The lack of voice acting in Pokemon Let's Go is strange

Mechanized · Nov 17, 2018

Perhaps the most jarring aspect of Let's Go for me isn't the removing of gameplay additions or changing how you catch Pokemon, it's the fact that characters aren't voice acted. Pikachu/Evee is voiced, and they are adorable. But nothing else is. The cast is the anime cast, Oak, Misty, Brock, Jesse, James, etc... This being the first console entry(even considering its a remake) of the core games, not having voice acting for all these familiar characters is weird. Not having all the pokemon say their name like in the anime is weird, and comes off as low budget. Pikachu does it, Evee does it, why don't the rest?

It's just something that kinda irks me. Anyone else feel the same? If they want to branch out to the mobile/casual audience wouldn't including voice acting from the anime make sense?

juliamcardinals · Nov 17, 2018

Future game win the series should implement VA

Enrico25 · Nov 17, 2018

Mechanized said:
Perhaps the most jarring aspect of Let's Go for me isn't the removing of gameplay additions or changing how you catch Pokemon, it's the fact that characters aren't voice acted. Pikachu/Evee is voiced, and they are adorable. But nothing else is. The cast is the anime cast, Oak, Misty, Brock, Jesse, James, etc... This being the first console entry(even considering its a remake) of the core games, not having voice acting for all these familiar characters is weird. Not having all the pokemon say their name like in the anime is weird, and comes off as low budget. Pikachu does it, Evee does it, why don't the rest?

It's just something that kinda irks me. Anyone else feel the same? If they want to branch out to the mobile/casual audience wouldn't including voice acting from the anime make sense?

The game IS low budget.

Serebii · Nov 17, 2018

Chances are Gen 8 onwards will be like Breath of the Wild where major cutscenes will have voice acting but the rest won't.

Also, hell no the Pokémon should not say their names. That's the worst part of the anime and should not carry over. The dub just doesn't do it that well

For example, in the Japanese version, different Pokémon of the same species have different VAs. Ikue Ohtani only voices Ash's Pikachu for example. However, in the dub, except the instances when they use Japanese cries, they just use the same voice for all Pokémon.

I think they should just continue what they're doing and improve the quality of the in-game cries, and drop Pikachu & Eevee having the anime stuff

RochHoch · Nov 17, 2018

It's Gamefreak we're talking about here. Their track record for the past five years has taught us to never expect anything more than bare minimum from them.

Grand Galvantula · Nov 17, 2018

Cries should be upgraded to the style used for Pokemon Stadium. I always thought it was weird that they didn't go with that in XY.

Actual voice acting for them would be terrible though.

1000% H · Nov 17, 2018

Mechanized said:
Not having all the pokemon say their name like in the anime is weird, and comes off as low budget. Pikachu does it, Evee does it, why don't the rest?

This would be dreadful.

Mory Dunz · Nov 17, 2018

Maybr the next one will but I doubt it.
Pokemon should have VA for cutscenes like botw did. That and ARMS are the franchises off the top of my head that should get VA.

Zacmortar · Nov 17, 2018

Like Zelda did, where it stripped link of the reason he was called Link in the first place as a placeholder and took all avatar choice away from the player?

Yeah, no, it'd either take away being able to rename your trainer or be awkward as hell like Persona does it where characters just use pronouns in place of names. I'd rather niether.

sleepnaught · Nov 17, 2018

Agreed op. I want all pokemon voiced. If people want 8 bit garbled noise as their pokemon cries, allow them to toggle them to those.

Kirbivore · Nov 17, 2018

Pretty sure the only Pokemon that would say their names if they ever decided to expand on it would probably be the ones that have a uniformed name, or close to it.

Jimnymebob · Nov 17, 2018

Serebii said:
Chances are Gen 8 onwards will be like Breath of the Wild where major cutscenes will have voice acting but the rest won't.

Also, hell no the Pokémon should not say their names. That's the worst part of the anime and should not carry over. The dub just doesn't do it that well

For example, in the Japanese version, different Pokémon of the same species have different VAs. Ikue Ohtani only voices Ash's Pikachu for example. However, in the dub, except the instances when they use Japanese cries, they just use the same voice for all Pokémon.

I think they should just continue what they're doing and improve the quality of the in-game cries, and drop Pikachu & Eevee having the anime stuff

I won't rest until Seadra cries "DOO DOOO!" in a game.

Fredrik · Nov 17, 2018

Yeah it's the game's biggest problem. It's clearly targeted at kids but if the kid can't read english yet there is no way to fully enjoy the game without someone sitting there reading everything out for then.

Glio · Nov 17, 2018

Yes, people should have voices and Pokémon better sounds.

I oppose instead that more Pokémon besides Pikachu say their names. It's... stupid.

