So, what about voices in Empire?

[Anonymous II]

In Medieval II there are too many factions having generic accents of english. The most stupid one is probably the danes having a slavic accent. I laugh almost everytime I ask the admiral to sail somewhere and he replies "Da!" in a really russian manner.

Also, hungarian is far from a slavic language, and they don't speak english that way at all.

Putting portuguese, spanish and italian in the same group is probably OK, but greek should be something else than this.

I think England, Scotland, France and HRE are really good in Medieval II, let's hope more nations gets their linguistic trademark in Empire.

[Furious Mental]

Well, with 50+ factions, I wouldn't count on it.

[Rhyfelwyr]

There'll probably only be one language per cultural group for Spanish/Latin American, Native American, Native African, Middle-Eastern, and Far-Eastern factions.

In Europe there will probably also be French, British, Germanic, Slavic, and maybe Italian and Greek.

[Anonymous II]

There'll probably only be one language per cultural group for Spanish/Latin American, Native American, Native African, Middle-Eastern, and Far-Eastern factions.

This sounds fine with me.

In Europe there will probably also be French, British, Germanic, Slavic, and maybe Italian and Greek.

I think "Scandinavian" should be in too. Both Denmark and Sweden are important players in this period, and they have a very distinct accent that sets them apart from the other Germanic accents of Prussia and Austria.

And if, but I sure hope not, Scandinavian not will be a seperate language group, please merge them with German - not Slavic as in M2TW...

I think this is fair and square, especially if Italian is considered to be singeled out from the Latin group. Italy was, after all, not an empire in the 17th and 18th centuries.

I don't know if Dutch should be in Scandinavian or German language group, but some Flemish or Dutch forumers probably have their views on this.

[LadyAnn]

Dutch is definitely closer to German. So close, the Germans said they speak Deutsch :P (am just kidding, no inference or offense here, no need to berate me for ignorance, I am already plead guilty as charged).

Annie

[Axel JD]

Let's just hope CA comes up with a better German accent than the horribly nasal evil nazi one that they used in MTW2.

[Bijo]

Dutch should be more towards German. As long as the English-speaking voices give a decent sense of the faction's people I think there isn't really a GREAT need for superior accuracy and many separations. If they will release a few discs in the package that are able to store lots of data, then I'd say why not be more precise?

If you ask me they shouldn't even include those general speaking voices but just text instead where necessary. The only voices I would want to hear in this game are the typical ones who yell, scream, shout, and curse, and so on, during battles.

STW didn't have that much of speaking voices, did it? Still they were able to install such a fine atmosphere. They must follow this and do so again with ETW.

[Discoman]

I remember playing the Britainnia campaign in MTW2 and cringing everytime the Irish units would speak with a clear Scottish accent.

[Anonymous II]

Let's just hope CA comes up with a better German accent than the horribly nasal evil nazi one that they used in MTW2.

For God's sake, no! Make it even more evil! I love it!

[LadyAnn]

I don't care much about accents in TW games. I rather have them spending resources on improving the mechanics of the game. All voice should be in regular English for English version of the game, and whatever market they sell it to (French in France, etc.) and not the accents of different factions.

1. Some accent is unintelligible sometimes.
2. If you think you know what kind of accent people spoke 200-300 years ago...

Annie

[Zim]

Dutch is definitely closer to German. So close, the Germans said they speak Deutsch :P (am just kidding, no inference or offense here, no need to berate me for ignorance, I am already plead guilty as charged).

Annie

In Pennsylvania where I grew up, early English speaking colonists thought the German colonist were Dutch because of that odd linguistic occurence.

[Anonymous II]

I don't care much about accents in TW games. I rather have them spending resources on improving the mechanics of the game. All voice should be in regular English for English version of the game, and whatever market they sell it to (French in France, etc.) and not the accents of different factions.

We disagree here, nothing more to be said about that matter.

1. Some accent is unintelligible sometimes.
2. If you think you know what kind of accent people spoke 200-300 years ago...

I hear your arguments, but if we take M2TW as an example, they already have a distribution of different accents. If that's the framework of Empire's voices, I still think danish should be German rather than Russian.

[Intrepid Sidekick]

Well all I can say is that there are plans, they are a-foot, and some will be very suprised by what we are planning. Soooo many things I can't talk about. *bites lip*.
Promise. More will be revealed later.

