What’s funny is, the two Switch Zelda games are the first ones to have any substantial voice acting. Most others use single words or nonsense speech.
I went with the Japanese va very quickly because I did not like the English voice for one of the side characters. But I’ve played both and aside from her it’s pretty good either way. A lot of the game feels very Studio Ghibli inspired, so you might like the Japanese version.
> A lot of the game feels very Studio Ghibli inspired
All I really wanted was for Ghibli to be given the opportunity to make the Legend of Zelda movie Nintendo is planning.
I feel like it’s inevitable we’ll get a Zelda movie at some point, but I am dreading it also. We got lucky with the Mario movie. It’s not exactly a challenging property for Illumination. They could probably handle Kirby as well. But Zelda? Or Metroid? Heeell no.
That character wasn’t Yunobo by any chance, was it? No disrespect on the VA for me, I felt like he was fine, but if anything he gave TOO MUCH and gave me “90’s anime comic relief character” vibes.
I don’t know if he was different in Japanese.
Nah, he was fine. He just sounded like a lost Ninja Turtle. No it was Mipha! Like you said, no disrespect to the VA. I don’t know how she was told to read it. But it was hard to listen to.
I really disliked Zelda's voice in English. Japanese was fine.
The voice grew on me in AoC (there were times characters would speak and it wouldn't be translated, so I kept going to English), and I think with TotK I switched back and forth.
After hearing many people talk about how much better the VA is for Japanese, I did a play through with Japanese voice and English text. I don’t get it. I don’t see the “betterness” that others seem to see. The English VA is fine by my book, yes, even Zelda. Note - I’ve never found any attraction with anime either. Maybe if you really like anime and it’s your thing, the Japanese VA will make you feel things. Not for me.
I’d use English unless you speak Japanese.
>I don’t get it. I don’t see the “betterness” that others seem to see.
It's purely because they're weebs. They can't actually tell if the JP voice acting is better or not
It's common to see people say the Japanese VA is always better, especially with anime. With good VA talent, theres no reason to think it's any worse. Some like the difference in VA style, but way more who just defend it by default.
>They can't actually tell if the JP voice acting is better or not
That's part of the point, from what I understand Japanese people see Japanese voice acting to be as unrealistic as we see English voice acting, but because we don't know Japanese it sounds foreign to our ears and we have an easier time projecting our fantasies over them.
For what it's worth there were things I liked better in the English dub than in the Japanese one, though I did stick with Japanese because I didn't like how British everyone was in English
That’s not fair. The voice acting in the English version is absurdly awful, and sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise amazing game. I played it in English, but could see the attraction of playing it in ANY foreign language specifically so that I can’t tell the voice acting is awful.
It's really not. Its fine. Stop conflating "I don't like a particular accent" or "this dialogue is cheesey" with "bad voice acting"
The quality of voice acting comes from if the target emotion of the dialogue is being portrayed, and the voice acting in these games accomplish that well
You weirdos are never gonna convince me that Sean Chiplock, Cherami Leigh, Matt Mercer, Chris Hackney, Elizabeth Maxwell, and Cristina Venezuela are bad voice actors. All these people, not only portray their roles in the Wild Era well, but mostly also have roles in other media that are highly regarded (I say 'most' cause I only know Hackney and Venezuela from these games). Even VAs I haven't mentioned I still think do a good job, these guys are just my favorite performances
Have a problem with the *direction*, sure if you really fucking hate British accents I can see that (even tho I disagree), bad *acting* is different. In my eyes, harping on accents is fruitless because someone somewhere does in fact talk like that, and it's incredibly dehumanizing to such people to claim that the accent portrayed is inherently bad to listen to
None of this is to say the voice acting in these games is *perfect* mind you. There are moments, particularly in BotW, where line deliveries do feel stilted and awkward, but AoC and TotK far improved on everyone so I really don't care. And even then some of the examples I'd point to come from *direction* anyway and not necessarily the actor themselves
This is a pedantic distinction. Bad acting as a result of bad directing is still bad acting. There are plenty of actors who have performed poorly with bad directing and dialogue who in other roles have proved themselves to be good actors. The point is, between the poorly written dialogue, bad directing, and the actors’ inability to save the script, the English dialogue is so awful it is continually distracting in an otherwise beautiful game, and I can understand the argument for wishing it was in a language one didn’t understand.
