Xbox 360 version of FFXIII may be monolingual

by Griffin McElroy on May 12th 2009 1:00PM

As far as we can tell, there are two types of people who care about whether the North American version of Final Fantasy XIII has a Japanese voice track (in addition to an English one) -- RPG-loving hipsters who strive for complete, unwavering authenticity in everything they say and do, and ... well, people who speak Japanese and live in America, we suppose. Unfortunately for both these groups, it seems the Japanese voice track might only appear in the PS3 version of the highly anticipated Squeenidos title.

In a recent Q&A with IGN, FFXIII producer Yoshinori Kitase explained that without the kind of memory available on Blu-ray, there's simply not enough room on the 360 to implement two vocal tracks. He added, "Are there many people who would like to play with Japanese voices?" Well, gang? Are there?

[Via Kotaku]

Source

Tags: final-fantasy-xiii, japan, japanese, Microsoft, rpg, square-enix, voice-overs, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (338)

"Are there many people who would like to play with Japanese voices?"

it depends on the calibur of the English voice acting. i mean, there's some real shit English dubs out there.

agreed -- if I could have turned Tidus off in FFX, and only heard him in Japanese w/subs, I probably would have finished the game!

I agree, in most cases the english voice acting is sub par, I prefer the original Japanese audio with english subtitles

This is basically my comment. Square-Enix's recent games have typically had decent voice acting for the majority of the characters (please... no more 5 year olds). It seems that the average quality of Japanese VAs is higher, but if you make sure the voices are good, I don't really care.

*calibre. It's spelled wrong in the game as some kind of awful pun.

Completely agree. If the English voiceovers are decent quality, I'd rather have them in my mother tongue. But if they are shit, or not really necessary (I didn't miss them in Onechanbara), Japanese with subs is fine. I know how to read as well.

I still hate people that say Japanese voice acting is better when they can't even understand them. It's like saying, my dogs bark sounds better than yours with no relevant context to go by. I've never seen one argument that can pinpoint that Japanese voice acting is better on any definable level. If you ask me they sound just like the American dubs. Fat guys sound fat in the english (and also angry in Japanese, lol), guys sound like guys in American (and sometimes like girls in Japanese).

I agree. I prefer Japanese audio for the most part since they don't sound as bad. However, if the english dub is good like FFXII or some of the anime I have seen and if the localization is faithful to the original story, I don't mind. However, if the translation is completely different as in an egotistical translator or director addz some nonsensical line about Narbaska or a joke about Dick Chaney in a serious dialogue to try to make it more "localize," then Im stickin to japanese.

I wonder if the ps3 ver will have a proper english subs rather than a dubbedtitle for the japanese track since there are a few games out there with a japanese and english tracks, but with sub that is for the english dialogue

IT would suck eggs if the dub and dialogue is as awful as sf4

Tales of Vesperia had it right: characters that sound like real people.

No more little kids, excessively high voices, or random bizarre voices that nobody would speak with.

acefondu: Just because you can't understand what's being said, doesn't mean you can't sense emotion in a person's voice. You still need a talented actor to get that emotion right, and the Japanese just seem to be better (overall) at doing that than English speaking VAs. Also, occasionally, it's more about how the character sounds (namely, pitch or gruffness of voice). Sometimes, English dubs will have good actors, but they may not necessarily sound right for the part.

@ acefondu: It all depends on if you're a regular to listening to Japanese versions of things vs English (American) dubs.

I can tell the difference, but then, I know Japanese, but you can still tell the difference, there is just some Japanese games / films / anime that just sound fine in Japanese and really bad in English. Usually because the wrong voices are chosen to dub, however, there are times that the V/O is superb, for example Metal Gear Solid and Snake's voice, Snake sounds good in the English dub version and is memorable, but I can think of countless anime and games that sound horrendous dubbed.

I prefer Japanese with subs for the same reason as the OP states. English dubs are normally very poor. Being that I don't speak Japanese, I can't really tell of the acting is bad. In English though, I know that it is when it is. Street Fighter 4 had some decent dubs, but for most of the part, I left most of the characters in Japanese.

@acefondu:
Go learn some Japanese and a little bit about Japanese culture in general.

The simple truth is that most things don't translate well from one language/culture into another language/culture. You have jokes that get butchered, references that don't make sense, and the worst of it is the completely messed up tone of a phrase or sentence which completely alters how something is perceived.

Go watch an episode of the Warner Bros-licensed CardCaptors (it's called Card Captor Sakura in Japan). First off, VALLEY GIRL ACCENTS... for 10 year old anime characters with voices that make them sound like girls from some horrible C-grade porn. I could name so many more things that Warner Bros screwed up with that series.

Or how about this? Go watch One Piece and how Funimation screwed over just about all the characters. Yeah, no more smokes for that triple-sword dude, for example.

Basically, most direct Japanese to English translations/dubs of games and animes have been horrible. If you think that's not true, then you should reconsider why the phrase "IT'S OVER 9000!!!!!" became such an infamous meme.

