Glynnis Talken and Robert Clotworthy Will Not Be Returning

Do we have the names of the new voice actors or...?

 

No, they are incognito atm so that the original voice actors can't get to them.

 

Ahhhh.

Wanted to know their names so I could browse around and hear them talking at least.

 

It does not change anything for me.

I am playing the French version of SC and BW and the voices changed in those games.

Ubisoft made the SC voices. Blizzard France made the BW voices

 

I already knew about Raynor and Zeratul. Honestly I don't believe one way or the other about Kerrigan yet. What sense would it make to bring in a voice actor to do bits and pieces already, one that they were set on, just to say haha just kidding you don't have a job. I'm not saying it would be hard to redo the voice over of the parts that we've heard just saying it's coming way out of left field.

@ Itza
Of course there is going to be a strong loyalty to the voice acting bud. Same thing happened in star wars and batman. James Earl Jones IS Vader, Mark Hamel IS the Joker any other voice and it simply isn't as good taking away from the experience.

 

But what have they actually done to gain people's loyalties? I mean, I'm positive that not all of the game designers or writers would have returned from StarCraft1, so why are we not chucking a massive hissy fit over the loss of them? If it's to do with what we identify with during the game, how come no-one's *****ing over the fact that Raynor doesn't look the same as he did in StarCraft1? Especially when it's been over ten years since their original screening, you simply can't expect them to return.

As for the James Earl Jones example, Revenge of the Sith is a clear example of this. Twenty years had passed since he last did the voice of Vader, in the movies at least, and he wasn't accredited for the voice in Revenge of the Sith. A new actor wasn't accredited either, but the fact remains that, as far as I'm aware, it isn't certain whether he played the voice. If we didn't know about Kerrigan's voice, I'd be willing to bet a fair sum that no-one would have ever noticed. As I said before, her voice was so artificial in StarCraft1 it might as well have been done by a well trained parrot.

To give another example, it's like if there were to be yet another Star Wars film in ten years time featuring General Grievous. Who would care if the original voice actor didn't return? As I said before, and this applies to both StarCraft and the Grievous hypothetical, it's not as though they'd get Zoidberg or Alice Tinker to voice the parts, so it's not as though replacing the actor will detract from the experience. We've seen with Raynor already that it won't. In fact, he seems to be semi-competent now.

 

As a mod you must know that people are indeed *****ing about Raynor lol some disagree, some don't, that's the way things will always be. Of course no one would care about Grievous, because there a LOT of people who wouldn't know who you were talking about. You say Darth Vader on the other hand and everyone says "oh yeah star wars of course". Same with Kerrigan, at least for starcraft fans, I wouldn't care if they changed the voice for Mengsk or Artanis (who did not die contrary to some statements) Kerrigan however is the persona of Starcraft, she is the character the entire story revolves around, from episode 5 of Chapter 1 on in the first SC, she is the main character. People always have and always will be against changing the main character's voice, character or style.

 

Oh yeah, you should see the number of 'OMG' threads on the Battle.Net forums as well, haha. It's crazy.

And are you suggesting that no-one knows that Grievous is from Star Wars? You serious?

And regardless of whether Kerrigan's voice actor returned or not, it wouldn't be the voice of Kerrigan in StarCraft1. As I've said numerous times, Kerrigan's original voice is more artificial than Microsoft Sam's. If people are complaining that a new actress would sound different, then they should also be complaining that the original actress would sound different, just as it did in the trailer we've seen.

 

You can still hear the person behind the voice editing though. The chick from the Zerg Reveal Trailer? She put waaay too much emphasis on her R's. It sounded like she was trying to imitate a growl and failing.

 

I gotta STRONGLY disagree with you there ....

But, I agree with you here.

While I'm on the subject of agreeing or disagreeing, I'll just say that I agree with ItzaHexGor in that some people are making too big of deal about this but I strongly disagree with you that the original voice actors weren't deserving of a certain degree of loyalty. I feel they each did a wonderful job on their parts in the original and they should reprise their role unless a much, much better voice actor is found. That's not to say we should be resistant to change. If the new voice actors are better for the part then let it be. We shouldn't be shackled by old standards set ten years ago. I hope this works out all right. I can't imagine a voice actor better for Kerrigan than Glynnis Talken but, apparently, Blizzard feels they have found one so that's enough for me until the game releases. They did, after all, choose the original game's voice actors and there's no reason for us to believe they've lost their voice picking talent in such a short time. I have faith in Blizzard and I think others should as well.

And, as an aside, I'd be willing to bet you think Jim Raynor's voice is unnatural because of cultural differences. It seems perfectly natural to me. In fact, that's one of the things I loved about the character and the voice actor. It was so natural and pure to what the character was to be portrayed as; "country" Texas-type Ranger on the "range" with a good heart, who sticks to his morals even in the face of improbable adversity, and is a selfless defender that will go to any lengths to help someone regardless of the amount of danger to himself. Since I've seen dozens of movies where such a character was portrayed in the "Wild West" movies, I must say, Robert Clotworthy and writers for StarCraft were dead on.

