Voice actors who don’t know the context? In SWTOR , that’s probably everyday life – at least that’s what Cortyn thinks.
Another beautiful Wednesday! Do you also know these nice polarizing topics? I’ve picked one today because it jumped right in my face. The differences between German and English dubbing in a single case.
In preparation for “Knights of the Eternal Throne” (KotET), I decided to play through the current expansion “Knights of the Fallen Empire” (KotFE) from start to finish in one go.
The German dubbing of SWTOR has three problems
Generally, I’m not someone who demonizes the German dubbing right away – World of Warcraft or Mass Effect (by the way, also by BioWare) received good dubbings that even surpass the original.
I also don’t want to demonize the entire game. The voices of the main characters, such as the imperial agent, the Sith Inquisitor, or the voices of Lana Beniko and Arcann all do a good job. But generally, there are 3 points about the German voices of KotFE that really bother me:
Poor cuts:
In the German language, many things are simply longer than in the English version – this is rarely avoidable. But couldn’t someone at BioWare have played the German version before release? It happens so often that characters “interrupt themselves” because the next audio recording is already being played while the first one isn’t even finished yet.
Overuse of voice actors:
Maybe there are too few voice actors in Germany who can be found for video games, or maybe BioWare just likes the voices of Kaliyo and Satele Shan. But that can’t be an excuse for almost all “ambient” characters (that is, conversations running in the background) having the same voices. Not just the same voices, but every time in exactly the same tones.
Time and again, you stop in astonishment and look around questioningly. Huh? Did Kaliyo just want something from me? Is Satele Shan here? But no, it’s just “Unimportant Side Character 19” discussing with “Even Less Important Character 20” how terrible everything is. That would contribute greatly to the atmosphere – if they didn’t all sound the same.
Emotionless voice actors
This category is mainly about the “small adversaries” in the game, such as elite enemies or minibosses, who are not that important but occur relatively frequently in the game.
Especially in this category, the work done is even so poor that I am now seriously convinced that the voice actors don’t even know in what context they are speaking their lines – as if someone holds them the texts and says “Read this out loud,” without any context or description of the situation.
An example: After a long and exhausting battle, my agent throws a thermal detonator at the Knight of Zakuul, who collapses to the ground engulfed in flames. “This cannot end like this” I read in the chat and – well – I hear it too. However, the Knight’s voice does not sound as if he has just spoken the last sentence of his life, but as if he is complaining about a “1-” in the math test while the rest of the class barely passed with a “4” (we all know that type).
Sure, it’s not always like this – but it bothers. It thoroughly ruins the atmosphere.
Is the original really better? Absolutely: Yes. Voices are rarely repeatedly assigned (or I don’t recognize them because they sound different) and it seems at least that the voice actors know what kind of situation the character is in, whom they are supposed to bring to life.
Whoever wants to quickly beat through “Knights of the Fallen Empire” in preparation for the new expansion should definitely do it in the original English version. Everything else unfortunately borders on a caricature – even though I feel sorry for the really good voice actors of the main characters, who have grown dear to me over the years.
If you disagree: Go ahead. Let me know!
The new expansion “Knights of the Fallen Empire” is set to come out all at once:
SWTOR: Like Netflix – New expansion coming on Friday ‘all at once’
