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[Cakeboxer]

I always find this funny. As someone who grew up reading subtitles, reading subs helps me a lot, especially in action scenes where I can't hear what the character is saying.

And if you are reading some text at the bottom of the screen you can't properly enjoy the action. At least i can't.

 

[Onironauta]

English (especially American) dub in Japanese games tends to sound pretty cringy to me.

I always choose Japanese unless the English voices are the original ones (Metal Gear, Silent Hill, etc).

English is not my first language though.

 

[Fabieter]

English (especially American) dub in Japanese games tends to sound pretty cringy to me.

I always choose Japanese unless the English voices are the original ones (Metal Gear, Silent Hill, etc).

English is not my first language though.

Imo the Japanese va in the silent hill 2 remake was more to my liking. Isnt that the original voice acting?

 

[Holammer]

Btw, one reason why I refuse to play with English voices in Japanese games these days are the voice actors. Too many are YT/Twitter famous amateur voice actors trying to match the style and tone of the Japanese voices, Chūnibyō and all. The cringe makes my toes curl. Nobody talks like that.
Yeah, I know the "I fight for my friends" dialogue is equally cringe for Japanese players, but the cultural distance helps.

 

[lughnasadh123]

For movies I want the original language with subtitles. For games in most cases I prefer it in english.

 

[GMAK2442]

Oriental language are neat but I don't understand anything. So I prefer English and by far.

 

[Drake]

It depends. I played the Persona games in English, but Yakuza like a Dragon I played in Japanese with subtitles.

 

[Closer]

I go with the one that have better lipsync or the one that's faster. English, usually, have bad voice acting for minor characters or npcs, so I turn on subtitles and go Japanese.

 

[March Climber]

That sounds pretty fair. My approach to anime is generally more cynical. I assume most anime dubs are produced on the cheap and only give them a try if I hear overwhelming acclaim.

I feel like the convincing acclaim part doesn’t happen as much as it used to because people like myself who watch in english dub 9 times out of 10 just don’t want to bother anymore with trying to convince sub watchers that an english dub is good, especially since a lot of the harsh takes on english dubbing are still usually from 90s/2000s kids who were aware of really bad dubbing studios back then like 4kids that left a lifelong impression of bad quality.

The dubbing industry has increased in quality threefold since those years and has become a big business ever since anime became a billion dollar business, so most dub watchers like myself simply ask for anymore is for the dub to be accurate and on time, since an english dub being bad quality is more of an exception in today’s world.

So the current problem myself and others are facing is that Funimation died and was absorbed into Crunchyroll. Funimation was well known quality dubs always on time, every week. Like how a business should run itself. Crunchyroll’s dubbing efforts pre-Funimation-buyout were always spotty and never consistently on time. This never changed post-buyout, so now it makes it extremely hard to be a dub watcher on a platform that is so inconsistent. Maybe the dub comes out this week, maybe it skips two weeks (for no good reason), maybe not, maybe it’s two months later, and then suddenly you find yourself way, way behind sub watchers because it feels like this company treats dubbing like an afterthought.

That would be the current day reason for skipping an english dub, moreso than the voice acting quality itself.

 

[Wolves hunt in packs]

Only jap for Yakuza, oji sannn (my previous user here), and all kind of words like aniki lol it's so fucking good.
I admit that i first play Ghost of Tsushima with english dub, and when i replayed it i tried the jap dub but it was so weird as i got used to Jin and others talking in english.

 

[sigmaZ]

Really depends, but in most cases Japanese as I'm fluent in both and I always turn of subtitles for games that let me.
For example, FF14 has some of the most soy and annoying dialogue in English, but in Japanese the characters sound like cool anime characters and have some edge to them.
I'm playing Metaphor now and while the Japanese voice actors are great, the English VAs are bringing their A game and I get a really table top like performance that draws me more into the adventure.

 

[Verchod]

Why Japanese specifically?

 

[Griffon]

It depends on the intention of the authors and quality of the result.

For instance, while Kojima is Japanese, I'm more than happy to play his games in full English.

Whereas other games often have much better Japanese VOs.

 

[Paasei]

Kind of want to see cutscenes instead of looking at the subtitles. English it is.

 

[TheloniusFabdul]

I used to go with Japanese all the time, but I found that very often certain lines, particularly in combat, would not be subtitled.

Also, most subtitles are just displaying what the English dub is saying,
so I mostly use English now.

 

[SweetTooth]

Why would I prefer a language I don't understand to one that I does?

English of course

 

[Paulistano]

I always use the original voices.

