Tengu Voice Over Challenge - [Merged]

[Blur.3465]

@Ferin Delanore.2674 said:To clarify, I feel like lot's of those voices you mention are appropriate at times and I got a lot of heat for suggesting they don't fit.SO I just want to maybe ask you this... do you think the voice doesn't fit the Characters or maybe that the way it sounds out of place from the game as a whole makes you go Hmmm ... why does this deer sound like a small girl and this Tengu as well? For me it was the fact that the sound itself was so high pitched it didn't melt together with th game environment and I felt it was out of place in a way. So a high pitch Tengu sounding youthful could be totally cool but maybe with a different Dialect or speech pattern to match a talking bird.Even if not soothing, the bird sounds could almost be annoying and they can talk as if they try hard to communicate in your language or something. I am just trying to find creative ways to make this AWESOME race sound just as cool as the Charr for example or the Skritt. Notice how when skritt talk they stutter sometimes and talk fast like a mouse running fast into a wall lol :DIDK I love exploring that side of a game to try and make it as realistically rooted in nature as possible so that it feels real. For now.. some voices just lack that.

@"Blur.3465" said:Lately I can't help but wince at the choice of voices.That Deer spirit in the new Canthan Fractal...why? Why does that deer sound like a little girl? Why is its voice so high-pitched and out of place? Why doesn't the creature sound wise and soothing?What's with the Tengu voice from the new story bit too? She sounds high-pitched again and annoying. Most of the birds are very appealing and like music for your ears. Why must the voices be so out of place and annoying?

Lately all I'm hearing in GW2 are annoying and high pitched voices.Heck even my parents roll their eyes, asking if it's some kids' cartoon or something.Quaggan, new Tengu, deer Spirit, Taimi (who used to talk non-stop when doing story), Skritt.

We're two on this. The way the voices are just 'put' seem very out of place in game.It also made me question: "What happened to different accents?"Accents make races unique and I feel they should've done that with MANY races, which isn't the case for some strange reason.So many voices really don't fit the game's immersion. GW1 never had these issues, I was fine with all voices from GW1. GW2 though...something is off.What you mentioned about Tengu voice is 100% true...and it could've been handled better. Make her sound more like a bird and less like a 21st century human?However...everything about that Fractal Deer Spirit is off for me XD the voice and the way the voice was done/put!...and Taimi just annoyed me cause she was 100% in every single story, making me just want to mute the speakers hahaha, kinda killed the seriousness and immersion of the game.

[mindcircus.1506]

@Blur.3465 said:Lately all I'm hearing in GW2 are annoying and high pitched voices.I dont know.... I've heard a lot of deep gravelly voiced Char over the last year and some change.

[Asum.4960]

@"Blur.3465" said:Lately I can't help but wince at the choice of voices.That Deer spirit in the new Canthan Fractal...why? Why does that deer sound like a little girl? Why is its voice so high-pitched and out of place? Why doesn't the creature sound wise and soothing?What's with the Tengu voice from the new story bit too? She sounds high-pitched again and annoying. Most of the birds are very appealing and like music for your ears. Why must the voices be so out of place and annoying?

Lately all I'm hearing in GW2 are annoying and high pitched voices.Heck even my parents roll their eyes, asking if it's some kids' cartoon or something.Quaggan, new Tengu, deer Spirit, Taimi (who used to talk non-stop when doing story), Skritt.

This might give you some insight why the "Spirit of the Mountain" sounds like a little girl.While it put me off at first as well, in this case it actually makes sense if you pay attention to the story.

[Ferin Delanore.2674]

Not sure how exactly it would be helpful to fill a post with technical terms and deep textbook explanations when I am trying to have a conversation with a general gamer base about the poor quality of a few voices that do not fit a character based on the details I provided in several of my answers but ... sure...Seems like criticism of ANYTHING these days triggers people to be freedom fighters for justice.read what I wrote or just keep posts meant to put others down..... to yourself.Some people here have made awesome points that, I admit, far better explain what I meant at first.Also read some of my answers and those of others. I have explained what issues with the mastering of the sound bugged me out initially and even answered people who made good points that mastering might not even be the issue.Cheeeeers

@mindcircus.1506 said:Here's my issue with this post....

