Sub or Dub

[Segata]

So this is one of those some people will only accept one or the other.

Dub can sometimes go REAL bad like Shenmue or Yakuza 1 on PS2. Subs made more sense in following Yakuza games esp being based in Japan. On the other hand Digimon Cyber Sleuth or Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE are similar to Persona or SMT and those games do gets dubs and they work just fine.


Maybe not the quality but you think one makes more sense. In any case which do you prefer and why?

[ElkinFencer10]

I generally prefer dub. I don't mind sub by any means, and an option to use Japanese voices with subs is ideal in the case of shitty dubs, but I can connect with characters much more easily if they speak a language I understand.

[Xeogred]

I like bananas.

I'm glad that we're getting more Japanese dubs in games thesedays. I tend to prefer them. Anime wise it's all I watch, but if I'm at a friends or something and we're watching a dub I'm not going to be annoying about it or anything. I'm cool with it.

I'm more tolerant of game dubs though, since yeah the PS2 era had some wretched voice acting in some JRPG's and whatnot. It just came with the territory and you had to build up tolerance, haha. So even to this day, I can get through just about anything and be fine, but if there's a Japanese option I'll try to stick with that.

Sometimes it depends on the type of game though. FFXV I played dubbed because of the action mid battle. But right now I'm playing Nier Automata and since it's so ultra Japanese and anime, I'm playing it in Japanese, but it's admittedly hard to follow the text in its crazy combat sometimes. I don't want to budge in this case though, so I'm sticking with Japanese.

For shows/movies, I really just prefer the original languages. So this isn't a Japan only thing for me.

[marurun]

I prefer subs, generally, because language is part of atmosphere. I used to think Japanese voice actors were all awesome, but I have grown out of that. But a truly inspired dub can be better than subs.

[Forlorn Drifter]

Dub. It might be for a stupid personal reason, but I either get distracted from the game itself or what is being said with subs because I can't play and read at the same time. No matter what I'm doing, I'll lose half of it. I don't have this problem as much with movies, but its still there.

[Segata]

I can go either way. I like to hear the words more than reading them as it's easier to pay attention esp if a lot is happening. I like that Persona games are dub. I also am fine when TMS and DCS are sub only. For those who mentioned anime..dub only for me. I just have a hard time reading and watching at the same time.

[o.pwuaioc]

Can I vote for no voice acting? Anyone still do that?

[alienjesus]

Can I vote for no voice acting? Anyone still do that?

Yeah, I favour this. Breath of the Wild could've done with out the little it had just fine imo, especially as I hated a lot of the casting choices.

Not to sound rude to most of the users on this forum, but American accents in fantasy games really fight against my suspension of disbelief for some reason, and pull me right out of the game. For some reason I'm A-OK with this bird man talking to me, but talking to me with a Brooklyn accent I can't gel with at all.

[Michi]

I think that's a tough call. For me it depends both on the medium and the time period it was released.

For example, in regards to games, I would prefer a dub. Especially if someone is yammering on while I'm trying to perform some sort of action. I find having to read too much at the same time can be very distracting.

On the other hand, some dubs are just plain 'meh,' especially some of the older ones. That's not to say some of the original English language ones fared much better back then either, of course. Some of them were awful too. I think it was just an effect of the times. Though I will say they've been getting a lot better lately. Not perfect, mind, but better.

In regards to live action movies, I prefer subs, mostly because I find the disconnect on dubs between the mouth movements and the audio to be very jarring. I used to just confuse me when I watched kung-fu movies in my youth, but now I just find it really distracting.

Then there's anime. I really dislike watching older dubbed anime. An unfair proportion of those shows ended up with horrible dubs that might not have seemed so bad at the time, but are just really painful to watch now. The often poor direction of the voice actors, the outdated pop culture references, the slang (my god the slang).... I just can't do it. Some shows were lucky enough to get a re-dub (like Sailor Moon), most weren't. For shows like that, I stick with subs.

By contrast, a lot of the newer dubs I actually like. The direction is getting better, the voices are more tolerable and, since most anime doesn't air on American cable anymore, the scripts are sticking more closely to the originals (no more Home For Infinite Losers). There's always room for improvement of course, but I'm happy with the direction everything seems to be headed.

[ElkinFencer10]

Can I vote for no voice acting? Anyone still do that?

Yeah, I favour this. Breath of the Wild could've done with out the little it had just fine imo, especially as I hated a lot of the casting choices.

Not to sound rude to most of the users on this forum, but American accents in fantasy games really fight against my suspension of disbelief for some reason, and pull me right out of the game. For some reason I'm A-OK with this bird man talking to me, but talking to me with a Brooklyn accent I can't gel with at all.

It needs to be a rule that all fantasy characters have English, Welsh, or Scottish accents. Nothing else is acceptable.