Why is the human female dialogue so bad?

[Goettel.4389]

I keep my expectations for "human female dialogue" low, and that seems to work ;-)

[GDchiaScrub.3241]

I only hear Stan's Mom (Sharon Marsh) with the English Female dialogue so I'd switch it to French or German.

Example:

D:

[wickedkae.4980]

It's not that her acting is bad, she does not have much to work with. Our character is engulfed in this horrific war and we are always written as this up tight polite person that never shows any real emotion. It's this lack of realism that really shows through the poor writing. We have seen 0 growth with out character and everyone feels this when we hear the acting. I wish the writers would let loose with the dialogue. Give us something to really feel

[DietPepsi.4371]

I like male Human, male Sylvari and male Charr voices (by the looks of it, it's an unpopular opinion, but I actually prefer the new male Charr voice over the original). While I have no issues with the female Human, female Sylvari, and female Norn voices, the female Charr voice, while a nice voice, aggravates me simply because the VA's acting is very wooden. Often lines have the wrong inflection, or have no inflections at all when they should. The fact that is is a nice voice, but the lines are delivered soo badly aggravates me even more, because I want to enjoy hearing that voice, but I can't.

[TheOrlyFactor.8341]

In what little time I played a Human female character (before I deleted her and rerolled her into an Asura female) I thought her voice was just fine.

The Norn female voice used to grate me a bit but over time it's grown on me and is actually quite fitting for my Pact Commander character.

[Tenken.7342]

I suppose that it's all subjective to the player. And yes, I too hear South Park characters come through at times, but I really appreciate the VA's performance. I have seven human female characters, out of eleven total. I love that they sound like they are focused on what they are doing, and actually affected by the events around them. It feels like they are... well serious (for lack of a better word), which is how I imagine them. I've been playing Guild Wars since the the original's opening weekend. I do like the lore of Guild Wars and I enjoy all the story making that goes into it (including my character's story). To some extent, the fate of Tyria is in your character's hands, and the tone set by the VA is just part of the telling of the tale. My human female characters sound like they are competent but still vulnerable. As contrasting example, the human male character VA's performance, is a bit too aloof for my tastes and I don't feel as personally connected to the tale he conveys. I guess it really just depends on how you imagine your character in the world of Tyria and whether the VA's performance fits that narrative.

[SnowHawk.3615]

And an American accent to boot with dialogue that resembles a B grade movie. Like what if I want to have a Welsh or French accent without having to switch languages entirely? No, gotta sound like some basic white girl who finds bread spicy and feeds their cat/dog a vegan diet.I'd so love to have my Norn speak with a northern European or heavy Scottish accent as well.

Not to mention the commander is written with 0 personality/interests/fears/flaws etc.

[wickedkae.4980]

@"SnowHawk.3615" said:And an American accent to boot with dialogue that resembles a B grade movie. Like what if I want to have a Welsh or French accent without having to switch languages entirely? No, gotta sound like some basic white girl who finds bread spicy and feeds their cat/dog a vegan diet.I'd so love to have my Norn speak with a northern European or heavy Scottish accent as well.

Not to mention the commander is written with 0 personality/interests/fears/flaws etc.

This.

The writing is objectively poor, but what makes it worse is that EVERY time there is a scene where the commander should be speaking with some amazing/powerful emotion, it is ALWAYS delivered in the most bland, energy-less way I could imagine. It is like the actress really wants to transmit her acting skills into the dialogue, but when she does, the director stops her and says "Read it again, with less character, emotion and strength." I think this may actually be the case. Even though the writing is generally bad, there are still instances where the voice could have really lifted up situation. It is almost as if the female voice actress is not allowed to actually act because anet is afraid of injecting true emotion/conflict into the game.

Take a risk Anet, you need it desperately.

[kasoki.5180]

@wickedkae.4980 said:

@"SnowHawk.3615" said:And an American accent to boot with dialogue that resembles a B grade movie. Like what if I want to have a Welsh or French accent without having to switch languages entirely? No, gotta sound like some basic white girl who finds bread spicy and feeds their cat/dog a vegan diet.I'd so love to have my Norn speak with a northern European or heavy Scottish accent as well.

Not to mention the commander is written with 0 personality/interests/fears/flaws etc.

This.

The writing is objectively poor, but what makes it worse is that EVERY time there is a scene where the commander should be speaking with some amazing/powerful emotion, it is ALWAYS delivered in the most bland, energy-less way I could imagine. It is like the actress really wants to transmit her acting skills into the dialogue, but when she does, the director stops her and says "Read it again, with less character, emotion and strength." I think this may actually be the case. Even though the writing is generally bad, there are still instances where the voice could have really lifted up situation. It is almost as if the female voice actress is not allowed to actually act because anet is afraid of injecting true emotion/conflict into the game.

