Personally, I would like to see a distinct gap between landed gentry and general populace.
Aside from that, the language should be as accessible as possible to the widest audience possible, which would seem to discount the more archaic variations.
I am Czech but I´ve lived in Scotland for a couple of years and now I usually prefer my books,movies and games in English⌠But on KCD I would really like to hear some Czech,German and Latin. Hearing a Czech word (location name, ect.) in the middle of an English speech would probably disturb me even more than reading subtitles. That´s why I would like the common people to speak Czech (including,at least at first, the main character), nobles and knights to mix Czech and German and priests to keep Latin to themselves. When it comes to Latin I wouldn´t even bother with subtitles as most people at the time didn´t undertsnd it either and it didnt seem to bother them that muchâŚ
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[quote=âJiriP, post:187, topic:8585â]
When it comes to Latin I wouldn´t even bother with subtitles as most people at the time didn´t undertsnd it either and it didnt seem to bother them that muchâŚ[/quote]
That would be fun and probably add to the authenticity.
Generally, Iâd prefer contemporary, formal language, with maybe a few older expressions thrown in here and there, as long as it does not sound too much out of place. No slang, please.
As for the language version: I lean towards English, if that is the language it is originally produced in. Being from Germany, where literally everything is translated/dubbed, I long since figured out that the original is almost always the better choice, be it books, TV series, movies or video games. There are exceptions to this rule, but those are few.
I also have to add that the spoken voice does not matter that much to me. Iâm often done reading the subtitles/text long before the voice over is halfway through the sentence, so I usually end up skipping voice anyway. In fact, I find that since fully voiced RPGs became the norm, quality of dialogue has been steadily declining without adding much of a benefit.
[quote=âTheCombifreak, post:177, topic:8585â]
Maybe they should also use a german accent.[/quote]
Please donât use accents! As long as the people in the game are natives from the area, their speech should sound native too (no matter into which language it has been translated). The only acceptable use of an accent might be to voice somebody that isnât a local, provided that person is actually speaking the local language.
I prefer modern english but will survive any language. If you want to make a game for a largest possible audience english is the only option.
I donât care; can each of us communicate in our own language, and have it automatically translated to the recipient?
Well actually⌠Yes, your brain does automatically translate everything thatâs being said to you as long as it can make the necessary connections based on previous experience. And since weâre playing as the protagonist, and our protagonist has absolutely no issues understanding the languange, neither should we.
Iâd have problems roleplaying somebody who has lived somewhere his entire life if Iâve had extreme difficulties understanding a word being said to me.
Iâd still say keep it as close to the original as possible. I think you get used to it pretty quicklyâŚ
Once upon a time in the early 90s there was a game called âDarklandsâ by Microprose. They tried to make a 15th century game set in central europe. For language, they used non-archaic English but with German words sprinkled in as nouns for flavor. It actually worked pretty well. Granted, it was for reading rather than hearing, and not every single German letter was used if it was determined that the word would be too alien for an English-speaking audience, but since German and English have common roots, there were many German words that were close enough to the English word that I could understand it, even as a child. I imagine something similar could be done for Kingdom Come with Czech and/or German words mixed in with the English.
For my best feel it would be common english with feel of old accent and perhaps true latina (with eng subs) sometimes.
The main characters native language is obviously Czech if it effectively is English in game then I prefer accents of regions where English is spoken. (only applies to characters whose native language is Czech) I donât oppose use of older English but I donât think itâs relevant to the level of immersion because it doesnât make it any closer to medieval Czech. I think regionally different language can be portrait with English accents in case of closely related languages (Moravian,Silesian ,âŚ) but characters speaking german languages or latin should use medieval versions of there languages, since the main character might not be supposed to understand them.
I will play the original version warhorse writes the game in and will use subtitles if i need to.
Darklands is still available as freeware/abandonware from some websites. Itâs a rather good game, but can be unforgiving. It tries to stay as historically accurate as feasible given the tech limits of the time, but with the addition of all folklore/myths/legends being true. Iâd recommend playing it, and thanks for reminding me that I still have it on my system somewhereâŚ
Since one of the main ideas of the game is realism I think the language should reflect this. Im used to listening to other languages in movies and such since Im from Sweden. We dont have any dubbing other than for childrens movies. I hope there are no children in the target group for this game?
I would prefer the multilingual variant where characters speak the language that would have been spoken. With subtitles for those spoken words that the character can understan. (Of course all the important lines should be understood)
If not that than I would like an âarchaicâ english with dialects so signify different ethnicity.
The third option would be just the âarchaicâ english.
I would not like a really modern english. But I guess the âarchaicâ variant would be some hybrid where normal english is used without slang and with some âoldâ wordings. And of course real english not americanâŚ
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Itâs also available on GOG.com for just a few dollars. It is still a lot of fun, but I would LOVE a remake.
As English is not my native language, I think old English will fit in better and help with immersion. When I played Dark Souls I was quite suprised that some characters use olde English (even had to look in a dictionary sometimes) but it helped creating a atmosphere.
Or another example is a Little Jacob from GTAIV. I barely understood da ting dat he spoke (as my English by ear is not that good + disastrous Jamaican accent) but in the end I get used to him and this really helped making this character memorable.
I doubt Dark Souls used Old English.
This is Old English:
HwĂŚt, we gar-dena in geardagum,
Ăžeodcyninga Ăžrym gefrunon,
hu Ă°a ĂŚĂželingas ellen fremedon!
Also, Old English would not even be the appropriate language for the time period (youâd want Middle English).
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Dear Warhorse,
First post and made it to give my feedback on this in particular. I believe that using Shakespearian style English would be awesome! For Sooth! Anyway, I know there are lots of people out there that donât bother trying to know what is being spoke and I agree that adding a âtheeâ or âthouâ every once and a while would feel forced. But if there were good script writers then they could make it all flow and be more believable. I would love to see a Czech dub with appropriate languages for everyone (Turks speak Turkish, Church members use Latin, etc.), However I would love to also see Shakespearian English full blown. Of course it isnât ârealisticâ but I doubt the use of historical Czech or Old high German or what not will be practical. Giving in to people who want a lack of âNayâ or âFie!â in the speech will lower the quality of the game in my opinion. You are trying to make a medieval world, why not make the language used feel medieval .
As a note: I understand that Shakespearean English (or it is more accurately called Early Modern English) is not âMedievalâ but its the closest thing for English Speakers to easily understand over sayâMiddle English or Anglo-Saxon and yet still give a medieval feel.
It would be amazing to have the archaic script. Ideally having Czech dubbed version, English Shakespearean (or Archaic), and English (modern) that could be changed with a flip of a button would be sweet. However, the practically limitations would make me want simply the Archaic English (as a native English Speaker).
Many people are unaware that the modern standard American accent is closer to the pre-1800s English accent than the modern English accents are. Media commonly misuses variations of the current English accents instead of the era-appropriate accents.
Closer to Elizabethan English, maybe, (post 1550 or so). Not much further back 
Added to which, not the standard American accent but the high southern drawl - which was an affectation peculiar to the aristocracy and landowners, not the laymen. So, not all that similar.
Do you mean American English is more like pre-1800s than every English accent, or most of them, or half of them, or a few of them?