@"Ferin Delanore.2674" said:THAT SAID! I am a voice actor and I can not understand what quality control went on for the voice of the Tengu in terms of mastering and direction.No where at all in any of your posts do you mention a single thing about actual mastering and what the issues you have with it are. Your post, (from the perspective of someone with an actual background and training in audio engineering) comes off as a hobbyist using a few semi-technical terms in order to give largely uninformed opinions some weight.For those keeping score, this is as if you had come on to this forum and said you were a software engineer, made complaints about the game's balance and then said "spagetti code". Or as if you had presented yourself as a game designer and talked about how easy it would be to add S1 back to the game as "cut and paste assets".I'm not saying that your concerns aren't important to you, but you are trying to give your post a weight it does not have with out of place jargon.

[Ferin Delanore.2674]

Absolutely brilliant character writing on their part I admit. In this case the voice fits a narrative and gives depth to the character, which is why I had a hard time getting behind he Tengu voices, I suppose.

@Asum.4960 said:

@"Blur.3465" said:Lately I can't help but wince at the choice of voices.That Deer spirit in the new Canthan Fractal...why? Why does that deer sound like a little girl? Why is its voice so high-pitched and out of place? Why doesn't the creature sound wise and soothing?What's with the Tengu voice from the new story bit too? She sounds high-pitched again and annoying. Most of the birds are very appealing and like music for your ears. Why must the voices be so out of place and annoying?

Lately all I'm hearing in GW2 are annoying and high pitched voices.Heck even my parents roll their eyes, asking if it's some kids' cartoon or something.Quaggan, new Tengu, deer Spirit, Taimi (who used to talk non-stop when doing story), Skritt.

This

might give you some insight why the "Spirit of the Mountain" sounds like a little girl.While it put me off at first as well, in this case it actually makes sense if you pay attention to the story.

[Ferin Delanore.2674]

I mean haha you seem to dislike lots of voices and that is very personal. I didn't particularly dislike the ones you mentioned since most have a background reason to sound that way ( Taimi is 14-16) (Spirit of the Forest is a little girl's spirit) etcHOWEVER! You do say something that truly hit the nail on the head! 21st Century voice. ABSOLUTELY! I think so much of the voice acting AND the post work done to the sounds makes them very contemporary which the environment of the game is not even close to. That is why some voices feel out of touch with the ingame reality.A good example would be Hagrid and Dobby the house elf from Harry Potter. Both Characters that could have any mix of voices yet the style made them believable. I could see Hagrid have a high or low voice yet the style is what truly matters in that case. Dobby could have a low timbre of voice but without the style of acting befitting the era it would sound out of place too.Food for thought.

@Blur.3465 said:

@Ferin Delanore.2674 said:To clarify, I feel like lot's of those voices you mention are appropriate at times and I got a lot of heat for suggesting they don't fit.SO I just want to maybe ask you this... do you think the voice doesn't fit the Characters or maybe that the way it sounds out of place from the game as a whole makes you go Hmmm ... why does this deer sound like a small girl and this Tengu as well? For me it was the fact that the sound itself was so high pitched it didn't melt together with th game environment and I felt it was out of place in a way. So a high pitch Tengu sounding youthful could be totally cool but maybe with a different Dialect or speech pattern to match a talking bird.Even if not soothing, the bird sounds could almost be annoying and they can talk as if they try hard to communicate in your language or something. I am just trying to find creative ways to make this AWESOME race sound just as cool as the Charr for example or the Skritt. Notice how when skritt talk they stutter sometimes and talk fast like a mouse running fast into a wall lol :DIDK I love exploring that side of a game to try and make it as realistically rooted in nature as possible so that it feels real. For now.. some voices just lack that.

@Blur.3465 said:Lately I can't help but wince at the choice of voices.That Deer spirit in the new Canthan Fractal...why? Why does that deer sound like a little girl? Why is its voice so high-pitched and out of place? Why doesn't the creature sound wise and soothing?What's with the Tengu voice from the new story bit too? She sounds high-pitched again and annoying. Most of the birds are very appealing and like music for your ears. Why must the voices be so out of place and annoying?

Lately all I'm hearing in GW2 are annoying and high pitched voices.Heck even my parents roll their eyes, asking if it's some kids' cartoon or something.Quaggan, new Tengu, deer Spirit, Taimi (who used to talk non-stop when doing story), Skritt.

