I Always Preferred Japanese Voice with English Subtitles - Same for 3!

mjqjazzbar said:
I think it's pretty disingenuous to claim we'd 'sacrifice' the dub for 'small improvements.' I can only imagine how how much money 20+ voice actors and a huge script costs.
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The script cost remains regardless, unless you want no translation at all.
 
Vasid said:
I can absolutely agree that I would take Japanese being cut if it meant more content, and the reason I would be fine with that is because then English would be the original intended vision. I'm a game developer myself and as a developer I want people to play my games the way I intended them, so when it comes time for me to play a game/watch a movie/enjoy any other medium I try and do it as close to the original intended experience as possible.

I would argue that while Yu MAY (emphasis here because as far as I can tell from searching the net this is just a rumor) like the English dub I am pretty sure that if asked he'd say that he originally wrote the script in Japanese and created the scenes for the Japanese dub (which is why the mouth movements all match the Japanese).

But again as an answer to your thought experiment which I quite like: yes I would absolutely sacrifice the Japanese voice overs if it meant more content IF English was the intended experience.
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Yeah, I 100% agree with playing as they were intended which is why I always pick the original VO when given the option.

As for his feelings towards the English dub, I have no source. It’s just based on those rumors and that Shenmue USA was even released in Japan. Also, I believe I read this but can’t find it now, but wasn’t “Shenmue: The Movie,” shown in English in Japanese cinemas?
 
SakuraTaisen said:
Yeah, I 100% agree with playing as they were intended which is why I always pick the original VO when given the option.

As for his feelings towards the English dub, I have no source. It’s just based on those rumors and that Shenmue USA was even released in Japan. Also, I believe I read this but can’t find it now, but wasn’t “Shenmue: The Movie,” shown in English in Japanese cinemas?
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Yes, Shenmue: The Movie actually did make it to Japanese cinema and even a home release (at least according to a wiki article I was able to find). This was done as an attempt to get back some of the massive cost of Shenmue. I'll definitely give that it's odd that the English dub was released in theaters over the Japanese, it's thin evidence but I can understand why that would persuade some people. I mean I don't doubt Yu probably liked the English dub, I mean he loved every bit of Shenmue as far as I can tell, so I don't think that's a stretch. I'd be extremely curious to hear if he views it as the definitive version in truth over the Japanese.
 
I was ready to deduct points if the English dub of Shenmue III was actually good. I was quite relieved when I realized that it was as cheesy as I could remember. Shenmue wouldn't be Shenmue to me if the English version had "good voice acting."

The Japanese voices are definitely much better, but after seeing Corey Marshall and his overwhelming support for the Shenmue series, I felt compelled to give his work a shot. I'm really happy he got to play the voice of Ryo again and I hope he comes back for Shenmue IV, V, VI and so on.
 
darksniper said:
I was ready to deduct points if the English dub of Shenmue III was actually good. I was quite relieved when I realized that it was as cheesy as I could remember. Shenmue wouldn't be Shenmue to me if the English version had "good voice acting."

The Japanese voices are definitely much better, but after seeing Corey Marshall and his overwhelming support for the Shenmue series, I felt compelled to give his work a shot. I'm really happy he got to play the voice of Ryo again and I hope he comes back for Shenmue IV, V, VI and so on.
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Yeah, I really had no love for the English dub as I played it (completely) in Japanese first on the HD collection. I think it may have been what turned me off of completing the game when I first got the DC version like 10-15 years ago. I really just thought of it as something that was good for a laugh.

Despite this, I’ve loved the series from afar for a long enough time as a full-blown Sega nut that Corey is almost equally “Ryo” to me as Mastukaze is. Seeing Corey’s passion for the role and how he’s been excited for/promoting Shenmue 3 is really heartwarming. Because of that, I’d honestly feel awful if the English dub were ever abandoned.
 
I can't believe how many people are saying the english dub is bad without even playing it. The english voice actors did an amazing job with this game (aside from a CERTAIN moment near the end... )
Preferences, I guess. But you gotta give it to them they did some good casting for the most part.
 
It is a point of personal preference if you consider the dub good or bad. I am sure the dub is super Shenmue like. Which is good and bad at the same time.

When the first Shenmue came out, good Dubs were not that common place, we were only a few years away from this "masterpiece"


A good dub like Metal Gear Solid was not common place.

These days things are different. I am not a fan of many directions the gaming Industry went in the last decades but I have to acknowledge that the localisation of Video games improved vastly. Good Dubs are common place.

Shenmue 3 is a true sequal in all ways. They Maybe even brought back the Standards in Dubs from 1999. Not bad for that time, but rather bad for today.

In the end everybody should use their prefered language. Arguing which one is better is not necessary.
 
I'm convinced the game would have a better review average right now if it didn't have the English VO, but reviews aren't everything. This is a game made for the fans, and many fans would've been disappointed by a lack of English VO, so it's hard to argue they made the wrong decision.

It's also important to point out it isn't the English VO itself that is to blame, it's the translation and writing. The Japanese VO makes it easier to gloss over, which is why I vastly prefer it and would never recommend English to anyone, but the budget really shows in the translation. Much like previous games, it feels like it got a first pass from JP to ENG, then they stopped there. Not much editing, or making sure it reads well once in the game. It's serviceable, though.
 
Yes, the translation between the Japanese and English seems really off here and there. As for the English VO, it’s a big improvement over Shenmue 2’s, but I’ll always be a purist. I just mostly enjoy the English version for Brianna Knickerbocker.
 
RyoHazuki84 said:
Yes, the translation between the Japanese and English seems really off here and there. As for the English VO, it’s a big improvement over Shenmue 2’s, but I’ll always be a purist. I just mostly enjoy the English version for Brianna Knickerbocker.
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I really do like her a lot as Shenhua, she nailed that kind of softness her original VA had in Shenmue II, it hardly feels like I'm talking to someone "new" (Where as a contrast,
Ren's new VA, while super good (Greg Chun is a great VA!), he lacks that specific tone of voice he spoke with in II, most noticeably when he speaks his iconic catchphrase, "You idiot!". His lines are still so "Ren" though that it isn't even that much of a complaint, though, he's still the same morally ambigious sidekick as he was in II.

The English dub is still pretty well done, and I don't think anyone expected AAA directed voice acting. The VAs clearly put effort into their performances and some definitely had a lot of fun with the more goofier side-characters, it still has that same kind of "charm" the original two had with the English voices, while also being a pretty sizeable step up in quality.
 
9dragons said:
But one thing is funny though. Although bad the dub of S1 has still a certain charm. You can enjoy it. But S2 is different. I checked out some English Segments of the game and they were just bad. Lacking the cheesy charm of the first game. I can still enjoy the dub of S1 but I could never bring myself to play the English dub of S2. it is just too bad.
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When I started S2HD this summer hot off the heels of S1HD, I spent a good 30 minutes thinking to myself "jesus, I can't do this. I'm gonna have to switch to japanese". Then something happened and my brain was fine with it again, lmao. Which is really weird as I never had any issue with it when playing it on DC with a burnt disc where the dub was even further compressed. S2 definitely has the worst dub of the existing trilogy, by a long shot even, but I think it might just start off worse for whatever reason.
 
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