Grizzlyjin said:
I think the same is true for some anime and game voice tracks. Everyone always claims that the Japanese version has better voice acting...I don't know about all that. I mean we have some cheap vocie acting over here, but lots of languages sound better when you don't understand them.
definitely. it's one of those whiny fanboy things that makes me roll my eyes.
although sometimes it's also very true. i mean, wait till you guys play baten kaitos. did i say that out loud? =P then again, i also speak japanese, so, uh, i feel qualified to say.
a lot of the (japanese) acting in games is hammy and rote, but sometimes you do get awesome performances. i'd say the overall quality in japan is higher, because voice actors get paid like shit in japan, even good ones. hence they can afford to voice the fuck out of games and get decent people.
here, it's hella expensive, so they cheap out and end up with dogshit. but i'd also say that the overall quality of game voice acting has improved a lot since the last generation, here. or even over the course of this one. it's really rare to get a totally crappy voice job these days. out of all the RPGs i've reviewed this year, only one had overall bad voice acting.
but what i really meant by my comment is that the reviews in famitsu are so superficial and un-critical that they're almost meaningless. moreover, if you listen to the industry scuttlebutt over there, the scores have more to do with the exclusives and strategy pages in the book. you know that enterbrain (the mag's publisher) makes most of its money off of strategy guides? well, now you do. hrmmmm. the in depth guides in the mag, and exclusives, are also the main reason people buy famitsu these days.
