Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Only British Accents

See my response above, your points are not valid. Mocap requires physical presence, voice over work does not. Voice Over studios have been open in Los Angeles alone for 4+ months. More than enough time for relatively small roles like a halfling trader, or a goblin guard, or really any character with less than 3-4 lines.

And why do you think that the voice actors that were used wouldn't have been capable of different accents?

There isn't understanding because you aren't describing actual problems. You are inflating issues that don't exist to excuse something that doesn't need to exist (all voice over work is in a British accent).

I think some people are missing the point, especially Chaotic Good.
On the little island the current accents are coming from, there are plenty of accents, some wildly different from each other. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure Faerun is a lot bigger than England and as far as I know, no interdimensional aliens live in England. Everyone sounding more or less the same just doesn't make sense.

Pillars of Eternity 2 did this well. Not everyone liked all of the accents, myself included, but you had a real good idea where everyone was from based on their accent. Some characters even going so far as to use accents not their own, and you could comment on that. It adds a lot. As it is now, it's like everyone grew up very near each other and interacted with each other daily.

Very, very roughly, Faerun is about twice the size of the continental United States/EU. The United States has roughly 20 accents, Europe *at least* twice that number.

Again...
Just because there are fewer diverse accents currently, does not mean that others haven’t already been recorded (just not mastered or reserved for characters later in the game) or planned?!

And whilst it is possible to do recording work in a home studio, it means differences in recording which have to be ironed out by Larian. No two studios are the same and Larian may simply want to control that process in house! That’s surely not that hard a concept to grasp?

As someone who’s wife has done professional voice acting and narration I have some insight into the process.

As I previously said, there is nothing wrong with the topic per say, it’s just this thread is getting perilously close to being toxic for no good reason.

For the sake of brevity, let's say that is all correct.

Why not have the voice actors they did use, who have documented and proven capability to do non-British accents, do exactly that again?

I sincerely doubt they have a mountain of voice over work for all of the voiced parts in Act 1 that they are just sitting on. As someone who also has friends in the business, I have insight into it as well though it shouldn't really matter as the work is fairly well known these days. The technical limitations don't really exist since voice over studios are open around the world, albeit nationally dependent.

But like I said, even if Larian only wanted to do VO work in-house....that still doesn't explain why literally every single line of dialogue except for like 2 characters all share the same accent. The actors they used are capable of different accents.

grow up. The cost of renting out multiple studios so that you can be happy with the voice acting is height of self entitlement. Did you read the article most of the people talking are talking about experiments not actual up and running set ups. And why haven't i seen and developers praising how they have all their sound recoding being done from home? because after this article was written they realized the variance between one recording from one actor was to different from the recording from another actor. This is why you get all actors going to the same recording studio using the same equipment.

look at these quotes from the article and see why you don't hear about this wonderful new "craze" 5 months later..

"With high-end performances, we have to record them in very isolating conditions in recording studios and in motion capture stages,"

"He explains that, most of the time, all the recording equipment and the environments have to match between actors, because they are stitched together to form conversations in games that need to sound like they're in the same space."

"Generally speaking what LaMarr has realized is, "If you have a good mic, then you need a good environment, because a mediocre mic doesn't pick up as much around you," he explains. "If you have a $2,000 mic, you need a $10,000 studio. But if you have a $200 mic, you just need sheets in your closet." He has a recording booth with an office attached to it, which has occasionally caused problems when his computer has made noise, and a client has wanted to pick up his feed from Zoom. There are various kinks. "The biggest problem with [working from] home is that, even in lockdown, neighbors are still having their gardeners come," LaMarr laughs. "There's absolutely no control you can have over that."

"There’s certain games I’ve worked on now where, even the microphones need to be different," Burch says, getting into the nitty-gritty that can be easy to overlook. "For example, if you’re on a motion capture game, the mic placement and type of mic is different than a pure video game. So there are some projects that are thinking about sending a lapel mic, or, [I'm considering if] I need to upgrade. With games, people are always tweaking technology to see how they can get the best performance. You want it to sound consistent with what you’ve already recorded."


You seeing a trend? This article isn't so much a celebration of success but an account of people trying to make the transition and running into problems, but firmly believing they can succeed. And yet is there a follow up how great the gaming industry has made the transition? i have not seen it. All the talk I hear is of developers still using recording studios and thankful when restrictions lifted to allow such work again in some countries.

