Text Vs. Voices

[Hayabusa]

Personally, I hate that the new FFs have voices, I would rather prefer text - I mean, I actually rather like the Japanese voices, but always, the dubbing is terrible. It loses effect. I wish they would have an option where you could select english subtitles and have Japanese Audio - Like Sonic Adventure. :(

What do you think?

[Sefie1999AD]

I'd rather have an ability to choose about all the options, and if there's enough space in the discs, they could give us a choice between Japanese and English voices. So when you go to the Options/Config menu, you could choose:

Voices: English - Japanese - off
Subtitles: English - Japanese - (possibly some other languages) - off
The game language: English - Japanese - (possibly some other languages) - off

I think that would be really nice, and it could be possible. To name a random example, Toonstruck let you toggle voices on and off, and you could also toggle subtitles on and off. I always had them both enabled.

[~SapphireStar~]

Ive always prefered text because 90% of the RPGs Ive played are text. Voices are ok for use in FMVs, but I dont like constant chat. I prefer reading the lines to listening to them. But I like using Japanese voices with tex, I did it with Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana. That had the option of Japanese and American voices.

[starseeker]

I prefer the text. Me and my sister would have so much fun doing the voiceovers. I always got stuck with the villains and all the male roles (I'm a girl). The voices tend to annoy me because they're almost always American and it grates on my nerves.

[crono_logical]

Text/subtitles is a must, being an RPG, but I wouldn't mind japanese voiceovers though available in the english release :p

[Meat Puppet]

I'm a bit slow in the head so I like text over voices. Gives me time to read it over. Speech usually puts me off and confuses me.

[~SapphireStar~]

Plus if its a text based RPG and something shocking is said, you get to run it over in your head and be gobsmacked! If its speech, then its over and you dont even enough time for the shocl to set in.

[Captain Maxx Power]

I miss being designated the "voiceover" for RPGS :( In the old days I used to do all the voices since there was no dialogue if I played with my friends.

[Psychotic]

Text. I can read the lines before the character has finished speaking them, so it's quicker and easier this way.

[Roto13]

Text. I can read the lines before the character has finished speaking them, so it's quicker and easier this way.
Same here.

By the way, I'd MUCH rather use English voices than Japanese voices. The only way I'd be able to stomach Japanese voices is if there are absolutely no female characters in the game. They're always so fucking shrill!

[Twilight Edge]

I prefer the text. I would have so much fun doing the voiceovers. I always got stuck with the villains and all the female roles (I'm a boy). The voices tend to annoy me because they're almost always American and it grates on my nerves.

[boys from the dwarf]

my favourite FFs are ones with text but the newer ones are designed to have voices and almost certainly would work as well with text. i like text but FF12 with text just would not work.

[Yuffie514]

Dialogue: English/Japanese...choose between the two most distributed video-game languages.

Subtitle: On/Off...choose English dialogue, have Japanese subtitles, and vice-versa.

i prefer text, and i find it funny to read all the dialogue before a character finishes speaking so i can cut them off. well, bad voice-acting is also one contribution to cutting off certain characters.

[blackmage_nuke]

Text is good but i think voices give the game more emotion and emphasises important parts for me so i dont miss out important bits of information

[The Last Ancient]

Text all the way man. The text rpg era represents a classic era we'll never have again to me. I like that the music really has to be good to convey the emotions of the game, that's why games like FF7 and Xenogears are so great because those are classic soundtracks. I personally prefer if there is voice acting it to be only in special scenes (Twilight of the spirits or the first Shadow Hearts for example), and you still get that feel of exploring the towns and talking to your party members with nothing but the music to convey the emotion. I prefer the interactive book to the interactive movie I guess, plus so many of the voice actors suck or are the same douche's you've heard in half a million other video games. Now music takes a backseat pretty much to the voice acting where in the text games it was one of the most important things.

