# Best voice acting in a video-game? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 14, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484 "2008-07-14T20:06:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Koldanar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@Koldanar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koldanar)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/1 "2008-07-14T20:06:09Z")
As a sort-of-parallel thread to the other currently running, what games have you played where, overall, the voices in the game were, if not stellar, certainly tolerable for a 20 to 80 hour romp? I would put two PS2 games here : First, Tales of the Abyss. Ignoring Mieu (oh god ignoring Mieu) I’m always at least happy with the voices in a Tales game. Abyss seems to have found actors that can exemplify some of the character traits of the people they do. Luke has the right whiny tone, Tear is almost (but not quite) completely unemotional, etc. Great all around (EXCEPT THAT DAMN THING!!) Persona 3. This game also had very well done voices. I can’t think of any in that game that actually annoyed me. Some sounded a little out of place (Mitsuru certainly didn’t sound 18) but they well well done, and actually aided the game. I found myself listening to them rather than reading along, half the time. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/2 "2008-07-14T20:28:17Z")
An oldie that springs to mind is _Outlaws_, by (I think) LucasArts. Richard Moll, in particular, did a stellar job as a villain. _Half-Life 2_ also was blessed in their voice-acting talent. Too, it has been a long time, but I seem to remember _Baldur’s Gate_ having some good talent. Of course, it helps when you have lines like these: _What? Boo is outraged! See his fury! It’s small, so look close. Trust me, it’s there. Just like old times. Well, except for the torture and all. Arrogant, drunken, priggish, whiny, pompous are common adjectives used to describe you, but I was wrong to say so. You are completely incapable of independent thought and soil yourself with regularity seldom found outside the nursery. I shall no longer bring these things up in front of the others._ And, of course, there’s Lilarcor, the intelligent but bloodthirsty sword: _I’m sharp, I can come up with something… OK… find someone who knows what you want to know and threaten to kill them! Yeah! Then kill them! Woo-hoo!_ RR ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/3 "2008-07-14T20:32:05Z")
Kane in Command and Conquer…he’s got quite the longevity for it as well. ---
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/4 "2008-07-14T20:33:59Z")
Pretty much everyone in the English version of _No More Heroes_. NMH is an intensely bizarre game, and the English performances go a long way towards helping capture the world’s eccentricities. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/5 "2008-07-14T20:42:13Z")
[QUOTE=Omi no Kami] Pretty much everyone in the English version of _No More Heroes_. NMH is an intensely bizarre game, and the English performances go a long way towards helping capture the world’s eccentricities. [/QUOTE] The voice clips are horrendously bad, but I was startled to find myself quoting Travis a few times when not playing the game. It’s so bad it’s good. In the same vein, all the voices in _Star Control 2/Ur-Quan Masters_ are horrible and yet addictive. The Spathi in particular I could listen to all day, as much as they grate on the ears. Luckily, all the sound files in UQM are in .ogg format, so if I want to hear a particular speech I don’t have to load the game itself. ---
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/6 "2008-07-14T20:57:44Z")
[QUOTE=Bosstone] The voice clips are horrendously bad, but I was startled to find myself quoting Travis a few times when not playing the game. It’s so bad it’s good. [/QUOTE] And that’s what I had a little trouble deciding: half of that game is a living, breathing parody of 80s subculture, and so I couldn’t quite tell whether the over-the-top clips were intentional parody or unintentional crapfest. Either way they seem to have worked, which is why NMH gets my vote. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/7 "2008-07-14T21:24:33Z")
I absolutely loved Carey Elwes as the Bard in The Bards Tale. His interplay with the narrator was priceless. (I should replay that game) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/8 "2008-07-14T21:36:22Z")
The _Legacy of Kain_ games have good voice acting, especially Kain himself. ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/9 "2008-07-14T22:25:48Z")
I virtually always dislike voice acting in games. PC, console, whatever, I long for the days when I could read the text as it flowed across my screen and imagine their voices in my head. Alas, that ship has sailed, it seems. That said, the female Shepard in Mass Effect was brilliant, and that game as a whole is definitely the best argument in favor of voice acting that I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/10 "2008-07-14T23:00:31Z")
Portal, hands down. GLaDOS is one of the greatests villians ever and her voice alone takes that game from an inventive puzzle game to one of the all time classics. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/11 "2008-07-15T00:55:32Z")
_Fallout_. No contest. The opening narration by Ron Perlman sets the mood perfectly. The NPC’s (including Richard Dean Anderson and Cree Summer) are well done. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/12 "2008-07-15T01:23:32Z")
I like Khelgar, Neeshka, and Ammon were well voiced in Neverwinter Nights 2. Marc ---
**Author:** ![counsel\_wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@counsel\_wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/counsel_wolf)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/13 "2008-07-15T01:30:12Z")
The narrator of Penny Arcade’s ‘On the Rain Slicked Precipice of Darkness’ is excellent (and unfortunately uncredited as far as I can see) Portal and Fallout have already been mentioned and I will add a vote for both of those. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/14 "2008-07-15T03:46:21Z")
Well, there was one shining example in _Call of Duty: United Offensive_, where I found myself charging across a bridge under machine gun fire armed with only a pistol—with the aim of knocking out a Tiger entrenched on the other side of the creek—because the Captain, voiced by Steven Blum, ordered me to, in a fit of rage. Yow. Willing to run to my almost certain [sub]virtual[/sub] death without even thinking twice, because a prerecorded message told me to. That’s one _hell_ of a voice actor. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/15 "2008-07-15T10:39:16Z")
I’d have to say the stuff in Starship Titanic was pretty good. I’d imagine other exploration puzzle games like Myst might be decent too. ---
**Author:** ![metonymic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@metonymic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metonymic)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/16 "2008-07-15T13:48:47Z")
Another vote for Portal. Everything about it was so well done. Also, I’ve always loved the voice acting in the Lucasarts adventure games. Purple Tentacle in Day of the Tentacle is fantastic – perfectly dramatic and evil, in that silly, over-the-top way that made the game great. [Here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaFI4YlCVdE) part of a video walkthrough – the first minute contains some Purple Tentacle. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/17 "2008-07-15T14:27:33Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] The _Legacy of Kain_ games have good voice acting, especially Kain himself. [/QUOTE] I came in to mention this - Simon Templeman played Kain and was fantastic, you completely forget you’re listening to an actor (his best performance was in Soul Reaver 2, IMO). ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/18 "2008-07-15T14:57:38Z")
Surprised no one has mentioned Bioshock. The voice acting in that game was excellent across the board. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-voice-acting-in-a-video-game/456484/19 "2008-07-15T15:15:51Z")
_Halo 2_ is a pretty terrible game but the voice acting is pretty good, especially Keith David as the Arbiter.