Voice / MC in the remake - your thoughts?

[Vixx]

I feel Luke Roberts' portrayal of James is so sympathetic, and so much more authentic. I'm not dissing Cihi but I never particularly bought into the "oh, it's a wooden performance because the character is broken etc". Roberts, on the other hand, makes it much easier to understand/see that he's the kind of man Mary could love. He seems so much more complex and nuanced.

Maria 2.0 is great! I just don't think OG Maria could ever be topped. The "anyway" segment felt a little inelegant to me, and the potency of Mary's reading at the end doesn't didn't hit in the same way.

Angela and Eddie are brilliant - again, I prefer Remake's iterations - but I'll admit I'll always have a soft spot for Laura Bailey's Angela.

I couldn't fucking stand Laura in the orig, and she's much more rounded here.

What do you think?

[leftshoe18]

I think the performances are overall much better in the remake, though there are some moments where I prefer the original performance.

[MistahJ]

I still prefer the voice acting in the original, which is probably thanks to nostalgia, but I've enjoyed the new ones too. James just never struck me as having a deeper voice so it's been a bit weird for me hearing the new take on him, but I like it way better than Troy Baker's version. Also I like the new Maria alot more than I thought I would. I think she still sounds very flirty, her tone is just lighter, almost like she's trying to SPOILER


......


sound more like Mary.

[The Adversary]

I found myself talking along with the original dialogue and inflections during cutscenes (or immediately preceding the lines themselves) because of course I have this game effectively memorized.

I do think the original has moments that are better, but on the whole the new game is far superior in terms of voice acting.

[NanayaShiki]

I love the new James. I think he sounds great and his line delivery is fantastic. I'll always be nostalgic for the original performance but I think this is a better one in pretty much every way. No complaints. Laura is also a pretty direct upgrade, though that isn't a particularly high bar to pass. If we're talking about motion capture and the direction of the scene too, both are also huge upgrades. There's a lot of subtle movements that I really appreciate, like when James and Laura are talking right after the apartments, Laura clutches onto Mary's letter ever so slightly more when James mentions her parents. That's good stuff.

Angela and Eddie are both fine. I think I prefer the original for both of them but I don't dislike the Remake versions. They are different in a lot of ways so it's going to come down to taste. Angela is more grounded and realistic in the Remake, while Eddie is way more over the top almost immediately. They're almost flipped in that way and I can totally see why someone would prefer the Remake versions. I may too, in time. Angela has a couple of moments that are just absolutely heartbreaking.

That leaves Mary/Maria, which is the only one I will say I think is bad.
I made this post back when the story trailer came out:
viewtopic.php?p=701332#p701332
... and unfortunately I still kind of agree with everything I said there. I'm not a fan of this performance. It's flat and uninteresting. Which is a shame because Mary/Maria had the stand out performance in the original. So many great moments in the original just not remotely captured here. When you meet her, her concern for Laura, "ANYWAY", the jail room, the letter, etc. It's a shame.

That's the only one I'd say is directly "worse" though, so overall they did a pretty good job.

[The Adversary]

Eddie may be more "over the top," but he now has moments of vulnerability — that he's not just a psychotic murder machine. The new dialogue when we first meet him, in particular, is insight into what led him here, to show that, hey, sometimes you just need help.

[Dialogue/Story]I'm of course talking about when Eddie mentions how maybe he and James should team up to get out of the town together, and James says, "Nahhhh." You can feel the disappointment in Eddie's eyes — another example of the direction working so well — and that gives Eddie reason to spurn James in the theater.

[Arsonist]

Overall, I like it. No one did a bad job. I'm attached to the voices I've been hearing for over 20 years now, so obviously I'm biased. But the new cast didn't stray much from the heart of the original characters, which I greatly appreciate. I know that it's tempting to try to improve upon the original or have your own spin on things. We've seen that in the HD collection, and it ended up falling flat.
James feels warmer and more natural. He's just as unsure and rattled as the original, but more naturalistic. Eddie has good additions to his dialogue, showing us that he didn't arrive to town as a monster. I already figured that due to his interaction with Laura, but him asking to team up with James and being dejected when he turns him down was a nice touch. I did miss the creepy "Yeah." when he ventures out alone in the prison though.
Angela is IMO the weakest one, she's either deadpan or a bit melodramatic. She lacks the bitter edge Donna gave her. Donna got a lot of shit for her performance being admittedly over the top at times, but I always felt it was good. She managed to walk the tightrope between being vulnerable and being potentially dangerous. This isn't the case with the remake, she's just sad.
Mary/Maria I'm the most torn on. I LOVE the additional dialogue and scenes with Maria, and her performance was with out a doubt very good. It's just that the most iconic scenes of her, the prison and the letter, didn't land as strongly as they did with Monica, which is a shame.

