Voice Acting in Zelda, my opinion

[Roy]

I am sorry if I am repeating thousands of of similar threads but I wanted to get my opinion out there. So here goes:

The Legend of Zelda has gotten a lot of criticism for not having voice acting. My reaction is that it does not need it. The reason why I say this is because the outcome of Metroid Other Ms voice acting. I personally thought the voice acting was spot on in a depressing sort of way but many of the critics did not like it. Why would Nintendo make voice acting in Zelda if every bodies favorite bounty hunter (in the Nintendo galaxy) is being hated over the same reason. I want to hear your opinion on this matter. Thanks for listening.

 

[Ventus]

Zelda should get voice acting. Fans of newer games will *****, whine and moan about how Zelda is stuck in traditional settings, yet when VAing is mentioned they go ballistic. There's no reason for Zelda to stay away from VAing anyway -- we technically already have a stellar Japanese cast in the form of Akira Sasanuma, Megumi Toyoguchi (I LOVE her), etc etc etc. We could have Japanese voice acting and it would be completely normal as English releases technically use the JP voice actors anyways.

And if you don't like voices, simply turn the Voice FX volume meter to zero and presto, traditional Zelda.

 

[Terminus]

I voted no, but ONLY BECAUSE you said that "Link and Zelda should get voices" and i am still of the opinion that LINK should not speak. I do think that VA would be good for the series. Vanitas really said it all.

 

[r2d93]

NIET.

I don't want voice acting in Zelda.
Actually it's not so much that I don't want voice cting so much as I don't want it for Link. I dfinitely do not want to hear Link speak in full sentences. It's just not Zelda that way. And I'm 90% sure that Nintendo would never give Link a voice thus wrecking the bond between the player and Link. So we're safe there.

As for other characters, I could care less. However I think that It would only work well for a select few characters

 

[Fig]

It would be nice to hear Link with a voice, along with the rest of the cast, but voice-acting doesn't necessary make a game amazing! It helps, but it is only an accessory of a game/series. Take Super Mario and Pokémon for example. Both are very iconic games in the video game industry, and never had needed the use of voice-acting throughout the game. Sure, a voice every once in a while comes up, but we never hear full dialog from these two amazing video game franchises.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

This quote is perfect for the Zelda franchise's predicament. Many gamers worry so much if a game has voice-acting, stating that it helps the storyline develop better as the game proceeds, but they forget to remember that back in the '90s, there weren't many games that featured voice-acting. In fact, most people focused more on its gameplay rather than wondering if a game needs voice-acting to make it "perfect" as I heard it from many gamers in my hometown. I personally think that Zelda is never to feature voice-acting, because it will ruin the main reason of what makes the Zelda franchise, well, Zelda! Though it is just my personal opinion on this topic, I do respect your side on this infamous argument on the Zelda series. I hope you will accept my side of the argument as well.

 

[A Link In Time]

There have been numerous debates about this on this forum and Internet in general and I believe our JuicieJ summed it up best in a recent article of his (everyone should read this work when they get the chance). "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is not a valid argument here. Nintendo already demonstrated with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption that voice acting provides for a richer and more cohesive experience. By stating that Zelda is fine without voice acting, you are essentially overlooking all the strides forward like the leap to the 3D plane and motion control have had for the franchise. Where would we be if Nintendo hadn't innovated? Afraid Link might talk? Allow me to assure you that after experiments with Metroid: Other M that is largely out of the question. And to appease all sides, Nintendo should incorporate voice acting in Hylian allowing for a more genuine Zelda experience.

 

[Ventus]

And to appease all sides, Nintendo should incorporate voice acting in Hylian allowing for a more genuine Zelda experience.

There will always be a giant group of people who do not want Link to speak. Doing the "Hylian speak" method will not work for them -- we need to have a Volume button that allows us to turn Music, Sound Effects and Voice Acting off. Just wanted to point this out, as VAing isn't for everyone.

