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[ShadowSwordmaster]

The fact that Ark is still in 'beta' at this point is getting ridiculous.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

I don't think I'm ever going to get over Dan's attempts to pronounce Japanese

 

[Spaghetti]

I am both excited and horrified at the prospect of Vinny trying out the combat in Shenmue.

The mechanics are actually great (omni-directional Virtua Fighter-lite with proto-Batman counter system was nuts in 1999), but you have to learn them properly to get the most out of it.

 

[Zero-Crescent]

I don't think I'm ever going to get over Dan's attempts to pronounce Japanese

The Great Sasookey!

 

[stump sock]

I don't think I'm ever going to get over Dan's attempts to pronounce Japanese

it makes my eye twitch

 

[Nishastra]

I don't think I'm ever going to get over Dan's attempts to pronounce Japanese

Dan and Vinny both have this problem where anything beyond like the first two syllables of a word just becomes gibberish.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Dan and Vinny both have this problem where anything beyond like the first two syllables of a word just becomes gibberish.

We need to get Ryu from Sakurkgakhokgo to Dubyootata

 

[mnz]

Dan and Vinny both have this problem where anything beyond like the first two syllables of a word just becomes gibberish.

Rorie is the worst about this. Only person on my whole podcast rotation I have problems understanding.

 

[Hot Coldman]

it's rye-oh

RYE-OH

actually I mean it's ree-oh

 

[Dineren]

I'm really curious what their thoughts will be once they finished it. I can understand why people dislike it, but personally I loved it. They did a great job of making the world feel alive, I still don't feel like any game has matched it (though to be fair, the world in it is pretty small).

It definitely has flaws (most of which are fixed in the sequel), but I played through it for the first time in 2008 and it instantly became one of my favorite adventure games.

 

[Meneses]

Same here, I adore the games (especially 2) and back then it was truly mindblowing.

However, 17 years later, I can totally understand why someone will look at it and say "wtf is this shit".

 

[wild_fire987]

Saw this post on the community spotlight about the total runtime of all GiantBomb videos, it's interesting... I don't know what it means, but it's interesting.

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion-30/total-run-time-of-all-giantbomb-videos-1801462/

 

[EmCeeGramr]

It's probably already been posted in one of the threads, but that explanation for the voice acting (Yu Suzuki demanded that they record it all in Japan, including the English, and he cast people based on how much they looked like the character, not their voices) is still amazing.

 

[Zaph]

It's probably already been posted in one of the threads, but that explanation for the voice acting (Yu Suzuki demanded that they record it all in Japan, including the English, and he cast people based on how much they looked like the character, not their voices) is still amazing.

I think that's the most 'Japanese devs' thing I've ever read

 

[EmCeeGramr]

oh what



edit:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/jb/jb2.htm#shenmue

Blaustein was reluctant to give specifics, but speculation at the time was that Yu Suzuki gave the text translation to a family member, possibly his brother-in-law, who owned a translation company. This left the voice work to go to a separate company. Unfortunately there was the added burden that Suzuki insisted that all voice acting, including the English, had to be recorded in Japan. "The reason we did it in Japan by the way, was because Mr. Suzuki wanted access to it while it was being done. He probably thought that if he could go and quality control it himself it would be better. Or I dunno, maybe he just wanted to leave his desk and go see how things were going. It was done around his schedule. It wasn't done because it was the best thing to have done. It wasn't done because we didn't have the money to do it in New York. It was simply done because that was his decision. Nobody that was doing that thought it was a good decision. And clearly it wasn't. Add that to my regrets, that we could have done a great job. It's like, if we had gone to New York or LA and did it, they'd all have been great actors. We could have had a great script and... Let me ask you and the readers, would Shenmue have done better if it'd had better actors, or wouldn't it have made a difference?"

"I don't remember how many characters were in that game, but it's hundreds. And there simply weren't enough English-speaking voice actors. In Japan you already don't have the cream of the best actors, what you have are people who were models who turned into actors, and people who were teachers who turned into actors, or people who were actors and couldn't hack it as actors in the West and so left to become actors in Japan - and those are the best actors in Japan. So the best ones you have are the ones who failed in America and went to Japan. So it was such a stupid proposition to do it there."

"The auditions go ahead, we hire basically every single person that exists and calls themselves a voice actor. The people that are doing the translation are late, and I remember it was such a messed up situation, it was so bad that stuff was going directly from the translators, without being checked, faxed to the studio and having actors just read the stuff. That's how slapdash it all became. And there were actors that had no place at all doing the acting. There was no time for direction - it was like, get it done! When you're doing it right, like with Metal Gear Solid or something like that, you set up the situation - you're not doing anything by the seat of your pants."

