Voice acting in Bone

[FatherBrain]

Is the voice acting in the trailer final? I've heard much worse (see www.audioatrocities.com for some examples), but it's terrible compared to Psychonauts or the more recent LucasArts adventure games; considering that LucasArts is where Telltale's founders got their pedigree, I expected much better. I'm not alone in this opinion, by the way:
http://forums.gaming-age.com/showthread.php?t=55488

[YMH]

I have to agree. Though I loved most things about the trailer, everything about the voices, from the way they sound, to the way they're engineered, to the way the lines are delivered, sounds unprofessional and just wrong. Very much looking forward to the game, but given that it looks to be such a cinematic experience, I hope I'm not going to have to play it with speech turned off. :-)

I've never been one of those messageborad complainers before, and I feel a little guilty about it, being a developer myself. But I figured better to give the feedback than not. Good luck with the rest of the project!

[Swashbuckler]

I'm just cuious: What was so wrong about it?
I thought it sounded quite good. I'm no sound expert, I won't get into the engeneering bit, but I can't say I found the voices bad at all...

And comparing Telltale with LucasArts in't exactly fair. LA is a big company with lots of resources, while Telltale are pretty much in the process of getting established. There is bound to be a differance between the two, even if the Telltale staff all are very talented people.

[emmenem]

Are you totally nuts :) ? I found the voice acting great and I enjoyed so much Fone Bone's actor.
Maybe I am the only supporter here but in my humble opinion they are doing a good job.
Moreover this is just a short trailer and Fone Bone says only "Hellooo?" Or "Stupid Studip Rat Creatures" or "Shut Up!" not longer sentences.
If I were TTG, I would only improve the soundtrack but, again, this is only a short trailer.
And moreover you ex Lucas Adventure games fans have a short memory too! Every Lucas trailer has always shown only cinematic scenes never in-game scenes (remember MI3 or Grim Fandango Trailer). :)
So TTG YOU are the best Graphic Adventure developers (with AMEGames) EVER so do a fabutastic (I hate this word heetherlee) job!
Ciao.

[Swashbuckler]

I believe it's Phoney who yells "Shut up!", otherwise I agree with you. Nothing wrong with the voices.

[emmenem]

Sorry Swashbuckler (or anyone who is listening) could you quote here Smiley's song from the introduction? I can't understand it well.
Thanks.
Ciao!

[Marcus]

I think the voices was OK, but when the smiley bone sang, his mouth wasn't animated too good. It would be also cool if the narrator's voice is the same as the red dragon's voice, it would sound better that way. Really good work on the rat creatures voices :D

[jp-30]

I think the voices was OK, but when the smiley bone sang, his mouth wasn't animated too good.

It's a videogame, not the latest PIXAR movie. 8-|

I have no problem with the voices. Any of them.

I think some of those who do are simply having problems adjusting to what they imagined the voices to sound like while reading the comics because, of course, Telltale voices can't match everyone's imagined voices on all characters.

If you look at the comments, some people hate the Rat Creatures, others think they're perfect. Some hate Dragon, others love it. Each of the Bones voices are disliked by some and liked by others.

Telltale can't please everyone, and I'd imagine that within 30 minutes of playing the game most people will settle into the characters and voices and no longer notice tat they didn't initially gel with your own 'mind's-ear' versions.

[YMH]

I'm sure that that's part of it, but I think it goes further than that.

Unfortunately I'm not a professional audio person, so though there are probably words to describe what I feel is wrong with the way the speech sounds from the technical perspective, I have no idea what they are. Just some combination of the recording environment and the mixing (and perhaps the compression?) makes them sound weird.

But as for the voice direction... I don't know; it's just not convincing. It sounds like people reading lines, not like actors who are in character. Sort of the difference between Final Fantasy X and Grim Fandango.

[apignarb]

Sorry Swashbuckler (or anyone who is listening) could you quote here Smiley's song from the introduction? I can't understand it well.

the old gray mare,
(she) ain't what she used to be x3
the old gray mare,
she ain't what she used to be
many long years ago.

[SMNMX]

I liked it. It wasn't how I imagined the voices (but nothing really ever is), but I'm sure I can get used to it in the final game. I loved the Red Dragon's voice (if there's a narrator in game, it really has to be him), and I can understand the style choices about the Rat Creature voices (again not what I imagined, though).

Overall, me likey!

[jp-30]

From this new article (http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=5623) ;

"The voices are pretty close to what I had in my mind, especially Phoney Bone," Jeff Smith said.

And, well, if Jeff Smith thinks the voices are "right", then I think I can live with them. :p

[SMNMX]

Exactly how I feel :)

[reznik]

I feel the same aswell though I must say that Simely was the only one that really bothered me.

[SMNMX]

Really? I thought Smiley fit my idea better than the rest. Phoney was a bit... strange and high, but since he was yelling at the time, his voice would be, so I think I'll like his acting. Fone was the weirdest for me, but I'm sure I'll get used to it like Brushguy (hi, Brushguy!) said.

[reznik]

yeah, I found him slightly too goofy, yet truthfully my problem with him may purely based on the fact that I never really had a image of how he should sound in my head. Then again wouldnt that make me more excepting of the voice....oh well time will tell

[SMNMX]

Exactly. It's amazing: you have a distinct idea of a character as you read a book, then you think about the voice in a movie or game and have no idea what it should sound like!

[Malgas]

You know, I tried to come at the trailer with the mindset that the voices were probably not going to be exactly like I imagined while reading the comic. Largely, this succeeded, the voices were indeed not like I was expecting, and I'm fine with that. There is one line in the trailer which is simply so poorly delivered it boggles the mind (Especially given what an outstanding line it is!):

When Fone says "Stupid, stupid rat creatures!", it's as though the actor is reading the line with no concept of what it means or the context in which it is used. His voice is completely flat, conveying no emotion whatsoever. He should be, at the very least upset, with the rat creatures, ideally he should be completely incredulous that _anyone_ could be so completely mind-numbingly *stupid*. Instead, he just sounds bored.

The line is "Stupid, *STUPID* rat creatures!", not "stupid stupid rat creatures"

[Ripper]

I think the voice acting in the trailer sounded just fine. Better then some voice acting I have heard in adventure games. I can't wait till this game is released.

[uniikki]

I had no real probelms with the voices of the characters, based on the trailer. Certainly hugely different from what I would have done, but I think I can perfectly understand the choices, after thinking about them. Hard to judge without hearing more.

I did however find the trailer 'narrator' voice monotonous and a bit annoying. Takes all kinds :-)

All in all, I'm starting to get my hopes up for the game.

[Steve2000]

To the last three posters - Welcome to the forums

The voices were great. I'll wait for the game before making any more comments for or against.

[SwordKing]

Well, I've always picutre Phoney Bone sounding more like Gilbert Gottfreid. But the voice TellTale used works, and so do the others.

[Johnny Walker]

The only voice that REALLY irks me is Thorn's new one. (But you all knew that already, didn't you? :)) The three Bone characters are perfect, if you ask me.

[AdamG]

You wanna hear bad voice acting? Try "Prince of Qin"!

[sanosuke32]

I don't really like Thorn's new voice actor, in fact I just finished reading up to volume 6 and started vol 7 and I really don't think Thorns voice actor can do the later volumes if they continue the games. She becomes a lot more vicious and crazy and the voice actor for sure would just not cut it.

[benjamin]

I agree, and same with Smiley, in the later volumes, Smiley becomes alot smarter, so they might have to change his voice to.