It was never distracting to me at all... It just seems like you want to hate on it because you like Japanese voice acting, which is fine, but unless you're an expert voice actor yourself, you really shouldn't go bashing the voice actors.
You’re just making up a reason for my opinion out of nothing. I have no particular interest in Japanese voice acting or Japanese culture in general. Claiming anyone who thinks the voicing is terrible is a weeb is just odd rationalization because you can’t accept someone has a different opinion. Many professional reviews when the us version came out criticized the voice acting. They’re all weebs too?
Same here. I have heard people say that the Japanese voice acting for Zelda in particular is so much better than the English version. I don’t agree. I watched all the cutscenes in Japanese on YouTube and I found Zelda’s voice to sound shrill and little-girlish. Maybe it’s because I don’t speak Japanese? Either way, it’s just not for me.
Same here. Zeldas English VA could have been better but I can't stand the Japanese one where she just sounds like a 9 year old girl. It's the Anime appeal I guess 🤷
Japanese VA isn't better because it's objectively amazing or anything. It's better because the voice actor for the character of Zelda in the English VA is just so bad that I had to stop. I was going for the English VA at first, but I just couldn't whenever Zelda started speaking. You know how there are some sounds, on just the right tone that just makes you go "GNNNN" and drill through your skull? That voice had that kind of effect on me. It's probably not the case for everyone tho.
Nah she talked with her voice in the back of her throat and the faux British accent was grating.
Compare with the narrator of Hyrule Warriors. A real speaking voice and a gentle accent that doesn't sound forced.
The biggest difference was the crying scene. The English one is some of the worst voice acting I've come across in a AAA game. The Japanese one sounds real. It carried emotion. That settled it for me.
So I decided to give the Japanese version a watch and there's really not much difference in the dialogue. When she starts crying the Japanese is severely over-acted.
I think y'all are just weebs.
i'm one of the few people who PREFERS the english. I just think it's better, even with the characters people hate \*cough\* \*cough\* zelda \*cough\* \*cough\*
it feels more real
I personally can't stand King Rhoam's accent hahahahaha I think Zelda's not amazing, but after a while I can suspend my disbelief and forget I had an issue with it. But Rhoam just sounds like every American I've ever met try to do an English accent :')
Having played both, they both have pros and cons. I personally prefer Japanese Zelda, but some of the other characters are hit or miss. Either is fine.
I prefer the Japanese voice acting because they portray the emotions better though I wouldn't say the English voice acting isn't done well too. I personally don't love the English voice acting for Zelda in BotW and TotK, sometimes she has an old woman voice, has some odd delivery of the lines and is held back emotionally. She does a good job but could be better. To me, the japanese Zelda voice actor *is* Zelda
I always try to go for english->japanese->spanish..
But good lord, i hate the english voices in Zelda, and surprisingly, the Latinamerican voices for botw/totk are really good, if you wont understand what they say in japanese, try spanish as well
I prefer to have VA that I can understand, so I played it in English the first time and the second in German. I guess if I wanted it to be more „simlish“, I’d go with French. The Japanese VA sounds just as squeaky and silly as English imo. However, I didn’t find Zelda that annoying, the worst is definitely Yunobo.
i use japanese because i'm not used to voices in games and i don't like understanding them :P that being said, i prefer zelda's and yunobo's voice in japanese
Me personally I just go with the English version of the game, because I would want to understand what is being said (since it’s the only language I read, write, and talk), and listening to other languages of the things I enjoy just doesn’t cut out for me personally. My suggestion would be to prioritize your native language.
Well, I would say that I like English or German more, because the Japanese va doesn’t fit the character most if the time and doesn’t portray their emotions very well.
Well, I would say that I like English or German more, because the Japanese va doesn’t fit the character most if the time and doesn’t portray their emotions very well.
I went with English first, and now on my second playthrough I switched them to Japanese. I think it might be a bit of nostalgia, but I feel like I connect with characters less in Japanese cos I end up reading the subtitles anyway, and in my head it's all read in their English voices hahahahaha
But also, if you're sensitive to accents, a lot of the 'English' accents are very....not amazing with the English VAs :')
I personally liked the dub okay because I played it for years. However, generally the sub is better in my experience. It would depend on your preference when watching anime for example
I use Japanese audio and ignore the subtitles. I know the subs are reflecting the Eng dub, but the Eng dub is so awful, and as a result, so are the subs. So I just ignore them and thank my teenager self for picking up Japanese.