 

[r2d93]

There will always be a giant group of people who do not want Link to speak. Doing the "Hylian speak" method will not work for them -- we need to have a Volume button that allows us to turn Music, Sound Effects and Voice Acting off. Just wanted to point this out, as VAing isn't for everyone.

This is a good idea. That way it's a win win!
However itd be difficult if someone wated to hear everyon else speak besides Link

 

[ShadowDiety]

Link should never talk, let alone have a voice. As for voice acting in the series in general, I'm pretty skeptical about it. It would be a good idea and would definitely bring the series into the future, but at the same time I can't help but feel like the voice acting would suck in the end. At this point I'm okay with text and imagining for myself what the characters would sound like.

 

[JuicieJ]

Two things to sum this whole situation up:

1.) Link will never be given lines. Ever. Sakamoto wanted Samus to have a voice for a long time. Aonuma and Miyamoto don't want this for Link. Him talking is not a concern.

2.) No one's asking for bad voice acting (which Other M's wasn't).

 

[Big Octo]

For me, it's a green light on voice-acting. I'd be pleased to see NPCs fully voiced in Japanese, English, and any PAL languages. I really don't want to see "Hylian" voice acting, because it (to me, at least) would be more awkward with NPCs speaking what sounds like gibberish than moving their mouths than not talking at all.

HOWEVER I wish Link to remain silent in speech, with only his grunts, yells, and other simple noises. Well, actually, I guess it would be okay for him to say one-liners or even one word, possibly when in combat or doing something else. This has already been seen before in Wind Waker with Link saying "come on!"

Finally, I always like to note that the Zelda series is dynamic. It's open to change in any department, and we've clearly seen this. If anything, voice acting would only follow the pattern seen in previous games, because the franchise (but maybe not the fans) is able to make that change.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

this is pretty much what people saw in other m:
Samus:blah blah blah blah blah blah blah


as for my ****** opinion about this thread,i honestly don't care if the zelda series approaches voice acting [as long as they're not **** though],besides,didn't tetra have a voice actor in that tetra's trackers thing...
but like everyone else,i think link should definitely stay as the silent protagonist

 

[Gooey Fame]

I feel like the responses for this poll are loaded. So I will not be answering it. But I will say that I am sort of in between on it. I quite liked how it was handled in SS and I do enjoy that nostalgic feel of reading the lines and picturing them myself. At the same time, I think there is potential, especially seeing the cinematics of SS, for Zelda to have really awesome cutscenes with voice acting. I could honestly go either way with this as long as it continues to be classic and tasteful.

 

[Heroine of Time]

Take Super Mario and Pokémon for example. Both are very iconic games in the video game industry, and never had needed the use of voice-acting throughout the game. Sure, a voice every once in a while comes up, but we never hear full dialog from these two amazing video game franchises.

What happened to Super Mario Sunshine? That counts as a Super Mario game, right? And that had voice acting... XD

Unless you're referring to it outside of cutscenes.

And I agree that Zelda would be nice with voice acting, but I don't want Link to have a voice. And there should be an option to turn voice acting off.

...I wish we could get some good English voice actors. I'd much rather hear them speak English than Hylian. ...Unless Hylian turns out to be a REAL language, that we can speak, rather than just gibberish. Then I say go for it, Nintendo. I want to speak Hylian in addition to writing it.

 

[Vaati101]

I have always said that Zelda doesn't need voice acting many times. The francise is fantastic the way it is, why ruin it with Voice Acting? I'm fine with all the grunting and noises NPCs make.

Another thing that prevents Zelda from having Voice acting is Naming your character. You can't have both voice acting and naming the character, that just makes loads of complications with pronounciations of names that are hard to pronounce or names that don't even exist. This feature has been with us since the beginning of Zelda and only 2 games don't feature this. that aside, this is something I know Nintendo won't get rid of for something that isn't nessecary like Voice acting.