We're two on this. The way the voices are just 'put' seem very out of place in game.It also made me question: "What happened to different accents?"Accents make races unique and I feel they should've done that with MANY races, which isn't the case for some strange reason.So many voices really don't fit the game's immersion. GW1 never had these issues, I was fine with all voices from GW1. GW2 though...something is off.What you mentioned about Tengu voice is 100% true...and it could've been handled better. Make her sound more like a bird and less like a 21st century human?However...everything about that Fractal Deer Spirit is off for me XD the voice and the way the voice was done/put!...and Taimi just annoyed me cause she was 100% in every single story, making me just want to mute the speakers hahaha, kinda killed the seriousness and immersion of the game.

[Nilkemia.8507]

The female Tengu voice did feel a bit off. Though, considering the only Tengu I've heard before this were all male (and most if not all voiced by just a few people), I can't say if it's the voice that is unfitting, or if it's just not fitting compared to what I've heard before.

That being said, she does seem a bit...high pitched or genki girl...as if it's actually an asura or something in disguise as a tengu. Still, not bad. In the end, I was more disappointed that we didn't get to see past the wall.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Do we know the age of Kalidris Sparrowhawk? I mean, if her 'job' was delivering mail, perhaps she is a teenager? Or, quite young, anyway, to have such a lowly position and being from the 'Great Family'.

[Algreg.3629]

@Ferin Delanore.2674 said:I agree that the bird like sounds were nice, but do you think they match the Physique of a 7ft tall avian humanoid shooting a bow at enemies and then chirping with an asuran voice? It is just an observation.What comes to mind are the Great Eagles from lord of the rings who rescue Gandalf. If they had voices they wouldn't sound like a high pitch bird in the first place.Maybe It is just me not being able to see the Face-Voice match yet. Maybe you are right and they are perfect as they are. I am just imagining them being playable and having that voice last for years, so I thought a discussion on what people would enjoy seeing would be fun to try.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:Although the voices were a bit surprising to me, I'm guessing the high pitch is due to the way 'talking' (in real life) birds sound.Seems appropriate to me.

have you ever heard Brock Lesnar speaking :P

[Ferin Delanore.2674]

L O L :D Loved that hahaha! Well! That still is a good example of character voice matching a circumstance and physique and intention. When he yells and fights it does sound deeper and has nuance and then he has interviews where it smashes puberty levels. I do imagine a teen Tengu sounding younger but then I think of how there is no Physical difference between any of them so I had a hard time jiving with the voice over and the sound of the voice in the space it was provided in.

@Algreg.3629 said:

@Ferin Delanore.2674 said:I agree that the bird like sounds were nice, but do you think they match the Physique of a 7ft tall avian humanoid shooting a bow at enemies and then chirping with an asuran voice? It is just an observation.What comes to mind are the Great Eagles from lord of the rings who rescue Gandalf. If they had voices they wouldn't sound like a high pitch bird in the first place.Maybe It is just me not being able to see the Face-Voice match yet. Maybe you are right and they are perfect as they are. I am just imagining them being playable and having that voice last for years, so I thought a discussion on what people would enjoy seeing would be fun to try.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:Although the voices were a bit surprising to me, I'm guessing the high pitch is due to the way 'talking' (in real life) birds sound.Seems appropriate to me.

have you ever heard Brock Lesnar speaking :P

[VocalThought.9835]

That Tengu voice was a terrible pick. I understand that every body sounds differently, but this was our first introduction of Tengu in GW2. To ignore general expectations, you would have to sell it that this voice is a better fit. It reminds me of when Star Wars added Jar-Jar, a character that fills a major roll in the story. It really misses the mark. Why would you introduce something that's so off putting.

I agree... That voice does not fit with that character. It's weird and ackward. It reminds me of when my nephew turn 13. Every time he speaks, although I see his lips moving, I'm wondering where that other sound is coming from.

[Biermeister.4678]

The female voice did not bother me but the male voice did it was not sounding wise like other Tengu that you encounter in the game

[Ferin Delanore.2674]

Boom! 8:43m in she notices the exact thing I mean. Pretty much same reaction as I had initially. Not negative... just unexpected. This is one of GW2's partners who makes regular great vids.

[Linken.6345]

@"Ferin Delanore.2674" said:Boom! 8:43m in she notices the exact thing I mean. Pretty much same reaction as I had initially. Not negative... just unexpected. This is one of GW2's partners who makes regular great vids.

But you forgot to add that they said .Not what I expected the first tengu to sound like, But I like it.

So not like your opening post at all.

[Ferin Delanore.2674]

I didn’t say I dislike it I said it doesn’t fit and that it sounds off on a technical level.I said I like the actor’s performance but that somewhere along the line of production decisions were made that simply made it feel off.Watch her reaction.It’s how I felt. She later continues to point out how it feels strange and that the filter used on voice is a bit too loud and I agree with her.THUS why I offered for people to comment suggestions on what possibly could improve what we have so far.

