what do you think of all the voice actors getting replaced?

probably been brought up before, but whatever.

solid snake's (big boss') David Hayter, Thief series lead Garret's Stephen Russel, and Sam Fisher's Michael Ironside all replaced. Im not including batman's Kevin Conroy or Mark Hamil cause (to the best of my knowledge) they retired voluntarily, and i personally don't think their replacements (in the arkham games) are doing a bad job. in thief and splinter cell i cant help but feel a little irritated every time i hear their voice thinking to myself "this voice actor is crap compared to..."

I know, we live in the real world; people die, people retire, people have other obligations, things happen and there can be 100's of good reasons why a voice actor doesn't reprise their role, but it still makes me sad ;_;

i believe in my case its equal parts A) i dont think their replacement has as good a voice B) i dont like change in characters ive grown to love. michael ironside's sam fisher, stephen russel's garret, and david hayter's solid snake all have voices that sound like they could be coming from god's lips, anyone else just sounds like a poor man's imitation.

what are you thoughts, you like some voice actor changes, not care period, or not even notice?

well it's like when they change the actor on the TV show, but it's supposed to be the same character. It's hard to readjust. Like if they had to replace Peter Dinklage as Tyrion on GoT...I don't think I'd ever get over that. Even when I read the books I see Dinklage.

In the instance of Hayter, it doesn't bother me as I always hated Snake's voice and I love Kiefer's voice. Ironside's got phenomenal pipes, though, and changing him out is a big loss to that character as you can only go downhill from Ironside. So I guess that's what it boils down to...I don't care as long as the change is for what I would consider the better.

Market strategies. Splinter Cell has moved away from the Tom Clancy demographic and made a move on the Call of Duty/Battlefield userbase. To do that they had to transform elderly Sam Fisher into "generic action hero #4556". At least the game didn't sell too well, showing how much scorned fans are worth.

Doesn't Affect the gameplay. So........

I normally don't care when a voice actor gets replaced. There can be a million reasons for it happening and it comes down to it being no different (or even less important) than switching out the concept artists or the modellers or the specific programmers.

What really, really does annoy me though is when they try and justify it as being essential for the good of the gameplay (a la Kojima on Kiefer Sutherland). We needed a hugely expensive Hollywood actors voice because we're also mocapping? Pull the other one Kojima, it's this kind of frivolity and complete disregard for the budget that's behind Ground Zeroes being sliced off and sold separately.

Depends on who and what.

I'm completely fine with David Hayter and Michael Ironside being replaced from their respective former roles. Ironside was okay, but a little too monotone. Whereas Hayter's Solid Snake was way too campy and at times, sounded like daytime soap TV quality performance. It sounded cool back in the 90s when we were still getting used to voice acting in games, and had low expectations, but it sounds lame today.

I don't like it when the main characters voice is changed, just because i like having one voice that i am used to and i know is me. However, more minor characters voices being replaced i am fine with

@Lulu_Lulu: that doesnt mean it cant affect someone enjoying any given game, gameplay isnt the most important part of a game (neither is voice acting or story telling) but rather if the gamer enjoys the experience and that can be influenced by many factors including voice acting. if every voice in mass effect (just an example) sounded like one of the chipmunks, you may not enjoy it. im not saying its the most important part (lots of games dont even have spoken dialouge), but ive come to love these voices and im saddened to see them be replaced, especially when i think the new voices arent as good. i think keifer may do a good job, but i believe garret's replacement as well as ironsides arent as good, just based on how they sound not based on how well they acted.

anyway, you dont play with the game on mute while skipping all a game's cut-scenes do you? i doubt you do, and therefore even you must realize gameplay isn't all that matters.

@ i-rock-socks

Gameplay is the most important part of a game just as imagery is the most important part of film.

Whether I enjoy story or voice actors or not is irrelevant to what distinguishes games from other mediums.

Heres the thing, If the Story or Voice Acting suck I can always skip it and get back to the part that matters most that I can't get anywhere else..... The Gameplay.

Cutscenes, Story, Voices are not necessary for games, they are necessary for people, and since so many people need these things they assume its necessary for games to have them too. And if you think these things are very important to games, objectively or subjectively, then you might wana reconsider if you chose the right medium to experience them, bare in mind some of these features actually have to put the gameplay on hold to be executed.

