I chose the second option, though I would also prefer British accents - not a big thing, though.
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Noice! 
Based on the fact it is to be a production for this era I would say modern international English with a smattering of period language or complete phrases, rather than the occasional word thrown in. I think you may get away with more archaic english for written, in-game elements than spoken language.
Personally as a native speaker I have no problem with accented English where it is obvious the speaker is German/Czech/Hungarian/not a native speaker, to the contrary I like hearing different accents; however, my French is very basic from lack of use and German is on a par with my Urdu (yeah itās like that).
Iām not opposed to subtitled translations but how well would this be received by the playerbase at large? Where it appears to be mostly disliked.
It isnāt available but thank you,
to avoid emotional interpretations fail, it is the best solution.
(And I hope it is understandable, what I mean.)
But this one stands alone again.
No one will be able to understand and is something that no one understands.
Sorry but i think the localization will beā¦ bad, in some situations!
the old shakespearan voiceovers were better than the modern american english imo
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I would like the characters to speak English but have Czech accents. This would feel the most immersive in my opinion.
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Iāve chosen the 2nd option. However why not have characters talk in certain ways or languages? In my company Iāve seen people talking bilingual in a dialogue, because they were able to understand both languages but could speak one language more fluently. Therefore they choose the language they feel more comfortable with.
You might use the social standing or the profession as an indicator. Please donāt use accents. Dying Light was really awful in some of their dialogues.
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Yes, please. A British accent may sound out of place, but a forced casual American accent even more so. The current voice-overs sound like they belong in an 80s Michael J. Fox movie, much less a game set in early fifteenth-century Bohemia. I regret to say I find them absolutely abysmal.
P.S. English accents come with the added benefit that itās very easy to emulate social class distinctions. E.g. estuary English for middle class, East-London Mockney for lower class thugs, Received Pronunciation for nobles, Northern English for rural communities, ā¦ Itās all but politically correct, but itās omnipresent in entertainment. Game of Thrones, for instance, quite explicitly does this. It is much more difficult to emulate class with American accents.
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Iām not sure how to put it but as a person with zero knowledge in Czech, I think voicing the game in the native language would cause people to feel disconnected with the characters/storyline even though its more immersive (?) and accurate.
I, would, however be a strong proponent of the use of accents to help designate/emphasize the origin/culture of characters.
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I voted for Czech voiceover (with subtitles in as many other languages as possible ).
Of course, I would definitely prefer authentic Medieval Czech/German/Latin - I donāt think it would be that difficult. We have experts here dealing with medieval weapons, clothes, agriculture etc. etc. Why not expert in linguistics who could actually help Warhorse āto write the game in correct periodic languageā? The examples here are not only Scottās Exodus in modern English, but Gibsonās āThe Passion of the Christā in Aramaic and Latin, right?
But OK, if that option is unfortunately out of question, then modern Czech is still the best available choice.
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I am really against a British accent in the spoken parts. The game is not taking place in GB, neither are there any (!) British characters inside, as I would guess. Itās like in Harold and Kumar 2: an Indian person does not speak with indian accent, which is weird and destroys the atmosphere.
Considering the game is taking place in a czech area, I think the accent (if there is one at all) should alude to czech style of speech.
I really like Hellboyās proposal to create some language style that is not TOO archaic, but not too modern either. Just imagine you would play a game with the original speech style of the bible! That would not be fun, because every 3 words you would have to look something up or you stumble upon a word that just sounds ridiculous.
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Okay you want accurate language, hereās a comparison of FrĆ¼hneuhochdeutsch and Deutsch:
http://www.stefanjacob.de/Geschichte/Unterseiten/Textproben.php?Multi=56
Just compare how each text is written and how much it differs. I can tell you right away as a German that itāll be absolutely complicated for the German audience to understand the accurate language of that period, although itās our own language just with messed up grammar and spelling.
Thatās the problem I see here. You can be accurate and lose a huge part of the possible audience just because itās too difficult to follow the first dialogues.
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Plough the Lillies!
Oh wait wrong game isnāt it? I liked how the Witcher handled it, normal although not overly modern English with some words from their own universe thrown in.
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Es verwundert mich hefftig daĆ / da sonst wir Teutschen keiner Nation an Kunst und Geschickligkeit bevor geben / doch biĆ jetzund niemandt under uns gefunden worden / so der Poesie in unserer Muttersprach sich mit einem rechten fleiĆ und eifer angemasset
A few words are closer to modern day Dutch words with roughly similar meaning.
hefftig
Poesie
If we go back far enough we could probably speak to each other in our native language.
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I completely agree. I dont want archaic English, but putting a light british accent will do the trick.
I agree with your thinking. Since fully accurate old Czech/Germal/Latin (with subtitles) is not possible, the best solution to me seems to do voices in modern English so that the maximum number of people understand it.
I see this option as the most realistic as well, since people of that day would naturally understand their native language, much as most of us understand modern English. There were language barriers between Czech, German, and Latin, of course, and it would be interesting to show these, but a) the budget can probably be spent on better things, and b) a good blacksmith would probably need to understand German anyway if he wanted to do business with the nobility. As for accent, British would probably work better than US, since US didnāt even exist at the time and so an American accent may bother some people (not me, though).
Iām also perfectly fine playing in modern Czech with subtitles. That would slash the audio budget even further and avoid āpoor voice actingā complaints from non-speakers, but Iām afraid it would also turn some people away from the game.
Just please donāt use Ye olde English(e?) - it has no real bearing to the setting and it absolutely sounds weird and unnatural to present-day ears.
Thanks for listening to our input on such an important question!
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Iād say use international English, but with local Czech/German accents, makes for the best kind. Proper Shakespearean English can be hard to follow for even English speakers, and Old/Middle English is next-to-impossible for a modern English-speaker to read.
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I donāt like this idea so much, i think it should be voiced over by czech people but in the English language adding mainly modern English but also having a bit of Shakespearean as well as the odd word in Latin and German.
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I also love what you are doing and have put lots of my money towards it but i have to say what ever you do if the voice overs are like the ones currently in the game (AMERICAN!!!) then im afraid to say i will have to stop supporting you for the shame i feal i would have on something that would of otherwise been great.
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iām not a native anglophone and have no problem with the kind of language they used in the livestream, even though itās quite archaic.
the only issue that arose was the lack of natural delivery, as grammar and syntax rules were different. but i still like it. and it can be easily remedied
it makes me feel MORE immersed when the language is a bit different or difficult.
why would it be immersive to listen to two czechs from 1400s speak like they just came out of starbucks? i never understood this mentality.
How about that idea: The character has language skills. If the language skill is really high, he can translate it into modern English. Anything else will be very archaic and therefore difficult to understand.
The only problem I see here is the writing and recording of all these dialogues in 2 versions.
In general I donāt believe in one solution for all occasions. IMHO characters should be unique not only by their looks but also by their language, which gives the player a reasonable indicator of someoneās background.
An easy trick working in the real world: talk to complete strangers and ask them, if they could help you counting something for you (e.g. number of spires of a castle). Listen very carefully as they mumble the numbers in their native language. Thatās how you can identify someoneās native language. Similar approaches could be used in the game to identify someoneās language and therefore enable a better relationship by being able to speak their native language.
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