 

Not at all I'm simply stating that in a poll of say 100 people I'd say maybe 60 people know Grievous is from Star Wars and I'd be willing to bet the number for Vader would be in the mid to high 90's. He's just a more iconic figure and thus his voice is far easier to remember.

lol yeah I do not envy those mods, far too much spam to filter through.

I love how each time it's a different analogy lol cracks me up.

Personally for me, when I heard the original voice in the new SC2 cinematic I was cheering in my chair and almost jumped out of my seat. It meant a lot to me personally, I'm not saying that's normal by any means lol. But I was excited and I could definitely tell it was her. Her voice did sound much better in that vid though didn't it? haha

 

I fail to see how that is related to this situation. The voice actors have expressed interest in coming back, and Blizz rejected them for no reason that we know.

That's ridiculous. All Kerrigan's voice really is is some echo, reverb & chorus effects - no way does that drown out the voice actor behind it. You'll be able to clearly tell discrepancies in the voice no matter what. You could tell a clear difference between Kerrigan and the person from the Zerg Reveal Trailer - the filters were pretty similar.

 

Yeah, watching Red Dwarf's taken its toll on me.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against her coming back, but I just don't see the big deal about it actually being that specific actress or not. Her voice does sound different to what it was in StarCraft1, and it was always going to sound different, so as long as it's done well I don't see any problem. To be honest, I didn't pay much attention to the voice when I first watched it, but it was definitely Kerriganesque, but who's to say another actress couldn't be just as Kerriganesque? There is a possibility that once we've heard the new actress I'll be howling for the original one back, but I don't see any reason to be howling for her back now. We need something to compare it to.

And better than what, though? Better than in StarCraft1, yes, but we haven't got the other actress to compare it to yet.

That was in relation to the massive uproar of the fans, not in relation to Blizzard's decision.

And Blizzard has given reasons. It's the same reason that they replaced Raynor's actor. It's because they've taken a turn with the characters, and are wanting to express new sides to them and deeper personalities, so they need an actor who can express that. Like, seriously, can you imagine Raynor's old voice actor doing the lines of the new one? It'd simply sound so mismatched it's not even worth mentioning.

Careful what you say, here. Kerrigan's original voice actress has already done some work for StarCraft2. There's a good chance she's done the exact same voice your talking about here. And again, if the characters are being taken in a different direction, then Blizzard may not want those same discrepancies or features of the original actors.

 

Raynor I can understand, though I still have problems with his over-accentuated southern accent. But why Kerrigan? But I guess that's my problem with this whole thing: Blizzard should expand the StarCraft universe, not re-imagine it. Why take the characters in a different direction? Isn't that discourteous to StarCraft's biggest fans and the voice actors? They're basically saying, "we're glad you enjoyed starcraft's campaign and we know you've been waiting 10 years for the sequel, but never mind that, we're going to start pumping our creative juices and take this thing in a whole nother direction". Why not continue where the story left off? If they want to make a completely different game why don't they start work on another franchise?

Anyway, they never really told us why they dropped Glynnis, we had to find out by Glynnis telling us directly. They even mentioned that she sounded good in the studio and they used her in that trailer, which is why this is all so surprising.

 

Why is Raynor so understandable when Kerrigan is not? We've seen next to nothing about Kerrigan so far, so who's to say she hasn't changed?

And I think you're missing the point with the whole different direction thing. Taking a different direction is far from replacing the characters. It's done, as I'd said, to express new sides to them and deepen their personalities. It's not creating a new character, it's just expanding on the old. Hell, if they didn't do that then they'd just end up being static and repetitive. Seriously, imagine a franchise where the characters never developed and just stayed where they were. Imagine what Harry Potter would have been like if each book was just like the first. The sequels would just end up being 'other magic stories' and wouldn't have as three dimensional characters as they ended up having it's the same with StarCraft2.

And of course they're not just going to stick to absolutely everything they did in StarCraft1. Again, if they did, it would just be static and repetitive. This isn't just StarCraft1 in three dimensions, it's a whole new game.

In fact, think about the WarCraft franchise. Remember Grom from WarCraft2? Remember how distinctive and memorable his voice was? Now remember Grom from WarCraft3? How come no-one kicked up a stink about that, when the new voice was simply so different? And why would they replace such a memorable voice like that? It was because it allowed the character to be taken in a different direction, to be developed and to gain perspective, become three dimensional. Imagine the WarCraft3 campaigns with the original voice actor... "AM SRRRY GRMMM! AHV FAALED YOO!!!"

