It’s not unreasonable. For you or me, it is. For paid professionals, it’s not unreasonable to expect a little bit of experience with directing or providing a voice that fits more than 1.0 archetypes.
If you can’t read English, please do not reply to my post.
Well this is the problem when you don’t have multiple voices to choose from. It basically fits just one image. I created a bit older looking female, muscular too. So I like the voice and I couldn’t imagine a “girly” one. I suppose that’s the way to go with the norn but I can understand the frustration
I don’t mind the character’s female voice – but I do mind some of the NPC voice acting. I cringe every time I do the bear skill point in Wayfarer Hills – “I can feel bear’s little tail wagging in my heart”.
Ya the whole "arrogant warrior " voice acting is not something I find attractive in characters.
Nothing against the actors and actresses who preformed. They were given a direction by the production and followed it.
I just wish that the team in charge of the character creation would have thought outside of what is a single perspective on what they thought the characters should sound like.
Honestly how many people can identify with these characters?
The deep voice fits great. But I agree that sometimes she sound too bored. Warrior’s ‘shake it off’ is supposed to be a shout. She says it i a way u tell an annoying kid to stop crying already. Nah. ;/ Still, she sound very norn. I like it.
I suspect it’s likely that the current voice is moderate for Norn women.
Yes, if resources were no issue I’d love to have a choice of voices for my characters. I wouldn’t mind the ability for fans to record their own versions and mod them in. I don’t see either of those happening.
We should get to choose what voice we like on every race in my opinion each Charm/Dignity/Ferocity should have a different voice ranging from slightly girly-deep and commanding. So everyone gets what they want.
If they had done that we’d still be waiting for the game to release because they’d still be recording voice work (if they didn’t go bankrupt from needing to pay all of the extra voice actors), and god only knows how bad they’d all be if they tried to cut costs to force the multiple options in (example: aion 2.0’s NPCs, I swear they just made random people from the office do some of those) so I’m a-ok with all of the voices as they are.
1 “ok” voice that fits the race (generic/stereotypical or otherwise) > 3 different terrible voices that don’t fit the race at all > game still not being released because they’re wasting their time and money recording the same soundbites over and over and over again in different voices. There’s so many lines I’m sure any dev who read the suggestion of recording everything 3(?) times per race per gender is crying in a corner in the fetal position right now. :P
I think the voice is ok, the male norn one is the best in the game but the female one is not too shabby, it’s just not as memorable as the male norn or asura.
I just wish there would be an option to turn it off outside of cutscenes, it sucks having two very different characters like an Ele and a warrior saying the same things and sounding the same.
First, I love the voice of my female norn.
Secondly, I’m surprised – the voice acting did not strike me as too boring or flat. I t sounds a little dismissive, unimpressed, and loaded with dry humor. Which was exactly the attitude I was looking for!
Frankly, If you’re 8-9 feet tall, used to surviving in a harsh environ, and able to lift the equivalent of small cars, and carry a 7 foot long 60lb peice of sharpened metal… what is worth getting excited about, really?
First, I love the voice of my female norn.
Secondly, I’m surprised – the voice acting did not strike me as too boring or flat. I t sounds a little dismissive, unimpressed, and loaded with dry humor. Which was exactly the attitude I was looking for!
Frankly, If you’re 8-9 feet tall, used to surviving in a harsh environ, and able to lift the equivalent of small cars, and carry a 7 foot long 60lb peice of sharpened metal… what is worth getting excited about, really?
So much this.
It doesn’t hurt that it’s voiced by the same woman that held the “Most kitten” title from Babylon 5, amongst a slew of other similar roles. (Atlantis: The Lost Empire, anyone?)
She is also quite a prominent figure in video game voice acting, including various characters in Skyrim, Halo 4, most of Summoner 2’s female characters…
She doesn’t sound flat or fake as the female norn PC, she has a naturally deep voice, and in this case she just pulled off the most epic “bored now” tone.
I swear, Claudia Christian could intimidate a water buffalo if she really cared too.
How many ales have you had? The Norn female voice is fine even if it is destined for the Vigil. Just be glad that you’re not listening to the Sylvari male.
I love her voice, maybe because I am also a low-voiced woman (albeit a lot smaller). The scream and moans she gives when she’s knocked down though … my husband was like “what are you DOING to her?”
A female norn is 8-9 feet tall, and (estimated) 400-500 pounds of muscle. Nobody would expect someone built like that, with the lungs to power it, to have a diminutive “girly” voice.
I find the norn female voice quite appropriate, and don’t mind the sound. While deep, the voice is by no means a “flat” male voice.
I’m a min sized norn female. I’m 6-6 and 190 pounds, GET IT RIGHT!
A voice pitch slider would be great. You don’t need more than one real voice, and everybody would be able to have a – albeit slightly – different voice.
