Voice Acting TW1 vs TW2

[Corylea.723]

Voice Acting TW1 vs TW2

Those of you who've played both games -- how do you think the voice acting compares in the two? I've only played TW2 in English, so that's the version my comments will be based on, but I'm interested to hear what people thought of the other versions, too, especially the Polish version.

The only voice actor repeating a role in the English version of TW2 is Doug Cockle as Geralt. I thought he sounded hoarse in Chapter 1, though his voice smoothed out a bit and sounded more like his old voice by later in the game. What did you guys think?

I adored Zoltan's voice actor in TW1. I thought the TW2 actor did a competent job, but he wasn't as over-the-top as the TW1 actor, and I missed the punch the TW1 actor gave Zoltan.

Triss' voice in TW1 was kind of hard, and I thought that fit with a powerful sorceress who was the king's adviser and a member of a secret society. In TW2, her voice sounded sweeter and more traditionally feminine to me, and I thought that fit her character less well than her TW1 voice.

I thought there was a lot more interesting or memorable voice acting in TW1. Kalkstein's weird screeching wasn't always pleasant to listen to, but it did help to make him a memorable character. I really liked the world-weary way that Vincent was voiced and thought it added a whole lot to his character. I thought Vaska was very well voiced, and in fact, all of the old ladies were pretty memorable. The old lady who says, "You bring trouble" to Geralt in passing was just an extra, not a named character, and yet that line always caught my attention.

(I've played TW1 a lot more than TW2, so it's not surprising if TW1 is more memorable. But one reason why I've played TW1 more is because I like it better. I won't be playing Chapter 1 of TW2 fifteen times.)

So, what did you think of Geralt's voice this time around? How did you like the changes in Triss and Zoltan? Which voicing of characters do you remember fondly from TW1? Which characters in TW2 do you think are voiced especially well?

 

[gregski]

I prefer VA in TW2 over TW1 generally.

Triss' more feminine, soft voice really fits her in TW2. I don't know why, but it kinda makes her more a woman than a powerful sorceress and I like this change of tone. It shows that behind all those fireballs and force shields there's a subtle, sometimes fragile being. It makes her dedication to Geralt more feminine and thus more believable.

Zoltan is ok but didn't really stay in my memory.

I am Polish though I prefer English VO over Polish ones. The former feel more naturally played out to me.

 

[Kindo.824]

The English VO's in TW1 are pretty bad; even Geralt's voice actor, who repeats the role in TW2, did not have me convinced. I will attribute this to budget, time constraints, and poor direction, and not the voice actors and actresses themselves, though, because Doug Cockle is absolutely amazing in TW2; it's like night and day. The English VO's in TW2 overall, are pretty great. Very solid performance all throughout, with the occasional bad performance (Dandelion and Triss spring to mind... *shivers*).

For both games, however, I prefer the Polish voiceovers. The performance by the Polish actors and actresses is absolutely superb, and they seem to actually act the lines out, rather than just read them off a piece of paper (no matter how well-read it may be in English). As a result, all the characters come to life in a completely different way, resulting in much more vivid and entertaining dialogue in general, as even the most minor character is given a unique personality.

 

[CalinTM]

Yeah i tried a little the polish voice in Witcher 1, and it's amazing, polish voice and english subtitles.

 

[tornjosh]

I thought the voice acting by Doug Cockle was very well done in TW1 and TW2. His tone seems less gizzled and fuzzy in TW2 though, which I liked. There were certainly moments in both games where it feels like the actor/actress was just reading the script but for the most part TW1 and TW2 were voiced well throughout. Only the occasional hiccup. I agree with Corylea about Kalkstein and Vaska being memorable from TW1.

I have yet to play through with the polish voice over. So many people have told me it is so well done. I just haven't had the chance.

 

[Cyberfrog]

For me Dandelion was the weakest link in TW1. I have to give that "award" to Triss in TW2, unfortunately. It works some of the time, but lacks passion.

The others are solid. Especially awesome are Henselt and Roche.

 

[Flitters]

I'm glad Doug Cockle returned to VO Geralt. His voice reverberates experience which carried over to TW2 . I mean this guy (Geralt) is a professional monster slayer and should sound like one and be cuddley.

