Anyone else have trouble playing alts because of voice actor?

[Zaltys.7649]

Voices are one major reason why I still don't have Human or Norn characters. Can't stand Nolan North, sorry fans.

I like the Asura voices; those are by Steve Staley and Colleen O'Shaughnessey (both of whom are mostly known for anime roles). Female sylvari is also great (that's Jennifer Hale, female Shepard from Mass Effect).

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

@Zaltys.7649 said:Voices are one major reason why I still don't have Human or Norn characters. Can't stand Nolan North, sorry fans.

Assuming you mean male norn too.You're okay with that hair on their body then?

[Tyncale.1629]

I like the voice of my Human Male Ranger: what I do not like is his corny, quasi-humble, goody two shoes attitude in every bit of dialogue he has.

[Sithis.3564]

Do you people really expect them to hire hundreds of voice actors, in hopes that one of them will match your expectations?

[Faaris.8013]

There is a reason why unionized voice actors striked for 11 months. Payment and working conditions aren't good for voice actors in the gaming industry. I don't know how it is at ArenaNet, maybe they are the unicorn here that does it differently.

What I can tell though is that if the quality of most voice acting in GW2 reflects the payment and conditions, ArenaNet is no unicorn.

Let's just take the human female voice actor, probably the most played combination ^^

Does anyone feel drawn into the action by that acting? My girl slayed Balthazar and doesn't even sound a little bit exhausted. She died, visited the underworld, pulled a Jesus, but did she express any amazement or surprise, or at least relief? Not at all, she always sounds like she's sitting in café drinking coffee, eating cake with her friends and talking still concerned about the sad time she spent with her ex-husband. ALL THE TIME! Honestly, anyone could do that, as a hobby, without being payed. It's like playing a zombie in a Walking Dead episode, they don't use actors for that.

And please don't tell me that this actor voiced for South Park and lots of other movies, and that she's a professional. That doesn't make it any better. If she is actually able to voice act, what is the reason for holding back when working for ArenaNet? It looks like voice acting has a very low priority for ArenaNet, and that's it.

[Ohoni.6057]

No VA beats female Asura VA. Much as I hate to say it, female Sylvari VA really hurts my enjoyment of that character, because it's Jen, and I love Jen, there is no Shep but Femshep, and I briefly played a Trooper in TOR for no other reason, but I'm not a fan of her sing-songy British accented voice.

[CharterforGw.3149]

@MithranArkanere.8957 said:I would prefer if character creation had a pitch setting to change the voice of the character. Specially for asura. I want a deeper voice in the ones meant to look older and a higher pitch in those meant to look younger.

My Asura alt is the most terrbile and old looking asura i was able to make, I called it "Angrygoblinkobold", but in the story he is very happy and has a voice that doesn't fit at all. if only i could change the pitch to a really low value.

[Irreverent.3594]

All races voice actors are perfect for all my characters. Only annoying thing that Jennah sounds like my sylvaris.

[Ashantara.8731]

I stopped playing my female Norn for the strange bedroom noise she would make when taking damage (like she was getting pleasure out of being hit) and for the weird movement and idle animations (jogging along like a supermodel or standing on one leg, wiping a strand of hair off her forehead, just isn't how I imagine a race of hunters and warriors).

[Batelle.1680]

The only voice actor I really don't care for is the female norn. Claudia Christian is good in other things, but ugh. Shouts are especially dire- "We heal as one" sounds like she tripped over something in the soundbooth, but it was the only take that survived so they had to use it.

[Crossaber.8934]

Which i can't stand is we cannot adjust the voice tone, games from 2000 already got function to adjust the voice higher or lower to give different feel out of the same vo. Higher for younger face while lower for older face etc.

What is the point allow us to make old man old woman or kid but the vo never match with their face.

[Aeolus.3615]

GW2 character creator isnt that strong :)

But would be decent to have like 6-8 voices for male and female, some smoth some being more stoic, irony or even more agressive etc... i actually find lots of mmo's with more depth character builder, some almost as old as gw1...

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

@Ashantara.8731 said:I stopped playing my female Norn for the strange bedroom noise she would make when taking damage (like she was getting pleasure out of being hit) and for the weird movement and idle animations (jogging along like a supermodel or standing on one leg, wiping a strand of hair off her forehead, just isn't how I imagine a race of hunters and warriors).

She IS Norn. I think Norns get pleasure from that kind of stuff.

[Alga.6498]

Yeah.. PC VAs are indeed a mixed bag of good and bad....I've been playing Human characters most and ever since BETA, and both female and male voice is really bad, specially the female one. She keeps gasping every word she talks, like sucking in all the air and then talk like a robot.

