I'm sorry, but Maria is really bad. Not because of her outfit. But because of her acting...

[lastbreath]

In many cases she delivers her lines monotonously and distracted. Especially in the scene behind the bars. Sometimes her emotions and body language are very poorly animated like in "Anyway" scene. Some of her lines are cut off without any reason so she doesn't even have enough time to express her anger and disappointment! The scene feels so rushed!

Just compare her line "My name is Maria" with OG. OG actress underlines words "name" and "Maria" to make it clear she's not Mary, while new actress says it like she doesn't care. Compare the line "I'm not your Mary". You can feel irritation in the voice of OG Maria. And you feel nothing in remake, just another monotonous phrase. Compare the line "See, I'm real". OG actress says it in seductive way. New actress delivery is just meh.

I'm not gonna blame voice actress. This is game director fault, he was OK with those deliveries and animations. I think they really had to show the actress OG material. I'm shure she can play better, she just didn't know how and noone told her.

[Tremere]

I think she does an amazing job. After James her performance is my favorite in the game.
The face animations are not the best in the business, for sure. But they are good enough.

[DMaster2]

Originally posted by lastbreath:

In many cases she delivers her lines monotonously and distracted. Especially in the scene behind the bars. Sometimes her emotions and body language are very poorly animated like in "Anyway" scene. Some of her lines are cut off without any reason so she doesn't even have enough time to express her anger and disappointment!

Just compare her line "My name is Maria" with OG. OG actress underlines words "name" and "Maria" to make it clear she's not Mary, while new actress says it like she doesn't care. Compare the line "I'm not your Mary". You can feel irritation in the voice of OG Maria. And you feel nothing in remake, just another monotonous phrase. Compare the line "See, I'm real". OG actress says it in seductive way. New actress delivery is just meh.

I'm not gonna blame voice actress. This is game director fault, he was OK with those deliveries and animations. I think they really had to show the actress OG material. I'm shure she can play better, she just didn't know how and noone told her.

Agree. OG game was made with passion and attention to details, even to the tone of the voice acting.

The remake is made by people that don't have the source material at heart, otherwise they wouldn't censor it in the first place.

[angstlicht]

I feel like in the remake she's speaking extremely casually when the dialogue is supposed to relay she's borderline possessed by the need to echo mary's emotions.

In the jail scene she's supposed to legitimately be disjoint with her own prior depictions up to that point, talking more like they'd been married for years. Like 'killing' her did a factory reset back to a baseline Mary persona.

In the 'anyway' scene she's supposed to randomly detonate emotionally the way a sick/dying Mary would at James.

In the remake she plays both of those scenes more or less in keeping with the idea that maria is her own person. In the original, the implication is she is not; she is a monster, or at least houses one.

I can actually understand the approach of trying to 'humanize' her into a natural character, but it's definitely a different tone and one that's been vaguely removed of actual fear.

[FruitBat Man]

It's not just Maria it's literally everyone but James and a little bit of Laura.

It's not the voice actors persay. The voice is fine the acting not so much.

Everyone's over here whining about Angela's face and I'm like have you heard her line delivery and compared it to the original? They did my girl dirty

[lastbreath]

Another problem James never demonstrates any interest in Maria. She's literally his dream but he behaves like she's annoying stone in his shoe. In OG James at least tried to hug Maria to comfort her. Of course, this detail was cut off. Man can't touch a woman in a modern game.

That's why Maria's role is absolutely pointless in this game. At the end James says: now I know why I needed you. But in this game he never needed her in fact.

[angstlicht]

Originally posted by lastbreath:

Another problem James never demonstrates any interest in Maria. She's literally his dream but he behaves like she's annoying stone in his shoe. In OG James at least tried to hug Maria to comfort her. Of course, this detail was cut off. Man can't touch a woman in a modern game.

tried being the operative word, there. The intimacy towards her was always a snare. The town manufactured his caring about her to punish him with so he could process his own use of Mary's memory as a self-punishment.

That's why Maria's role is absolutely pointless in this game. At the end James says: now I know why I needed you. But in this game he never needed her in fact.

im pretty sure i-needed-you is referring more to the pyramid head(s) punishing james.

James literally does not need Maria in any version of this game. He doesn't even 'need' Mary. He loves someone who is gone and is needing to emotionally process their after image through various layers of intimacy.

[lastbreath]

Originally posted by Zahramar:

I think she is amazing. Both are amazing actually, just a bit different.