"And here's a thing about Shenmue that made it even more complicated, and I can't recall why this was the case, but for some reason we were also looking for voice actors who would physically look like the characters. I think Suzuki was planning to do some kind of non-videogame media thing. Like there's that guy Corey Marshall, who played Ryo. And Debora Rabbai too. I hired these people. I came back to America, right, and I found some unknowns and some knowns. There weren't enough actors in Japan and it was the case that Mr Suzuki wanted a good looking, young unknown. Like an actor. Not even an actor, a young newbie... I don't know what he was thinking, actually, because if you look at the page of actors on Shenmue Dojo, they're all good looking people. And Deborah Rabbai, I remember interviewing her in America, she'd had a lot of experience working with animes. Look at these people, these are voice actors that were hired partially because of their looks. Doesn't that seem strange to you?"

"The one thing you can do to make hiring a voice acting cast even more difficult, you can add this condition: they have to be good looking. So here we are with this ridiculous thing added on top of it. But we weren't going to say no. So I went back to America, I put out advertisements and I got a couple of people. And the people I got were Deborah Rabbai, and certainly Corey Marshall. And he did martial arts, that's one of the reasons why he got the job. So I wrote contracts and sent them back to Japan. Corey had never been to Japan, he'd never done acting. We were doing some weird stuff, and that's just how weird a project Shenmue was. Nobody else was doing anything like that - flying actors from one country to another."

Despite all the hard work that went into finding Corey, the end result was not without irony, as Blaustein notes. "Now, let me recap. We've done a worldwide search for this guy, we find a complete amateur, not hugely talented but good looking enough to be called good looking. He did martial arts so we could say he did them. He satisfied a lot of the checkmarks, and then they changed his voice electronically at the end of all this, to make him sound younger! Isn't that ironic? Isn't that hilarious, that after all that work they change his voice?"

 

[stump sock]

It's probably already been posted in one of the threads, but that explanation for the voice acting (Yu Suzuki demanded that they record it all in Japan, including the English, and he cast people based on how much they looked like the character, not their voices) is still amazing.

yeah, the actors, for as bad as they are at acting, actually get the pronunciation right most of the time. I figured they had to have someone actually coaching them in the booth.

 

[Spaghetti]

There's also some Resident Evil-levels of "Japanese devs didn't know how natural English sounded, so they used the takes with the weirdest emphasis on words".

Fun fact: Lisle Wilkerson and Eric Kelso (Sarah & Jacky Bryant in VF both voice main characters in Shenmue/II)

Double fun fact: Donna Burke (iDroid voice, MGS vocalist, Vanessa Lewis in VF, players smaller roles in Shenmue/II)

Anyway, I think they're probably going to have better translation/VO in III at least. I would be very surprised if it didn't with 8-4/Ryan Payton involved.

 

[robotrock]

There could not have been a more perfect game than Shenmue to follow up the Persona 4 and Deadly Premonition Endurance Runs

 

[alr1ght]

Jeff is on Lang's podcast
http://teamgfbradio.com/episode-104-two-years-and-live-at-pax-west/

 

[Volotaire]

I really should turn off comments on YT.

[/IMG]

Look on the bright side. You're famous!

 

[ThreePiMatt]

I don't think I'm ever going to get over Dan's attempts to pronounce Japanese

The kind of funny thing is that Dan seems to have an uncanny ability to almost immediately see a word that is misspelled or if there's a typo in the text of a game. You'd think he'd be fairly adapt at being able to look at a word, even a foreign language word, and figure out the pronunciation pretty easily.

 

[SirClinksAlot]

God this endurance run is already so fucking amazing.

 

[Curufinwe]

I don't think I'm ever going to get over Dan's attempts to pronounce Japanese

It's particularly tough to hear since Japanese pronunciation is so simple.

 

[graboids]

not 100% sure about the rules on posting YT lins or promoting things you made, but this video isn't monetized or anything... I will remove the link if needed

Finished my GB animation Project, 80s style cartoon intro for the guys... just for fun

https://youtu.be/pIgGTX6tR6M

made a blog about on the site too if you want to see it:

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion-30/giant-bomb-animation-project-unofficial-classic-1801738/#3

Again, just for fun, thought people might want to see in this thread

 

[FStop7]

3 out of the 4 endurance runs have been about small town murder investigations.

True Detective season 1 was about a small town murder investigation.

Insomnia, too.

And, of course, Twin Peaks.

Is the small town murder investigation perhaps the greatest story premise of all?