But sure one article in the Hollywood reporter is 100% enough evidence that the industry could magically turn multiple different recording setups from home into a professional sounding game in a few months so that all the voice actors in the USA could be called upon to make baldur's gate 3. Yeah that seems plausible. i mean that is obviously the way larian should have done it right? i mean why use a motion capture studio / recording studio so you can record in a controlled environment, when you can try to get multiple recordings from multiple different set ups where they don't have complete control of environmental sounds and try to make them all sound like the conversation is happening in the same location? You could just get a bunch of actors near your location and use their talent and control all the variables from a studio. Yeah but why do it the easy way?

Don't you think the only the best actors would be able to do all these wonderful accents you want? And are you aware that the virus screwed up larian's schedule for recording? Don't you think the best talent would be tightly booked so that delays could push the talent you want to be unavailable because they made other commitments? Does that seem reasonable to you?

Wouldn't all these factors create a situation where maybe just maybe they went with the options that got early access up and running with decent Voice acting as fast as possible vs the best possible results but added a further 6 month delay to the game? I don't know seem plausible to me.

unlike you i am willing to accept compromises to the development of the game because of corona virus. And unlike you i don't view the Hollywood reporter as a reliable source of news. And i especially don't take one data point as evidence of a complete and radical change in the industry when i am not hearing any collaborating evidence. maybe i am wrong and your view is right and larian are just idiots who could have created this perfect version of the game you wanted but they just decided not to. I mean that is obviously more likely you are right, then larian did the best they could during a crisis, they could not for see and maybe things are not as good as they could have been without the crisis but.. no you're right larian were just idiots and... or no! they did it to spite you it was all a plan to screw you over with the nasty British accent. yeah that's got to be the real reason

We only have 1 act so far, let’s see how it goes eh!

And for full disclosure I have only seen odd videos so far, I’ve yet to play myself (hopefully next week).

I'd really love to see more diversity in the voices.

Didn't even think about it until this thread - fridge logic in full effect.

See now I know you are full of crap. The article you sited literaly said... "With high-end performances, we have to record them in very isolating conditions in recording studios and in motion capture stages," but according to you nope you don't need to do that at all because one article 5 months ago said the industry is making the attempt of transitioning.

Yep it is true larian is doing this just to spike you. I mean it is obvious you are being targeted. how could we all be blind to it. The irony here is i can hear different British accents but you keep trying to make it sound like every character sounds the same. Like Larian only used one british accent. i can assure you that the goblins do not sound like the Tieflings or Astarion but maybe they sound all the same to you.

We haven’t even got all of the origin characters yet and likely not all of the locations are complete either.

Like I said, this thread needs to chill and just see how the game develops, whilst having already stated we are wondering if there will be other accents.

The silly debates over where one can do VO and where one can’t should stay out of the thread.

Yeah!

I need to hear this. There arent enough Welsh accents in games. (Play The Unwritten Tales)

Also others may have pointed out...
What is this 'British' accent?

The UK has a very large and diverse amount of accents varying upon region. So as someone who lives in the
UK the voices sound varied.


Also: Gale's voice definitely comes from the UK too.

There are definitely non-British accents in the game. The witch woman for example has an Irish accent. And there is also a lot of variety in the accents (since Britain itself has huge accent variety). For the MC voices for example, you can clearly tell they have accents that are typically associated with different (human) races.

In PoE, I always thought Eder's American accent just didn't fit.

Well, interesting, what do we have here, an aggressive adversary of common sense? Marvelous. You sound like a salty offended by everything little pompous american blabbermouth, while I express my disagreement with adding diversity politics to the game that has no relation to this world.
Indeed, UK English is factually English, while colonial American English is an accent. Like any other accent. Now, seethe.

Go on, little american, keep defending the political diversity trash your friend Isaac (original poster) wants in game, based on race and skin colour. Yet, who cares.
My suggestion for you is to convert to metric system and use proper English.

Good day, sir.

P.S. Long live the Queen.

Well it's pretty clear at least two people in this discussion unfortunately have unresolved issues with regard to their insecurity of their national identify. So reported, ignored, and moving along as is suggested.

I have no problem whatsoever with British accents. I wouldn't mind English accents from all over the world, but I'm not a huge fan of mapping real-life countries on fantasy ones. I didn't like how in Dragon Age there was a France rip-off with heavy French accents and Italy rip-off with heavy Italian accents. I know Forgotten Realms are largely based on the real world, but it doesn't need to be further reaffirmed with accents. Besides, there is a lot of diversity just among British accents (as already seen in the game). There isn't one British accent, not to mention other European English accents.