Edit: actually after watching comparison video, the remake is WAY better. Especially since they omit the stupid line "or maybe you hated her?" but make a better subtle implication "[after pause].. Didn't you?". Kudos Bloober team for real.

https://youtu.be/BGA9zHVD-OI
Rushed, monotonous, emotionless.

[Hex: Cuse Me]

The "anyway" scene is the only one I would agree for the most part, the rest is just the usual nitpicking and only-my-opinion-matters jabbering. For example. the scene were James meets Maria the first time is so much better and feels more emotional and seductive than in the OG. The remade song alone adds so much more impact to it.

[NordWinter87]

Originally posted by lastbreath:

Another problem James never demonstrates any interest in Maria. She's literally his dream but he behaves like she's annoying stone in his shoe. In OG James at least tried to hug Maria to comfort her. Of course, this detail was cut off. Man can't touch a woman in a modern game.

That's why Maria's role is absolutely pointless in this game. At the end James says: now I know why I needed you. But in this game he never needed her in fact.

That has nothing to do with Maria. James refers to Pyramid head. In that moment he realises that the PH was his desire for punishment in the flesh. He knows the truth at that point, and he's ready to move on.

[lastbreath]

Originally posted by Lallet Pooping:

The "anyway" scene is the only one I would agree for the most part, the rest is just the usual nitpicking and only-my-opinion-matters jabbering. For example. the scene were James meets Maria the first time is so much better and feels more emotional and seductive than in the OG. The remade song alone adds so much more impact to it.

I like meeting with Maria mostly. But "My name is Maria" delivery and "See? Warm" change are so disappointing.

[Pnume]

Based on comparison videos, the remake maria is way better than the original and the actress did a good job.

[lastbreath]

Originally posted by NordWinter87:

That has nothing to do with Maria. James refers to Pyramid head. In that moment he realises that the PH was his desire for punishment in the flesh. He knows the truth at that point, and he's ready to move on.

Still James interaction with Maria was severely butchered. He can't touch her chest anymore (meeting scene) and can't even hug her (anyway scene)

Originally posted by Zahramar:

It's literally million times better than the SH2 and it is how real women speak lol. OG was restricted a lot by technology.

Maria is not real woman. She's James desire. OG was restricted by technologies but voice acting was way better.

[NordWinter87]

Originally posted by lastbreath:

In many cases she delivers her lines monotonously and distracted. Especially in the scene behind the bars. Sometimes her emotions and body language are very poorly animated like in "Anyway" scene. Some of her lines are cut off without any reason so she doesn't even have enough time to express her anger and disappointment! The scene feels so rushed!

Just compare her line "My name is Maria" with OG. OG actress underlines words "name" and "Maria" to make it clear she's not Mary, while new actress says it like she doesn't care. Compare the line "I'm not your Mary". You can feel irritation in the voice of OG Maria. And you feel nothing in remake, just another monotonous phrase. Compare the line "See, I'm real". OG actress says it in seductive way. New actress delivery is just meh.

I'm not gonna blame voice actress. This is game director fault, he was OK with those deliveries and animations. I think they really had to show the actress OG material. I'm shure she can play better, she just didn't know how and noone told her.

I'm totally with you on this. She feels way off from the original intent. And I think the voice actress could pull it off, but the voice direction was not good enough.

[River Victor]

I thought I was the only one thinking it. I love the original VA, and I can recite Mary's letter word for word for a reason. Some of the delivery in this one lacks emotion, especially Mary's part. Maria is coy enough, and I like. Except for the ANYWAY part. But the part where she reads the Letter is just BLANNNDDDD. The original letter hit you like an emotional truck.

[NordWinter87]

Originally posted by lastbreath:

Originally posted by NordWinter87:

That has nothing to do with Maria. James refers to Pyramid head. In that moment he realises that the PH was his desire for punishment in the flesh. He knows the truth at that point, and he's ready to move on.

Still James interaction with Maria was severely butchered. He can't touch her chest anymore (meeting scene) and can't even hug her (anyway scene)

PS. Maria is not real woman. She's James desire.

That's incorrect. Mary is the one who's perfect in James' mind. Maria is what the TOWN "thinks" is perfect for James. That's why the Maria ending is a big deal. Does he really love Mary and makes peace with himself in the end? Or he lets himself be seduced by this so-called "better version of Mary" created by the town?