I’ve seen pitch sliders in other games, and they allow some customization without ruining the voice.
I’ve got nothing wrong with deeper-voiced, huskier female voices. They can sound fabulous. But this norn woman sounds so awkwardly butch and fake it makes me cringe =(
“Yus, gaining adrenaline”- no stahp.
Sorry for bumping old thread, but gosh, I just created my first Norn, and I’ve gotten so excited by how fab she’s gonna be, but this awk butch voice just kills the mood sometimes.
I had of course expected the Norn to have a deeper voice than a Human.
However, the Norn voice is just a bland and boring version of deep voice.(if you want good voice acting, look at the Charr).
The lines are spoken with an almost monotone and completely un-involved voice, even when you are fighting for your life.
The way she speaks lacks character and personality, there’s nothing exciting or kitten about her VA.
Pretty much her only good line is when getting poisoned, because then sounding sluggish is actually the purpose, lol
However, the Norn voice is just a bland and boring version of deep voice.(if you want good voice acting, look at the Charr)
Ehh. I really don’t like the female charr voice while the norn’s is a perfect fit. The charr voice lacks depth and volume and a kind of snarling undertone that some of the (male) NPCs have. It doesn’t really sound like the voice of a colossal, militant, predatory alien creature capable of bellowing orders across the hellish noise of a battlefield, but of a rather average human.
I like the gruffness of her voice, personally. As a tall, husky-voiced lady, it’s sort of refreshing to have a character that’s actually vaguely like me instead of Generic Fantasy Woman #34826375636.
That said, she is a TERRIBLE actress and uh. That part kinda sucks. But most of the voice acting in this game is kinda butt-tastic, so I don’t hold it against her too much. :P
Bjalla Lofnsson/Orlando Fabuloso/Sjofn Lofnsdottr
Slap in the Face, Jade Quarry
The female norn voice just feels LIFELESS to me, yes the lower tone of the voice is just fine, but I feel like it lacks any emotion. Granted emotion is something this game’s voice acting tends to lack, but to me the female norn’s lack of emotion is almost painful. (This is of course referring to cutscene acting and not combat lines.)
The female norn voice just feels LIFELESS to me, yes the lower tone of the voice is just fine, but I feel like it lacks any emotion. Granted emotion is something this game’s voice acting tends to lack, but to me the female norn’s lack of emotion is almost painful. (This is of course referring to cutscene acting and not combat lines.)
Lol, completely agree I mute the cutscenes.
I really like the emotion and the combat conversation, but I think the voice sounds like something from the Simpsons. Would prefer a more strong, opera-singer kind of voice for them hehe
A female norn is 8-9 feet tall, and (estimated) 400-500 pounds of muscle. Nobody would expect someone built like that, with the lungs to power it, to have a diminutive “girly” voice.
I find the norn female voice quite appropriate, and don’t mind the sound. While deep, the voice is by no means a “flat” male voice.
Considering that they are hominids I doubt norn females are that big, I suggest they are more or less reaslitically around 300~340lbs. at 9ft 1in
And I absolutely agree, its not an ultra femmy girly voice, but cmon look at how big and massive and heavily built the norn females are. They are huge packs of muscle and power…with some boobage and pretty faces. I didn’t expect them to have womanly voices. I expected a more boomy strong voice in femine vocal tones. Which is exactly what it is.
Franbunny Alice Viera – 25/F/USA
|Aurin Esper|Castanic Archer|Sword Fiona|Norn Ranger|Blood Elf Fire Mage|Togruta Sith|
Size and shape of the body has nothing to do with the sound of a voice. It’s all in the shape of the vocal folds. There’s no reason a huge Norn couldn’t have a lighter, higher voice.
That said, I don’t think they should. But that’s just me. What I do think is that some of the phrases are awful, and I would pay someone 20 dollars to never have to hear “Defense before offense!” ever again.
Eilir Eirasdottir, Guardian, Tarnished Coast
Painbow.6059: Ignore what anyone else who doesn’t agree with me has said because its wrong.
The voice is alright with me, but the some Guardian shouts are really bad. She says them as if she doesn’t give a grub about the fact that there’s a battle going on and it’s the first hour of a long monday at work. “Save Yourselves” being the worst, it sounds so bored and uninterested and it doesn’t fit the shout at all.
The things that bug me about the female norn voice is that it sounds like a girl doing their best impression of a male voice, and they always sound bored saying any line.
Seriously go up to a girl and ask them to do a male voice, you’ll get something close to the female norn.
The things that bug me about the female norn voice is that it sounds like a girl doing their best impression of a male voice, and they always sound bored saying any line.
Seriously go up to a girl and ask them to do a male voice, you’ll get something close to the female norn.
