The Companion brothers asked me to G.T.L. the other day. I chose the "Not a juicehead, but thanks." response.

+ Don't you think they'd have their own language, and not be speaking English?

'New York' dialetc is almost the same, 'mechanically-speaking??', as standard English' -

first off, what the hell does standard english mean? Do you mean Queens English? Secondly, the New York accent, as far as I can tell, sounds nothing like any English accent. If anything, the closest thing to any American accent in Britain has to be the Irish accent. Thirdly, what the hell do you mean by 'mechanically speaking'? I presume you must be referring to syntax?

Just because all American accents are derivative of British ones, doesn't mean they are in any way similar sounding - they clearly aren't.

http://wickedraven.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/1056690-1050617_third_party_facepalm_super_super.jpg

It's a fantasy world, so who knows how people would sound - probably not like from any region...probably they wouldn't speak English either. I'm more concerned with them talking clearly and being able to understand them than anything else. Then again, I'd be perfectly happy with mostly text and limited voice acting too.

I think they've done a ok job to voice act the nords. They have (as far as I has experienced) got the melody in their voice acting which is quite a prominent trait of the (in our world) Nordic accents. But I think it would be almost impossible to make the Nords to sound Nordic, because of the pretty obvious reason; the English language is the language being used. And since a majority of the players have got English as first language and don't have the intention to turn the subtitles on (which I'm always doing) they can't use the kind of broken English that probably would enhance the game experience but make it harder to understand without subtitles. But, still, I agree on the need for more versatile and international voice actors, the American English is over-representented. (I should mention that Swedish is my first language...and I guess that Nordic languages is what the Nord accent is trying to sound like)

An accent is just the result of where in your mouth you form your words. Some languages prefer the front of the mouth, others the back. There is a mechanical aspect to speech that is often overlooked. Try doing some research into the matter, and you'll be surprised to find out just how similar, on a scientific level, some of the accents are.

Standard English as in "Queen's English," yes. Officially known as received pronunciation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation

PS - Why do you sound so angry?

I also hate to tell "ya'll", but they "ain't" speakin the American I hear round here!

CWhutIdidthar

I used to find that funny until I went to England and had no idea what they where saying to me.

While you do have a point, I think it's important to point out that the particular quest your referring to it was most likely intentional that they had accents so far removed from the normal populace.



No, they didn't have to go with the brooklyn accent but it helped get the point across.

Actually, that voice actor is an American. Don't know why he affected an Austrian/Arnold accent, unless it was as a joke.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0304649/

What bothers me is the lack of continuity in the accents. There's this ridiculous mish-mash amongst the Nords ranging from Arnold to American to Scandinavian.

There is NO SUCH THING as a British accent. Britian is NOT A COUNTRY, it is an Island consisted of three countries and another island, the northern region which is still part of Britian.

England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland

Each country has several distinct accents

If, when you say 'British' you mean English, then say English, not British. And yes, I am touchy about this...

Back on Topic

Does it really matter what accents are used? It's not set on Earth, it's set on a completley different planet with similar cultures to some of our aincient ones. Jeez, don't be so nitpicky.

Apparently some are extremely offended by American accents in their precious video games. To them I say, "Make more games in the Kingdom and you can pick all the English voice actors you want."

I'm sorry did you just use the phrase "that long ago" to refer to a fictional universe? There is no "would" or "would not" exist, it's FICTION. If Bethesda decide that in the fictional universe they've created everyone speaks western gibberish they're free to do so.

That said Bethesda clearly borrows from the real world. Skyrim uses all kinds of Nordic references so it would make sense if the Nords had such an accent. They don't, which is lame, but it's a video game so I'm not at all surprised.

Wow. This thread makes no sense at all.

Nit picky? LOL You think American accents fit in a time when Dragons where supposed be about and people lived in stone buildings and tents. It's purely ignorance by game developers. I suppose next you'll bee saying Mcdonald's served burgers to the people of Skyrim.

By this logic, why not have all the voice and text in the game be in Skyrim Nordic, then....?

What the hell makes American Accents any more immersion breaking than European accents?


THIS IS NOT EARTH, SKYRIM IS NOT SET IN EUROPE

Your just sorta proved that your nitpicking now and looking to start a flame war

Even though the Witcher 2 has some American voice acting, the range of accents are much more believable since they're more old English, British accents. Why, well because they're old accents and have been around a very long time, where American accents have not and do not fit in such a game. I've had American friends agree with me on this.

To those saying its a fantasy world so American accents are fine as we don't know what they would sound like, I'd just like to point out in no way am I offended by American accents, they just sound out of place to me is all.

The American accent just sounds "modern" to me, so in any old fashioned setting no matter if its fantasy or based on real history it is an immersion breaker. That said its not even a big deal, I'm not complaining I'm just saying I think European accents would give the game a more authentic, immersive atmosphere. Sticking to one kind of accent per race would be pretty nice too. African of some sort for Redguard, English for Elves, Italian for Imperial, Norwegian for Nords etc.

Its not some blockbuster, oscar winning movie, its only a game, that doesn't even have much voice acting to begin with, so I don't think there is any real cause for complaint if you spot the odd american accent.

I do kind of agree with the OP. American accents always sound a bit cheap to me in a fantasy setting!

Obviously there is no correct accent for a fictional world - but as they are speaking english (in our versions), we do have preconceived notions about what those accents represent...

In real life I actually like some American accents (not usually on squeaky voiced kids playing computer games!), but in a fantasy rpg they seem out of place to me.

I would tend to think an American developed game may use an American accent in any fantasy setting. You are thinking about this all wrong.

Skyrim is on the planet Nirn not earth. If you are going to say the American accent doesn't belong but somehow another one from earth does (let alone the english language) then the problem isn't the game. But by all means don't bother firing off any additional brain cells that may make you realize this isn't mid-evil times on earth.

Well to be fair to Beth they did try to get Gerard Depardieu...but he was busy.

Something about a lot of liquids and airline travel~ :foodndrink: