I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

[Funk]

Shining Force III has REALLY bad voice acting

Granted, I've never played the game, but the gameplay would have to be VERY good to make up for THIS. Can someone confirm that is does for me?

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

Sounds fake to me. Like a couple people just did it with their computer mic. It's so flat. I've never played the game though so I don't know.

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

I don't think anyone's actually played the English version from around here, though I could be mistaken. I have the Japanese version, so I don't know for sure. I haven't seen a single person say anything bad about the voice-acting for the English version in reviews.

Suffice it to say, this does sound terribly bad, and if it really is in the U.S. version, God guided my hand in the decision to get the Japanese version instead.

[Vanilla Iced Tea]

Re: I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

It looks legitimate.

http://www.audioatrocities.com/games/shiningforce3/

[IRC]

Re: I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

Wow

[Christina]

Re: I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

You've obviously never seen Sailor Moon in english!! hooooo boy.

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

Jesus, that's bad.

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

If I'm not mistaken, Funk asked if the game is fun enough to overcome this aural atrociousness.

I say it is, though I had the Japanese voice actors, and they were pretty good. It at least sounds like they meant it, and used proper emphasis.

The game doesn't deviate from the makings of your average Shining Force game. It's in cute but blocky 3D (the battle characters are slightly worse than Final Fantasy VII's out-of-battle characters). It pulls all the same stunts that every other Force game has already pulled, though. Pinning your group into a small area and forcing a close fight, more than one 'bridge with death cannon' type of level (the second of which is excruciatingly painful to figure out). If you're tired of playing the same old battles with Shining Force 1 and 2 (or its Game Gear iterations), then I suggest you play it. Don't expect a satisfactory ending, though, since you need to play the second one to get the other side of the story, and the third to get the final climax.

The second one has a translation, but there are portions that no one's seemed to translate yet, and I'm fearing reaching those portions because I'll be lost when I do. The third has the full translation of all text in the game. Where you'll fall short is figuring out what items do what, and which weapon is actually the weapon you want.

The things it does different from the Genesis Force games is that it gives you classes of each type of weapon. For example, swords: you've got Sword, Knife (long-range), Rapier, and what I believe to be Cutlass. For lance-types: you've got Lance, Spear, Halberd. For axes: Axe and Mace. For gloves: small and medium (I don't know the difference), and Claws. For arrows: Arrow, Long-Range Arrow, Exploding Head. There are several other specialty weapon types, such as Fist, Beak, Birdman Sword. The higher your weapon class for any weapon, the more likely you are to do awesome critical attacks.

They also implement the buddy system. The more a character hangs out with an ally during battle, the closer their bond becomes, and they give each other stat or ability bonuses when within a few spaces of that other character. Fire Emblem pulls a similar deal, but it doesn't require conversations to pull off.

In other Force games, you couldn't generally recruit characters during battle (very slim exceptions). Several characters can only be recruited during battle, and if they die during that battle, you've just lost that character for good (there are two or three instances where this can happen).

Overall, the storyline is a lot more engrossing than the others (government plays a much bigger part in this game), but I think the end result will be much the same.

I recommend it to anyone who loved the Genesis Force games, especially if you're a fanatic like me.

[IRC]

Re: I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

You've obviously never seen Sailor Moon in english!! hooooo boy.

The game or the show?

[RPGD]

Re: I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

Does it matter?

[Magik]

Re: I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

"Spirits lend me your powers..."

She sounds like she's bored or annoyed, or both. Those are hilariously awful. Strangely, it makes me want to play the game, just to hear the acting for a good laugh.

[Gustaff 13]

Re: I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

I totally agree!
"Spirits lend me your powers...
I need a price check on these medical herbs."

[John Mora]

Re: I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

That guy doing the voices has a lisp. You'd think that'd disqualify you for voice acting.

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

Unless that's what they were going for.

[thetruecoolness]

Re: I didn't know voice acting could BE this bad...

Speaking of bad voice acting, Mega Man 8 is up there with this game. Playing through the collection, and Dr Light sounds like Elmer Fudd, and Mega Man sounds like a 6 year old girl, just like in X4. Though if this game has more speaking parts it would be worse than MM8 as luckily the cutscenes are few and far between, cause I don't know if I could take any more of Elmer Fudd. I think some games are better left with just text, either have good voice overs or none at all.