Why are English accents "normal"?

[/^^\461|[ 834||]

There are no Scottish, Welsh, or Irish voices in this game, but yet Henry, and most of the other cast have English accents. Why is it that English accents are seen as "default" when really none of them should have English accents. It is biased towards Anglo-saxons and their dialects. Zero celtic or nordic representation in this game. Just another example of how celtic people are the "other" and "alternative" accent reserved for comical characters and dwarves whilst English people are put in the centre to meet expectations.

I would like for them to make a Kingdom Come game based in Scotland at a similar time when Scottish people fought the English taking place from the Scottish perspective.

Good game, but stop taking away from other cultures with anglo-centrism to describe Europeans. I don't like playing as an English man in Czechia. The Anglos are closer ethnically to Czechs in that time period but the dialects are totally different now. Get actors that represent the characters they play and at least if you aren't going to do that then don't put English and Americans at the centre of everything.

[rdbury]

It sounds like your issue goes way beyond this one game. It does seem strange when you think about it that fantasy dwarves have Scottish accents (WoW, the LotR movies, etc.). And the folks in "How to Train Your Dragon" are suppose to be Scandanavian so it's odd that they also sound Scottish. But fair or not, the middle-class central English accent seems to be considered the most "neutral", especially in Europe, and Henry doesn't talk like I do either. I'm not sure that it would be practical to just have everyone speak in their normal accent though, since it seems unlikely that everyone in a small close-knit village would be talking differently from each other. Accents had a lot more regional variation in the Middle Ages, so it's likely that someone from Sasau would have a different accent from someone in Rattey, It would be interesting if they gave each village it's own accent to reflect that, and there are certainly enough accents in the British Isles to use as sources. The only game I know of where they were able to carry off that kind of thing was Final Fantasy XII; there were American, Britsh, Indian, and Spanish accents, and I never was able to figure out what kind of accent the Viera had other than "vaguely European". You can go too far with that kind of thing. Imagine Theresa with a Valley Girl accent, or Sir Robard with a broad Australian accent.

[Drunk Rambo {The Dirty Dozen}]

Good point. Why didn't they use Czech actors and have subtitles? Possibly for a broader audience? So they used British actors and a few Americans or Canadians. This game was created by Czechs so the casting is down to them. I'm pretty sure there's an Aussie accent in this game too. I heard someone say "G'Day". I initially found it odd that there were so many English regional accents in KCD since it was set in Medieval Central Europe.

If you actually google all the acting cast in KCD there are many Australians, American, Czech, actors, not just English actors by birth. The Main character is actually Celtic of origin. Tom McKay.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3414510/fullcredits/cast

[BIGDOJO]

they should have had all male characters voiced by arnold schwartzenegger to truly reflect how i think everyone from germany sounds like when speaking english.

[Bandy]

Originally posted by BIGDOJO:

they should have had all male characters voiced by arnold schwartzenegger to truly reflect how i think everyone from germany sounds like when speaking english.

And yet the game and chars are not "German".
Even Arnold says he's Austrian (yeah, might as well be German...).
Any idea of when Germany became a country?

[Dagný]

This thread is awfully familiar to the bunch of steam weebs who can't stand English in their japanese games but don't understand a single word in Japanese other than NANI

I'll tell you what I tell them: there are full Czech audio and subtitles, use both.

[Insomec]

It’s not that deep bro.. like seriously get over it.

Yours sincerely,
An English man

[/^^\461|[ 834||]

Originally posted by rdbury:

It sounds like your issue goes way beyond this one game. It does seem strange when you think about it that fantasy dwarves have Scottish accents (WoW, the LotR movies, etc.). And the folks in "How to Train Your Dragon" are suppose to be Scandanavian so it's odd that they also sound Scottish. But fair or not, the middle-class central English accent seems to be considered the most "neutral", especially in Europe, and Henry doesn't talk like I do either. I'm not sure that it would be practical to just have everyone speak in their normal accent though, since it seems unlikely that everyone in a small close-knit village would be talking differently from each other. Accents had a lot more regional variation in the Middle Ages, so it's likely that someone from Sasau would have a different accent from someone in Rattey, It would be interesting if they gave each village it's own accent to reflect that, and there are certainly enough accents in the British Isles to use as sources. The only game I know of where they were able to carry off that kind of thing was Final Fantasy XII; there were American, Britsh, Indian, and Spanish accents, and I never was able to figure out what kind of accent the Viera had other than "vaguely European". You can go too far with that kind of thing. Imagine Theresa with a Valley Girl accent, or Sir Robard with a broad Australian accent.