[jdnation]

[lain of the wired]

Not missing LAAAAAAAWST??? that's for sure

I'm not too far in yet, but Angela still feels somehow stilted? But she's still much better than the original, and maybe it's stilted in a good way. She's being pushed to a threshold in the town, I like how she gets regressive as her anxiety ramps up much more than how it used to be.

[TerryRed]

For me this is easy. The original game's Mary/Maria was the standout and what broke my heart 23 years ago. The rest were.... ok. I'm not knocking the OG actors at all. That said, when the HD Collection came out, you had the likes of Troy Baker, and I did not like it. Not because he's a bad actor... he's a seasoned pro! I just much preferred the original's voice overs. I think part of that is the visuals of the original game are attached to the original performances, and its hard to see them in any other way.

The Remake:

With a couple of exceptions, every single aspect of the remake's voice acting and delivery... for me... is much nicer! It's what I've always wanted for SH2!

James. With the exceptions of a couple of grunts that sounded off (his grunts are amazing)... the rest is Perfect! I just love him in this game. I went from not feeling too much for James in the original, to feeling everything for him in the remake. His performance on the endings... wow. Night and day difference.

Angela. Loved her! She sounds her age... acts her age... but also acts "uncomfortable" when she should. I really felt for her in the remake. The mirror / knife scene in the remake for me is SO much better. The acting, and the shots they chose and the expressions on her face... just awesome! and her last scene had me actually crying!

Eddie. Loved him. Made me almost feel bad for him at the start... but cautious in the middle... and afraid of him at the end. The animation, look and acting were spot on... and better for me than the original.

Laura. Literally every single thing in the remake I liked better than the original. There was only one shot where she looked a bit off (visual quality wise), but the rest... the acting, animation was awesome.

Mary / Maria. To be clear... at no time do I ever think of her acting or animation as bad. There was only one animation shot (the first one) that didn't look great, but the rest was excellent. Her acting / delivery was great for me. There was only a couple exceptions that didn't hit me the same as Monica's delivery in the original. That would be the "I'm not your Mary", the walk down the hall (most of it was fine though)... and the very last line of the letter (THE most important line in the whole game).

Her different Mary/Maria sequences at the end before the boss fight... are AMAZING. The animation of Mary is excellent... and combined with her acting is so good! Made me want to cry for her and be afraid of her! Those eyes.... those amazing eyes!

Yes... for me the remake is a great success in the voice over acting.

[WaffleMaker]

I think they nailed the voice acting. The original had flares of brilliance but the remake is amazing all around.

[Disrupticon]

I'm not dissing Cihi

Allow me then. Dude fucking suuuuuuuucks.

The voice acting was mostly great! Angela, James, and Maria were the standouts to me, though Maria had her moments where she slipped a bit. I quite enjoyed how much Laura reminded me of Hank's Bully, from the groundbreaking King of the Hill episode 'Hank's Bully'. Truly a snottiest of nosed little brats, until she isn't.

Luke Roberts really knocked it out of the fucking park though.

[Jonipoon]

To my own surprise, I ended up liking Angela's new voice and performance the most out of all. She did a really good job and outshined the original, in my opinion.

[Utherworld]

IMO, the only voice actor that will never be topped from SH2 OG is Monica Taylor Horgan.

Her performance was a 10 out of 10. It made the game what it is.....

That being said, Salome Gunnarsdottir did a fantastic job as well. Her performance was a 9 out of 10.

[Utherworld]

This made me laugh!

[Lifetolifeless]

I don't have any complex or surprising takes to contribute here. For the most part, I view the performances in the remake as a cut above the original, while not completely obviating what made those old performances special. I'm in love with the way these new characters come alive on screen, and, if anything, it's made me newly appreciate going back and appreciating how special the original was as well.

[aj4x94]

I loved pretty much every's performance in the remake. James and Angela's were my favorites.

My only issue with Salome Gunnarsdottir's performance is that she didn't really differentiate too much when doing Mary/Maria's voice. it's most apparent during their conversation in the Labyrinth.

[Skele]

I love the voice acting in the remake. It's overall way superior to the original and it's not even close. There's only 2 moments where the VA is actually better in the OG, which are the cell scene, and Mary's reading of the letter.