Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

(Chapters 3-6)

Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby BalHan » Tue Mar 20, 2018 10:54 pm

Shenmue IIx is my favourite of the two Shenmue II releases but only just lol. I was disappointed with the voice acting for Ren, Joy, and Xiuying in Shenmue IIx. The voice acting for these three characters in the Japanese release is much better, particularly the voice acting for Ren which I thought was outstanding.

Do you think they’ll re-do the English dub for Shenmue II? If they ever remaster Shenmue II, I’ll be disappointed to hear the same voices for Ren and Joy. The voice actor for Xiuying just needs to be a bit more trenchant with her delivery, she sounds indifferent to me.

I would also be a little disappointed if the same voices were used for Ren and Joy should they return in Shenmue III.
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Re: Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby Spaghetti » Wed Mar 21, 2018 5:18 am

It depends how much money SEGA is willing to pump into remasters, but it's probably unlikely they'd do any redubbing for either game if/when they're rereleased.

I don't like the English dub of II either. I can tolerate it in the original game because there's kind of a cheesy charm to it (plus on occasion it's actually kinda good for the main cast), but in II it sounds like it was done quickly and with as few takes as possible.

I think you'll be in the minority when it comes to disliking Ren's English voice though. At the very least Eric Kelso made Ren sound lively in a game where the rest of the voice actors sound asleep, haha.
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Re: Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby BalHan » Wed Mar 21, 2018 8:34 am

I actually love the dub for Shenmue 1; the melodramatic delivery really gives the game a heightened mystical quality that wouldn’t have been achieved with ‘better’ voice acting.

I know from having lurked on this forum for some time that Ren’s voice in Shenmue IIx seems to polarise fans. I’d be surprised, though, if a lot of fans who have played both Shenmue II releases like myself preferred Eric Kelso’s performance to the Japanese one.

I agree that Kelso does bring a lively quality to Ren which is wanting in other characters in IIx, but seems to lack the intimidating and menacing quality that is evident in the Japanese voice.
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Re: Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby Jibby » Wed Mar 21, 2018 11:10 am

I think Eric Kelso did a great job as Ren personally. He really nailed that condescending vibe. The rest of II's English dub is a bit naff though.
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Re: Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby OL » Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:02 pm

Even though I absolutely think the English voice acting for both game is pretty laughable, I'm totally against the idea of them re-recording it. As old as the games are, they've developed a personality and history which includes, for better or worse, the English voice overs they were originally given. And in my mind, trying to "redo" any part of them is like trying to re-write history.
It's an ugly idea; established history is something you should accept, not try to replace or "pretty up."

However, if the games ever do get a re-release, they should still obviously make them dual-audio and include the Japanese voiceovers as well. Then everybody wins, without having to overwrite anything.
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Re: Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby BalHan » Wed Mar 21, 2018 3:58 pm

OL wrote: Even though I absolutely think the English voice acting for both game is pretty laughable, I'm totally against the idea of them re-recording it. As old as the games are, they've developed a personality and history which includes, for better or worse, the English voice overs they were originally given. And in my mind, trying to "redo" any part of them is like trying to re-write history.
It's an ugly idea; established history is something you should accept, not try to replace or "pretty up."

However, if the games ever do get a re-release, they should still obviously make them dual-audio and include the Japanese voiceovers as well. Then everybody wins, without having to overwrite anything.


'Established' history is not necessarily accurate which is why there are revisionist historians who endeavour to make corrections to paint us a clearer picture of the past so therefore, no, it's not something we should accept.

I don't think the whole of the two games need re-dubbing but unquestionably there is room for improvement.
We must also keep in mind that there are countless would-be Shenmue fans (contingent on the success of Shenmue 3) and so these changes may benefit them.
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Re: Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby OL » Wed Mar 21, 2018 7:09 pm

BalHan wrote:'Established' history is not necessarily accurate which is why there are revisionist historians who endeavour to make corrections to paint us a clearer picture of the past so therefore, no, it's not something we should accept.


I'm pretty sure we're talking about a videogame from 1999, so y'know... maybe keep context in mind. I'm not talking about the incorrect idea of Washington as a great general, or Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone.

