Japanese or English audio in Sonic games: which one do you prefer?

[KazunaRei]

Are you a slow reader?

Its not that he's a slow reader its that's if he's focused on the words at the bottom of the screen he would miss what's happening in the cutsceen.

[Alice Twilight]

Its not that he's a slow reader its that's if he's focused on the words at the bottom of the screen he would miss what's happening in the cutsceen.

That's true, but it really isn't hard to see and read at the same time. Watching Anime in it's original dub with subtitles is really good practise!

Edited May 27, 2012 by AliceTwilight

[Alluusio]

Its not that he's a slow reader its that's if he's focused on the words at the bottom of the screen he would miss what's happening in the cutsceen.

I never would have thought that this could be a problem for some people. Then again, we mostly have subbed movies and TV programs here so I guess I've gotten used to it. Man, it's weird to think from someone's perspective whose native language is used in so many countries. There are so few people who speak Finnish that when a foreigner knows even a few words of Finnish, we get really excited and think it's like the greatest thing ever.

[KazunaRei]

I never would have thought that this could be a problem for some people. Then again, we mostly have subbed movies and TV programs here so I guess I've gotten used to it. Man, it's weird to think from someone's perspective whose native language is used in so many countries. There are so few people who speak Finnish that when a foreigner knows even a few words of Finnish, we get really excited and think it's like the greatest thing ever.

Oh trust me, I suffer from this when watching subbed anime, its a bit annoying having to flick your eyes up and down the screen to see and read at the same time. >.> Its double annoying if the subs for whatever reason are small, and if they blend into the background too well.

That's true, but it really isn't hard to see and read at the same time. Watching Anime in it's original dub with subtitles is really good practise!

Maybe it is but regardless if its in English its easier to have it that way so you can put all your attention into the scene rather than staring at the bottom of the TV screen.

Edited May 27, 2012 by KazunaRei

[Alice Twilight]

Maybe it is but regardless if its in English its easier to have it that way so you can put all your attention into the scene rather than staring at the bottom of the TV screen.

Well that's your problem if you're staring at the bottom of the screen and not alternating your eyes between the text and image.

It takes like a split second to read everything on the bottom of the screen.

And besided English voice acting sometimes misses alot of key points it character development or they can't portray the charcter they're voicing really well.

But hey I like Quality and it's not difficult to get used to text at the bottom of the screen like I said unless you're really slow. It's not hard to see both the text and image at the same time.

It's beyond my comprehension why people can't do this.

Sorry if I came off as rude, by the way.

Edited May 27, 2012 by AliceTwilight

[KazunaRei]

Well that's your problem if you're staring at the bottom of the screen and not alternating your eyes between the text and image.

It takes like a split second to read everything on the bottom of the screen.

And besided English voice acting sometimes misses alot of key points it character development or they can't portray the charcter they're voicing really well.

But hey I like Quality and it's not difficult to get used to text at the bottom of the screen like I said unless you're really slow. It's not hard to see both the text and image at the same time.

It's beyond my comprehension why people can't do this.

Sorry if I came off as rude, by the way.

Actually I'm a pretty fast reader. :3 But as I said I have the problem of putting my full attention on the words at the bottom when people speak than to look at everything as a whole. I should stop doing that but I can't help it its just who I am~.

And really I don't care much about acting and shit. =w= So long I can understand what's being said I'm not all that bothered.

[Nepenthe]

I don't have a problem with subtitles either. I rely on my peripheral vision and can pretty much understand what's going on above the subtitles while I'm actually reading them. I also read faster than the dialogue's spoken, meaning I can simply focus back on the video anyway once I'm done reading, which is even easier on a computer monitor. Also, watching enough Japanese subs has left me privy to understand common words, sayings, and sentence structure, so a lot of the time I can just fill in the blank on my own without even reading. Ultimately, I don't find it to be all that taxing or distracting.

[Kuzu]

I generally just go with English because its the default, but having watched so much subbed Anime, I have no problem switching to Japanese audio.

And say what you want about them, but at least they're consistent. Japan only change voice actors if the previous actor couldn't come back for some reason(Maternity leave, Death, etc.) other than that, you have actors voicing their characters for years.

[Alice Twilight]

I don't have a problem with subtitles either. I rely on my peripheral vision and can pretty much understand what's going on above the subtitles while I'm actually reading them. I also read faster than the dialogue's spoken, meaning I can simply focus back on the video anyway once I'm done reading, which is even easier on a computer monitor. Also, watching enough Japanese subs has left me privy to understand common words, sayings, and sentence structure, so a lot of the time I can just fill in the blank on my own without even reading. Ultimately, I don't find it to be all that taxing or distracting.

Finally!

Actually I'm a pretty fast reader. :3 But as I said I have the problem of putting my full attention on the words at the bottom when people speak than to look at everything as a whole. I should stop doing that but I can't help it its just who I am~.

And really I don't care much about acting and shit. =w= So long I can understand what's being said I'm not all that bothered.

When multiple people are talking and when there's text up at the top of the screen it gets hell confusing.

*Sighs* I wish Toonami aired in Australia, that program had some good dubbed anime.

Also

"it's just who i am"

Remided me of

Shadow "THIS IS WHO I AM!" heh.

[Kokonoe]

I tend to like listening to languages I actually understand. However, I will listen to a Japanese audio track if I think the voices are better suited for it.

For Sonic? Yeah, it loses all it's "cool" feel whenever I tried it. Sonic is just something I'd never want to listen to in Japanese.