[Rodion Romanovich]

Well all I can say is that there are plans, they are a-foot, and some will be very suprised by what we are planning. Soooo many things I can't talk about. *bites lip*.
Promise. More will be revealed later.

Before or after release?

[LadyAnn]

I hear your arguments, but if we take M2TW as an example, they already have a distribution of different accents. If that's the framework of Empire's voices, I still think danish should be German rather than Russian.

M2TW is crap :P it should never be the standard :D

Annie

[Orda Khan]

Why would accents matter at all? If I buy the English version of the game, all factions speak English.
Far better to have a single voice and a balanced game

......Orda

[Anonymous II]

Why would accents matter at all? If I buy the English version of the game, all factions speak English.
Far better to have a single voice and a balanced game

......Orda

Because all aspects/features of a game matters. Some things have higher value/priority than others, but all counts. Excuse me for being rude, but I think "Far better to have a single voice and a balanced game" is a really stupid argument that seems to only have one purpose: to make a fool of those who thinks voices and accents is of any importance of all.

I find it rather insulting. You make it sound as if one have to choose between good voices or a balanced game - it's not possible to have both. How many factors do you put into a game? Only two? The "game balance-thing" and sounds? And does the presentation of voices and accents draw as much resources from the devolpment team as all the different considerations and work with the AI, game engine, graphics, and so on, combined?

Everytime one ask about what I consider rather minor details, there is always somebody there to dumbify your inquiry.

I've asked about box art, limited editions, and so on, in several other gaming forums before, and I would always get one reply from somebody who appears to be one big questionmark; why on earth would I want that? It would be much cheaper to just download the game - it's the same game, you know!



But in order to reply "properly" to your thoughts: If I absolutely had to choose, I would rather have numerous accents of english - one for each faction - than a balanced game. If there is games that really, really bores me, it sure is games where everything is generic.

[Furious Mental]

An unbalanced game isn't fun for anyone to play so how can that possibly have lower priority than accents? If there were no sound bites at all it would make practically no difference so if the soundbites there are are so grating just mute them.

[Anonymous II]

An unbalanced game isn't fun for anyone to play so how can that possibly have lower priority than accents? If there were no sound bites at all it would make practically no difference so if the soundbites there are are so grating just mute them.

Who are you to decide that sound is of no importance to me? I would never mute a game. It's better to not play at all than to play without sound. For me sound is an important aspect of a game, and it is crucial for my general impression of the game, and how playable I find the game.

My point in my previous post, is that I'm sick of people trying to decide on behalf of others, what their priorities and preferences are.

By the way, where have I said that balance is of lower priority than accents? I just asked a question about why it's allowed to ask for other improvements, but not accents, because that would have to come at a cost - that of poor game balance. Why is this? I find it very, very strange... Accents shouldn't be something that draws great resources at all...

[A Norseman]

I most certainly agree with the above poster, language is hugely important, and will still be so in Empire Total War.
As I see it, different accents are a way of separating different cultures and underline the huge culture clashes seen in both Medieval and Empire: Total War.

However, unlike medieval, the sounds will have to be done properly; having my Infamous Viking ship answer me with “DAH” really destroyed some of the feel I got from playing Norway in Kingdoms.

My opinion is that all the ingame sounds should be in language of the faction playing. So that the charging Swedish infantry yells “kutt dem ned!” rather than “Cut ’em down!” The advisors should all be English however..

Of course, all factions cannot have their own language, it would have to be separated into language groups, with some variations within each of the factions in each group.
To illustrate, here is a suggestion on language distribution:

Languages. Factions

English: ...........................England*, Scotland rebels, 13 colonies.
French: ...........................France.
German: ..........................German states, Prussia*, Netherlands.
Slavic*2: .........................Russia*, Poland-Lithuania.
Latin: ..............................Spain*, Italia city states.
Scandinavian: ...................Sweden*, Denmark-Norway
Turkish: ...........................Ottoman Empire
Indian*3: .........................India factions
Native American*3: ............Indians, Mesoamericans.
African*3: ........................African Languages.

* The decisive accent
*2 Slavic languages may be split into west and east Slavic.
*3 Native languages, may be a lot more.

[Fisherking]

Not a bad plan Norseman. Just make the factions unique.

