Games with the best (English) voice acting

[Mek]

Just curious, and I haven't seen a topic like this in a while.

Which games have the best voice acting? And in the spirit of fairness (as I know there's a bias towards this), but original Japanese voice acting DOES NOT COUNT. Dubs count, if you want to play that way.

Here's my picks:

Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2
If a game can make me like Cloud Strife (Steve Burton did the impossible), then that's saying alot. The first game had some of the best voice acting I'd heard in years, and the second is shaping up to be just as good, if not better. I mean c'mon... you can't go wrong with Christopher Lee! (And I'm actually happy Richard Epcar is voicing 'Ansem' this time around too)

Legacy of Kain (All)
The big-worded prose and long cinematics may turn people off, but the voices really DO carry the story. Even though my only gripe is Janos Audron's irritating pseudo-Russian accent, I still want to turn up the volume really loud on my TV to fully hear everything that's said. (And it's no thanks to Simon Templeman that I've had a crush on Kain since I was 14)

Metal Gear Solid (Original PSX Version)
'Twin Snakes's redub was horrific IMO. The original is by far and away the best of the two. Everything just feels 'natural', and David Hayter really gives Snake the tough-as-nails personality he deserves. Cam Clarke as Liquid Snake works too. ^^

[Speedy Boris]

-The GTA games, particularly Vice City and San Andreas
-The Metal Gear Solid games
-The Gex series (for obvious reasons! :D )
-The Jak & Daxter series

[Superperson]

I'd say just about all the Viewtiful Joe games had pretty solid voice acting.

[Captain Harlock]

Any game in the Metal Gear Solid franchise. To name one over the other would be providing a diservice to the talents and skills of those involved within.

Knights of the Old Republic and the voices therein really works well since the game is really built on the story and characters.

[Artimus Gigan]

Final Fantasy 10 and 10-2(unless you got the PAL versions)

[Invader_Spooch]

Any game in the Metal Gear Solid franchise. To name one over the other would be providing a diservice to the talents and skills of those involved within.

Knights of the Old Republic and the voices therein really works well since the game is really built on the story and characters.

TOTALLY AGREE'D.

[Pretentious]

I do so heart Dragon Quest VIII's voice acting. Yangus wouldn't be half as lovable as he is without the voice.

[Duke]

I rather liked the dubbing in Tales of Symphonia.

[Dark Fact]

Ys: Books I & II for the Turbo Duo. :cool:

[GagaMan]

House of the Dead 2!


I kid, I kid.

[Conekiller]

Ratchet and Clank, some of the vocies are just too perfect and ge a laugh outta me every time (Dr. Nefarious specifically)

Grandia 2 (havn't played 3 yet) any game that casts the Little Mermaid as an evil seductress can't be all bad ^__^

[Lord Dalek]

Just about any Lucasarts graphic adventure.

[Mr. Pedro]

Tales of Symphonia, Killer 7 and the later-day RE games stick out most in my mind.

[silverwings]

I'll 3rd Tales of Symphonia.

I'd also like to add Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Just not the other 2. :p

[GrantM]

-The GTA games, particularly Vice City and San Andreas
-The Metal Gear Solid games
-The Gex series (for obvious reasons! :D )
-The Jak & Daxter series
Apart from the Gex games, I have to agree with all of those choices, although Naughty Dog did have to bring in one of my least favorite VAs for Jak 3 and Jak X, I really like the guy who does Daxter's voice

Other choices...

-Beavis And Butt-Head In Virtual Stupidity (PC) - Just as good and funny as in the TV series
-The Ratchet And Clank games (PS2)
-Most of the Lucasarts adventure games

[Invader_Spooch]

Where would Psychonauts have been without its stellar voice cast? (Well, I still would've loved it, but man the voice acting was good).

:heart: Richard Horvitz as Raz

[TheMecca]

I enjoyed Conker's Bad Fur Day's voice acting. It makes the game work- especially during scenes like The Haybot battle scene- near the end, the Haybot becomes a huge parody of The Terminator, and the voice needed to work for the parody to work.

[Speedy Boris]

Apart from the Gex games, I have to agree with all of those choices, although Naughty Dog did have to bring in one of my least favorite VAs for Jak 3 and Jak X, I really like the guy who does Daxter's voice Wait a minute... didn't the United Kingdom have a different VA for Gex anyway? IIRC, Leslie Phillips did the voice for the U.K. while comedian Dana Gould did it for the U.S. version. Which one did you play?

[Captain Highwind]

I also agree about Tales of Symphonia, and Legendia so far sounds good too. Even the squeaky voices (see: Nora Beatty) add to the humor instead of sounding irritating. It took me a few hours to adjust to Cam Clarke's voice without thinking "Kratos", but I think he sounds just as good for Will. Strangely enough, after awhile, he almost sounds like Kirk Thornton, I guess because Will looks just like Jin from Samurai Champloo and both characters almost have the same mannerisms.

[Neo Yi]

I can't really think of any at the top of my head, but I agree on the KH posters. Namely whenever Billy Zane did Ansem, particularly during the last battles. He was truly phenomenal in there. I was so blown away by the level of intensity and emotion he put into it, even today when I've seen that scene like for the 50th time.

[Mek]

Neo Yi: That's true, Zane did put alot of emotion into otherwise laughable dialouge IMO.

It is a little dissapointing that he won't be returning for KH2, but Richard Epcar has good voice acting chops, so I have good faith he'll fill in the shoes very well.