[Shiny]

Text: English, and always on.
Voices: If there, on. English, or Japanese.

Having the text there let's you use your imagination to know what the voices should sound like to you. Although I enjoyed some voice actors in the later FF's.

[bipper]

I like text way better; though the windows can interfere with the action and slow things down at times. I see ups and downs to both, but I will always like my text better. I have yet to see a game with clean voice overs anyhow, so we will see when that moment comes.

[Lawr]

You can have Japanese voices in DragonBall Z:Budokai Tenkaichi

[G SpOtZ]

Original version of animes and movies (Original, meaning Japanese) were so much better than with the American versions... But that just might be because I'm half Japanese and can actually understand almost everything. For example, I liked FF:AC better with the Japanese voices, rather than the Americanized version. I'm sure I would have enjoyed FFX a bit more as the original too, but... God, I absolutely hated that scene after Luca when Yuna and Tidus were screaming and laughing all... fake like... and AWGH I almost puked. Twice. So yeah, in cases like that, it wouldn't really matter, because the scene is just terrible overall.

I always did enjoy text though. Even as just subtitles. You could imagine what their voices sounded like and tell them apart on your own.

[Lawr]

Tenkaichi in Japeneses = suck
Goku sounds like a 6-year old, literally.

[G SpOtZ]

Tenkaichi in Japeneses = suck
Goku sounds like a 6-year old, literally.
Yeah, but in the Americanized DBZ, he sounds like Shakira singing Hips Don't Lie.

[Slade]

I prefer text boxes. Not becuse the voices suck, just because I liked to read things at my own pace with my own ideas of how the character would speak.

[Lawr]

I like voices anyway. Text-boxes...*seizure*

[Cruise Control]

I like voices.

The problem is with people who like to bitch and moan, over thge tiniest things like VA's.

[MAS82587]

just because it's new, doesnt mean its bad. the voices were better, but the only prob with having them speak was that you couldnt name all of your characters, and no1 would ever say the main guys name throughout the whole game (TIDUS)

[NorthernChaosGod]

If it's a brand new game, with a brand new story, then I prefer voice. The only time voices get in the way is when you already have a voice in mind for a character like with FF7 and FF7:AC.

[Evolavas]

Text: English, and always on.
Voices: If there, on. English, or Japanese.

Having the text there let's you use your imagination to know what the voices should sound like to you. Although I enjoyed some voice actors in the later FF's.

[Darkwing Bahamut]

Depends on the voice acting, but generally I prefer text over voices.

[Marly]

I prefer text. Text allows you to go at your own pace, and imagine how each character sounds in your mind, and the tone in which they say things. How one person might interpret a line of text may be completely different to how someone else would, but with voices there is very little variety. It gives you greater freedom in imagining what each character is actually like. Finally, I find its also helpful when you need to stop the game but the pause button doesn't work - just leave it on someones speech box for a few hours and when you rteurn it will still be the same.

[Zeromus_X]

Voice acting that's good (Japanese or English) is hard to come by in games. I don't usually complain about it, mind you, but the main character will always sound like a five year old (English) or all females sound like five year olds(Japanese). You can't really win.

So yes, I enjoy text. I usually make up the voices in my head, it's easier that way. And I can read it alot faster than whoever is saying it.

"MITIAAA SUWOOOMU!" -_-;

[Chris]

A multiple choice would be nice. But in the end, I think I prefer to do all the reading.

[charliepanayi]

I like text better, the voices in FFX and X-2 were OK I feel (especially people like Wakka and Auron) but I like to leave how the characters' would talk to my imagination, like it is in the earlier games. Having a choice between the two for the current games would be good I guess, if unrealistic.

[Dreddz]

Voices with text are ideal for me, if I had to pick only one, Text.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

So long as I have the text to read as well, the voices are a nice little bonus. I don't mind them, although I generally prefer the option of having Japanese voices be present in more games, as video games are generally able to get higher budget voice acting in Japan, as they tend to respect the medium more.