 

[KillerDark]

not 100% sure about the rules on posting YT lins or promoting things you made, but this video isn't monetized or anything... I will remove the link if needed

Finished my GB animation Project, 80s style cartoon intro for the guys... just for fun

https://youtu.be/pIgGTX6tR6M

made a blog about on the site too if you want to see it:

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion-30/giant-bomb-animation-project-unofficial-classic-1801738/#3

Again, just for fun, thought people might want to see in this thread

Good work, that was really cool

 

[Megasoum]

Saw this post on the community spotlight about the total runtime of all GiantBomb videos, it's interesting... I don't know what it means, but it's interesting.

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion-30/total-run-time-of-all-giantbomb-videos-1801462/

That's really cool statistics.

It's crazy to think that I've probably watched at least 90% of those 172 days too...

I think the only content I haven't watched on the site is one of the Deadly Premonition run (Only watched one of the two) and the Persona 4 ER... I pretty much seen everything else since the site opened in 2008.

 

[EnlightenedMint]

not 100% sure about the rules on posting YT lins or promoting things you made, but this video isn't monetized or anything... I will remove the link if needed

Finished my GB animation Project, 80s style cartoon intro for the guys... just for fun

https://youtu.be/pIgGTX6tR6M

made a blog about on the site too if you want to see it:

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion-30/giant-bomb-animation-project-unofficial-classic-1801738/#3

Again, just for fun, thought people might want to see in this thread

That was fantastic, great job.

The Alex part cracked me up.

 

[Meneses]

Again, just for fun, thought people might want to see in this thread

That was cool.

 

[Teddified]

The only videos I've never watched are the Chrono Trigger ER, I've basically seen all videos besides those.

ALSO YAY!!! I got pacifist in Deus Ex MD I was so sure I might have accidently killed someone even though I only really used the stun gun and Tranq along with nonkilling abilities.

 

[kAmui-]

not 100% sure about the rules on posting YT lins or promoting things you made, but this video isn't monetized or anything... I will remove the link if needed

Finished my GB animation Project, 80s style cartoon intro for the guys... just for fun

https://youtu.be/pIgGTX6tR6M

made a blog about on the site too if you want to see it:

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion-30/giant-bomb-animation-project-unofficial-classic-1801738/#3

Again, just for fun, thought people might want to see in this thread

That was awesome dude! Alex part really got me

 

[stump sock]

It's particularly tough to hear since Japanese pronunciation is so simple.

oh, i wouldn't go that far

 

[BreezyLimbo]

Saw this post on the community spotlight about the total runtime of all GiantBomb videos, it's interesting... I don't know what it means, but it's interesting.

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion-30/total-run-time-of-all-giantbomb-videos-1801462/

According to this the past 3 years have been the best time to be GB members because the content outpour has been massive compared to previous years.

Why are people complaining about droughts again?

 

[mnz]

According to this the past 3 years have been the best time to be GB members because the content outpour has been massive compared to previous years.

Why are people complaining about droughts again?

We got hooked and can't hit that high anymore like we used to, you know?

 

[Strax]

According to this the past 3 years have been the best time to be GB members because the content outpour has been massive compared to previous years.

Why are people complaining about droughts again?

Because last year had 100 less videos then 2010 but more mins.

 

[FStop7]

Because running time is a a good way to account for variety and quality of content, lmao.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

We got hooked and can't hit that high anymore like we used to, you know?

Need that fix

Because last year had 100 less videos then 2010 but more mins.

Because running time is a a good way to account for variety and quality of content, lmao.

Id rather have 10 40 minute videos than 50 6 minute videos

 

[Zero-Crescent]

yeah, the actors, for as bad as they are at acting, actually get the pronunciation right most of the time. I figured they had to have someone actually coaching them in the booth.

I think that's in large part due to recording in Japan, since most of the lines only had one take. Even for part-timers and other misfit VAs, if they're living and working in Japan regularly, there's a really good chance that they'd be able to pronounce names and honorifics without any problems. And as for the pros that had to be flown in, they could be coached beforehand if they needed it.

oh what

edit:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/jb/jb2.htm#shenmue

There's an article on Shenmue Dojo from an anonymous Shenmue 2 voice actor that seems to corroborate the assembly-line recording structure (one take for most lines, no real direction, just getting the line and not the best reading of the line), and of course, confirms that the dubbing troubles continued into Shenmue 2. One example that the VA gives is that after recording a few roles in his normal voice, the staff asked him to do a different voice for a "weird guy" part (Despite the VA making it clear way beforehand that he doesn't do weird/different voices because he knows that they would come out terribly). Feeling pressure from the staff, he read the lines as "a cross between Clint Eastwood and Richard Simmons." The VA knew that the voice sounded comically bad. The staff loved it. It made it into the game.