Jonneh · Nov 17, 2018

I find cries more effective for overworld encounters. If I just heard "ONIIIIX" then I'll know immediatly that there's an Onix near me, hearing its cry however still maintains a layer of discovery - especially if you aren't familiar with that cry and only recognise that it sounds different to other Pokemon you've come across.

As for full on voice acting I'm not oppose to it but I only think it would work in cutscenes.

TemplaerDude · Nov 17, 2018

That seems like a lot of work for a game that's going to sell like hot cakes anyways.

ClickyCal' · Nov 17, 2018

Fredrik said:
Yeah it's the game's biggest problem. It's clearly targeted at kids but if the kid can't read english yet there is no way to fully enjoy the game without someone sitting there reading everything out for then.

I mean every game in the series has been targeted at kids. Gen 1 was back then when it was basically literally only kids that would play it, and I was 5 and read it fine.

RochHoch · Nov 17, 2018

Mechanized said:
Not having all the pokemon say their name like in the anime is weird, and comes off as low budget. Pikachu does it, Evee does it, why don't the rest?

Because Pokemon saying their names in an anime invention, and with only a few exceptions like Ash Greninja, the anime does not dictate what occurs in the games, it never has.

bricewgilbert · Nov 17, 2018

I wish they would new just one huge audio pass on the Pokemon themselves. The cries may sense for that era of audio hardware, but it's time to rethink it. And no that doesn't mean having them all say their names over and over. Sure some can do that, but new stuff would be great.

MayorSquirtle · Nov 17, 2018

Sounds like a good idea on paper, but I think if we ever got voice acting in Pokemon we'd immediately wish we hadn't. The writing in Pokemon games is simply too cheesy for an actor to deliver well.

Deleted member 35077 · Nov 17, 2018

I doubt it will ever happen, the pokemon company are so cheap that they don't even pay for the full japanese ost for the dub, but I guess it doesn't help thay they will need to dub the games in 8+ languages.

Fredrik · Nov 17, 2018

yuoke said:
I mean every game in the series has been targeted at kids. Gen 1 was back then when it was basically literally only kids that would play it, and I was 5 and read it fine.

Yeah but you're probably english speaking, no? My 6 year old can somewhat read Swedish but not english yet. Voice over, with a Swedish dub, like in the "I choose you" cartoon, would've been perfect.

KORNdog · Nov 17, 2018

No voice acting in games in 2018 just isn't acceptable to me really anymore in general. Its just this remnant of a time when tech couldn't allow it. You could understand it not being there back then. But there really is no excuse these days besides being cheap. But I'm not forking out £45 for a game the devs couldn't be arsed to get voice acting for.

catboy · Nov 17, 2018

I want Pokemon to say their names, it's 2018

JoeInky · Nov 17, 2018

Pikachu being voiced was bad enough in the previous games, the less of that the better.

Kinsei · Nov 17, 2018

JoeInky said:
Pikachu being voiced was bad enough in the previous games, the less of that the better.

Yep. I hope they remove Pikachu and Eevee saying their names in the next game. It probably won't happen though.

Sou Da · Nov 17, 2018

Mechanized said:
Pikachu does it, Evee does it, why don't the rest?

That's a thing toyetic shows do to get kids to remember names more easily.

Nuclear Muffin · Nov 17, 2018

No thanks. Please don't ruin Pokemon. Not every game needs voice acting (as Breath of the Wild attests to).

Charamiwa · Nov 17, 2018

Yeah it was really weird during the intro. We heard Oak during those Meltan videos, it was fine, the world didn't collapse. It really needed it at least during the intro. Maybe during key scenes too, Gym leader, that kind of stuff.

Random NPCs should remain silent though, it's just dialogue for flavor anyway.

Crayolan · Nov 17, 2018

A remake of a game without voice acting in a series which still doesn't employ voice acting not having voice acting is not strange in the slightest.

Also while voicing human characters in one thing, expecting the pokemon to be voiced is a ridiculous when there are like 800+ and most would need different voices in every language.

Jaded Alyx · Nov 17, 2018

I can't wait for it to be 2019 so I don't have to read people saying "it's 2018.."

Sadly, it'll just be replaced by "it's 2019!"

Anyway, I'm not surprised there's no VA. At no point was I expecting it, but I do think they should do it next time.

Deleted member 32561 · Nov 17, 2018

Wasn't there an interview a while back that indicated GameFreak had no faith in the Switch? Let's Go probably started development before they realized "oh shit Nintendo's back".
Gen 8, which has time now to add VO, is definitely the earliest we'd ever get VO. I don't fully expect it but, I think it's a definite possibility.

Carassius Auratus · Nov 17, 2018

Most of the dialogue is delivered in static scenes where the characters just stand still or perform one or two canned animations (or hop in their idle pose, ugh).

Dunno how adding voice acting would improve that.

Deleted member 401 · Nov 17, 2018

For the human characters, sure, okay.