I loved Roche and Iorveth but found Dandelion not to my liking when compared to TW1 version.

Another I enjoyed was Henselt which I thought was well acted through.

All in all I preferred the voice acting in TW2. This will not prevent me from replaying TW1 though.

 

[chlong7]

English script localization, voice direction, and editing were much better in TW2, but I really enjoyed the voice cast of TW1 and think they did a good job in dodgy circumstances. Like Corylea I prefer TW1's voice actors for Triss and Zoltan, especially Triss. The actress in TW2 does perfectly respectable work (I think she's at her best in the prologue), but Triss is a grown woman, and her insecurities don't mean that she has to sound like a chirpy and slightly dopey teenager. In the books, she is described as appearing half-grown, so it's canon that she comes across as a bit on the young side, but the actress from TW1 doesn't sound older so much as she sounds sadder and wiser. Considering all that Triss has been through by the time the games take place, she should. It's like Triss has suddenly turned into her pre-Rivia, in fact, maybe pre-Sodden self. Meh, I didn't like the change, but I still like her character.

As far as the rest of TW2 goes, however, I liked them, and I am really happy with the improved production values, so I'd give TW2 an easy pass on its English voice acting grade.

 

[GODzillaGSPB]

I think The Witcher 2 offers the smoother experience, while in The Witcher 1 the quality - although generally good - differs from time to time. And not only between different characters, sometimes even Geralt changes his tone, coming off with a strong bass that lets my walls vibrate, then without any bass at all just a sentence later.

Plus it seems that they often use the already recorded samples again. For instance: "Geralt!"...in an almost angry tone. You hear it over and over again, even during dialogs which during calm conversations.

Yes, when it comes to dialog and voices CD Project Red were still in their learning-phase during the development of The Witcher. And I think in The Witcher 2 they got everything right.

 

[BluesBrotha.966]

I've played the game only with the polish VO (I've heared an opinion once that it's a deadly sin for a Pole to play the Witcher without the polish dub) and it was extremely well done. However there were some painful moments (and that goes to almost every actor) where you could tell that it's just a guy or lady reading something from a piece of paper. Luckily those moments were rare.

My absolute favorite was Vernon Roche by Krzysztof Banaszyk. It was absolutely superb, he just nailed the role. It's everything you'd expect from a character like that. Same goes for King Henselt by Dariusz Odija.

Worth mentioning are of course the Dwarves, every single one was done perfectly, especially Zoltan. Just listening to them brings a smile to your face.

However almost every elf is the exact opposite. The voices just didn't feel right at all (except for Iorweth)

So, if you've ever thought about trying the Witcher games with a polish VO, go for it, you won't regret it.

 

[GuyNwah]

I use the Polish voiceovers and English subtitles. I would not recommend this as a means of learning Polish. The vocabulary is even more rude than the subtitles let on.

It hasn't been mentioned yet, but the number of good lines Saskia gets, and the passion with which she delivers them, are remarkable.

Triss plays much younger, but her reduced circumstances in TW2 have much to do with that. In TW1, she was a dominating presence at court and in Vizima society. In TW2, all that was taken away from her. She's now in a role where she's only the equal of the men around her, and she lets a different side of herself come out. The way this is voice-acted, especially when she is teasing Geralt or Roche, is very sweet and makes her a more endearing character.

 

[Braag]

Played both games with English VO and TW2 has much better voice acting overall. Ones that stood out most to me were King Henselt, Roche and the kingslayer.

 

[Blothulfur]

The background voices in the english version were absolutely fantastic, the slang from different areas of Britain was spot on and really brought the peoples and places to life. Henselt, Zoltan, Sile and Roche stood out for me as especially noteworthy main voices and like a lot of others I thought Triss became a bit too cutesy and cheerleaderish for a cunning and powerful sorceress used to advising kings and adventuring with the white wolf.

I'll probably be stoned for this like i'd said Jehovah, but i'm not a big fan of Doug Cockles Geralt voice, then again i've done numerous playthrough so it can't be bothering me that much.

