- Joined
- Jul 27, 2018
- Favourite title
- Shenmue II
- Currently playing
- Persona 3 Reload
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- KiddMarine1
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- KiddMarine
If we had a choice between spending money on English VA or making the games NPCs 1% better, I'd pick the latter without a doubt.
Cutting english voices isn't going to "save them a lot of money".Lol. Well, I don't know if I'd go that far, but I do think every penny counts when you're trying to get a series like this made. If they can get the funds to make a fully realized Shenmue and manage to include the English VA, I'm all for it.
I certainly would play it, but something would be missing without Corey.
Personally, I would miss nothing. Unpopular opinion, but I don't care much for Corey. The Japanese dub shits all over the English dub in these games and is really the only way I can play anymore. I understand the appeal of the dub -- the same way I understand the appeal of so bad it's good Kung Fu dubs or Godzilla dubs -- but speaking personally? I'd miss nothing if they didn't bother with an English track from here on out.
Same way I don't care about lack of English dubs in Yakuza. There's something about playing Shenmue with the Japanese track that just feels right to me.
I'm an oddball when it comes to dubs. I prefer Yakuza with the Japanese dub but Shenmue with the English dub.
I recall reading said post at the time and noticing how very flawed the logic in coming to that estimate was.There was a post around here suggesting the English VA likely cost 500K-$1 million. That's a pretty substantial amount of money for a game that supposedly cost $10million to develop. It certainly didn't attract a lot of praise, beyond a handful of fans, for the game. I think it's a net negative, unless the cost is minimal. I'd take text as well.
But with all of that out of the way, I doubt any of these compromises will be made. All of these ideas seem to be against the spirit of what Yu Suzuki wants to achieve.
But, english voice acting makes the game more accesible.(Some people don't play games which don't have english voice acting)
Not everyone is a fan of reading subtitles in games.
The main reason voice acting costed that much is due to having like 100 npcs that have voice acting.(Shenmue 1 also wasted a lot of money for that according to Jeremy Blaustin.)
Even assuming Corey did make £8,000 (which I suspect is a high estimate), he was the lead actor and had considerably more lines than anybody else in the game. Let’s say Briana made the same (again, generous considering she had fewer lines) and we’re at £16,000. I very much doubt they hired union voice actors for the extras and even if they got union actors for the other named characters (Lan Di, Broom Girl, Mr Muscles 1/2, Ren and the 2 masters), their lines probably warranted no more than 1/2 hours studio time at most (about $11,000 dollars assuming each of the actors was paid for 2 hours at $800/hour).Basing the dub on my band/gigging days (we used to pay on average £1000 for 3 days studio time plus £200 for mastering) you can see how easily costs can spiral out of control for a dub. You've got recording, editing and mixing for all main characters plus NPC's. All actors need paying and from what I understand you can cost it at a per line/ per minute on a 1 read through or hire in main actors at a per hour cost.
This studio in the UK costs £200 ph for an actor and then £60ph for the director/recording/editing per hour https://www.voquent.com/rates/#example
Of course this isn't an exact science as no one knows how much Corey made from it. I'd assume less than the above (Bill Black said they did it cheap) but still relatively costly. He was in the studio for a month. Assume £50 an hour. £400 a day, £2000 a week, £8000 a month, which sounds extortionate. He might have done it for way less but we don't know. My point being is that cost can spiral if you're then paying for the studio, director etc. They could have got some flat rates for some actors, Corey probably would have done it for less as it's Shenmue.
Heres another for reference: https://www.thevoicerealm.com/voice-over-rates.php
This is the studio/firm that did the Shenmue III English dub and localisation.
Game Localization, Translation and Testing from Lionbridge
Lionbridge’s end-to-end suite of game localization, translation, testing and audio services ensure game developers deliver compelling gaming experiences in any language or culture.www.lionbridge.com
This is based on nothing but a quick google but I'd be shocked if the dub didn't hit over $200k but I suspect it was way more
You'd be surprised what these studios (certainly from my experience in music) cost out when you're in these professional places, for want of a better expression. Some even have the nerve to charge file transfer costs....Even assuming Corey did make £8,000 (which I suspect is a high estimate), he was the lead actor and had considerably more lines than anybody else in the game. Let’s say Briana made the same (again, generous considering she had fewer lines) and we’re at £16,000. I very much doubt they hired union voice actors for the extras and even if they got union actors for the other named characters (Lan Di, Broom Girl, Mr Muscles 1/2, Ren and the 2 masters), their lines probably warranted no more than 1/2 hours studio time at most (about $11,000 dollars assuming each of the actors was paid for 2 hours at $800/hour).
There are obviously some other costs (studio hire, director, technician, etc), but I don’t see these making up the other $150,000+ from your $200,000 estimate; let alone the $950k+ from the upper end of the estimate made in the OP.
Absolutely this. I think one of the reasons the english dub is awkward is the dialog system in shenmue might be too hardcoded to the japanese dub which means that the english one need to preserve the same NPC interactions and I believe japanese has a certain way of doing dialogs that is weird to English speakers. I believe that japanese mannerism was also one of the reasons that snake in metal gear solid always repeated what the other person said which, if I am correct, is a way for Japanese speakers to show you are following the conversation.The problem for me remains with both lack of direction and stiff translations. I'm not a dub hater by any means. Actually, in some ways, I prefer the Persona 4 English dub over the Japanese dub and would point to that as being a rather well done dub in both translation and direction.
I get that like many things, it’s all speculation, but am wary of posts suggesting that the VO cost $500k - $1m and the impact that they could have on fan perception of the series (and this in turn the series itself) moving forward.You'd be surprised what these studios (certainly from my experience in music) cost out when you're in these professional places, for want of a better expression. Some even have the nerve to charge file transfer costs....
Lionsbridge also did the localisation so maybe they negotiated a package. I do also know that some actors were not union, Corey said so himself in one of the Zoom calls he did. Greg Chun would have probably commanded a decent wage given his name in the VO world.
Without concrete information we will never know and as I said this was based on a quick google plus some personal experience. Its certainly not gospel but I can see how costs in this area quickly spiral.
I also recall Bill Black saying they did it as cheaply as they could. 1 line 1 take stuff, minimal edits etc.