For the Pokemon? Hell no. The less ties to the anime, the better.

Majukun · Nov 17, 2018

no voice acting is better than bad voice acting

Carassius Auratus said:
Most of the dialogue is delivered in static scenes where the characters just stand still or perform one or two canned animations (or hop in their idle pose, ugh).

Dunno how adding voice acting would improve that.

it's not like they can choose where to develop.

Yazuka · Nov 17, 2018

Yes, please. Would love to have voice acting in Pokémon.
For the human characters. I do not want the Pokémon's to say their names like they do in the anime.

Zyrokai · Nov 17, 2018

I will never, ever understand people that want the Pokemon to say their names. It's super cheesy and makes me cringe all the time. Only exception is Pikachu.

Pokemon Generations and Pokemon Origins depicts them properly, with grunts and noises. Not their names.

Zyrokai · Nov 17, 2018

Grand Galvantula said:
Cries should be upgraded to the style used for Pokemon Stadium. I always thought it was weird that they didn't go with that in XY.

Actual voice acting for them would be terrible though.

They've been updated since XY.

Kinglypuff · Nov 17, 2018

...Am I the only one who doesn't like VA that much ? I love wordy RPGs where you can read and play the scene in your head and I usually find it better than most games with VA (The Zelda series being a prime example).

There are some exceptions, some game like Kid Icarus have great VA which makes the game more enjoyable, but I can't say I agree with the tendency to want everything to have voice acting.

Asbsand · Nov 17, 2018

So, if the acting had been handled as it was in Detective Pikachu then I would be fine with it. If it's the typical cast of Troy Bakers and yadayada however just pulling off their expected performances like most "Anime" games it would put out the charm big time.

808s & Villainy · Nov 17, 2018

Jonneh said:
I find cries more effective for overworld encounters. If I just heard "ONIIIIX" then I'll know immediatly that there's an Onix near me, hearing its cry however still maintains a layer of discovery - especially if you aren't familiar with that cry and only recognise that it sounds different to other Pokemon you've come across.

As for full on voice acting I'm not oppose to it but I only think it would work in cutscenes.

Pokemon saying their names as cries will always be terrible. It was only done to help kids learn each Pokemon's name in the anime. It makes no sense otherwise. They should have animal sounds

Neoxon · Nov 17, 2018

You do realize that any voice acting in Pokémon games would be comparable to that of the anime's English dub, right?

Fatmanp · Nov 17, 2018

I would rather them have the Pokemon audio updated but the plot doesn't need voice acting. it will baloon the install size, take longer to make and will make the poor writing even worse.

qq more · Nov 17, 2018

Kinglypuff said:
...Am I the only one who doesn't like VA that much ? I love wordy RPGs where you can read and play the scene in your head and I usually find it better than most games with VA (The Zelda series being a prime example).

There are some exceptions, some game like Kid Icarus have great VA which makes the game more enjoyable, but I can't say I agree with the tendency to want everything to have voice acting.

Feeling the same. I prefer text over voice overs in most cases.

Neoxon · Nov 17, 2018

Asbsand said:
So, if the acting had been handled as it was in Detective Pikachu then I would be fine with it. If it's the typical cast of Troy Bakers and yadayada however just pulling off their expected performances like most "Anime" games it would put out the charm big time.

Nintendo & especially The Pokémon Company usually go non-union, so the likes of Troy Baker would be off the table. Though my main concern would be the ADR, which seems to be a weak point for both companies.

Nocturnowl · Nov 17, 2018

The meltan trailers between to the two professors had me constantly going between "this could be good for the game" when Willow would talk and then "oh god I don't trust pokemon voice overs one bit" when Oak opened his yap.

Kouriozan · Nov 17, 2018

At this point all I want is the bare minimum, like Gym leaders/Team leader/Elite 4/Champion/important events, because at this point, it just feel cheap to not have VA in those games.
Pokémons should always keep their cries though.

Serebii · Nov 17, 2018

Mewshuji said:
Wasn't there an interview a while back that indicated GameFreak had no faith in the Switch? Let's Go probably started development before they realized "oh shit Nintendo's back".
Gen 8, which has time now to add VO, is definitely the earliest we'd ever get VO. I don't fully expect it but, I think it's a definite possibility.

No.

People are woefully misinterpreting that.

All Ishihara said was that he had doubts and he told Iwata he wasn't sure if it would succeed and that it may fail. After the Wii U, that was a fair assessment to make, it's why TPC invested heavily in mobile from 2014-2017, but now they've canned all their additional mobile projects and have faith.

Mediking · Nov 17, 2018

The lack of Mitsuru Kirijo and the lack of voice acting is sad.

Pata Hikari · Nov 17, 2018

RPGs are a million times better without voice acting.

The lack of voice acting in Pokemon Let's Go is strange

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