I wonder if people would be as bothered if all the characters spoke like Americans.

Using the same shortened versions of words, similar tones, substituting various phrases/words for things like insults (bloody, bollocks, etc.). And you actually make a fantastic argument for there being more than just British accents in the game. Even within a typical Accent there are numerous dialects that can add even greater diversity. For example, if all Tieflings are going to have a British accent, you can then introduce various other dialects for different characters (Welsh, Cockney, etc). The Tiefling merchant can sound similar, but still distinct from the rapscallion child, who can sound different from the more sinister servants of a certain devil.

While certainly a trope, Dwarves sounding Scottish can have the same diversity even within the Accent itself. I don't know enough about linguistics, but I'm willing to bet the overwhelming amount of accents you could pick from could have tremendous diversity within them, providing for an even more immersive experience!

If the accent is so important to you, play Dragon Age, Plenty of Dwarves and Qunari to give you as much American accent as you want. It's a medieval like setting - the British accents fits within that. And as much as I love him, I'm just glad to play a game and NOT run into Troy Baker - just saying

For what it's worth, I would 100% be just as bothered if American accented Goblins sounded basically the same as American accented Tieflings, etc.

There is, undoubtedly, mapping of real life accents to fantasy areas in Faerun. Scottish Dwarves, Arabian Calimshan, Latin American for the shining city of Amn, Rasheman are Russian (aka Minsc) etc. But if Larian wants to divert from that, I'd be more than happy to see what they come up with. But to my original point, that doesn't exist when the same underlying accent is used by *everyone*. When creatures from another plane of existence have the same basic tone as a band of isolated goblins, or Drow from miles beneath the surface, etc.

I don't particularly care *which* other accents they use, I just want to see the same diversity of voice acting that was present in BG 1 and BG 2. Seriously, there are more diverse accents in the first 1 minute of gameplay in BG 2 than is in the entire EA. There is no excuse for that when even the voice actors that were used can have more diversity than was presented in 1/3 of the game.

For example, Neil Newbon (the guy who voices Astarion) has been paid to do a good Russian accent before (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYwN1yDKvYE). It doesn't matter if suddenly new accents pop up in Act 2, that the fact that 1/3 of the game, that covers an immensely diversity set of races and backgrounds, all sound like they grew up on the same block.

Haha yeah Troy does get around....

But why do you assume I want American accents? When I've literally listed a half-dozen other accents that would be fantastic to hear? The only one I've mentioned is Imoen (from BG 1 and BG 2) which is Mid-Western, and that was to demonstrate the diversity of voice acting in the games that spawned BG 3.

BG 1 and BG 2 were medieval settings as well. So was Neverwinter Nights and Icewind Dale. All set in the literal world of Faerun, which is where most of BG 3 is based (Avernus section excluded so far). Medieval does not = British. No doubt it has been heavily represented and *should* be heavily represented in the setting. But there's a difference between it happening often, and it being the *only* accent when you have a dozen+ races, some from other planes of existence (Githyanki for example).

Races and characters have tremendous visual diversity. What I'm asking for is audible diversity as well. Which was exactly what BG 1 and BG 2 had as well.

I'm only part of the way through the act at the moment but of the people we can talk to we have the following groups:

The tieflings: they are all fleeing from Elturel following the events of the Descent into Avernus adventure module. Since they are from the same place it makes sense that they have similar accents to each other
The druids: a group of individuals presumably local to the area
The goblins: another group that is presumably local to the area
The party members: Gale is from Waterdeep, Lae'zel is githyanki (although would have grown up on the material plane), the rest appear to be from the Baldur's Gate area.

From interactions with the tieflings we can assume that the area in act 1 is somewhere along the 200-250 mile stretch of the Chionthar river between Elturel and Baldur's Gate. Accents generally vary by region and language. Common is a trade language, with Chondathan being the language of the region. I would therefore expect most people from the area (which is in the middle of nowhere) to have similar accents belonging to one group of accents, i.e. all British or all American accents. I would not expect to hear a wide variety of accents without good reason (and I don't think that "not human" is in general a good reason). I therefore wouldn't be surprised if we hear a greater range of accents when in Baldur's Gate, which is a major trading centre along the Sword Coast.