Movies a phrase: "Don't Tell me, Show Me"

if only it were the same for games: "Don't Show me, Let Me !"

im not gonna argue with ur view of all that matters is game play, im glad you can skip the story and mute the music and still have a blast, but i believe that games are the sum of their parts.

but as to your "Heres the thing, If the Story or Voice Acting suck I can always skip it and get back to the part that matters most that I can't get anywhere else..... The Gameplay." the opposite is just as possible; if the gameplay sucks and you just want the music and story you can look it up on youtube. people may stomach the crappy gameplay if the story/visuals/music/whatever are more appealing than the gameplay.

@ i-rock-socks

The Problem with Story and Gameplay these days is its an either or thing, few developers are getting better at blending the two. Or at the very least they should found a way to make sure the story doesn't bring the gameplay to a complete standstil.

To my knowledge they replaced Michael Ironside with Eric Johnson because they wanted an actor who could do the MoCap work as well as the voice. He did return as the vocal coach for Johnson though, so it can't have been a hostile departure.

The worst voice actor change I've seen lately was Salem and Rios in Devil's Cartel. Another bad aspect in a really bad game.

A game like Batman and Splintercell not to mention MGS is not about the gameplay its about the story, the immersion and the VA´s of course contribute to that.

So with Splinter Cell it made a bad game even worse.

They haven't replaced Solid Snake's voice. They've only replaced the voice of Big Boss. For all we know, the next Metal Gear game could be a remake of the original Metal Gear, with both Kiefer Sutherland as Big Boss and David Hayter as a young Solid Snake. Now that would be pretty cool.

@ Jacanuk

Well, they could weave, Story, Immersion into the game interactively, then even though its about the story, it doesn't outshine the gameplay.

But Batman and Splintercell didn't do that, therefore playing it for the story is just wrong. Its like saying you watched Star Wars just to see the opening text crawl (I really need to think of a better analogy next time) its just wrong, thats what books are for.

But in a game like LA. Noire, the VA's do affect the gameplay (simple as it may be) therefore in that scenario its very important.

You know, after playing Arkham Origins...I actually prefer Baker and Smith as Batman and Joker over Conroy and Hammill.

Games are just like any other artistic endeavor. And it's sad when a beloved character actor (or voice actor in this case) gets replaced for "star power".

But ultimately, it's up to the new actor to win me over. I have no particular love of Metal Gear so it isn't a big slap in the face to me personally. Nor is the change in Theif. I did enjoy the early Splinter Cell games, but I didn't enjoy them because of Ironsides. I enjoyed them because the sneaky gameplay was a lot of fun, though I won't argue that he brought a certain gravitas to the role. The new guy seems very saccharine by comparison.

Games are the sum of the parts. And voice acting is crucial in a story based game. A good performance can be the difference between a memorable character and just another character. So I can understand bringing in someone like Kiefer Sutherland with a proven track record for espionage roles. I'm interested to see how he takes to the role.

I guess my point is that I'm not opposed to a change if it makes sense for the role. But I am opposed to a change for change's sake. And Kevin Conroy should always be Batman. Though props to Troy Baker for doing a great Joker in Batman: Arkham Origins. While I didn't love that game, he did the impossible task of having to follow Mark Hamill. I wouldn't want that job.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iVSBJl56og

It's bound to happen, as long as they don't do celebs that only do it because the game will get word of mouth and sell well even though they don't do a good job. I want the right actors for the right job. Those hollywood guys that want a quick buck can just go away imho

@ The_Last_Ride

I don't think its Hollywood actors who are usually at fault, perhaps its just good old fashioned purely written video games that make the actors sound awfull.

Just a theory, I don't actually know any games with Hollywood actors.

@Lulu_Lulu: if you recall the nosediver Sonic 06,you might learn that Lacey Chabert did the voicework of the controversial character,Elise. In Saints Row the Third,it has Burt Reynolds.

@ Smashbrossive50

Uhm..... I have no clue who those people are, hell I didn't discover Kiefer Sutherland until 2 years ago, season 1 of 24 was awesome.

I don't mind, so long as it continues to complement the game. I can really only comment for MGS and Blacklist, as I know more about those than the others. To me, I can understand why they switched Big Boss's VO in Ground Zeroes/Phantom Pain. Boss is getting older and his voice is going to change. Sure, they could have had Hayter do the voice like he did Old Snake, but I think that it's good to separate the two characters. Snake might be a clone, but the two are very different.

As for Splinter Cell, I think Ubisoft dropped the ball on it. From the voice to how the character looked, it really wasn't Sam Fisher. It felt and looked like a completely new character. While I enjoyed the game, it would have just been easier to have him as a new character with Ironside voicing Sam as a secondary character, one not too involved with the main story.