That being said, my point was that Shenmue is a product of its time, and changing much of anything about it that contributed to its personality would be a bit of an insult to the original product, not to mention any fans who actually liked it just the way it was (and there are plenty). That was absolutely the case for the HD remasters of Silent Hill 2 and 3, and that's likely the #1 reason they failed so hard on release.
Besides, Having a new voice actor recite the line "I see" in a more convincing manner probably isn't going to convert anyone who was disinterested before. More often than not, people get interested in the game despite the silly VA; I don't think I've ever heard of anyone who's actually skipped it entirely because of the VA.
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Re: Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby BalHan » Wed Mar 21, 2018 7:56 pm

There's no reason why Shenmue cannot be 'prettied up' which you inexplicably oppose. Notwithstanding how many fans like the games as they are, there's certainly room for improvement on games released almost twenty years ago, hence the reason there has been a resounding clarion call from Shenmue fans for Shenmue HD.

If you think the English dubs are 'pretty laughable' then surely you would welcome a more polished and professional dubbing of the games, although, I would oppose a re-dubbing of all of the dialogue. I just think there is some room for improvement which would give us a heightened gaming experience.
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Re: Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby Superrayman3 » Sat Apr 07, 2018 1:13 pm

Ideally they should record a new dub and include an option to pick between the old and new dub, that way everyone is happy, fans who hate the old dub can use the new one and vice versa those that like the old dub can use that instead of the new dub, problem solved.
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Re: Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby BlueMue » Sat Apr 07, 2018 3:30 pm

I'd personally be happy if they can just use the uncompressed recordings (if they didn't lose them somehow) and put those in the game. They make for quite a substantial improvement in how the acting is perceived.
Well, at least for Shenmue I anyway...

I helps that they just don't sound overblown anymore but to me, when I listen to the dialoge in Shenmue The Movie, the clearer sound with more dynamic just carries more emotion and it just works better.

I think a full redub is really just overkill for a basic remaster. I'd leave something like this for a full remake.
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Re: Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby drunkensailor » Mon Apr 09, 2018 1:30 pm

BalHan wrote: Shenmue IIx is my favourite of the two Shenmue II releases but only just lol. I was disappointed with the voice acting for Ren, Joy, and Xiuying in Shenmue IIx. The voice acting for these three characters in the Japanese release is much better, particularly the voice acting for Ren which I thought was outstanding.

Do you think they’ll re-do the English dub for Shenmue II? If they ever remaster Shenmue II, I’ll be disappointed to hear the same voices for Ren and Joy. The voice actor for Xiuying just needs to be a bit more trenchant with her delivery, she sounds indifferent to me.

I would also be a little disappointed if the same voices were used for Ren and Joy should they return in Shenmue III.

if they keep the original dub in for these games, especially shenmue 2, then no player of the current gens will take shenmue seriously anymore.
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Re: Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby drunkensailor » Mon Apr 09, 2018 1:31 pm

BlueMue wrote: I'd personally be happy if they can just use the uncompressed recordings (if they didn't lose them somehow) and put those in the game. They make for quite a substantial improvement in how the acting is perceived.
Well, at least for Shenmue I anyway...

I helps that they just don't sound overblown anymore but to me, when I listen to the dialoge in Shenmue The Movie, the clearer sound with more dynamic just carries more emotion and it just works better.

I think a full redub is really just overkill for a basic remaster. I'd leave something like this for a full remake.

have you heard the uncompressed ones?
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Re: Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby BlueMue » Mon Apr 09, 2018 3:16 pm

Well yeah, as explained they are in Shenmue The Movie. Yeah, I was thinking about the game too much when I posted.

As for Shenmue II some lines are used in the Sega Allstars Racing games and I'm pretty sure these are straight from the original recording files and not pulled from the game. They don't sound quite that much better, definately a far cry from the difference mentioned above. That's in part because the dub in Shenmue II is at least mastered better than the one in the first game.
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Re: Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby drunkensailor » Mon Apr 09, 2018 4:04 pm

BlueMue wrote: Well yeah, as explained they are in Shenmue The Movie. Yeah, I was thinking about the game too much when I posted.

As for Shenmue II some lines are used in the Sega Allstars Racing games and I'm pretty sure these are straight from the original recording files and not pulled from the game. They don't sound quite that much better, definately a far cry from the difference mentioned above. That's in part because the dub in Shenmue II is at least mastered better than the one in the first game.

I wish these could be patched to the original shenmue games and be made a large iso, to play through stuff like gdemu.
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Re: Re-do English dub for Shenmue II

Postby OL » Tue Apr 10, 2018 12:38 am

Kinda funny, I always actually liked the sound of the compressed dialogue; made it feel even more like a dubbed-over movie from the 80s to me. Not that better quality would hurt anything necessarily, I just always thought of it as an extra atmosphere-contributor, even if the effect was unintentional.

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