Guild Wars 2

Is there anything that this guy is NOT involved in?! I know his voice better than my own pops lmao. Always a pleasure to hear him, but I can’t help but picture Spike Spiegel every time I hear him in a new game/anime. Anyone else a fan?

To be honest, his voice in GW2 is less grating than I usually find it, as it’s less recognisable than his usual characters.

I find that the core “Superstar” voice actors can actually damage immersion in games now with their presence. Recognising them tears me out of the game.

Steve Blum & Nolan North being the most recognisable. They’ve been in so many games I’ve played, I no longer hear the character, I hear the actor.

Jennifer Hale does just as many voices (including the lovely female Sylvari player character), but I find her far less grating, as she is much more of a vocal chameleon.

But the thing is, I know what they’re capable of, and while Steve’s pretty good in GW2, Nolan’s performance pales when compared with some of his other performances, the most notable of which being Nathan Drake, Arkham City Penguin, Alpha Protocol’s Heck and Captain Walker from Spec Ops.

Troy Baker seems to also be in every game I play nowadays, but I really don’t mind. I love that man’s voice. Hnngh.

But yeah, I think they somewhat altered Steve’s voice for Rytlock, though.

They did alter his voice, I was kinda disappointed when I first heard Rytlock in-game.
I mean, Steve Blum was one of the many reasons I made a few Charr characters, just to hear his amazing voice.

You can compare if you want to.

Voice of Rytlock before release: http://youtu.be/Te4FK_6JLwE?t=1m
Voice of Rytlock now in-game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7_FoVtFjys

Me on the other hand, I’m always distracted clicking on every male charr NPC just to check if he will greet me with Blum’s voice. He’s everywhere in this game, I think he even voices few old asuras. I guess it may be also because this guy is great to work with, or so I’ve heard.

Listening to Mardine was very entertaining, apart from the fact he’s loading cows on his “cattlepult”.

I’m not VO freak, and I often may not recognize people, but I find some actors more pleasant to listen than others, Steve’s one of them.

A bit OT:
Although I miss Maurice LaMarche and his performance as Vekk. Sure Vekk is dead by now but it would be nice if Maurice could make some guest appearance.

Or Mari Weiss (Oola/Livia). Though I think I hear someone who sounds like her, but no database confirms her participation. If someone could give some insight on that, I’d be grateful.

Cerbeius.7129:

They did altered his voice, I was kinda disappointed when I first heard Rytlock in-game.
I mean, Steve Blum was one of the many reasons I made a few Charr characters, just to hear his amazing voice.

You can compare if you want to.

Voice of Rytlock before release: http://youtu.be/Te4FK_6JLwE?t=1m
Voice of Rytlock now in-game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7_FoVtFjys

ye – gotta agree – before release voice was so much better. its a shame they altered it :<

I like what they did for Rytlock’s voice. Blum’s a good voice actor, but his growly voices do tend to be same-y. I don’t want to hear Rytlock and think, “Yeah! Listen to Wolverine, I mean – Grunt!, I mean…RYTLOCK!”

Or Ares, Son of Zeus :p

I want Rytlock to hold out his fingers in a gun-style and say “….Bang.” :P

I’ve always been a fan of Crispin Freeman, and he seems to do just about every male norn and human npc. I think he deserved a bigger role though!