[nik0tine]

I like text. I like to be able to imagine what the characters sound like myself.

[SuperMillionaire]

For me, it's both text AND voices in English. I don't just want it "dubbed" though; I hear English voices, but the mouths are moving as if they were speaking Japanese. If they are speaking English, their mouths should be moving as if they were speaking English. They need to re-do all of the talking scenes so that their mouth movements match their language.

[Mage_of_Fire]

I'd rather have an ability to choose about all the options, and if there's enough space in the discs, they could give us a choice between Japanese and English voices. So when you go to the Options/Config menu, you could choose:

Voices: English - Japanese - off
Subtitles: English - Japanese - (possibly some other languages) - off
The game language: English - Japanese - (possibly some other languages) - off

I think that would be really nice, and it could be possible. To name a random example, Toonstruck let you toggle voices on and off, and you could also toggle subtitles on and off. I always had them both enabled.

this would be perfect.^^

I only don't like voices cause squenix is usually terrible at picking voice actors to do the voices. I hate it when the main char sounds like a wimpy pos. Like FFX.

[Jessweeee♪]

I like them both. Though the dubbing wasn't good in FFX, the acting was fine. Sometimes they would talk too fast to fit their movements, or it looked like they were talking but no sound would come out. I noticed that during the trial in Bevelle Yuna was speaking but her lips weren't moving.

[Rengori]

Nippon Ichi is really the only company that should be able to get away with that in RPGs, since they allow you to toggle the volume or change the language of voices and stuff, but I still would like to strangle Marona for her voice. Really I'd like to strangle most of the people in Phantom Brave for their voices, but I can't so I'll just have to do with turning the volumes of the voice down or set it on Japanese.

Yeah, I prefer text most of the time though.

[Tiamat]

I'd rather have an ability to choose about all the options, and if there's enough space in the discs, they could give us a choice between Japanese and English voices. So when you go to the Options/Config menu, you could choose:

Voices: English - Japanese - off
Subtitles: English - Japanese - (possibly some other languages) - off
The game language: English - Japanese - (possibly some other languages) - off


This is the best idea I've heard. You'd think this would happen a lot more often in the industry than what it does.

[MageLuingil]

I like having voiceovers, though I agree that a Japanese option would be very nice. I don't mind text either. There are some games that I think would be weird with just text though, probably just 'cause I got used to having the voices there.

[escobert]

text ftw! I hate the voices of voice over peoples.

[TidusMaster]

The problem with voices is that you cant name the freeking characters!!!!! You only get to name the main character!!!:mad2:

[BardTard]

I like text, because I can act out the lines. But reading also makes me very sleepy... So it gets tiresome after a while.

I do like voices too... because I don't like staring at letters for so long. I can just take subtitles off. BUT sometimes the voiceovers sound so unrealistic, and I like to act out the lines sometimes.

[drunkymonkey]

I'm just going to repeat what these guys have already said. Voices are fine as long as they actually good, I'm talking Monkey Island, MGS quality, not the rubbish we had to endure with FFX. If it's that sort of quality, just gimme text.

[Jessweeee♪]

The problem with voices is that you cant name the freeking characters!!!!! You only get to name the main character!!!:mad2:

I only do that for fun with the text games. Try naming Rinoa "Hotdogs" in FFVIII. It changes the tone of the whole game.

It annoyed me in X-2 that they didn't say Tidus. It wasn't so bad in X when they were talking TO him, but it's really annoying in the third person. I like the voices as much as the text, but I hope they match the voices better to the character's movement in FFXII.

[BardTard]

I only do that for fun with the text games. Try naming Rinoa "Hotdogs" in FFVIII. It changes the tone of the whole game.

I should try that. lol

[Roto13]

You know, I never actually give characters voices in my head. I just read the words.

[playaGAW]

Text because I like to name my characters, unless its a game like Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.