[Marcello]

It's not totally connected with this topic, but it's the most fitting, I think. Anyway, I wish SEGA would put the names of the characters next to the voice actors who voice them in the credits. I still don't know who voices who for most of the characters of the German Generations dub and the ones I do know (Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Eggman) are only because they're returning from Sonic X. The English ones, besides Sonic, Tails and Eggman, I only know because of people here.

Edited May 28, 2012 by MarcelloF

[Falco]

Japanese for everything Pre Unleashed, English for everything after.

[Stritix]

What's the point of listening to something that you can't understand? English obviously.

[KIRBY]

Do what BlazBlue / Sonic Generation does, include both (or multi).

Personally I'd prefer the Japanese voice since I am a sucker for the Japanese vocie cast;

since I can understand most of the dialogue

But once in a while I'd like to hear other languages, so yeah.

P.S For SA2 I'd turn on the English audio.

[VO.SUPER]

I have no real problem with subtitles, but I prefer to hear my characters speak in a language I know, unless I want to really connect to the movie or game. In the case of Sonic games, I listen to English for kicks.

Japanese= The meh show

French= The sexy show

German= The-BLITZKRIEG!

Spanish= The strangly close to home show.

That's about it for me when it comes to Generations, but everything else I watch in English.

Edited May 30, 2012 by VisionaryBlur

[Burning Finger]

I like listening to things that I can understand, so it always been english for me. Though I do switch to the Japanese voices some times just to hear what they sound like. But definitely english.

Remember when the 4Kids actors became the official voices for the games, people were so outraged that they couldn't bare to listen to the english voices any more. So people would either switch the setting to Japanese or pay more money to import the Japanese version of the game. Man were those people cool...

Edited May 30, 2012 by Kamina

[Nepenthe]

What's the point of listening to something that you can't understand? English obviously.

Has everyone here seen Pan's Labyrinth? Well if you haven't, then go watch it. It's a really good film about how a little girl copes with the Spanish Civil War through her interactions with a mythical faun. It's storytelling and artistic qualities are top-notch, and despite its fairy-tale trappings it features pretty violent imagery to communicate the brutality of war. It is absolutely amazing.

Did I mention it's a Mexican film?

Oh butter sticks; guess you all who don't see the value in watching media to foreign languages are going to skip out on it, at least until they produce the utterly horrid English remake so some of you can act like hipsters and say that Hollywood is poisoning original material as usual.

Okay, facetiousness aside, I honestly don't understand this insinuation that foreign languages have nothing to offer an audience if they can't understand them. While the above analogy isn't 1:1 considering Sonic games are done in English anyway, the point remains that actors always have something to offer to foreign audiences because of the universal understanding of emotion that must be done up and portrayed in entertainment. I understand that when a character is angry, a good actor in any language will make him sound angry. This is true for happiness, sadness, annoyance, terror, surprise- any conceivable emotion we all inherently understand.

Also, the very fact that Junichi Kanemaru sounds different from Ryan, Jason, and Roger means I'm free to compare him to his American counterparts and make the choice of whether or not I believe he sounds best for Sonic. That has been the case on multiple occasions, even if I am not fluent in Japanese, so I choose to listen to him. Why should I cast aside his talent and a bit of my own enjoyment simply because I can't understand him most of the time? I'm tempted to draw up even more tenuous imagery about my countrymen who get offended at Spanish translations on shop signs; "Speak American, dumbass!"

Edited May 30, 2012 by Nepenthe

[sayi50]

English through my first playthrough then I'll switch it up to Japanese. Sometimes the English VAs are SO good I don't ever want to switch to Jap. The game I'm talking about is first Disgaea game on PS2, they changed some VAs in the remakes.

As for Sonic. Well like I said. English first, Japanese later. It's funny to find the differences in the dialogues like how Tails talks having a "bad feeling" from the purple water that's in Chemical Plant Zone in English. In Japanese, he states that "They were there before". So English Tails has almost forgotten about Chemical Plant Zone but Japanese Tails remembers it still... Which one is canon?

I personally prefer to view a media in it's original language. That's why we have subs right? Plus, I like reading stuff. That's why I like to be a lurker mostly. I get to read a lot thanks to all of you.

Edited May 30, 2012 by sayi50

[Alice Twilight]

What's the point of listening to something that you can't understand? English obviously.

What are subtitles?

[SonikkuForever]

The last thing I want to do while playing a video game is read, unless reading is imperative to playing the game. That being said, I prefer to play and hear the games in English. I don't want to sit there and read the script of cutscenes in order to figure out what is going on when I can just listen and understand in English instead.

While I understand others' reasoning for wanting to switch it to Japanese voices, I have yet to be so irritated with the English voices that I need to either switch the language to Japanese or press the mute button. I have never gotten to that point and I hope I never will.

You know what I want? An option to turn off the subtitles in the cutscenes. They just ugly things up.

[Person]

I mostly listen to the english, but i'll occasionally switch over to other languages just to hear them.

[Speedy]

English. I like to understand what the characters say without having to read subtitles. I'm lazy. And I've always kind of liked the English voice actors.

[Ryusuke]

I pretty much alternate every now and then.

[NintendoSoul]

English, I actually like dubs.

[Boostitude]

Depends. If I'm playing through the story, then I'll have it on English if the voices aren't bad.

Games like Unleashed and Generations I have set on Japanese because I prefer his tones in Japanese when I'm mostly focused on running the stages... especially for Generations. He sounds less enthusiastic in English when playing the game.