Shtako.... hmmm voice acting?

[Duskguy]

Well now we have an entire alien language, so why not do more with it??

http://www.syfy.com/videos/Defiance/...es/vid:2634361
14 minutes preview of defiance.... at one point they get into an argument using just the alien language. so they DO do more with it, perhaps it just wasnt in what we've seen in the game so far.

[Iceman0134]

It may seem that way based on the beta, but Its a little more than that.

at least 3 of the Votan Races (Castithan, Irathient, and I forget the third, I think it is Indogene) have complete languages created for the show and game.

no just castithian and irathient. those are the only complete ones

[Iceman0134]

I agree. The writing team's responsibility is to make this more immersive than what we have in the beta. It's not a particularly easy thing to do outside of cutscenes and better voice acting. There may be more that just isn't present in the beta build we have access to, so i'm reserving judgement, suffice to say the final VO's already present in the beta are still a little stiff and the characters do appear to be somewhat generic. The way shtako, jekk, and jaja are pronounced leaves something to be desired; definitely doesn't sound like a foreign language but something flatly read off a script.

you have to think, the votans arrived about 5 to 10 years ago and have probably picked up accents

[Sakara]

... and a bad director make a good actor seem bad.

*cough*Uwe Boll*cough*

Frankly, I didn't mind the voice acting I heard. Perhaps I am alone in liking EGO's voice?

[Adamathias]

*cough*Uwe Boll*cough*

Frankly, I didn't mind the voice acting I heard. Perhaps I am alone in liking EGO's voice?

For me, repetition is the huge killer here, not her voice acting. I like her voice, but not enough to ignore her saying "those people are in danger, we must help them." 100 times.

[Thunderclap]

All I have is two points. First is how many people have experience with a foreign language other than a romance language (Spanish, french, Portuguese) They all sound forced to you. Listen to arabic or hindi. Odd, eh? It has to do with the fact the word has no context. It means feces. So if you are seriously having a problem think that word.
Second point: I have yet to see suggestions for another word that doesn't sound forced. Pointing out flaws is great but you need to have a replacement.
Finally, I love frak now. Everytime, people discuss fracking on the news (tar sands extraction) I think BSG and smile.
Relax and let it flow. its supposed to be jarring. Its alien.

[Xyr3s]

lol uwe boll wasnt all that bad :P sure he had some bad times lol... but cant blame a man for trying.... no one else took up the gauntlet. atleast he tried.

[Thoddiver]

All I have is two points. First is how many people have experience with a foreign language other than a romance language (Spanish, french, Portuguese) They all sound forced to you. Listen to arabic or hindi. Odd, eh? It has to do with the fact the word has no context. It means feces. So if you are seriously having a problem think that word.
Second point: I have yet to see suggestions for another word that doesn't sound forced. Pointing out flaws is great but you need to have a replacement.
Finally, I love frak now. Everytime, people discuss fracking on the news (tar sands extraction) I think BSG and smile.
Relax and let it flow. its supposed to be jarring. Its alien.

Hebrew, Arabic (Yemen), and Russian. I speak the first two pretty fluently. I don't feel the problem comes from that. Even other languages have a certain flow to them. They were developed over hundreds of years, and because of that they have an organic flow. Even something guttural has that flow.

I think you misunderstand. It is not jarring in the way first contact with a new race would be, but jarring in a way of seeing a cute little eight year old running around some swings, then falling on her knee and screaming obscenities that are far beyond her age. In a comedy it might be a chuckle, but in a serious movie it feels out of context, and not liner.

Your second point is mute. Read this forum before you get defensive like that. There have been lots of commentary, talk, and suggestions. The point of this is to discuss, it's a "forum". It's a place for people to come together, speak, break down boundaries, and explore situations. I feel like you're being defensive for the wrong reasons. No one here is saying that it is bad and thus must be shut down. Or that it is so wretched no one will play it. What we are saying is that it deserves looking into. Do we have answers? No. How do we get them? We talk about it.

Already a few things have come up in this discussion. Shtako in general seems very over used. I completely understand they are aliens, so there is that "anything goes" scenario. Even so, for it to "go well" it needs to flow. It needs to feel fluid and right. Need is to strong of a word for this though, how about "it would be better in the eyes of the forum majority".

Either way, relax and let it flow. This is supposed to be a forum. It's conversation.

Todah, Shukran, Spasibo... and of course... thank you

[RelativeBlue]

The voice acting didn't bother me too much. The EGO was a little annoying. If I designed an implantable AI advisor device it wouldn't have the personality of a fawning and naive teenage girl. It'd probably be more like Gunny Hartman.

[Duskguy]

For me, repetition is the huge killer here, not her voice acting. I like her voice, but not enough to ignore her saying "those people are in danger, we must help them." 100 times.

lol i liked her voice... up to the point where i heard "save those people" or "quick, shoot the area the hell bugs bite out of the crystal" 150 times each. at that time i wish i could use a head butt attack on the crystal just to quite her down.

noticed her voice sounded a bit different in my beta than some of the videos i've seen for console versions... is this system difference or perhaps region? or sound quality in general?

edit: my ego would probably sound like R. Lee Ermy..... or some hot supermodel type voice.... never both, that would just be weird.... unless the supermodel voice just used the same language...maybe that would be interesting for a while. so long as she didnt sound like a naive 12 year old while she used that language.

edit2: R lee ermy played gunny hartman.