Take a risk Anet, you need it desperately.

My experience was completely different. What you said I would agree with when it comes to male human voice, but when it comes to female I think its quite opposite.I think that certain emotional moments are far better delivered by human female VA and I feel there is a certain sense of "burden" within the voice much more then i do for Nolan North. Don't get me wrong, I love his work as human VA, especially when it comes to more cocky and casual talk, but i feel like some more "heavy" moments are better delivered by female VA.

[XatraZaytrax.2601]

@"Abelisk.4527" said:"Ha ha, mine... ALL MINE"

Yes! My female guard is putting people on notice. And she carries a big sword -- Eternity -- in case anyone wants to dispute that all the loots are hers.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@"wickedkae.4980" said:The writing is objectively poor,What "objective" standard are you using to determine that?

(I'm not saying I'm a fan of all of the dialogue; I just don't think that anyone can claim a neutral evaluation.)

[Biff.5312]

It's the female sylvari I can't stand - I actually deleted a lvl 80 toon over it. It's the same voice as the krait witch, and done with the same intonation, so everything she says sounds cartoonishly 'wicked'. Once I noticed it just got more and more annoying until I could stand no more.

[sorudo.9054]

if you think human dialog is bad, just listen to the forced arrogant voice of asura.i know they are supposed to be arrogant but to force it this way is overdoing it, even to a point that i can't stand playing asura.or what about the charr, every time the male charr talks it's like he has a runny nose.

[Trise.2865]

@wickedkae.4980 said:

@"SnowHawk.3615" said:And an American accent to boot with dialogue that resembles a B grade movie. Like what if I want to have a Welsh or French accent without having to switch languages entirely? No, gotta sound like some basic white girl who finds bread spicy and feeds their cat/dog a vegan diet.I'd so love to have my Norn speak with a northern European or heavy Scottish accent as well.

Not to mention the commander is written with 0 personality/interests/fears/flaws etc.

This.

The writing is objectively poor, but what makes it worse is that EVERY time there is a scene where the commander should be speaking with some amazing/powerful emotion, it is ALWAYS delivered in the most bland, energy-less way I could imagine. It is like the actress really wants to transmit her acting skills into the dialogue, but when she does, the director stops her and says "Read it again, with less character, emotion and strength." I think this may actually be the case. Even though the writing is generally bad, there are still instances where the voice could have really lifted up situation. It is almost as if the female voice actress is not allowed to actually act because anet is afraid of injecting true emotion/conflict into the game.

Take a risk Anet, you need it desperately.

Is it their job to tell you how you should be feeling?

[Zavijah.2695]

On 2/17/2019 at 8:29 AM, Abelisk.4527 said:

"Ha ha, mine... ALL MINE"

This is what I love all human females. And mine is a Mesmer.

[Batel.9206]

Obligatory HOLY NECRO, BATMAN!!

 

...and you can ignore the rest of my post here, because I read way too fast and didn't realize the necro post is now deleted. 😂 I'm a doofus.

Edited September 7, 2021 by Batel.9206
I read things way too fast.

[Gehenna.3625]

8 hours ago, LSD.4673 said:

Why is the dialogue so bad. Full stop. With a question mark on the end. 

It's not just the human girl voice, not just the voice acting as a whole, but the dialogue itself. Why does the writing range from anime angst to 14 year old English homework? 

To me it just always sounded like a Lawful Good mom.

[Dante.1763]

9 hours ago, LSD.4673 said:

Why is the dialogue so bad. Full stop. With a question mark on the end. 

It's not just the human girl voice, not just the voice acting as a whole, but the dialogue itself. Why does the writing range from anime angst to 14 year old English homework? Why does Rytlock sound like he's trying to touch his chest with his chin? Why have they hired a bunch of anime voice actors whose range goes from "infatuated and awkward" to "autism with severe inability to understand even the concept of human emotion"?

 

Canach used to do good voice acting, even if it was 2 dimensional snark. I'm sure the new voice actor has brought us back down to anime land.

Both the writing and the vo are..bad. when im forced to listen to the story i mute the game, when i cant skip it i go afk in the instance until its done.

It was fine for the first time play through, but repeated playthroughs make me cringe now. I prefer original Traehearne VO to anything after lws1, with one exception.

The VA who played Crecia did an outstanding job in the final instance of that story. The rest of the VO lines suffered from the meh story writing. It was the first time ive felt anything from the story since Sieran died on claw island the first time i did the story.

Im not sure why but all the characters are so bland. I can put more range, and emotion in their voices if they are muted, and so they get muted, it helps with the bleh writing.