This is exactly correct. Anybody ever watch Disney’s Mulan cartoon? The part where she’s pretending to be a man? Yeah, sounds exactly like this.
Still want to play a female norn someday. Won’t do it unless I get to pick a voice.
It’s that the delivery is super strident and overly jocular/swaggering.
Haha, but that’s what I love about the female Norn voice. It matches the animations perfectly, which is basicly being as buff as possible. Just look at that staff pose compared to humans.
The Norn female has full control of the staff and look like she could knock you down by just inhaling extra hard.
The Human female hugs the staff like she’s about to poledance around it.
The Mulan comparison is pretty much on the spot, because to me that’s exactly how the Norn community is. The females are truly trying to match the males in… err… buffness.
You can also compare with characters in certain Futurama episodes… Death by snu-snu!
It’s that the delivery is super strident and overly jocular/swaggering.
Haha, but that’s what I love about the female Norn voice. It matches the animations perfectly, which is basicly being as buff as possible. Just look at that staff pose compared to humans.
The Norn female has full control of the staff and look like she could knock you down by just inhaling extra hard.
The Human female hugs the staff like she’s about to poledance around it.
The Mulan comparison is pretty much on the spot, because to me that’s exactly how the Norn community is. The females are truly trying to match the males in… err… buffness.
You can also compare with characters in certain Futurama episodes… Death by snu-snu!
But that’s how we, as humans, view the society. We’ve had that history of men viewing women as inferior.
To the norn, none of the males view females as inferior in any way, they’re all equals. The females don’t have anything to prove to the males. All children are brought up the same way, male or female.
The Mulan comparison is pretty much on the spot, because to me that’s exactly how the Norn community is. The females are truly trying to match the males in… err… buffness.
But that’s how we, as humans, view the society. We’ve had that history of men viewing women as inferior.
To the norn, none of the males view females as inferior in any way, they’re all equals. The females don’t have anything to prove to the males. All children are brought up the same way, male or female.
Yeah, I don’t get why she has to try to ACT like a man to feel EQUAL to a man. That sounds like a serious lack of self-confidence/self-worth imo. Overcompensation what? Not to mention the suggestion that she’s trying, but not quite up to, equalling men in buffness.
Girls can act and talk like girls and still be kitten. Just sayin.
Does anyone know the early history of the Norn? You seem to assume that the Norn has been created out of thin air as they are now. Where men are equal to women just because of Norn and everything is just in a perfect happy balance, the ideal equal society and men and women do whatever they feel like.
It wouldnt be that far fetched to imagine them at an earlier stage, more tribal with more dominant males. Remember the Svanir? Maybe the earlier Norn where like them, completely supressing their women. Thus the women where forced to become “men”, which is later reflected in the current state of Norn society and the way women behave and act. Its not hard to think of a Norn mother telling her daughter to stand tall, speak in a deep respectful voice and never back down from a fight when challenged.
But hey there are lots of ways to look at it. Another idea is the animal forms and the way animals behave (since they play a major part of Norn society). Does a girl owl act girlish? Haha, no. As humans, we are saying that the “Norn women act like men!” when in fact, they act like animals. A Norn woman isnt acting manly, she’s just not acting girlish.
Or maybe its just a physiological reason for a deeper voice. They are quite a bit bigger than your average human.
Does a girl owl act girlish? Haha, no. As humans, we are saying that the “Norn women act like men!” when in fact, they act like animals. A Norn woman isnt acting manly, she’s just not acting girlish.
I just … have to seriously disagree with the bit I’ve bolded. You don’t have to act “girly” to NOT be acting “manly.” There’s a middle ground there that a lot of tomboys have lived in for generations, so I agree with that bit.
However, the female norn PC does NOT live in that middle ground. She lives in the try-hard alpha-male wannabe land. Then again, I consider MEN who carry themselves that way to be generally insecure as well, and using it as cover.
However, the female norn PC does NOT live in that middle ground. She lives in the try-hard alpha-male wannabe land.
Which is exactly what I’m saying. There are only Alpha-males in the Norn community, the rest are kittens. What do you raise your child to be? An Alpha-male or a kitten?
However, the female norn PC does NOT live in that middle ground. She lives in the try-hard alpha-male wannabe land.
Which is exactly what I’m saying. There are only Alpha-males in the Norn community, the rest are kittens. What do you raise your child to be? An Alpha-male or a kitten?
A society full of alphas wouldn’t function because nobody would cooperate. That said, if I thought she needed to be an alpha, I’d raise her as an alpha FEMALE. Not teach her that she had to mimic a dude to successfully take charge.
It’s not appropriate to have such a deep voice when the game allows me to make a really cute norn, seriously it just don’t fit. I could understand if I made one with the scarred face and made her ugly.