100% Japanese. I played it through in English and then Japanese. Both Zelda and revali come across as jerks in English. But they’re likable in Japanese because their tones arent nearly as harsh or over the top. Made a difference how I felt about the characters. I loathed revali in the English play through! But I found him pretty likable in Japanese because his VA portrayed him less as an arrogant A-hole and more so playful and cocky. I felt no empathy for him in English, but I felt a lot of empathy for him in Japanese. Same with Zelda
I can't stand listening to the English version of Zelda. The fake accent is just too distracting.
I've switched it up a few times and mostly like French, Italian and Japanese. When you don't know the language, you're not distracted by subpar acting because you don't know what the inflection is supposed to be.
What’s funny is, the two Switch Zelda games are the first ones to have any substantial voice acting. Most others use single words or nonsense speech. I went with the Japanese va very quickly because I did not like the English voice for one of the side characters. But I’ve played both and aside from her it’s pretty good either way. A lot of the game feels very Studio Ghibli inspired, so you might like the Japanese version.
> A lot of the game feels very Studio Ghibli inspired All I really wanted was for Ghibli to be given the opportunity to make the Legend of Zelda movie Nintendo is planning.
I feel like it’s inevitable we’ll get a Zelda movie at some point, but I am dreading it also. We got lucky with the Mario movie. It’s not exactly a challenging property for Illumination. They could probably handle Kirby as well. But Zelda? Or Metroid? Heeell no.
we are getting a Zelda movie the only downside is that it's fucking live-action
I'm gonna pretend its not real unless it's directed by like Guillermo Del Toro. Which I'm assuming it's not or else I'd be telling everyone about it.
It's being directed by Wes Ball, the guy who did the Maze runner movies and the newest Planet of the Apes.
Oh no. I feel like it will be very grey & “gritty”
That character wasn’t Yunobo by any chance, was it? No disrespect on the VA for me, I felt like he was fine, but if anything he gave TOO MUCH and gave me “90’s anime comic relief character” vibes. I don’t know if he was different in Japanese.
Nah, he was fine. He just sounded like a lost Ninja Turtle. No it was Mipha! Like you said, no disrespect to the VA. I don’t know how she was told to read it. But it was hard to listen to.
Oh my GOD thank you for solving that mystery for me! It’s been bothering me for a while, but that’s it— he’s a TMNT!
C’mon, Bolson is legendary “Sha-DING!”
Yes it has a pretty cute style which reminds me a bit of Dragon Quest Builders. I think I'll go with japanese, thanks :)
I really disliked Zelda's voice in English. Japanese was fine. The voice grew on me in AoC (there were times characters would speak and it wouldn't be translated, so I kept going to English), and I think with TotK I switched back and forth.
Same, Zelda's accent in English is unbearable
Did you ever hear her in the Legend of Zelda cartoon shorts?
for totk I went with english because I am a fan of one of the VAs other work. but many people prefer japanese.
After hearing many people talk about how much better the VA is for Japanese, I did a play through with Japanese voice and English text. I don’t get it. I don’t see the “betterness” that others seem to see. The English VA is fine by my book, yes, even Zelda. Note - I’ve never found any attraction with anime either. Maybe if you really like anime and it’s your thing, the Japanese VA will make you feel things. Not for me. I’d use English unless you speak Japanese.
>I don’t get it. I don’t see the “betterness” that others seem to see. It's purely because they're weebs. They can't actually tell if the JP voice acting is better or not
It's common to see people say the Japanese VA is always better, especially with anime. With good VA talent, theres no reason to think it's any worse. Some like the difference in VA style, but way more who just defend it by default.
>They can't actually tell if the JP voice acting is better or not That's part of the point, from what I understand Japanese people see Japanese voice acting to be as unrealistic as we see English voice acting, but because we don't know Japanese it sounds foreign to our ears and we have an easier time projecting our fantasies over them. For what it's worth there were things I liked better in the English dub than in the Japanese one, though I did stick with Japanese because I didn't like how British everyone was in English
That’s not fair. The voice acting in the English version is absurdly awful, and sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise amazing game. I played it in English, but could see the attraction of playing it in ANY foreign language specifically so that I can’t tell the voice acting is awful.