The best VAs I like is the Sylvari male and female, I really like the female VA. :)

Charr VAs.... they sound so wrong, even with the new VA of the male Charr, he just sounds like an old smoking motorcycle gang member who just drank whiskey. The female sounds so weird.. never liked Charrs and I barely play them..

The Asuran VAs, both male and female sounds also good.

The Norns VAs.... they sounds abit corny and I really like the Vikings, their lore, that they are badass warriors but their voices are.. okay but abit plain(?) Like they are just reading their cards what to say, no effort. Though I like Norns no matter what! :D

[Ashantara.8731]

@Crossaber.8934 said:Which i can't stand is we cannot adjust the voice tone, games from 2000 already got function to adjust the voice higher or lower to give different feel out of the same vo. Higher for younger face while lower for older face etc.

That would be at least a step in the right direction! That way, ANet would not have to hire additional voice actors, but people would be able to provide their character with at least a bit of voice customization, making them sound more unique and having the voice fit better. A few filters could work wonders.

[Doctor Hide.6345]

@Ohoni.6057 said:No VA beats female Asura VA. Much as I hate to say it, female Sylvari VA really hurts my enjoyment of that character, because it's Jen, and I love Jen, there is no Shep but Femshep, and I briefly played a Trooper in TOR for no other reason, but I'm not a fan of her sing-songy British accented voice.

That's why I love the female Sylvari. Aside from it being Jen which I just now found out, I love the British sing-songy light beat young tone it has which fits my mesmer perfectly.

[AegisRunestone.8672]

@Sithis.3564 said:Do you people really expect them to hire hundreds of voice actors, in hopes that one of them will match your expectations?

Not me. Too unrealistic and demanding on anet.

[ThomasC.1056]

French player here. Male human voice actor is awful. I'm considering switching my characters gender to get rid of it. It has a stressed tone, falsely coarse, and doesn't seem to match any kind of behaviour... Female humans are better. No specific complains about other races, but male human is just awful.

[Tairgire.4836]

I love the female Asura voice but it's the only one I've heard a lot of recently. I'm going to have to go spend some time on my Sylvari (looooooove Jennifer Hale -- also played a Trooper for a while in SWTOR just to hear her voice acting) to see if I agree or not with the criticisms here, and same for my female human (who I just rerolled and boosted to 50 so I have a bunch of personal story stuff to play through which should be a good demo I think). I don't play male characters, but I'm a big fan of Nolan North's work elsewhere. It's hard to imagine it being bad, but not everyone can get it right every time. There's plenty of bad movies with good actors in them too.

[Chadramar.8156]

@Faaris.8013 said:There is a reason why unionized voice actors striked for 11 months. Payment and working conditions aren't good for voice actors in the gaming industry. I don't know how it is at ArenaNet, maybe they are the unicorn here that does it differently.

There's that. Reading about working conditions and (the lack of) compensation for voice work is sobering. :(

[Game of Bones.8975]

I usually have a movie, the TV, or YouTube vids (to help me study for school) going in the background so I rarely hear what any of the voices or special effects sound like.

[Makai.3429]

I dusted off my female Sylvari Thief for LS3 map completion recently, and while I've loved Jennifer Hale's VA work over the years (particularly as Dr. Naomi Hunter in the Metal Gear Solid series), I just can't used to the character's Tarzan roar.

[Roam.5208]

@Khisanth.2948 said:Heh ... well I would never play a human female guardian. Not with "Retr < insert nail scratching chalkboard sound > at!"

If you think that's bad, the female sylvari is 100% worse with the shout and almost completely why I don't play sylvari anymore. That and the unconvincing accent.

[Doctor Hide.6345]

@Roam.5208 said:

@Khisanth.2948 said:Heh ... well I would never play a human female guardian. Not with "Retr < insert nail scratching chalkboard sound > at!"

If you think that's bad, the female sylvari is 100% worse with the shout and almost completely why I don't play sylvari anymore. That and the unconvincing accent.

It sounds convincing enough for me I guess. Even if it is faux British, I still like it because I just like the English accent. It's one of the reason I went agent in SWTOR with the chiss.

[Mrs Lana.2506]

I have 49 characters. I have 9 of each race just in females (the others are males). My main necro, mesmer, elementalist and thief are all humans. It's disconcerting that they all have the same voice when in my mind they have different personalities (though I don't RP. They all just have a different feel to me). Playing through the story a second time just feels so weird when it's the same voice on a different character.

I was so disconcerted by it today that I actually turned off all character voices in-game entirely.

Also the voice acting for the human female is TERRIBLE. In no way does she convince me that she portrays my character. I haven't played story much on other races, but I'm seriously hoping that they're nowhere near as bad.