Now, such a drastic voice change is obviously not likely to be the case for Kerrigan, but you can get the picture. Was WarCraft discourteous to the fans and actors? Should they have just have kept WarCraft the same as it was? Should they have created WarCraft3 under the name of a new franchise? Of course not.

As for Kerrigan's actress, I doubt they'd've said anything like they'd like her for the voice of Kerrigan in StarCraft2. She would have been asked to do the cinematics specifically, and as I said before, just because she's the original actor, she shouldn't simply assume that she has the part.

 

Perhaps because there are still a lot of people who disliked Jim Raynor's voice and even his character because of his voice. I didn't have a problem with him, I thought he felt pretty real but that's only one voice of many. I haven't heard too many people (if any actually) complain about Kerrigan's voice. Other then a few statements like yours saying it was so false, but it seems to me that you still liked her voice, just not the effect. On paper I can see how it makes no sense though as to why we complain about this one character when really I don't think they have any voice actors returning (correct me if I'm wrong). I guess a lot of people just connected with her character, cheers to Blizz for making her that good and having fans that loyal.

I agree completely, I just don't understand why the sudden change. It's very unfortunate to see her leave, but as Itza said lets wait to hear the new voice before we burn her at the stake.

 

I agree with Itza, surprisingly, 100% on this. Beside that another though I have is, if Blizzard feels they have found a better person to further one of their characters personalities, then Blizzard feels they have found a better person. Who are we to question a company that knows what it is doing? Let's give them a chance before roasting them.

 

My lurk senses were tingling.

Im sure blizzard is aware of the complaints, as well as the complexities and importances of choosing a voice actor for such characters that works fluently to create immersion with the role. However, the Zerg release trailer was indeed the main cause for concern here, the voice used was... well.. the accent was horrible, and it sounded too heavily altered to even suggest being realistic..

Im not saying the original Kerrrigans voice wasnt heavily altered.. but it wasnt to the extent shown in this trailer!

And as for Jim Raynor and the rest of the campaign voice acting and dialog, i have faith in blizzard pulling it off appropriatly, but... if the last campaign videos are anything to go by, in terms of dialog, then expect cheese and quite dull acting, aswell as dialog...

So in essence, yes i do agree that people are taking this TOO far, but on the other hand i can understand that alpha footage with the added bonus of the loss of loved voice actors can... well, scare people.

So lets hope they were place holder eh? ;D

 

I don't like the new Raynor either. He sounds like an emo cowboy. I thought he sounded fine when I first heard him, but now, eh...But I'll be fine if they stick to how he talked in the original SP reveal demo.

True, but we had better hope to god that they're not using the voice from the Zerg Reveal Trailer.

That's not the way I feel, because we have nothing to use to relate them to their old characters other than vague physical similarities and just being told that this is the old character. Their voice would have been the perfect thing to use to help us connect.

Have you seen Artanis's new facial structure in SC: Frontline? It looks NOTHING like the old character.

Glynnis can do other things with her voice than just the Kerrigan thing - she's a voice actress, you can listen to her other samples. I see no reason why she couldn't have taken Kerrigan in a different direction - because even if she did it would be the same underlying voice as from the original. I'm not going to pretend to know what the reasoning behind Blizzard's decision is, but it doesn't seem to make any sense from where I'm standing. At least a clarification from Blizz would be nice.

Now let's take a look at a more recent game. World of Warcraft.

Illidan - had a fantastic voice actor in war3! Now listen to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIv8uSyzmOA

Arthas - no reason why original VA was replaced. at least the new actor hides behind dozens of voice filters though.

Kel'thuzad - Amazing in War3. They had him in WoW as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3VEalDEF-c&feature=related

Now in WoTLK they ditched him, and listen to the results: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_aIxJ48u9w

Also, take a look at Archimonde: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkpNgb9zbF8
terrible

It's clear that Blizzard has gotten this sudden habit of just releasing old VAs in favor of worse ones. From what I've seen so far in StarCraft II this also seems to be the case. I don't think this is being taken too far, we have valid concerns and Blizzard should hear them before it's too late. Blizzard is not perfect, and they aren't always right.

 

hmm.. indeed those trends you present are filling me with more worry about the state of the voice acting.

Although, it could be argued that the transition from RTS to MMO is partly responsible here, a MMO is less story based, infact, lore, voice acting etc are pushed behind the curtain of what is seen as dominantly important here. They are two different teams however, and two different games. It would surprise me if Blizzard really dont understand and thus take action on such important parts of the single player experience, especially with everyone complaining...

Immersion should be held under their gaze just as much as the E-Sport balance is on the multiplayer side.

I frankly do not mind if the original voice actor is not used again, as long as a new one with talent and understanding of their role is used, who can really put across Kerrigan or raynor as a character appropriatly. In this sense, we can only hope for Blizzards understanding and experience in such a matter.