 

[KnightofPhoenix]

I preferred TW2 by a substantial margin. I didn't hate the VA in TW1, they were decent I thought, enough for me to be able to enjoy the story and game. But it was also hit and miss. Whereas I thought they were generally better all around in TW2.

And I am one of the few who prefer the in-game voices of Iorveth and Letho over the trailer version.

 

[username_3235997]

I've only made it through the prologue (English), but I prefer Geralt's voiceover in TW1. His performance in TW2 seems to have more " off " moments.

Both games have a few good performances followed by many hammy ones. They're passable, but come up short against Bioware's games.

 

[Corylea.723]

Both games have a few good performances followed by many hammy ones. They're passable, but come up short against Bioware's games.

DA:O had some excellent voice acting, but I didn't think much of the voice acting in DA2. I played a female Hawke in DA2, and I thought she sounded like a total robot. It made me appreciate Doug Cockle's Geralt all the more, because both Geralt and Hawke are supposed to be such bad-asses that they never get real excited, but Cockle made Geralt's low-key bad-ass voice sound interesting, whereas whichever actress played Hawke made her sound as if she were made entirely of cardboard.

 

[username_2093396]

I played both games in English, and I have the Enhanced Edition of Witcher 1 (which I read is supposed to have much better dialogue, although I never played the original version so I can't tell for myself). I'm curious if the people who didn't like TW1's voice acting are referring to the original version or if they do mean the Enhanced Edition?

Anyhow, I really like the voice acting in both games. First of all, there wasn't any really bad acting in either game (I've played other games where I seriously wanted to punch the speakers to make the voices stop ). And then on top of that, many of the characters seemed perfect and I really loved their voices. Geralt in both games was just right (I love the way he delivers his lines).

In the first game I also really liked Kalkstein, Thaler, and Shani (they are the most memorable to me, although I liked a lot of the other voice acting that has been mentioned so far, like Vincent and Vaska, but I can't remember all of the characters offhand since there were so many ).

In the second game, I love Roche, Saskia and Letho (just perfect ). I was also really impressed by Foltest and Ves even though they didn't have as much dialogue as some of the other characters. Iorveth, Henselt and Dethmold also really captured the character's personality with the voice.

And I am one of the few who prefer the in-game voices of Iorveth and Letho over the trailer version.

I do too

 

[siklara]

And I am one of the few who prefer the in-game voices of Iorveth and Letho over the trailer version.

GOD no, I hated Letho's voice in the trailer and though I tend to like deep male voices very much, I think Iorveth's final voice suits his character much better.

 

[galdor]

I've played TW1 with the Polish VO (Being from Poland and having read the books it only felt natural to do so) but switched to English VO in TW2.
The Polish ones in the second game are over-acted, almost theatrical, and somehow clash with the world that wants to appear real. Kind of a let-down after really good work they did in the first one.

 

[Thothistox]

I emigrated from Poland in 1985, when I was 7 years old. I forgot and later re-learned my old language to the point of near fluency. (Whenever I visit Poland I'm usually able to fool strangers into thinking I spent my whole life there.) I played the game in English, Polish with a mixture of different subtitles. A couple of observations:

1) Generally, the Polish voice acting is far superior to the English. (If you look up the actors on wikipedia you'll see why -- they hired the best.) In English, only the Dwarves and Foltest seem well done. Triss and, I'm sorry to say, Geralt are both sub-par. They sound almost soporific.

2) To guynwah: "The vocabulary is even more rude than the subtitles let on." I completely disagree here. There were quite a few places where the English subtitles were more profane than what was actually said.

3) The Polish Foltest is the only one I find needs a bit of getting used to. He doesn't sound too different from the boorish soldiers he commands. (Henselt on the other hand is brilliant -- he's both noble and a boor.)

4) If you don't speak Polish you'll miss out on a few nuances: the Polish art of understatement when Geralt suggests that Roche convince Geralt's captors not to execute him, the appeal to custom ad absurdum when Letho tells Iorveth to bow before a crowned head, and at least one place that refers to Polish literature (Geralt's conversation with Roche in Act III refers to Mickiewicz's Lord Thaddeus)...