 

[Firestorm ZERO]

Mostly Japanese for the following reasons.

Regarding English voice actors
- most are not trained voice actors. most new VAs are now coming from social meda, youtube, twitter, etc. You get 1 good VA out of like 10 others.
- emotional range is limited due to lack of experience and training
- can't do Japanese tropes well. you know the imouto, chuunibyou, etc..
- mispronounce Japanese names or terms
- you can get great cast of VAs but then you get 1 VA that sounds off which can ruin the game. Especially if it is a main character.

Part of the blame is also the voice director who doesn't set a high standard.

But for me the biggest reason is to see how accurate the localization is. I've been studying Japanese on and off for a while so I know enough but not well enough to play a game entirely in Japanese yet. I allow leeway and freedom for localization as you can never do a 1-to-1 direct translation. Mostly to fit mouth movement but as well making it sound better to an English audience. But some subtitles are so off that they are changing either the meaning, changing the character's personality or just straight making stuff up. This is especially bad in anime where whole dialogues are not present in the original.

 

[Fake]

Good news for me at least.

Japanese talent agency partners with AI company, won’t dub English anime

Japanese voice actors may soon be able to dub in English with the help of AI. According to Oricon News, Aoni Productions has partnered with CoeFont to begin creating a digital portfolio of their…

nichegamer.com

 

[RPSleon]

I want localisation to be done by someone with the accent of the place its set.

If its set in russia, i want russian accents in english language. If its set in japan i want japanese accents in english language.

Hearing an english person voicing a japanese character feels wrong and breaks the immersion for me a little.

 

[Lorianus]

The problem with japanese dub is often times there are things that have no subtitles like as an example the end of combat victory quotes in the Trails of games, sure they are not lore important but often times they are funny and there are hundreds of them depending on your party setup.

Also reading subtitles during action sequences is not a fun time.

 

[NanaMiku]

I want localisation to be done by someone with the accent of the place its set.

If its set in russia, i want russian accents in english language. If its set in japan i want japanese accents in english language.

Hearing an english person voicing a japanese character feels wrong and breaks the immersion for me a little.

 

[Kumomeme]

if it is a japanese game, then japanese it. aside Persona, Kingdom Heart and Metal gear. the rest, usually suck. especially those with american accent. japanese dialogue tend has it own quirk so it tend to get weird when it goes english.

UK voice over like FFXIV and XVI is great and not cringe to hear.

 

[iMik]

Japanese.

 

[Porcile]

Resident Evil and Metal Gear in English is just so iconic I can't bring myself to play them Japanese.

 

[F31 Leopard]

Depends on the game. Not naming all the games just a few examples. I go based on the the world setting.

English:
Resident Evil
Bayonetta
Xenoblade
Unicorn Overlord
Bravely Default
LoZ

Japanese:
Yakuza/LAD
Tokyo Xanadu
Godzilla
SMT

Wyverian:
Monster Hunter

 

[Lethal01]

Always play in the language of the creators, Setting is irrelevant.
The only time there is a question of which to choose is if it is an extremely collabotory effort between and engish and Japanese writer who are on equal standing and are both fluent in English and japanese/any other language..

 

[Laptop1991]

English because I'm English lol, I reckon the Japanese have the opposite view naturally.

 

[CityHunter1981]

I live in Japan for 15 years and can speak the language enough to work in a Japanese company. And I made the decision based on the following:
1. What was the primary language?
2. Does it fit the setting? For example is it Anime style or set in Japan of course Japanese, but if it is a realistic western setting Japanese doesn’t really fit.

Let’s take for example Resident Evil. Japanese developer, but because of the characters and the setting, Japanese would not feel right.

 

[PatientGamer]

If the game is made by a Japanese developer, then it's almost always Japanese only with English subtitles for me.

The only exceptions where I'll use the English dub are games that:

• Are clearly set in a European/US location. e.g. Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear
• Have a main cast who don't look homogentically Japanese/Asian
• Dragon Ball, mainly because I grew up with the English dub & can't stand the Japanese voice for him

Everything else has to be in Japanese for me

 

[DelireMan7]

Most of the time English but there is some exception for Japanese :

• Game in a Japanese setting : Sekiro, Ghost of Tsushima...
• Some games with anime aesthetic but here I don't have a specific rule. Really depend on the game and how the different VA are.
• 2D fighting from Japan : Guilty Gear, SNK's....

I consider French (my native language) if the setting is France or inspired by it. Side note : So far there is no French Dub for Clair Obscur : Expedition 33 and I am a bit sad about it.