Oh yeah, the 'Jak' series is another good example. I may not like the grim-gritty blase angst crap from the later games (though Jak X is my favorite in the series), I was really happy to hear Susan 'Wonder Woman' Eisenberg as Ashelin, 'cause she gave her just the right amount of attitude. Oh, and Phil LaMarr too, but then again he voiced just about every male in that game anyways. XD;;; No problem though, 'cause he's got good range.

[Neo Yi]

It is a little dissapointing that he won't be returning for KH2, but Richard Epcar has good voice acting chops, so I have good faith he'll fill in the shoes very well.

Take your word for it since I have no durn clue who Richard Epcar is...I didn't think the dialogue was the worst I've ever heard.

Oh yeah, the 'Jak' series is another good example. I may not like the grim-gritty blase angst crap from the later games (though Jak X is my favorite in the series)

I don't like the gritty-ness either (even though Jak II is my fave), and for the love of all that it holy, I still cannot picture Jak with guns or that scruffy voice. Too much Sands of Time has caused me to keep imaging Jak sounding british for some odd reason in my head.

Oh, umm...but yes, Jak Series has some good voice actings. Nothing I'm blown away or anything, but above average.

[Duke]

Take your word for it since I have no durn clue who Richard Epcar is...
Jigen in Pioneer's Lupin III dubs, Bobobo in Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, and Batou in the various Ghost in the Shell dubs.

[GrantM]

I don't like the gritty-ness either (even though Jak II is my fave), and for the love of all that it holy, I still cannot picture Jak with guns or that scruffy voice. Too much Sands of Time has caused me to keep imaging Jak sounding british for some odd reason in my head.

At least it's different, I mean I've often said one problem voice acting studios seem to have is that they rely too much on high pitched voices for main/lead characters.

Not that I mind high pitched voices but come on, I think they are way overused in anime dubs, video games, etc. There has to be more variety that that when it comes to casting the voice for a lead character

[Neo Yi]

I don't know. The way he speaks and sounds (Jak that is) just makes me cringe because sometimes, I swear Naughty Dog is trying to make him too badass even for my own taste that it gets so ridiculous and corny.

[Mek]

Jigen in Pioneer's Lupin III dubs, Bobobo in Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, and Batou in the various Ghost in the Shell dubs.
And Myotismon and Etemon in 'Digimon 01' as well. (He'll be at Otakon this year too, IIRC)

Oh, and I know I'll probably get grilled for this, but I thought the voice acting in 'Crash Tag Team Racing' was fun. Not 'the best evar', but it worked with the characters and settings. (Hard for me to believe that Chick Gizzardlips' v/a (and N. Gin's in 'Wrath of Cortex') is also voicing Reno in 'Advent Children'. Holy original recipe indeed!)

Neo: Ah, I guess it just seems like ridiculous dialouge to me, since my mother's pretty much mutilated it with jokes. XD;;; I haven't seen the ending in a while, so maybe I should give it another play-through at some point.

[Captain Harlock]

Oh, and I know I'll probably get grilled for this, but I thought the voice acting in 'Crash Tag Team Racing' was fun. Not 'the best evar', but it worked with the characters and settings. (Hard for me to believe that Chick Gizzardlips' v/a (and N. Gin's in 'Wrath of Cortex') is also voicing Reno in 'Advent Children'. Holy original recipe indeed!)

No grilling here. Crash Team Racing was actually a decent creation (having fun gameplay and good production values) for the Ps2 owners who didn't have Mario Kart.

[Neo Yi]

I gotta get Crash Tag Team Racing. Although their recent games have been not-so-above average, I vowed myself to collect every single Crash game in existence (The ol' Crash fan in me). Oh, and to further contribute to the voice acting topic, despite their lackluster games thus far, at least the voices in the Crash games have remained topnotch all the way.

[Wonderwall]

Metal Gear franchise comes to mind first, Hayter really can pull off Snake like no one else. Ratchet and Clank also had good cartoony voice acting, I always love Clank's "Its so hot its...cool" line from the first game. Batman Vegence also had some good voice acting, Im glad Conroy and Hammil were able to translate their performances from the TV medium to the gaming medium. GTA: San Andreas has good voice acting, I always like hearing James Woods and Sam Jackson spoutin' out their dialogue like as if it was a real movie.

[Speedy Boris]

I gotta get Crash Tag Team Racing. Although their recent games have been not-so-above average, I vowed myself to collect every single Crash game in existence (The ol' Crash fan in me). Oh, and to further contribute to the voice acting topic, despite their lackluster games thus far, at least the voices in the Crash games have remained topnotch all the way. Well, with the exception of Coco's VA (who always overacted), I'd agree. Twinsanity has some of the funniest voice acting yet, especially impressive since Lex Lang managed to impersonate Clancy Brown as Neo Cortex and did a fine job.

[Vermunium]

I always loved the voice acting in the Metal Gear games, the voice actors are always so captivating.

[Fresh V]

Tales of Symphonia

[MGFanJay]

Richard Epcar also voiced Goemon in the Manga dub of Castle of Cagliostro. Speaking of which, Lupin III: Treasure of the Sorcerer King has some good voice acting, while Spikeout Battlestreet has some funny stuff, with Christopher Sabat (the Funi VA for Jigen) makes a great narrator. I'm impressed with Jak X's voice acting, and the Metal Gear Solid cast usually does a great job with their stuff as well.

[NickMB]

I thought that Resident Evil 4 and all three Prince of Persia games had excellent voice acting, as did God of War and Lupin the 3rd: Treasure of the Sorcerer King.

[Lord Dalek]

Forgot about Snatcher. That game had an awesome cast.

[Baltofan]

Little Big Adventure 1 & 2 and Conker's bad Fur Day