Voice Acting TW1 vs TW2

[Joyce.587]

For me, I really liked TW2's voice acting. But TW1 had more memorable lines. If only we could have the best of both worlds!

I really like Foltest's and Iorveth's voice. Fell in love with Foltest's voice because I replayed the prologue 1 too many times.

 

[Dona.794]

And you have no idea how good it feels to read what you've written, I never expected anyone in this forum other than myself to wish for Hungarian voice-overs. Unfortunately it's not going to happen, I know it from reliable source (a guy told me who works for PlayOn, the Hungarian publisher of TW2). You should try TWEE, I had a lot of fun listening to various languages. You can download the language packs from here. : )

I know all sorceresses do that and I love Philippa's voice, I just thought it funny that she looks younger than she sounds.

I also caught a few words I could understand, and not only swearwords.
(Funny that we also borrowed some of our most commonly used swearwords from Slavic languages and when I was in Russia it was strangely calming that I could at least understand those. )

That's too bad, I think it would be fun. Thanks for the link, I'll keep it for when I decide to reinstall TW1 : D Hopefully soon.

I know a few Hungarian swear words... yep, they are similar XD; But I heard your swearwords get pretty, um, creative. Reason more to learn the language? : p

 

[talha]

dandelion's voice is far more better in TW2

 

[reaper004]

Overall I preferred The Witcher I to The Witcher II, everything about the First seemed to be better, does that mean The Witcher II is bad? Abso-fuckin-lutely not! The Witcher II is probably the best next-gen RPG out there at the moment, but it always ends up that the Original of a series is always the best and most-loved. The only two things which I wished the Witcher I would have had is the combat of Witcher II... I adore the new combat system! And of course the beautifully done sex-scenes [Seriously, BioWare needs to look at them! They could learn a few things! Two people going at it full-blown and fully-clothed... There's just something about that I can't take seriously, ha ha] As for the voice acting, comparing The Witcher Enhanced Edition Director's Cut to The Witcher II, I think they're honestly about equal; both have superb voice acting with very few shoddy parts, if any at all.

 

[username_2093396]

I know the idea comes across, but you don't get the same irony because you can't have the same expectations in English. When Geralt says "maybe you could convince them not to do that" (i.e., hang him the next day) it really sounds (at least to me) like he has a lot less regard for his life than he does. It's partly the intonation on behalf of the actor and not just the line itself.

I don't remember the Mickiewicz reference exactly, but when Geralt is debating with Roche about what to do with Anais he refers to Temeria in a similar way that Mickiewicz refers to Lithuania in the opening lines of Lord Thaddeus. Loosely translated: "Lithuania, fatherland of mine you are like health. How you must be valued one will only know when one has lost you."

Ah, I see. Thank you for that explanation

 

[siklara]

I brought our little voice-overs discussion over here because I absolutely love discussing voice acting and I didn't want to completely derail the eye colour thread.

Awesome! If you need any help or have questions, PM me, I'd be glad to help.

Thank you! I played for a few hours yesterday with German voice-overs and it's really well done, I absolutely love Geralt's German VA, just like in TW1. I'm in Act II and only heard a few major characters so far: Saskia is perfect, Philippa's also great, but Iorveth is kinda meh compared to his English counterpart. I don't really like Zoltan either, but maybe it's just a matter of time and I'll get used to his new voice.

@siklara and Dona

Are you sure those are voiceovers? coz afaik there are only italian\spanish subs. If it's true it's a fantastic news, makes hapopy tons of italian and spanish fans!

Umm, sorry, I didn't want to mislead anyone, I'm obviously no expert on the language packs since I only discovered them yesterday. I didn't check which are subtitles only because I assumed they're all voice-overs... TW1 even had Hungarian voice-overs, which is extremely rare, so Italian or Spanish voice-overs for TW2 seemed possible to me.

Thank you so much siklara for providing the link to voice packs. I was about to ask for them. I have been also learning German for some time and I want to test my proficiency in this language and what is better than by hearing Geralt and Co. speaking?