You're right, Final Fantasy 12 had a great range of voice cast that really helped to build the world. I find it in bad taste to always have Scottish and Irish voices reserved for the "others" in game. At least in games like the Witcher 3 they ascribed the accents to regions, Skellige having more celtic influcenes, and the mainlanders being a mix of English, French, and Welsh. There is also A Bards Tale IV (which is a trash game) that for a change actually pretty much just has Scottish and Irish accents exclusively.

In Dragon Age Origins, dwarves are Americans whilst the rest of the population are English! It can rarely go different ways, but I am sick of English accents being a default, and wish more games would take voicing a bit more realistically.

In KCD it is really inconsistent, it's as though every character has a different accent and it is a bit immersion breaking. Henrys father has a completely different accent and voice to Henry. His friends have a different accent to him and all have their own twang. Lord Divish is American, Hanush is a non-descript theatre voice, Hans is very English. whilst Theresa is more of what I'd expect.

I think it would have been better sticking to one style for all voice actors to emulate like most of the Townswoman characters have a more distinct central european accent. The Hungarians have a Hungarian accent which makes it even more confusing. It makes no sense. And if they were going to do it the way they've done with having a broad range of accents it seems off to focus on anglos to represent Germanic peoples. Celtic and Nordic dialects and accents are probably closer than well spoken English, as Henry doesn't even sound like an English peasant would. It's a really butchered job.

[DargonBlak]

i truly hope this is just troll bait

[/^^\461|[ 834||]

Originally posted by Dagný:

This thread is awfully familiar to the bunch of steam weebs who can't stand English in their japanese games but don't understand a single word in Japanese other than NANI

I'll tell you what I tell them: there are full Czech audio and subtitles, use both.

Well personally I understand a lot of Japanese and the localisations of Japanese language normally involve taking the cultural elements out which I don't like. For instance, in Sekiro, they removed all honorifics. Whats more, is that the subtitles aren't actually a translation of the Japanese, they are a transcript of the English dub. So when Sekiro calls the Emperor "sama" which is basically acknowledging his divinity and whole superiority in status that nuance is completely lost. In cases like that it's only by actually understanding the language you will get a complete picture.

It's like that with most games because while I can play it in a variety of languages, the subtitles are just going to say what is spoken in English, not what it actually says, and I believe the original intended language for this game was made and written in English. So I'd be listening to a translation and reading the original script. That to me is just backwards. I don't think they're unreasonable criticisms especially given the realism factor. It would also be better for the art if we held higher standards to voice acting so not all games end up like Square Enix who just recycle the same voice actors again now every game.

In this game in particular I feel that is the elephant in the room when everything else is done so well but for some reason everyone talks like they're from completely different countries. Instead of saying "ew weeb put subtitles on" maybe it would be a bit more constructive to say that it could be better and maybe the devs should consider tweaking this so they make a better game?

[Friendly]

If you want authentic voiceover why are you not playing the game with Czech language? There is absolutely nothing authentic about English accents in this game, it is there in English for people to understand what is going on.

[/^^\461|[ 834||]

Originally posted by Insomec:

It’s not that deep bro.. like seriously get over it.

Yours sincerely,
An English man

Thing is, you wouldn't be saying that if the tables were switched and you never heard English accents in a game. That is because English people are like the Americans of Europe. They think they're the main characters and the rest of Britain are secondary to them. English people are way over represented in British media and now it's carrying on into other places like games. I resent that, frankly. So do many Irish and Welsh people too. We are not "others" whilst even many foreigners just call the UK England because of practices like this. Because we are not represented you get many Americans and others who think Scotland is a part of England.

Originally posted by DargonBlak:

i truly hope this is just troll bait

Americans are the worst of all at it. I understand of course that it makes sense for American developers to hire American voice actors but in the global scene Americans are put foremost at representing all English voice actors in games. Which normally are trash in comparison. Like Dark Souls for instance has an absolutely amazing voice acting cast with a diverse range of realistic accents. Meanwhile American fantasy games or when Japanese hire Americans for every role it feels plastic and forced.