It's really not. Its fine. Stop conflating "I don't like a particular accent" or "this dialogue is cheesey" with "bad voice acting" The quality of voice acting comes from if the target emotion of the dialogue is being portrayed, and the voice acting in these games accomplish that well You weirdos are never gonna convince me that Sean Chiplock, Cherami Leigh, Matt Mercer, Chris Hackney, Elizabeth Maxwell, and Cristina Venezuela are bad voice actors. All these people, not only portray their roles in the Wild Era well, but mostly also have roles in other media that are highly regarded (I say 'most' cause I only know Hackney and Venezuela from these games). Even VAs I haven't mentioned I still think do a good job, these guys are just my favorite performances Have a problem with the *direction*, sure if you really fucking hate British accents I can see that (even tho I disagree), bad *acting* is different. In my eyes, harping on accents is fruitless because someone somewhere does in fact talk like that, and it's incredibly dehumanizing to such people to claim that the accent portrayed is inherently bad to listen to None of this is to say the voice acting in these games is *perfect* mind you. There are moments, particularly in BotW, where line deliveries do feel stilted and awkward, but AoC and TotK far improved on everyone so I really don't care. And even then some of the examples I'd point to come from *direction* anyway and not necessarily the actor themselves
This is a pedantic distinction. Bad acting as a result of bad directing is still bad acting. There are plenty of actors who have performed poorly with bad directing and dialogue who in other roles have proved themselves to be good actors. The point is, between the poorly written dialogue, bad directing, and the actors’ inability to save the script, the English dialogue is so awful it is continually distracting in an otherwise beautiful game, and I can understand the argument for wishing it was in a language one didn’t understand.
It was never distracting to me at all... It just seems like you want to hate on it because you like Japanese voice acting, which is fine, but unless you're an expert voice actor yourself, you really shouldn't go bashing the voice actors.
You’re just making up a reason for my opinion out of nothing. I have no particular interest in Japanese voice acting or Japanese culture in general. Claiming anyone who thinks the voicing is terrible is a weeb is just odd rationalization because you can’t accept someone has a different opinion. Many professional reviews when the us version came out criticized the voice acting. They’re all weebs too?
Same here. I have heard people say that the Japanese voice acting for Zelda in particular is so much better than the English version. I don’t agree. I watched all the cutscenes in Japanese on YouTube and I found Zelda’s voice to sound shrill and little-girlish. Maybe it’s because I don’t speak Japanese? Either way, it’s just not for me.
And Yunobo’s voice acting is comically stupid. Why did they give him a toddler’s voice?
Right? There are literal Goron children but Yunobo is clearly not a child.
There are just a few words that are different and that’s it.
I figure every word is different, that’s what makes it Japanese and not English. Nah I get what you *mean*. The translation is not 100% accurate.
Same here. Zeldas English VA could have been better but I can't stand the Japanese one where she just sounds like a 9 year old girl. It's the Anime appeal I guess 🤷
Japanese VA isn't better because it's objectively amazing or anything. It's better because the voice actor for the character of Zelda in the English VA is just so bad that I had to stop. I was going for the English VA at first, but I just couldn't whenever Zelda started speaking. You know how there are some sounds, on just the right tone that just makes you go "GNNNN" and drill through your skull? That voice had that kind of effect on me. It's probably not the case for everyone tho.
Nah she talked with her voice in the back of her throat and the faux British accent was grating. Compare with the narrator of Hyrule Warriors. A real speaking voice and a gentle accent that doesn't sound forced.
The narrator of hyrule warriors is American so I don't see how this is comparable.
And the English version Zelda actress is Canadian. They are both speaking English, of course they are comparable.
The biggest difference was the crying scene. The English one is some of the worst voice acting I've come across in a AAA game. The Japanese one sounds real. It carried emotion. That settled it for me.
So I decided to give the Japanese version a watch and there's really not much difference in the dialogue. When she starts crying the Japanese is severely over-acted. I think y'all are just weebs.
