DUBS VS SUBS - VIDEO GAMES

[Magma]

SO
Are you the kind of person who when playing a Japanese made game will immediately switch it to Japanese as soon as the game starts if given the chance? Do you prefer English? Do you not care at all???

Me? I have a bit of a peculiar stance when it comes to this situation. I will say I lean more towards the original language but it's a bit complex. Typically if the game has a Japanese setting or more of an anime feel I will lean towards Japanese. If it doesn't, if the dub is of good quality with a good script and all then I may lean more towards English. For me it has to do with immersiveness I guess. English dubs of things with distinctly Japanese settings always seem odd to me. On the flip side, Japanese being used in stuff like historical Europe is weird to me as well. I'm not really a purist since there are things I like and dislike from both.

On a related note I also somewhat dislike modern dubs due to the seemingly shallow talent pool that exists nowadays. It seems most dubs are handled either by Funimation or Studiopolis or whatever. They make good dubs but I just find hearing familiar voices to be distracting after a certain point. There seemed to be a lot more variety in the late 90s early 2000s which I guess I miss since I am a fan of several english voice actors.

 

[CM30]

Depends on the game?

I've seen some dubs that work really well, and make the game better than the original. The Mario RPGs usually come under this one, and it's partly why they sell better in the West than Japan. And for another one... well, both Wario Land and WarioWare are generally better in English than Japanese. The former has a lot more humour in English (especially in things like level names and treasure descriptions), and the latter actually made characters like Ashley much better in the translation.

Seriously. The Japanese version of the latter's song is just so utterly bland when you understand the lyrics.

Either way, if they're done well, dubs can be great.

On the other hand, some other dubs are terrible. Most notably this one:



So yeah, depends on the game. I'll look up how much people praise/criticise the changed script and dubbed voices then make a decision based on that.

 

[Glowsquid]

do weebs extend this to non-anglo non-nihon video games

Like, are there nerds insisting Beyond Good and Evil should be played in the original french

Depends on the game?

I've seen some dubs that work really well, and make the game better than the original. The Mario RPGs usually come under this one, and it's partly why they sell better in the West than Japan

Man I would kill for the proto voice-acted version of TTYD. I want to hear Charles Martinet act out all the outrageous dialogue options you can choose

 

[CM30]

do weebs extend this to non-anglo non-nihon video games

Like, are there nerds insisting Beyond Good and Evil should be played in the original french

Man I would kill for the proto voice-acted version of TTYD. I want to hear Charles Martinet act out all the outrageous dialogue options you can choose

LOL what? Don't think there were ever plans for a Mario RPG with voice acting, but that would be... interesting to see.

 

[Robin]

Dubs all the way. If the game presents me an option to have japanese voices, I'll switch to it to check out how it sounds, but I'll stick to english all the time. Some games now have portuguese and even so, I'll go for english dubs, even if it's cringy as heck.

 

[Mario123311]

Much like CM30 said, it depends on the game.

Klonoa for instance should stick to it's Japanese actors/Gibberish Made Up language because this...

Compared to his original voice this was honestly painful. He just sounds too old now to match his cute appearance.

 

[MonaWare]

Haha, I like just got into Beyond Good and Evil the other night, picked it up for cheap on Xbox and am loving it, is an amazing game. Neat : p

And always dubed for me, I dont speak a word of Japanese, or any other language for that matter, other than English. So like not only do I not understand what theyre saying, I feel like I relate to the in-game world even less. Ive said before that I enjoy getting lost in the fantasy of the game and all that, so when the characters speak in a language that I can understand I have an easier time becoming a part of that world.

Im not really that big of an anime fan and dont really care to keep the uhhh whole feel of an anime, I guess? Anywho, yeah I dont really care when they keep the Japanese VA track in a game, I never try it out with it, haha.

 

[The 3rd Wario Brother]

If given the option I ALWAYS do subs, I like to see things in there original language regardless of whether its Video Games or Movies or whatever, As long as the text box is in English.

 

[Metal]

When it comes to games I'm usually a lot more lenient with it's voice acting. Unless it's anything SOTN or HOTD shitty.
Playing Guilty Gear games however you don't really get a choice, Japanese va's all day everyday in that series.