^ And watching the Japanese cut of DBZ is great to hear Goku sound like a girl.... Yeah they did a great casting job there! It's all such BS, "you can hear the emotion!" Yeah? And I hear Goku sounding like a chick. What surprises me is it is also general consensus is American movies are the best, seen throughout the world, heck they even watch our stupid award shows. So it's very amusing to hear the anime community love their Japanese voice actors to such a high degree. I would be very interested to know what the Japanese community thinks of their own voice actors. I am not saying the American ones are way better or worse than the Japanese ones, I just think the perspective is severely skewed in the anime community in America without any good reasons.

@Ace

Honestly, the issue isn't even limited to anime. Have you ever watched any foreign films? Or try this... watch an American film on DVD/BR that has a French audio track (or any other language) and try watching that. In almost every case, dubs sound and feel unatural. I always watch any film, live action or animated, in the film's native language. If you don't care, so be it, but many of us do.

Wow, you guys must have low standards for voice acting if you thought FFXII was anywhere near great. :S

@acefondu: I call bullshit on this. You can tell when acting is good or bad, no matter what language you're listening to. Watch a foreign, live-action movie subbed and dubbed (in any language) and tell me you can't tell a difference between the two, despite you not knowing the foreign language. And if you really insist on being a consumer of Japanese products (like video games), you should be learning more about the culture behind it and you'll become better at understanding the original dialogues and nuances. There are reasons Japanese media casts the way it does, and a lot of these are cultural. Learn why and be a more intelligent consumer of Japanese media.

"Wow, you guys must have low standards for voice acting if you thought FFXII was anywhere near great. :S"

Pretty sure you're the one whose standards are fucked if you think FF XII has poor voice acting.

@acefondu:
That's because Goku WAS voiced by a chick, a chick who was actually GOOD at her job: voice-acting.

The Japanese community as in? 2chan? Let's put it this way, Kotaku actually keeps track of this one girl called Nakagawa Shoko. Her blog has been accessed about a billion times already (I think). I think that counts for something.

Agree with Vidikron. It's not just an anime thing. It's the case for films and TV shows all around the world. Often the voices just sound better in their original language, because the actors understand the character better and they can express the emotions better. Though I admit I've sometimes heard an english dub that, I felt, was superior than the original. It's just a matter of being able to properly interpret the original author's intent.

Though I agree with Ace about Goku sounding like a girl in japanese. A real WTF moment for me there, first time I heard it. o.O But you gotta admit the emotion is there. The english dub, however, was the opposite. Goku sounded right, but his VA sucked as an actor. Guess you can't win either way sometimes.

OK... let's be clear here. It is entirely possible that the dub could be good. But previous experience has taught me that it more often than not the subs are inferior. And in either case, I'd prefer to have both audio tracks so that I can choose which I like better. Since Blu-ray has the space available then I see no reason why both tracks shouldn't be included.

If you're like Ace and really prefer the dubs, aren't you winning no matter what? it sounds like Sqaure's plan is to include the English dub in both version regardless of how they handle the Japanese audio track. So why bother debating all this? You are getting your English dub regardless of your platform of choice.

I agree with you 100% Vidikron. [insert heart here]

@ acefondu

Personally, the only voice I liked in DBZ was Vegeta's, only because it sounded more badass then the Japanese version, everyone else was just as annoying in the American dub version as they were in the Japanese version.

Maybe my opinion is skewed by the fact Vegeta was the only character to actually get the job done instead of spending a whole episode talking shit and repeating the words of justice over and over again ¬_¬

@Maverick Saturn:
Actually, the Japanese casting of Vegeta was fairly appropriate considering that they used Horikawa Ryo (voice of Reinhardt von Lohengramm from Legend of the Galactic Heroes). Vegeta IS a prince of the Saiyans and his role demanded a person who sounds, acts, and exudes an aura of royalty with every breath.

More recently, the role of the "princely" character (or more appropriately, the "Black Prince") is being filled Fukuyama Jun (Lelouch from Code Geass).

I didn't say I disliked the Japanese Vegeta, just said I prefered the American Vegeta.

I'm with the minority on this. It doesn't matter how well the Japanese VA is if you can't understand it. They do sound nice, but what most people do not realize is that the tone and emotion does not match the order of the sub.

I just hate how a game with voice acting can be judged harshly when several games without it get by just fine. Would you prefer the methods done in Animal Crossing, The Sims, text-based RPGs, Mario games, etc?

Also, subs suck when there's a lot of action or small details going on at the same time.

There is such a huge difference between TV/film dubs and game dubs. Subs in a film are a necessity in my opinion. Not so much in a video game. I'm willing to bet that there won't be a single time that I say to myself "This game wouldn't suck if it were subtitles instead of dubbing."

@mahouneko
I think it's funny you should say the characters in the Card Captor Sakura dub sound like Valley Girls. For one, Sakura herself was voiced by a Canadian (as was Tomoyo) who was like 12 years old at the time. I really have a hard time seeing the complaint about them sounding like valley girls. Not that I'd defend the dub, it was terrible.

No.

