Poll: Voiceovers, accents and archaic language

Story & Setting
#122

Czech accent is probably not a solution.

I think that somewhere in this tread most people agreed that modern english with some archaisms is best solution.

Main objective should be immersion, to bring feel of medieval times and yet making it understandable for today gaming population.
So if we have neutral english between british and american accent (though there is shit lot of accents in US and UK) with some archaic words not only we get “ye olde feeling” but also an educational value.

At the end of the day you get happy playerbase that additionaly learned some few new words.

#123

I really think it’s best to do this Assassin’s Creed style. AC Unity, for example, when you walk around France, what you hear is French. When you talk to someone, they speak English, but in a French accent. Other AC games were handled in the same way.

So the game should have English in Czech accent, English in German accent, and English in generic “Euro” accent. When you’re not talking to someone, you should hear the actual languages, and maybe have subtitles of what they’re saying when you’re within a certain proximity of the speaker.

I have read that some believe that English in Czech accent would be horrid. But I think it can be done properly. Since I’m a hockey fan, I’ll Jagr as my example. His English doesn’t sound so bad at all:

1 Like
#124

True but i would still find it more imersive to hear a Czech accent then a British accent for the 10,000 time :smile:

#125

Hmm, I do not follow the discussion, actually I visited KCD forums after quite a long time… I can’t play alpha anyway, since I need to upgrade, so I can’t give a proper response, yet I would somehow follow the L.N.Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ scheme, where you have long texts in french if I remember it well, so priest educated in latin would have his primary language (based on modern english) and use a lot of latinisms (with subtitles). I generally like having the subtitles in games… Traders would speak with (southern) accent. But ordinary characters, peasants and so, should stick to the modern, ordinary english I guess, no matter the accent. Simon Pegg or Vinnie Jones (in Eurotrip :smiley: ) would do a perfect voice for ‘heroes’, but bad for a simple peasant. I would personally use scottish (highlands) accent for witches and sly characters and irish for peasants, since I think that would be perfect thing.

Anyway, I would like to mention another thing (I found no better thread for it, so sorry!), the place names. So far they seem great and perfect. Just seen Merhojed. Some time ago Rattay (Ratay?) and Samopesh. So i wonder: Is there a source is it based on? Wiki used slightly different options (Merchojed) and in old czech the name would also look differently. Was ‘j’ letter even used? What I remembered from my studium of history, ‘y’ was often used instead of it. Also, what would the other names be? Since both Úžice and Auschitz looks quite ugly, it could be Ausica maybe? Just guessing… :smiley: But I’d like to know :smile:

Good job anyway.

#126

I’m not an english speaker but this is probably the best choice as it would enable most people to understand it without reading subtitles too much, including me.
Some archaic words or sentences, is a welcome addition.

When I saw the live stream, I thought that it would be a good thing to give some characters a stronger peasant accent maybe, for instance the first dialogue with the girl at first felt too much like a theatre play maybe, somehow a bit unnatural.
I think most NPCs should have a neutral english accent though, even peasant accent, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to give them a German or Czech accent except when it makes sense like for travellers.

Some people mentionned Assassin’s Creed Unity, where you hear NPCs speaking french arround you but english when you talk to them. Well I could not experience it because I am french and I played ACU in french.
But I don’t think it would be great for immersion at all to hear NPCs speaking a different language arround and speak english when you talk with them. I’d much prefer to hear Czech language only for instance than several language in the game.

In the end I really think the game should sound “natural” to people, and too archaic/shakespearean english would definitely not.

#127

I would like to play as Henry and I guess, that Henry fluently speaks Czech.
So I would like to have Czech with good subtitels.
How good does Henry understand and speak German or Latin?
I guess he will unterstand German good and speaks it at a medium level and Latin he would only know a few words.
If Henry is able to learn languages better, I would like to simulate this with better translated subtitels.

Do you think that you will get enough actors for spoken Latin?

2 Likes
#128

You are absolutely right!

In 1403 the inhabitants of Bohemia spoke British English. :wink:
No doubt about that.

1 Like
#129

American accents are actually closer to English then compared to modern British accents. So technically American accents would be more realistic. That’s not saying i want them in the game though. Its ruins it when i hear my own accent in a game in the 1400s.

#130

Well we have a couple of theological faculties at universities and by now there are many more Polish and African students studying catholic theology than Czechs. Part of their curriculum are the new testament languages (and latin), so maybe warhorse could get some nigerian priest talk latin for the game. How would you like latin with nigerian accent? :smiley:

2 Likes
#131

The balance shall be restored, If not visualy then at least vocaly.

#132

Everybody is wellcomed, espacially if she or he is able to give me the imagination of spoken Latin in game. :slight_smile:

I didn’t passed grammar school (humanistic Gymnasium) because of Latin. Our teacher who was professor in Latin and Old Greece always said, Latin is for the Plebs, Old Greece is for the Gods. Since this time I belive, that I’m a true german Barbarian, knowing only a few word from my Asterix. :wink:

1 Like
#133

Are these languages obligatory in German gymnasium?

#134

My teacher was professor at the university in Passau and Old Greek was teached at the university, not at the gymnasium.
It is hard to say if Latin is teached at all German gymnasiums because every Federal Land has it’s own ministry of education and own curriculum.
At a classic gymnasium, Latin is the first foreign language you have to learn.

#135

No, they are not, only at some (very few) humanistic ones. But every Gymnasium offers the opportunity to learn at least a bit Latin (as long as I know).

#136

I am a bit lost then.

#137

Well, Waldkauz and me explained it. He went to a Gymnasium with heavy emphasis on the old languages (altsprachlich, humanistisch). You asked, whether Latin is obligatory in Germany - no, it isn’t, with the exception of the very few of these Gymnasien mentioned above.

@topic, Latin: Honestly, medieval Latin is very simple and the few animosities/progressions from classical Latin are quite easy to digest. So I wouldn’t be that worried about it ingame, the approach to the “Czech” surrounding being much harder to solve.

2 Likes
#138

I had to learn latin for 3 years at my Gymnasium and I hated it with passion. :horse: Always the worst grades from latin…

1 Like
#139

in game, american accents tend to be exceedingly jarring for a medieval setting because it’s too new and that type of accent did not exist in medieval times. an older accent that is more closely associated with the archaic is german, french, or english. subconsciously they sound better

4 Likes
#140

American accents are older than modern British accents are. Our accents have more or less stayed the same in the past 200 some years but there’s have changed. So it would make more sense to have American accents as opposed to modern British.

How ever i do not want my accent in this game. I would ultimately like Czech accents or as close to Czech accents of the time as possible. But that could be a problem with voice actors because British accents are easier to do than most.

#141

Is it? I heard its based only on the fact that British accent became non-rhotic… but thats isnt all that makes accent (and there are still rhotic accents in UK). Just curious.

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