 

[Glitchesarecool]

According to this the past 3 years have been the best time to be GB members because the content outpour has been massive compared to previous years.

Why are people complaining about droughts again?

because total runtime is actually a shit metric for figuring out "how much content" is being released

Also because there is some subjectivity in what one considers to be good content. The fact that I can skip most UPFs due to lack of quality/entertainment means there is a perceived "less content."

 

[BreezyLimbo]

because total runtime is actually a shit metric for figuring out "how much content" is being released

Also because there is some subjectivity in what one considers to be good content. The fact that I can skip most UPFs due to lack of quality/entertainment means there is a perceived "less content."

Idk, people have complained about content drought, and not "quality" droughts.

Its a fact that if you want content, right now is the best time to enjoy GB.

 

[stump sock]

Why are people complaining about droughts again?

In 2016 we have seen 72 non-bombcast premium videos, which puts us on pace for roughly 108 by the end of the year.

Unless I counted incorrectly, 2015 had 163 premium videos. That's a 34% reduction in premium content. 2014 had 144 premium videos, and Dan and Jason only came on in the second half of the year.

Of course this doesn't factor in runtime, and certainly not objective or subjective quality

Spoiler

UPF is real bad these days

, but you can maybe see why people are questioning the value of their premium membership.

 

[Strax]

Id rather have 10 40 minute videos than 50 6 minute videos

I'm pretty sure there is a middle ground there.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

I'm pretty sure there is a middle ground there.

And that middle ground is Jeffs gaming minute

Those should be the deal breaker

 

[Spaghetti]

Of course this doesn't factor in runtime, and certainly not objective or subjective quality

Spoiler

UPF is real bad these days

, but you can maybe see why people are questioning the value of their premium membership.

I'm going to agree with that spoiler. I skip through most of UPF these days, but I don't really know what would make it more enjoyable.

Vinnyvania still GOAT tho.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Because running time is a a good way to account for variety and quality of content, lmao.

But the amount of videos is a good way to account for "quality"?

 

[Glitchesarecool]

Idk, people have complained about content drought, and not "quality" droughts.

Its a fact that if you want content, right now is the best time to enjoy GB.

But it's the same thing. If people here are saying "man upf was real boring this week, Brad just looked at dota hats for half the video" then I'm not going waste three or so hours watching it. Thus, that content didn't occur. Also then there's this

In 2016 we have seen 72 non-bombcast premium videos, which puts us on pace for roughly 108 by the end of the year.

Unless I counted incorrectly, 2015 had 163 premium videos. That's a 34% reduction in premium content. 2014 had 144 premium videos, and Dan and Jason only came on in the second half of the year.

Of course this doesn't factor in runtime, and certainly not objective or subjective quality

Spoiler

UPF is real bad these days

, but you can maybe see why people are questioning the value of their premium membership.

So actually yes, there is less content.

 

[Zaph]

But the amount of videos is a good way to account for "quality"?

More videos usually means more variation, so there's something for everybody.

 

[FStop7]

But the amount of videos is a good way to account for "quality"?

Can you show me where anyone claimed that?

 

[Incandenza]

In 2016 we have seen 72 non-bombcast premium videos, which puts us on pace for roughly 108 by the end of the year.

Unless I counted incorrectly, 2015 had 163 premium videos. That's a 34% reduction in premium content. 2014 had 144 premium videos, and Dan and Jason only came on in the second half of the year.

Of course this doesn't factor in runtime, and certainly not objective or subjective quality

Spoiler

UPF is real bad these days

, but you can maybe see why people are questioning the value of their premium membership.

Yeah, stuff like UPF and quick looks actually have a solid output in terms of hour count but I highly doubt most people are watching all of those things from start to finish. They're just not consistently entertaining enough. Game Tapes, Demo Derby, and now Shenmue are the only things that I really sit down and carve out time to watch right now (and usually I start skimming through the demo parts of Demo Derby).

 

[stump sock]

I think that's in large part due to recording in Japan, since most of the lines only had one take. Even for part-timers and other misfit VAs, if they're living and working in Japan regularly, there's a really good chance that they'd be able to pronounce names and honorifics without any problems. And as for the pros that had to be flown in, they could be coached beforehand if they needed it.

that's a legit good point that I didn't consider, especially since most of these are common names and actual place names that they've probably already said a bunch of times.