Hi Jerry, my name is Bob (it really isn't)

"NoooooOOOoooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOOoooooo"

To quote Darth Vader...

Absolutely, yes. The quality of the original Japanese voice acting is invariably leagues beyond the English dub. The best you can hope for in an English dub is to not be cringe-worthy.

"The quality of the original Japanese voice acting is invariably leagues beyond the English dub."

You mean the currently non-existing English dub that you haven't heard?

I tended to be against the weeaboos on this issue before, but after becoming more familiar with subbed anime series, i have to agree. Even if you can't understand it at all, the Japanese voice actors are just better.

Which isn't to imply any sort of racial or ethno-centrism. Generally the Japanese voice actors are real celebrities, while the American voice actors are often people who are fairly low on the totem pole. Higher profile actors make for better performances

@Tonic

I think that's totally up to personal opinion. I've heard some pretty awful Japanese voices that didn't seem to fit the character at all- not to mention the fact that every single woman Japanese voice sounds like she's 14 years old... even though the character is a 50 year old smoker.

Besides, it's not like video games are known for their amazing voice acting.

Sub > Dub

That is true almost every single time.

multiple voice tracks are by far the most wanted, yet least used feature in existence. i almost feel like they should just put a fake japanese voice track since most wouldn't even be able to tell the difference.

@Roto13: There is only a marginal chance at best that an English dub of a Japanese media would be on par with or better than the original dialogue. Anyone who has watched at least three different anime and compared subbed and dubbed would agree with this.

And, if the previous Final Fantasy titles have been any indication, the dubbed voices will be below par at best. Unless FF XIII decides to single-handedly revolutionize the Japanese-->English media industry (which I doubt it), it's safe to bet that the dubbing will suck.

I would just like to have BOTH options available, those for people who are too lazy to read or who prefer English dubs, and those for people who prefer original voice casts or Japanese language. Then it's a win-win.

Suck it, Avada Kadavra 9.

Hi My Name is Mark

"And, if the previous Final Fantasy titles have been any indication, the dubbed voices will be below par at best."

You haven't played Final Fantasy XII, have you?

I always use the Japanese track if it's available. Bad voice acting really puts me off a game. But then again, I'll just get the PS3 version.

@ roto

XII was good, X was bad, can't take chances, lol

I don't know about you guys, and I haven't heard the Japanese dialog, but I thought the voice acting in Valkyria Chronicles was fantastic. In fact, the whole localization team was really great, to the point that the writing and acting was better than most Western made games.

Not saying Squeenidos will have as strong of a localization effort as Sega in this case, but it certainly can be done, and done well.

@Roto13: I have played a decent chunk of FFXII and if you consider that good voice acting, then I'm sure you'll be happy with any kind of future FFXIII English dub. Sure, it wasn't TERRIBLE, but I think we should set our standards above that. It should at least be on par with, or better, than the original dialogue.

If English dubbing of Japanese products was anywhere near that of our own English voice acting in animated movies (Shrek, Toy Story, etc.), I'd be happy to use English over Japanese. Anything less than a stellar performance is unacceptable.

Aside from Yuna and Tidus, most of the problems with X's voice acting had to do with the weirdass way everyone's rate of speech would fluctuate at random. >_>

I know you can't compare movies to games, but watch ANY dubbed movie and I guarantee the voice-over will suck ass. I think games would be the same way.

It depends on who is dubbing, if the development team has a professional dubbing / voice over team to work with when converting to other countries, the game can sound okay, of not, pretty damn good.

Examples:

Konami
Capcom
Sega (Most of the time, depends on the game)
Namco (Sometimes, but Tekken begs to differ, Japanese people talk to french people and they seem to understand each other clearly, lmao)

And a few others, Koei and Tecmos dubs often annoy me.

See, I wouldn't change Solid Snake's american voice for anything

@Maverick: Yeah, it really depends. There are definitely examples of English voice acting that exceeds that of the original casting. It's just safer to bet it will suck. :)

I am fluent in japanese, and the english dubs 98% of the time worse then the japanese, particularly in games. ( seen a movie or two that was ok....). And really in Japan when you go see an american movie or plan an american game they almost always keep the orginal voices and just subtitle it. Seems the first time around is always the best I guess.

On Final Fantasy XII, japanese voices were way better. I will admit I only played it in english for about 10 minutes ( really did hate the voices), though admittedly that could be because the japanese had already established what I think the character should be like to me.

Only annoying thing for me is, sometime I like to see the difference between the english and japanese ( rachet and clank was funny.... Just came off completely different to me charater wise). Since my relative will send me the japanese version when it comes out, if I want to get english voice I have get the english version or wait for the ineventiable international version or something like that with enhancements that go into the english version. ( I still have FFVII international version laying around somewhere...)

The one thing that kind of bugs me about subtitles is that you have to focus on reading it if you can't understand what is being said. You can miss out on some pretty cool visual sequences if you are looking at the bottom of the screen reading about what is going on.
(and don't get me wrong, I believe reading is good)

cheesy voice acting or not, i would rather understand and be visually amazed, that's just me.

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