Poll: Voiceovers, accents and archaic language

I would go The Witcher way, personally, and use modern language with some archaic terms. I would also allow people to customise language combinations of the voice over packs and subtitles in game (if the engine allows it, of course), which would allow people to have the game completely in English or, if they so chose (and some English-speaking minority does play The Witcher with Polish dub and English subtitles), to play the Czech version with English subtitles.

As for the accents in the English version, I would go for British English - it’s usually the default go-to-accent in the historical movies and it has a wide range of regional varieties that can be used to distinguish social standing of the characters. It also sounds less jarring, as has been pointed out, I don’t know but the idea of a medieval farmer sounding like a cowboy is slightly weird for me, especially in non-fantasy setting.

Of course, having Czech accents in English would be a cool feature, but I doubt that most English-speaking actors can do a decent Czech accent without ending up sounding like a stereotypical Russian. A solution would be to have Czech actors speak English, but I doubt that most Czech actors could pull off a good performance in English, or that there is enough good Czech actors whose English is good enough to do so.

I’ve pretty much skipped to the end of this thread, but this sums it up for me. I don’t want this game to be a medieval simulator, and if it is to succeed as a commercial venture it has to be accessible. I think capturing the overall essence of the period, inducing some language from the time makes far more sense than going hardcore and turning it into some kind of study sim, for medieval scholars only.

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immersion has nothing to do with simulation. they would be speaking a mixture of latin, german, slavic languages, etc anyway.

i hate the idea of “accessibility” especially when it applies to artistic things and features. art is supposed to be a bit different, original, challenging. why does it have to be dumbed down? why can we not expect more from people? i think we should give them more credit, and give ourselves more credit, and stop asking for dumbing down things just because we’re afraid of the unknown, of something new and different.

^

This is a ‘game’ though and like it or not it has to sell enough copies to give us the full three acts. The money raised through pledges is not enough… it has to sell outside too. The scope of this game demands too much from a large team to be an ‘art’ project, however worthy that is. There is still plenty of room for artistic expression, even if compromises have to be made.

I’m all for art too (its my job actually) but reality does present some constraints… I do appreciate where you’re coming from though.

Just do Czech voices with many subtitles as possible…

I don’t see the point to have english voices in a game who set in Eastern Europe…

If peoples really want to get immersed they will turn it in Czech anyway…

I’m not an Eglish speaker (french), but I watch all my movies in their original voice acting and I don’t see why i’t would be different for video games…

If this game pretends to have a realistic medieval universe, it would be logic to have Czech voices, with archaïc accents and words…

If there is english subtitles and UI, it would be fine right ?

In my opinion, there is no point to have others voices than Czech for a game who set in Czech republic…

It would be a lack of immersion to play it in english…

I’m not Czech (actually I’m french), but I just want the subtitles in french, and in many languages as possible…

Doing other dubbings than Czech would be a waste of money and time…

I think you’re quite right in your post. However, why not to make it in let’s say mix of German and Polish, then. Modern Czech is so far different from the medieval one… Hus, Comenius and later era of nationalism changed it so much - I remember I have studied some diplomatics and seen tons of medieval latin and czech documents there, mostly official, though.

I always use subtitles, where possible. Even english ones. But since Henry, that retarded son of a b…lacksmith, can’t probably read and write anyway, wouldn’t it break game immersion, then? :smile:

Well, I think many actors know english quite well, since Czech republic, resp. Barrandoff studios are popular destination for (not only) Hollywood filmmakers from early 90’s till today. Some even played minor roles from Eurotrip to Mission Impossible and had few sentences there :smiley: Others, like Karel Roden, spent long years in Hollywood, and so did few others like Miroslav Taborsky or Barbora Kodetova I think. These three would be vital asset for Deliverance or any other game as well.

There are few films that didn’t go well, though, most notably The Pagan Queen, neopaganic feministic interpretation of old slavic myths, that are mostly based on early celtic history of Bohemia. German director, czech, ukrainian, hungarian, irish and american actors (among others) didn’t helped to make this a good film, either.

Jast luk atit! “Your mother was a tree elf. She has given you a special gift - the past and future.”

I’m Czech, I know that there are some capable, internationally successful actors like Vladimír Kulich and Karel Roden (both of whom would be great in this game), but the question is… is there enough of such actors? Games of this size can have around 50 voice actors in overall and I’m still not sure we have enough to cast an entire game with those (which won’t be a problem for the promised Czech dub version), even though there’s always plenty of relatively unknown actors to choose from.

I will not comment on english or other languages but czech: I don’t get it. Why do you think that using czech, german in castle area and latin i church (with subtitles) is confusing? You are playing with every little chapel on the road so that it is just as it was i those times but language is miner? For me, language gives more feeling than other features (i play witcher in polish as well, just for the authentique feeling). There were lot of czech movies combining these 3 languages with no problem - even the czech speaking with german accent in eg.F.L.Vek gives good vibration of those times. I think that language doesn’t have to be archaic so no one understands but putting few archaistic expressions or old sentence conctruction would give o good vibration to this realistic game. Well speaking only about czech mutation which shouldn’t be missed.