You're welcome and thank you for becoming active again, I actually know you and some of your amazing posts from the GOG forum, I used to lurk there until this forum was brought back to life.
So how did your proficiency test go?
The truth is, I learnt German in school for many years (much longer than English), but I was damn lazy and despite getting good grades, I never mastered it. We have German relatives all over the place and I'm a descendant of Danube Swabians myself, so not speaking German makes me the black sheep of the family. I haven't used it for many years now, and I absolutely agree with you that the best way to test oneself is to listen to Geralt & co. After the first half hour, which was basically about "OMG what's going on, speak slower plz" I started to understand more and more, and it was such a rewarding feeling. My father peeked into my room and listened intently to a convo between Geralt and Iorveth and he was like "my God, they're speaking beautiful Hochdeutsch, I approve of this." He used to be a German teacher.

 

[secondchildren]

Umm, sorry, I didn't want to mislead anyone, I'm obviously no expert on the language packs since I only discovered them yesterday. I didn't check which are voice-overs and which are subtitles only because I assumed they're all voice-overs... TW1 even had Hungarian voice-overs, which is extremely rare, so Italian or Spanish voice-overs for TW2 seemed possible to me.

Well I did and unfortunatly, no voices, only text and subs, as before
Thanks anyway, it's very good to know

 

[Dona.794]

Thank you! I played for a few hours yesterday with German voice-overs and it's really well done, I absolutely love Geralt's German VA, just like in TW1. I'm in Act II and only heard a few major characters so far: Saskia is perfect, Philippa's also great, but Iorveth is kinda meh compared to his English counterpart. I don't really like Zoltan either, but maybe it's just a matter of time and I'll get used to his new voice.

German voices are so good! A friend and I watched all languages on youtube a week or so ago and concluded it sounds the nicest, Saskia especially. IMO Iorveth sounds nothing special in languages other than English, they gave him generic sounding VAs which fall flat in comparison. The only exception being PL version because daymn he sounds hot, although I still don't think it suits character that well.

German Geralt is on point, too, I was surprised. He manages to sound like Doug in many cases.

 

[username_3519565]

I would say that TW2 is generally better with the exception of Siegfried who ends up sounding generic in comparison to his more charming and enthusiastic persona and voice from TW1.

 

[Chewin3]

Well since I've only played TW1, I can only compare to TW2 from what I've seen from the trailers, and can't really say for sure. Need to get back on this in april

 

[not_slimgrin]

I thought German Geralt sounded awful.

If we're talking about English, VO's are WAAAAAY better in TW2. In fact, TW2 has some of the best VO work of any game I've played. If we're talking Polish, I think the quality is about the same. Polish version was already good in the first game.

Triss: Polish------> English
Geralt: Polish---> English
Dandelion Polish----------------------------------------------> English
Zoltan: English-----> Polish
Sile: Polish-> English ( Polish barely wins out here)
Vess: Polish and English are equal
Letho: Polish--> English
Iorveth: Polish-> English
Phillipa: Polish and English are equal
Saskia: Polish----> English
Incidental NPC's: English---------------------------------------> Polish (the same voice actors sound like they were reused for too many characters in Polish)

 

[soldiergeralt]

triss's voice was a step down. someone once described her as sounding like a giggly teenager, i tend to agree.

 

[dlevere]

The guy who voiced Thaler in Witcher 1 also voiced Zoltan. He should come back, Witcher 2 Zoltan's voice sucked.

Triss in Witcher 1 should come back. Witcher 2 Triss's voice sucked. I'm talking about a black hole of suckage so strong, that it consumes everything in it's path, like a whirlpool.

Dandelion's voice in both versions sucks.

Foltest's voice in Witcher 1 should come back. In fact, bring ALL of the voice actors in Witcher 1 back!

 

[Corylea.723]

The guy who voiced Thaler in Witcher 1 also voiced Zoltan.

AND the narrator for the opening movie! I was astonished that they didn't bring him back, since I thought Zoltan's voicing and Thaler's voicing were two of the highlights of TW1.

And I'm truly amazed that the same guy can produce Zoltan's rich, throaty voice, Thaler's rather different voice, and the National Public Radio accent of the narrator. What a range!