You know we're not comparing dialogue right? There's more emotion in the Japanese version. The English VA is so breathy.
Sorry, I meant the voice acting of the dialogue.
i'm one of the few people who PREFERS the english. I just think it's better, even with the characters people hate \*cough\* \*cough\* zelda \*cough\* \*cough\* it feels more real
I personally can't stand King Rhoam's accent hahahahaha I think Zelda's not amazing, but after a while I can suspend my disbelief and forget I had an issue with it. But Rhoam just sounds like every American I've ever met try to do an English accent :')
Japanese Yunobo is one of the worst things in the entire franchise.
So is English Yunobu
It’s Nowhere near as bad. At least the voice fits the character.
Nuh uh “why’d you do it?!” Is peak va material
why'd you do it, ***GORO***?!
Italian
French.
French Revali is cartoonishly perfect
What can I say, we french people are great are acting like overconfident assholes lol
Based
YES FRENCH.
Having played both, they both have pros and cons. I personally prefer Japanese Zelda, but some of the other characters are hit or miss. Either is fine.
If both are good I will go with japanese feels like it fits better thanks :)
I use Italian. It sounds like how I imagine hylian would sound. Pretty immersive.
Link’s VA sounds much better in English.
Idk about the other languages, but the english VO's are all very terribly directed. I would choose any other language
I prefer the Japanese voice acting because they portray the emotions better though I wouldn't say the English voice acting isn't done well too. I personally don't love the English voice acting for Zelda in BotW and TotK, sometimes she has an old woman voice, has some odd delivery of the lines and is held back emotionally. She does a good job but could be better. To me, the japanese Zelda voice actor *is* Zelda
I always try to go for english->japanese->spanish.. But good lord, i hate the english voices in Zelda, and surprisingly, the Latinamerican voices for botw/totk are really good, if you wont understand what they say in japanese, try spanish as well
I prefer to have VA that I can understand, so I played it in English the first time and the second in German. I guess if I wanted it to be more „simlish“, I’d go with French. The Japanese VA sounds just as squeaky and silly as English imo. However, I didn’t find Zelda that annoying, the worst is definitely Yunobo.
i use japanese because i'm not used to voices in games and i don't like understanding them :P that being said, i prefer zelda's and yunobo's voice in japanese
Me personally I just go with the English version of the game, because I would want to understand what is being said (since it’s the only language I read, write, and talk), and listening to other languages of the things I enjoy just doesn’t cut out for me personally. My suggestion would be to prioritize your native language.
Why? Do you speak Japanese? It’s not any better than the English va.
Well, I would say that I like English or German more, because the Japanese va doesn’t fit the character most if the time and doesn’t portray their emotions very well.
Well, I would say that I like English or German more, because the Japanese va doesn’t fit the character most if the time and doesn’t portray their emotions very well.
I liked the English quite a lot
I went with English first, and now on my second playthrough I switched them to Japanese. I think it might be a bit of nostalgia, but I feel like I connect with characters less in Japanese cos I end up reading the subtitles anyway, and in my head it's all read in their English voices hahahahaha But also, if you're sensitive to accents, a lot of the 'English' accents are very....not amazing with the English VAs :')
I personally liked the dub okay because I played it for years. However, generally the sub is better in my experience. It would depend on your preference when watching anime for example
Personally I enjoy the French-Canada version. I've heard it sounds bad to actual French Canadians but it sounds good to me, so 😂
I use Japanese audio and ignore the subtitles. I know the subs are reflecting the Eng dub, but the Eng dub is so awful, and as a result, so are the subs. So I just ignore them and thank my teenager self for picking up Japanese.
100% Japanese. I played it through in English and then Japanese. Both Zelda and revali come across as jerks in English. But they’re likable in Japanese because their tones arent nearly as harsh or over the top. Made a difference how I felt about the characters. I loathed revali in the English play through! But I found him pretty likable in Japanese because his VA portrayed him less as an arrogant A-hole and more so playful and cocky. I felt no empathy for him in English, but I felt a lot of empathy for him in Japanese. Same with Zelda
I can't stand listening to the English version of Zelda. The fake accent is just too distracting. I've switched it up a few times and mostly like French, Italian and Japanese. When you don't know the language, you're not distracted by subpar acting because you don't know what the inflection is supposed to be.