision, to appeal to the American market.

What we need is Laurence Olivier as Crassus in Spartacus: "Rome is an eternal thought in the mind of God".

What we're going to get is John Wayne in The Greatest Story Ever Told: "Trooly, this man was the son of Gaaad".

Please note: this post is not aimed against American accents, but poor acting. And for any John Wayne fans - he was great on the back of a horse with a six shooter in each hand, but a fish out of water in a biblical epic.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I would really like the actual languages (with subtitles, or options for them). However, I doubt we will get that. I'm an American, but I think I would prefer British English if terrible voice-overs must be had!

Sounds more Romanesque, even if it is not actually Roman.

And no offense, but I get a kick out of strong English accents!

[biguth dickuth]

I'd prefer to have Greek, Latin, Gallic, German, Phoenician, Scythian e.t.c. but the problem with that is that if we wanted to stick to accuracy we'd have to recreate the versions of these languages that were spoken during that time and this is a very difficult, if not impossible thing to do. There is much we don't know about the form and the way those languages were spoken during the "hellenistic" era and that is basically more so with the languages who either had no alphabet of their own or the people who spoke them left very few (or none at all) written documents behind them.

Therefore, i wouldn't be so displeased by the use of english, if only there wasn't all this silly-accent-mimicking and bad acting. A decent, flat voiceover in english wouldn't be exciting but, at least, it would be far better than the one in the demo...

Especially the carthaginian voiceover freeks me out...: "Yur soldieers have crrrashhed thee eneemy..."

[Thoros of Myr]

I really don't care who does the voices as long as they sound good, and right now they don't. The mediocre writing doesent help either.

[SirGrotius]

I'd prefer to have Greek, Latin, Gallic, German, Phoenician, Scythian e.t.c. but the problem with that is that if we wanted to stick to accuracy we'd have to recreate the versions of these languages that were spoken during that time and this is a very difficult, if not impossible thing to do. There is much we don't know about the form and the way those languages were spoken during the "hellenistic" era and that is basically more so with the languages who either had no alphabet of their own or the people who spoke them left very few (or none at all) written documents behind them.

Therefore, i wouldn't be so displeased by the use of english, if only there wasn't all this silly-accent-mimicking and bad acting. A decent, flat voiceover in english wouldn't be exciting but, at least, it would be far better than the one in the demo...

Especially the carthaginian voiceover freeks me out...: "Yur soldieers have crrrashhed thee eneemy..."

While I sympathize w/ your cringing, I don't think even the more hardcore Total War audience would generally object to the voiceovers being done in our 21st-century understanding of what the accents, intonations, etc. of those ancient languages sounded like.

I think the real issue here is that CA has apparently caved in to the demands of a publisher who wanted to sell, sell, sell, and thought that having ancient languages in the game might make it less accessible to the general public. Allow me to suggest that war gaming transcends all bounds, as does religion (think The Passion of the Christ), and having authentic (or close to it) voiceovers lends realism and depth which even the laymen would appreciate. Don't misunderestimate the consumer.

[Adrian II]

Especially the carthaginian voiceover freeks me out...: "Yur soldieers have crrrashhed thee eneemy..."

LOL, but I'd still prefer it to your accent, Dickuth. Ethpethially if I have to thuffer it theveral timeth per turn. However, I bet your Carthaginian can't hold a candle to the quasi-Arab voiceover in MTW, particularly its bizarre emphasis on certain words. "Yourrr soldierrrs now hold captive the enemy generrral." What, you mean anybody else did before me? OK, I know I'm just being a thmartath.