Sort of like in every western Sci-Fi America represents planet Earth and everyone else is just not even mentioned or on the side. Mass Effect is a good example of that. When a focus is on the story and presentation everything adds up to be a more complete experience.

[Insomec]

Originally posted by /^^\461| 834|_|_:

Originally posted by Insomec:

It’s not that deep bro.. like seriously get over it.

Yours sincerely,
An English man

Thing is, you wouldn't be saying that if the tables were switched and you never heard English accents in a game. That is because English people are like the Americans of Europe. They think they're the main characters and the rest of Britain are secondary to them. English people are way over represented in British media and now it's carrying on into other places like games. I resent that, frankly. So do many Irish and Welsh people too. We are not "others" whilst even many foreigners just call the UK England because of practices like this. Because we are not represented you get many Americans and others who think Scotland is a part of England.

You know what mate, I wouldn't because its pointless to get so worked up about it.
Truth be told most people don't give two shi tes, they just want to enjoy the game.

Which by the way is made by a Czech company, who wanted the game this way, I mean if you want a more authentic experience im sure you can play the game in Czech.

[/^^\461|[ 834||]

Originally posted by Insomec:

Originally posted by /^^\461| 834|_|_:

Thing is, you wouldn't be saying that if the tables were switched and you never heard English accents in a game. That is because English people are like the Americans of Europe. They think they're the main characters and the rest of Britain are secondary to them. English people are way over represented in British media and now it's carrying on into other places like games. I resent that, frankly. So do many Irish and Welsh people too. We are not "others" whilst even many foreigners just call the UK England because of practices like this. Because we are not represented you get many Americans and others who think Scotland is a part of England.

You know what mate, I wouldn't because its pointless to get so worked up about it.
Truth be told most people don't give two shi tes, they just want to enjoy the game.

Which by the way is made by a Czech company, who wanted the game this way, I mean if you want a more authentic experience im sure you can play the game in Czech.

This is basically the dialogue back from English whenever the other people of the British isles complain about their dominance in media. "Doesn't matter, shut up"

And yeah, people have said play the game in Czech already. I responded to that, and I am entitled to my opinion and to say what I think. You can project I'm getting "so worked up about it" if you want. Many people feel this way, which you don't understand because you're English, and therefore circumvent all my points to basically talk down to me.

For anyone else, this is exactly why Scottish and Irish people hate the English. They simple don't give two shi tes about what anyone else thinks or feels except themselves.

My enjoyment of an immersive experience is based on things like the voice acting... But I don't trust an Englishman to take their head out of their arse for two seconds and think what its like for someone else.

[Drunk Rambo {The Dirty Dozen}]

Originally posted by /^^\461| 834|_|_:

Originally posted by Insomec:

It’s not that deep bro.. like seriously get over it.

Yours sincerely,
An English man

Thing is, you wouldn't be saying that if the tables were switched and you never heard English accents in a game. That is because English people are like the Americans of Europe. They think they're the main characters and the rest of Britain are secondary to them. English people are way over represented in British media and now it's carrying on into other places like games. I resent that, frankly. So do many Irish and Welsh people too. We are not "others" whilst even many foreigners just call the UK England because of practices like this. Because we are not represented you get many Americans and others who think Scotland is a part of England.

Originally posted by DargonBlak:

i truly hope this is just troll bait

Americans are the worst of all at it. I understand of course that it makes sense for American developers to hire American voice actors but in the global scene Americans are put foremost at representing all English voice actors in games. Which normally are trash in comparison. Like Dark Souls for instance has an absolutely amazing voice acting cast with a diverse range of realistic accents. Meanwhile American fantasy games or when Japanese hire Americans for every role it feels plastic and forced.

Sort of like in every western Sci-Fi America represents planet Earth and everyone else is just not even mentioned or on the side. Mass Effect is a good example of that. When a focus is on the story and presentation everything adds up to be a more complete experience.

Stop your ridiculous LARPING as a "Celt".

[MonkeyGamesVR]

Isent there a mod to change the language somewhere by now?