 

[Germanicanus]

@Not_Slimgrin: That is an interesting comparison you made. Let me follow into your footsteps and prepare my own list:


Triss: English --> Polish - both are annoying as hell but at least the English one carries a drop of charisma and charm while the Polish one wants me throw my speakers out the window.
Geralt: Polish = English - both extraordinary and fitting Geralt's character to a T.
Dandelion English -> Polish - again, the case of very irritating, god-awful voices but the English VA has an upper hand as the Polish actor is present in literally every game and cartoons - after 3 more games spent with his high-pitched voice you just cannot stand it anymore.
Zoltan: English--> Polish - just because of the wonderful accent, as I like them both
Sile: English --------> Polish - the Polish VA sounds like my old history teacher who smoked more cigarretes than all characters in "Coffee and Cigarettes" combined. English VA easily wins this round also thanks to being simply perfect in me ears for the person like Sheala.
Vess: English = Polish - not a fan of both but they are equally decent.
Letho: English ----> Polish - English VA is menacing and memorable. Polish VA is just laughable.
Iorveth: English ----> Polish - I couldn't find anyone better at playing Iorveth than his English VA, sound-wise speaking.
Phillipa: Polish ---> English - both are good but the Polish one fits better how I imagined Philippa to sound: feminine, refined, even soft yet still intimidating when she wants and charismatic.
Saskia: English ---------> Polish - when I thought Triss Polish VA was the worst, Saskia's VA came and immediately shocked me with how bad she sounds. Not only annoying, what's more, dull to hear, but also I got an impression her Voice Actress did not care at all. Such disappointment. English VA is simply better and gets a bonus point of having amazing Welsh accent.
Henselt: English ---> Polish - again, the existence of accent - this time Scottish - wins this round for English VA, though the Polish is not that bad (well, anyone's voice is not bad compared to Saskia's)
Roche: Polish = English - equally great
Dethmold: Enlish -> Polish - the first one is slightly quirky which fits Dethmold better
Sabrina (R.I.P): English ---> Polish: the first one is sassy, blunt and full of emotions (mostly anger). Perfect Sabrina.
Shilard: English --> Polish - English VA is perfection, nothing else needs to be said. Polish VA reminds me of a priest (and no, the role the Polish Voice Actor is famous of playing does not help my impression at all).
Incidental NPC's: English -> Polish - I did not pay attention to NPC, though I believe English ones are slightly better sounding and believable. Somehow their Polish counterparts sounded like they were performing a drama on stage with their over-the-top and theatricality tendencies.
Random Fat Prostitute: English -> Polish - RFP would sound great in any language but since everyone knows fat prostitutes sound the best in English, I had no other choice but to agree with that statement!

 

[dragonbird]

Henselt: English ---> Polish - again, the existence of accent - this time Scottish - wins this round for English VA, though the Polish is not that bad (well, anyone's voice is not bad compared to Saskia's)

Irish, not Scottish.
(If it is meant to be Scottish, which is unlikely as the Kaedweni generally have Irish accents, it's as fake as hell. The VA is English.)

 

[Jobbert.907]

I did really like the accents of the different kingdoms in TW2. You only had to listen to the voice to learn from which country someone came.

 

[gibb_geralt]

Absolutely no contest. I'm not a very experienced gamer, but the voices in TW1 are definitely the worst i've heard in a video game; save a few (Triss, Shani)

I adored TW2 voice acting, and enjoyed Geralt's VAing FAR more in the second one. His voice is a lot more subtle and soft in appropriate places, while still giving off the gravelly tone. The VAing in TW2 honestly rivals and even exceeds some BW games.

 

[dementedsheep]

Honestly I thought the voice acting in TW1 was pretty bad (english) tho part of that might actually be because we weren’t really getting facial expressions either.

TW2 was generally much better with a few miss moments. Tho something always seemed off about Saskia's voice acting to me.

 

[dragonbird]

Honestly I thought the voice acting in TW1 was pretty bad (english) tho part of that might actually be because we weren’t really getting facial expressions either.

TW2 was generally much better with a few miss moments. Tho something always seemed off about Saskia's voice acting to me.

I think that there was little direction for the VA's in the first game. They don't know the context of what they're saying, so they're just reading lines a lot of the time. You really hear the difference with Geralt, where it's the same actor, but there's just so much more depth in the second game.

I like Saskia though. Her delivery's fine, and her accent "works". The only one that doesn't for me is Radovid in the second game. I just can't accept a king having that accent. It's OK for a businessman, but not royalty.