@Linken.6345 said:

@"Ferin Delanore.2674" said:Boom! 8:43m in she notices the exact thing I mean. Pretty much same reaction as I had initially. Not negative... just unexpected. This is one of GW2's partners who makes regular great vids.

But you forgot to add that they said .Not what I expected the first tengu to sound like, But I like it.

So not like your opening post at all.

[Yggranya.5201]

@Ferin Delanore.2674 said:What comes to mind are the Great Eagles from lord of the rings who rescue Gandalf. If they had voices they wouldn't sound like a high pitch bird in the first place.

You should check out Lord of the Rings: War in the North, a game where the great eagles talk, if i recall correctly.

[Blur.3465]

I like how Skeksis from Dark Crystal sound...especially the Emperor. Menacing, yet awesome.Arakkoa from WoW sound really good too, very fitting.Tengu shouldn't sound THIS human. They need something, something...better filter, less human voice, some effect added...and maybe even accent.

[Poormany.4507]

Tbh, the voice acting for Kalidris made me cringe hard during that mission. It just sounded really out of place and distracting to me the way it currently is. I do think adding in some kind of filter to make it sound more "tengu-like" would have massively improved its quality imo. To me, the other Tengu have fine voice acting as is, just in this instance it did not work as well.

[Abelisk.5148]

Darn it! I wanted them to sound like this!

[Milkshake.4370]

@zealex.9410 said:Her voice is warming up to me, however, what i feel like has taken a nose dive in thes of voice acting has been pulling back from accent work. Tengu use to have an asian accent and that seems to just be gone now.

when did they have an Asian accent?

[Milkshake.4370]

DISCLAIMED: I urge you to read this post with an open mind as it is not an attack on the game but rather some commentary from my personal gameplay experience.

Hey everyone,

I just finished playing through the latest content and I have quite a few comments on specifically the Tengu voice acting. What is going LOL! Why do they sound like little girls from Disney movies? I am a bit confused why they chose to voice these epic warrior birds as animated children. Although the voice acting is great on its own, it does not match the gameplay or the appearance of the birds.

If you take a look at

, it literally sounds like the Tengu birds.

Also, specifically in the dragon response mission with Canach, the way the voices are integrated into the game do not match. Canach has a large reverb/echo which makes him sound like he is in a large place (outdoors) and provides a feel of grandness to his character while the Tengu bird sounds high pitched and out of place.

Does anybody else have this experience LOL??? Seems so out of place

[Lord Trejgon.2809]

I will answer to your question with a question....

Have you maybe heard, the kind of noises birds produce? At least on average......

(TL:DR highly pitched voice for a tengu make sense because beaks tends to be good at producing those)

[Fueki.4753]

The new Tengu is supposed to be a young girl.So being voiced similar to young girls in Disney movies isn't too surprising.

They should have adjusted the model size to reflect that though.Visually, nothing of that towering bird strikes me as "young girl".

[Randulf.7614]

@"Milkshake.4370" said:DISCLAIMED: I urge you to read this post with an open mind as it is not an attack on the game but rather some commentary from my personal gameplay experience.

Hey everyone,

I just finished playing through the latest content and I have quite a few comments on specifically the Tengu voice acting. What is going LOL! Why do they sound like little girls from Disney movies? I am a bit confused why they chose to voice these epic warrior birds as animated children. Although the voice acting is great on its own, it does not match the gameplay or the appearance of the birds.

If you take a look at

, it literally sounds like the Tengu birds.

Also, specifically in the dragon response mission with Canach, the way the voices are integrated into the game do not match. Canach has a large reverb/echo which makes him sound like he is in a large place (outdoors) and provides a feel of grandness to his character while the Tengu bird sounds high pitched and out of place.

Does anybody else have this experience LOL??? Seems so out of place

There a few threads on this already, so yes it has been noticed - some like the shriller, bird like approach and others do not. Also, Cananch has a new VA so that is contributing to him sounding different.

[Milkshake.4370]

@"Fueki.4753" said:The new Tengu is supposed to be a young girl.So being voiced similar to young girls in Disney movies isn't too surprising.

They should have adjusted the model size to reflect that though.Visually, nothing of that towering bird strikes me as "young girl".

yep exactly!!! its a little bit of a mismatch!