Voice Acting

[Let's Get Sweaty]

game which takes itself as seriously as Shenmue

[Pogogacy]

game which takes itself as seriously as Shenmue

Yes you're right, the existence of one duck racing easter egg in Shenmue II (which 99%+ of players will never even see) completely detracts from the grandeur, scope and ambition of the entire saga.

How silly of me.

[Let's Get Sweaty]

Lighten up, Francis.

[koalazeus]

I will go English. It will be strange going from English, to Japanese, back to English again, but that is how the cards have fallen. Perhaps if we get HD rereleases I will play everything through both ways.

[Mr357]

English mainly because I hate reading subs. Having Corey Marshall back is the next biggest reason. To me, Ryo just isn't himself without that voice.

[squall]

Lump me in with those who really would prefer to have both.

While I accept that the English voice acting wasn't that great, it was also how I played Shenmue I, and fell in love with the game. So to some extent in my brain Corey Marshall's voice is Ryo. I am hoping for better direction/localization/etc. I also appreciate that Corey has stuck with the series through thick & thin, along with the fans.

I also played Shenmue II in Japanese since I imported the PAL version, rather than waiting for the Xbox version. So Masaya Matsukaze is also Ryo in my brain. Usually when I watch anime, I prefer Japanese with subtitles. A lot of the reason I like anime/Japanese games is for exposure to the Japanese culture, which just seems better reflected hearing the original dialogue, even if it's not how they talk in "real life".

So if I had to choose (I didn't vote) I would say Japanese, but I greatly prefer to have both options.

[mjq jazz bar]

I liked the English voice acting. It was part of the charm. Who had played many fully-voiced games in 1999 aside from hardcore PC gamers?

They definitely need better voice acting in 2017, though. Bad, cheesy, robotic voice acting isn't going to fly.

[Centrale]

It's a bit worrisome to me that, according to at least one original voice actor, they were being asked to provide unnatural delivery of many of the lines... they told their director (possibly Yu Suzuki himself?) that English-speakers wouldn't speak in that way, but they were required to do so. Possibly as a way to give the impression of a non-native speaker (e.g., in the game world, Tom was supposedly speaking Japanese, but not fluently). I hope the task of directing the voice acting is delegated to someone who is experienced in specifically that discipline. Everyone's voices should sound natural, since we're already suspending disbelief by having Japanese and Chinese characters speaking in English.

[Yokosuka]

The Japanese dub was better by far but the more time passes, the more I want to discover Shenmue 3 with Marshall's Ryo. You cannot find a more familiar voice than his own.

Needless to say, it will be kind of a joy to hear a likely proper English dub for the first time in Shenmue history.

[Ceej]

Corey Marshall ftw.

[FlagshipFighter]

English first, Japanese second.

I just kinda accept the VO's/game going for a strange, Twin Peaks vibe, the FREE music certainly adds to that as well. I like it an even S2 I've just gotten used to. But please oh please Japanese VO w/ English subs for a HD release!

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[Coromasta]

I would go with english with subs for the first playtrough. Mainly because it adds nostalgia value for me. Second playtrough in japanese, I'm curious how it sounds compared to 1&2.

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[punkmanced]

Let’s be honest: the original English dub was a (muffled) piece of shit that cheapened the entire Shenmue experience…but at the time, we were so wowed by the most advanced graphics engine on the planet that we settled for said shit dub, and, ironically, even grew fond of it over the years.

Well, f*ck that. Time to play without feeling embarrassed: Japanese all the way.

[GYO6161]

Let’s be honest: the original English dub was a (muffled) piece of shit that cheapened the entire Shenmue experience…but at the time, we were so wowed by the most advanced graphics engine on the planet that we settled for said shit dub, and, ironically, even grew fond of it over the years.

Well, f*ck that. Time to play without feeling embarrassed: Japanese all the way.

But not all of us (including me) feel embarrassed playing shenmue in English, even today. I can understand the dub's shortcomings in places but still i would rather play it in English over a language i don't understand and having to read it all.

I'm all for dual audio so everyone is happy, for both a S3 and a re release but, i choose English.