Would you purchase a JP VN with English dub only? (Without original VA)

[wyldstrykr]

it is okay to have english voice, but doesnt include original voice? hell no, i want to compare them

[Fred the Barber]

4 hours ago, Narcosis said:

It's still a lot easier to license VA's, rather than create a whole dub from scratch. The whole native-language-dubbing in licensed anime does not really make any sense, considering majority of people prefers subs.

The first sentence there is not actually generally true. It is apparently, at least in some cases, either cheaper, or easier, or both, to do a whole English dub from scratch than it is to license JP dubs.

I don't recall where I read someone claiming it was cheaper, but I think it was somewhere on these forums within the last week.

And as far as easier, since it is apparently literally impossible sometimes to get the JP dub due to contractual reasons (see elsewhere in this thread), well, possible is easier than impossible.

[Clephas]

8 hours ago, WinterfuryZX said:

I fear that some more general localization company like ATLUS, Aksys or XSEED could try to localize a Visual Novel w/o the original dub in the future, would you be ok with this?

This is highly unlikely... the sheer amount of voiced text means that it is much cheaper to just pay the fees to use the Japanese VAs than put together an English dub from scratch. 

Edit: Also, the reason jrpgs generally get dubs is because it is locked in as tradition, not because there is demand for it... to be blunt, the dub-fans have always been in the vast minority. 

[Khazit]

If the voice acting is good? I don't see any problem.

I don't understand Japanese anyway. What's the point of listening to something that's for all intends and purposes unintelligible to you.

[Eclipsed]

Nope. I read VNs solely for the JP-ness and JP audio, because I'm a self-entitled weeb that loves how them JP voices sound, even if I don't understand it. 

 

~~
Btw,here's what XSEED had to say on why they didn't dub Corpse Party:
 

" That quote from me was more about the fact that Corpse Party's voice actors are just DAMNED GOOD, though -- like, some of the best I've ever heard in any Japanese game or anime. They don't just scream and die in pain, they voice-act whole scenes of being buried alive, or being eaten, or being burned, which are accompanied by black screens and yet still sound 100% authentic and identifiable. To duplicate that in English, we'd need to hire the absolute best of the best, and even then it would be really difficult to get it just right.

The real reason we don't, though, is threefold:

1. The sheer AMOUNT of voice-acting. Akiba's Trip is the biggest voice project we've done to date, and every Corpse Party game absolutely puts it to shame.
2. The inability to include dual voice without bloating the download size of the games (or the card size, in the case of Blood Drive physical) to untenable levels (due to the aforementioned amount of voice-acting present in each game). And it would be a real shame to make these dub-only titles.
3. The biggest reason: binaural 3D recording. I don't even know of any studios in the Los Angeles area that can do this at all, much less within our budget. And to record the voice-acting in the Corpse Party games without it would be to lose a major draw for the series.

So, yeah... it would be nice if we could offer dual audio, but it's just not feasible with this series. Even dub-only would be impossible without cutting back on quality to an inexcusable extent.

-Tom

source

[FamishedPants]

Oh, you know what? I just realized I would never purchase a Nuke-a-gay without japanese voices. I tend to enjoy fapping or laughing, not both. And I'm sure we all can agree that hentai voice acting is something else. 

[Eclipsed]

4 hours ago, Codesterz said:

Won't do anything. You do realize there is already a Facebook page dedicated to not buying Japanese games without the original Japanese voices.

https://www.facebook.com/UndubGamersINT/

They are fully aware how important those voices are to some people. In fact this should be common sense by now. 

I used to be a part of this cult (not actually, but I had same belief)

Obviously the best case scenario is dual audio, and better case JP-only, but really, if I had to pick between EN-dub only or none at all, I'd settle for Dub. XSEED didn't have a choice; don't rob yourself of a good experience just because of l0lnoJP,dealbreaker.

When I played Trails of Cold Steel, my anti-EN dub mindset made me cringe for the first day of playing it.

Then I got used to the voices (it's actually a pretty decent dub), to the point that when I finally listened to the JP version, I actually thought the JP version sounded weird.\ /

 

[iamnoob]

Consumer choice is always better. I would rather have both but if I had to choose only 1 I would choose Jap. I'm not exactly confident that the English community has their voice acting levels up yet.

[oxczen]

That's kinda disgusting imo

[AaronIsCrunchy]

2 hours ago, Khazit said:

If the voice acting is good? I don't see any problem.

I don't understand Japanese anyway. What's the point of listening to something that's for all intends and purposes unintelligible to you.

Cos sometimes the VA goes on a huge ramble and the translated text reads 'OK' or something like that, and then you get to imagine what's actually being said

In all seriousness though, it can help with establishing/aiding mood, particularly if the written is less good and can promote ambiguity.

[Clephas]

English VAs have gotten infinitely better in the last twenty years (believe me, I know).  However, in the same amount of time, Japanese VAs have taken things to master-level, while English ones are still stuck on the low end of professionalism in comparison.  The few really good English VAs stand out so much precisely because there is no system here in the US for training VAs like there is in Japan.  Heck, if you look at Atlus's games, you'll notice that in a number of them, they basically used people off the street or people inside the studio's various departments for a good portion of the VAs.

[Darklord Rooke]

1 hour ago, Clephas said:

However, in the same amount of time, Japanese VAs have taken things to master-level, while English ones are still stuck on the low end of professionalism in comparison.

Unfortunately, it doesn't mean much unless you understand the language. Whenever I switch anime from English audio to Japanese audio, which is what I do when the English dubs are unbearable (aka Fighting Spirit and Initial D,) the Japanese voices are like this un-intrusive background hum that doesn't disturb me while I read the subs.

[WinterfuryZX]

16 minutes ago, Rooke said:

Unfortunately, it doesn't mean much unless you understand the language. Whenever I switch anime from English audio to Japanese audio, which is what I do when the English dubs are unbearable (aka Fighting Spirit and Initial D,) the Japanese voices are like this un-intrusive background hum that doesn't disturb me while I read the subs.

There are various degrees of knowing a language, I understand like 5 to 10% of spoken japanese, it's better than nothing.

[Daydreamer97]

I'd say it depends on the quality of the voice acting. If it's good and conveys the emotions well, why not? At least it won't be too jarring to hear Japanese while reading English.

But if a choice between dubbed and original is offered, I'd say I prefer Japanese voice acting. I just like it more for some reason, in the same way I hate Filipino dubbed media- It just doesn't sound right when it's dubbed.

[CeruleanGamer]

English VA's lack passion. Now if we are talking German VA's then that's a different story.