Great voice acting in games

[Egocrata]

I am replaying Bioshock Infinite these days (after only playing the PS3 version, seeing it on a high end PC is nuts) and besides the art design and general awesomeness of the game, one thing struck me as really amazing: the voice acting.

Yes, Booker is played by Troy Baker, who has been in a million games, but he is truly great in this role. Courtnee Draper is incredible as Elizabeth, ands their interactions truly make the game. I love the story of the game, and even more so the Burial at Sea DLC,and I am sure that a lot of it has to do on how much I loved their acting.

So, Era... what games out there have struck you as having really good voice acting?

 

[Dest]

The original Nier had a fantastic NA voice cast. Automata had a good one as well.
The Yakuza franchise as a whole (especially in JP) have amazing performances throughout.

 

[Jawmuncher]

I can listen to the MGS1 VA all day (has to be the OG and not Twin Snakes). For such an early attempt at VA being a integral part of the game, they really knocked it out. Puts even games today to shame.

 

[ClickyCal']

Every Naughty Dog game since Uncharted.

 

[FaceHugger]

Laura Bailey in anything. She's pretty phenomenal. I liked her a lot as Abigail "Fetch" Walker in Infamous Second Son / First Light, and as Nadine Ross in Uncharted 4.

 

[Fat4all]

Death Stranding - John Aka Die-Hardman's Confession

Big thanks to Sony Interactive Entertainment for sending me a copy of this game.*Game description* From legendary game creator Hideo Kojima comes an all-new...

youtu.be

Tommie Earl Jenkins is the perfect actor for Kojima's nuts straight-faced dialogue

Kojima needs to keep him on for all future projects

 

[SunBroDave]

Kassandra in AC Odyssey is fantastic

 

[CM_Ace]

Edit: Damn, beaten by a second lol.

 

[Jamrock User]

Red Dead Redemption.

Dutch meeting John was something else.

 

[Max|Payne]

The new Wolfenstein games have incredible voice acting.

 

[cb1115]

Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan

 

[Fat4all]

The new Wolfenstein games have incredible voice acting.

Click to shrink...

BJs world-weary voice and anguished whispers are perfection

 

[hydruxo]

Death Stranding - John Aka Die-Hardman's Confession

Big thanks to Sony Interactive Entertainment for sending me a copy of this game.*Game description* From legendary game creator Hideo Kojima comes an all-new...

youtu.be

Tommie Earl Jenkins is the perfect actor for Kojima's nuts straight-faced dialogue

Kojima needs to keep him on for all future projects

Click to shrink...

Yep. Straight up one of the best performances I've ever seen in a game. He put everything into that scene and it showed.

 

[Alecs27]

Ashley Johnson as Ellie

In Part 2 she deserved an oscar award

 

[Fat4all]

Yep. Straight up one of the best performances I've ever seen in a game. He put everything into that scene and it showed.

Click to shrink...

Apparently the take they used for the ending monologue was his first take

 

[Freakzilla]

-Master chief
-cortana
-Arbiter
-solid snake

 

[His Majesty]

I remember laughing out loud during that Death Stranding scene. Then again as a voice actor you have to work with what you're given I guess.

 

[hwarang]

DQ VIII english VA was awesome.

 

[Gunny T Highway]

I would say more recently Kaiji Tang as Ichiban Kasuga in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The guy nails it, in particular with some of his speeches in the finale.

 

[Barn]

Recently, Avalon Penrose as Megaera in Hades, and Darren Korb as Zagreus, too. Both understated performances, and I'd love to hear more like them in games.

Helena Taylor as Bayonetta, Robin Atkin Downes as Travis Touchdown and Steffan Rhodri as Mr. Drippy are all-timers for me.

 

[Deleted member 4869]

The Legacy of Kain series.
The Metal Gear Solid series.
Red Dead Redemption 2.
Naughty Dog games in general.

 

[Deleted member 68874]

Jared Zeus and Nell Mooney as Simon and Catherine in SOMA did an incredible job.

Of course Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan is the best performance ever in a game.

 

[chandoog]

Did someone say Legacy of Kain ?

 

[bert muscle]

As of late, Hades. Meg is a highlight.

 

[pbayne]

Laura Bailey in anything. She's pretty phenomenal. I liked her a lot as Abigail "Fetch" Walker in Infamous Second Son / First Light, and as Nadine Ross in Uncharted 4.

Click to shrink...

In my head she'll always be lust from fullmetal alchemist. But shes been in a crazy amount of things throughout the years and she always pretty great.

 

[hydruxo]

I remember laughing out loud during that Death Stranding scene. Then again as a voice actor you have to work with what you're given I guess.

Click to shrink...

Bizarre take but alright. There are a lot of laughable scenes in Death Stranding ("Princess Beach", the Chiral Artist mission, etc.) but that hallway scene with Die-Hardman legitimately is not one of them lmao.

 

[FooF]

Paul St Peter as Xemnas
Hidenari Ugaki as Majima

 

[NediarPT88]

Nothing touches the first TLOU for me (haven't played the sequel yet). The writing in that game just feels so natural and the voice actors delivered such a great performance.