Someone early on asked what people sounded like 300 years ago. Well the English sounded a lot more like the Dubliners than they do today. British English made a much wider change than Irish or American English and after the period covered in the game. LOL

Maybe they should only hire Yorkshire men to do the English Nobility and get someone from Hanover for the Kings. Dubliners can do all of the Admirals and only West Virginians or People from the Ozarks to do the Americans.

Joking aside there should be more Irish speech in the game…as it is closer to what was spoken then.

I was shocked that the Danes didn’t have the right accent in M2 and all of the Spanish, Portuguese, and Italians sounded like they came from San Juan Porte Rico. I won’t go into the Turks… It may have been harder to find people with the correct accents in Australia. I hope the UK boys & girls can do a better job of it.

Just keep the wit and humor of the inspiring speeches and show us what whimsy you can come up with.

[Matt_Lane]

I can understand the frustration with the accents in M2TW but I would be disappointed if the pre fight speech were in that armies language. There were some real gems there and it would be a same not to be able to listen to similar next time around. I would prefer that CA take the harder option and have the speeches in English with accurate accents. However I don't know how far they should take this. The British army for example was led by English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh generals and staff. Should each accent be accommodated for or are we likely to just have crisp Eatonian accents?

[Orda Khan]

OK I can see these voices mean a heck of a lot to some people so why don't we go a step further and have each faction speak its actual language? Surely that makes more sense than a non English faction speaking English with an accent?

BTW AnonymousII, I didn't insult you at all, pity you took it that way

......Orda

[Anonymous II]

BTW AnonymousII, I didn't insult you at all, pity you took it that way

......Orda

Now, that isn't for you to decide, is it?

But hey, no hard feelings here! I've said what i feel on this matter, and life goes on as usual.

Cheers, mate!

[Furious Mental]

"Who are you to decide that sound is of no importance to me?"

Didn't you state that the post to which you were responding was "really stupid"? Don't bite my head off because I put it you rightly that the vast majority of people put balanced gameplay ahead of nice soundbites. A PC game is a game not a soundtrack. If the gameplay is bad, which by definition it is if it is unbalanced, it is a worthless game, just as a CD of bad music will always be worthless regardless of how good the cover art is.

[Frederick the Great]

I don't care much about accents in TW games. I rather have them spending resources on improving the mechanics of the game. All voice should be in regular English for English version of the game, and whatever market they sell it to (French in France, etc.) and not the accents of different factions.

1. Some accent is unintelligible sometimes.
2. If you think you know what kind of accent people spoke 200-300 years ago...

Annie

Totally agree with Lady Ann....obviously the foreign accents have to be in pigeon english anyway in the english game so we can understand what's being said and I for one don't want to learn a number of foreign languages just to play a game.
If I remember rightly "Medal of Honour" had Donald Sutherland reading war poetry in one of their games and it was quite moving.One of my favourites would be Anthony Hopkins who has a great voice for good and evil ah annie just don't be too frightend by those screaming lambs. lol

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

To be fair, I thought some of the voices (English, Scottish especially) were better than in Rome. At least they don't sound like the actor just hit puberty. I'd actually say there's been an improvement, however slight.

[A Norseman]

The more I think about it, the more I feel that there should be proper European languages in Empire: Total war, not amateurish accents.

I feel like the British and especially the Americans who think that the whole game should be in English are ultimately selfish and narrow minded, as English are their mother tongue and so they have little understanding of other peoples wanting to hear their native and historical language. Would you be happy, with a game portraying the American Revolution where the American rebels all spoke German? Of course not! Language is an important part of their national identity.

Of course, I am not saying that the whole game should be in French if you play as France. In-game menus, commands, advisors, and tutorials should all be in English, possibly even the general’s speeches. But please, CA, make the spontaneous sounds on the battlefield, the voices of the soldiers, the officers commands and the eventual marching sounds in the native language of the playing nation. Make it feel like you are commanding real Swedish, Germans and Russians.

Now, it may sound a bit strange to have those kinds of alien sounds in a English game, however, I’ve seen it work wonderfully in other strategy games, for example company of heroes, where the Nazis spoke German, (in my opinion one of the best ww2 games ever made) and Medieval: Total War, where even Arab voices were included.

I cannot see how including different languages into the game can do little other than enhance the gameplay experience, And for us Europeans, make it a much better experience to play our Native Countries!!

A Norseman

[LadyAnn]

CA games never had proper American accent :D

Annie

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

CA games never had proper American accent :D

Annie

CA games have never had American factions until now, except for natives.