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I think having the Czech language spoken would be all right, but here I will speak about the English language version. Dan has said that Shakespearian English would not sound right because it does not have anything to do with his country where the game is set. Dan does not seem to want anything too regional either. Different ways of speaking bring different things to mind, and considerations should be made regarding this. If they all spoke Scottish English then it would sound like they were Scottish people speaking the language of foreigners, like people speaking a foreign language in their own accent, or like the language being spoken in a foreign accent. English spoken by Welshmen, Cornishmen and Irishmen are for the same reason off the list. They would bring to mind people speaking a foreign language in the accent of their own native language.

The goal would be to represent the native Czech speakers in the game who are not speaking a foreign language in an accent from another language, but their own language in its own accent(s).
I think it would be best to hire voice actors who are native speakers of English who speak some English accent or another, rather than a Scottish accent or an Indian accent or something like that.
So we have to ask which accent or accents would be best. The accents of Australia and New Zealand are English ones, but the trouble is what they bring to mind. They are sufficiently different to bring to mind the fact that they are the accents of colonies in a far away land. The Czech republic is not a colony in a far away continent, so Australian and New Zealand accents would not be suitable. In addition, the Australian accent is influenced by Irish accent, I have heard, and Irish accents in English have already been dismissed as too foreign to be good representations of the situation in Bohemia. American English, too, is a mixture of Irish and Scottish and the like, and is the distinctive sound of a colony on a far away continent. The Englishes of England itself are the best representations of the native accents of a native language, but there are so many how can we choose? Henry in the game is a peasant, and there are plenty more peasants too, so should we go for an old traditional accent from England for them? If so then we have to pick one of many old traditional modern Englishes. Over the centuries the different parts of England have come to speak so differently that a Dorset speaker and a Northumbrian speaker would be unable to understand each other (For those who don’t know, Dorset is in South-West England, with Northumbria being in North-East England). Another problem is that to the learned ear the birthplaces of the voice actors can be deduced, and having regional accents may be bad if someone says “aah, Henry’s from Dorset,” or “This person is from this particular street in Birmingham”. Also people who have learned English as a second language may have a hard time grasping what is being said if it is not spoken in the accent they are learning the language in or one like it.

Dan wants an international English. Fortunately, there has been an attempt at creating an accent that is understood throughout England, called posh or received pronunciation. The words are spoken quite clearly, although compared to some other native accents some vowels and consonants are dropped, and some words and grammar forms are missing. Although this accent is generally considered more Southern than Northern, it does not belong to any part of England in particular, making it the least regional accent of all of England, and it is widely understood and known. Those who speak it cannot have their birthplaces deduced.

Although I am proposing this widely spoken English as a good candidate, my personal preference is for a more traditional English, which would fit the theme of workers of the land in medieval Bohemia. I would quite like Shakespearian English too. I have read the English of the United States of America be proposed too, but for the following reasons I think it is a very bad choice. It is largely influenced by Irish speech and the like, so it sounds a lot like Irish English, so it sounds like it is spoken in a somewhat foreign accent. It sounds distinctively the speech of a a colony far away, nothing like Bohemia. Also something personal to me but also to some others in England, it sounds a bit silly and when I hear it I find it hard to take the speaker seriously. The USA didn’t even exist in the middle ages.

Having some in the game speak German and some Latin would be interesting, but many people playing the game may understand German or Latin, and understand things that Henry really shouldn’t. Maybe having an obscure Medieval German spoken could help with that.

Something like game of thrones English.

Game of Thrones… English…

Game of Scones?

Game of Scones

Nothing happens except afternoon tea and some well read literature.

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Don’t forget the incessant gossiping :wink:

Czech & German voices or generic “medieval” English (think Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Vikings, whatever). It might not make historical sense but it feels more natural than American for sure.

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For the love of all that is holy and sacred any accent but American. You replace the American accents, I buy your game. You don’t, and I won’t.

I don’t know Czech so it probably wouldn’t sound weird to me with subtitles and I might even learn some Czech from playing the game like that.
I agree completely on languages in TV and Movies with those accents that suppose to represent someone speaking their native tongue.
I would prefer though the use of the language to be less modern, and more in the spirit of how they would’ve talked.
So it doesn’t mean unintelligible but still won’t be using modern words.

This will probably never see the light of day…

If the voice actors are going to speak in English… at least do it in Middle english, such as from Geoffrey Chaucer’s works.

Also subtitles.

Hi!

Please don’t use any British or American accent.
German or Czech accent will be perfect.
Language is international English

Regards

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