I really liked this scene:

The Last of Us™ Remastered Tess's Death

Tess was Keeping a Secert..The Last Of Us™ Remasteredhttps://store.playstation.com/#!/en-us/tid=CUSA00552_00

www.youtube.com

 

[Rotobit]

Trails as a series has generally good voice acting, very "anime" but I don't really consider that a bad thing

But Erika Harlacher as Juna in this scene from Cold Steel 3 genuinely surprised me, she goes all out

 

[Party]

Kyle McCarley as 9S in NieR: Automata. Shows incredible range and his voice acting does so much to reflect the character's changes and development throughout the game. Some of the reads he gives towards the end of game still give me goosebumps.

 

[EggmaniMN]

Considering its age, this scene from Koudelka is absolutely incredible work both from an animation and voice acting standpoint. Please excuse the non-4:3 presentation it's just the easiest video to find.



1:10:57 is the time stamp in case that does not work.

 

[Equanimity]

I can listen to the MGS1 VA all day (has to be the OG and not Twin Snakes). For such an early attempt at VA being a integral part of the game, they really knocked it out. Puts even games today to shame.

Click to shrink...

I'm surprised at how at how good it still sounds, all things considered.

 

[Deleted member 12323]

Arthur red dead rising 2

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

The Wonderful 101

 

[NovumVeritas]

Considering its age, this scene from Koudelka is absolutely incredible work both from an animation and voice acting standpoint. Please excuse the non-4:3 presentation it's just the easiest video to find.



1:10:57 is the time stamp in case that does not work.

Click to shrink...

Just beat it some days ago. I agree. For its time the voice acting was pretty good. The voice acting by Koudelka was pretty well done.

 

[shadowman16]

I was gonna mention Yakuza and Legacy of Kain and I see both those series are already well represented. Still...

Yakuza 7 is really damn good. Both in Japanese and in English which is no small feat.

Mafia is another series that I really love the voice acting in, even the recent remake manages to retain excellent performances with a whole new cast (a couple of spots/characters I feel werent quite as good, but its still really solid on the whole).

 

[Eblo]

Greg Chun in AI: The Somnium Files for spoilery reasons.

Spoiler: End game spoilers for realsies

He plays both Date, the protagonist, and Saito, the antagonist. They have the same body and therefore the same vocal cords, but Greg Chun plays each character entirely differently to reflect their entirely different personalities. They sound both the same and completely distinct. It works to the game's advantage by making Date sound like the affable good guy he is and then twisting the knife in the harrowing moments where we see what the cold-blooded evil of the body's original owner sounds like.

 

[Deleted member 58368]

I'm biased, but I really love the new talent they got for Final Fantasy 7 Remake, they really breathe new life into these iconic characters.

 

[dancingphlower]

I've included the Japanese version but the English dub is actually really strong too. Scene is about 35-36 minutes into the video.

Spoiler: Yakuza: Like a Dragon Ending Spoilers

 

[KOfLegend]

Clementine in Telltale's The Walking Dead franchise. She grows up throughout the games, and Melissa does an incredible job adjusting her voice accordingly.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Metal Gear Solid, Nier, FF, etc seem like typical anime-fare VA. No disrespect to the actors involved, but that's just my take from it. Games like TLOU and Red Dead are just impressive all around. Legitimately powerful and textured performances- voice acting, mocap, the whole shebang.

 

[DaciaJC]

Kyle McCarley as 9S in NieR: Automata. Shows incredible range and his voice acting does so much to reflect the character's changes and development throughout the game. Some of the reads he gives towards the end of game still give me goosebumps.

Click to shrink...

Yep, he did a stellar job.

 

[runlikehell]

Final Fantasy XII's voice work is phenomenal.

Johnny Yong Bosch as Nero, and well anything, is always a great time. Yuri Lowenthal too.

 

[tiebreaker]

Bugsnax has great VA.

 

[808s & Villainy]

The No More Heroes games have excellent VAing. Not just performances, but the actual voices, which is fairly impressive considering the batshit crazy things they're saying which would easily sound very stilted without good performances (and writing, of course)

 

[Twstr709]

Last of Us 2 comes to mind, but that's most Naughty Dog games in general

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

Tim Schafer has pushed that envelope for a couple of decades. Grim Fandango has as good performances as modern games.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

 

[ProtomanNeo]

Legacy of Kain series still stands out for me.

 

[Veldin]

Zero III in Virtue's Last Reward's english dub is great.

Context: Zero III is an advanced computer AI represented by a rabbit avatar that's overseeing a game where the participants lives are at stake. He's smug, condescending and antagonistic, constantly mocking everyone and openly anticipating their deaths. In other words, an insufferable jackass you should love to hate. Cindy Robinson's performance is very versatile, as Zero is always switching from a high to low vocal register and changing accents from one line to the next. In this clip, Zero announces that his role in the game is over and that you won't see him anymore, and pretends to be emotional about it.




It's easy to butcher a character like this but the delivery is consistently expressive and fun to listen to.