Do Europeans Get Immersed in Fantasy Games

Why not go full on ?
Russian accents - The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Metro series ?
Asian accents and JRPGs ? And the Chinese are really on the rise in that field .
Those fit RPGs .
I do not limit myself to one or two demographics..

a reply to: JinMI

I think it VERY much depends on the game, and indeed, on the quality of the voice acting concerned.

As a person familiar with the history of the lands which comprise the modern UK, for example, I always find it amusing when Scots dialects and accents, are used to portray a particular sort of character, despite that character having nearly no resemblance to a historical Scots, or Pictish person, or no familiar origin to such a person.

That being said, its always a difficult thing to voice a character in a pure fantasy, without indulging in a bit of stereotyping, with regard to casting. You do not expect, for example, a powerful clan chief in a fantasy game, to have an Essex accent, nor do you expect the hearty townsfolk in a city, to speak the Queens English. Voicing, therefore, is a tricky task, from the casting all the way to the writing, the script.

One of the Elder Scrolls games makes this clear, with one of the characters speeches being interrupted by a request from the voice actor, suddenly breaking character to say "Let me do that one again", a phrase which surely was not meant to be in the game, and avoided being edited out by sheer chance!

Let me approach this, however, from a different position, by telling you what attracts me and aids immersion in a game of this nature.

Lets start with the most important things:

Setting

Worlds created for the purpose of fantasy gaming, are arguably more important than the characters themselves. Richness of detail and granularity, a world populated not just by the player and by plot specific enemies, but by creatures in droves, whose actions are as apparently wild and untamed as any real world equivalent, areas of "natural" beauty included not as theatres for specific plot points to act themselves out, but just because they "ought to be there", the feeling of a living environment which operates whether the player is aware of it or not, are, in my opinion, crucial to immersion. Nothing snaps a person out of the world in which the game places them, like being made aware by bad design in the setting, that without them, none of the bears, wolves, trolls or what have you, have any animus of their own.

Many times have I come across a bear or troll, battling wolves or other creatures, as a totally random encounter, giving the impression to the player that they are but one thing living in the artificial world, a part of something greater than themselves. Nothing breaks immersion like walking into a city, to find every NPC starting in the exact same place they did, when you first walked in the gate, for example.

Plot

The plot, or the story if you like, of a game is also very important when it comes to engaging and immersing the player. A layered plot, with many potential strands, such as Skyrim has, for example, is infinitely more appealing than a linear, one thing after another, the same every time plot, has a greater capacity for engaging and immersing the player in both the world itself, and the lore surrounding its facets. Games with expansive, epic writing in their missions and their overarching architecture, always win out over a more shallow experience. This applies however, to virtually all games, of any genre.

Combat and Character Building

A solid, visceral combat system, absent wherever possible, the dreaded quick time event, is always more immersive than a sluggish, unresponsive, unrealistically pedestrian one. Having many options as to what weapons one can wield, how one can wield them, what skills a character might possess or acquire in a game, adds layers of personalisation as well as satisfaction to the experience of combat. For example, in Skyrim I have played as many different types of character, and because of the utility provided by the leveling system, even a basically human character has many different potential paths to advance along. I favour the two handed weapons only, no shields ever, berserker type of character myself, but have played with sword and board, made a battle mage (equally as deadly with steel as with magicks), and so on.

NPC Depth and Believability

This links with the idea of a fully fleshed out world from the Setting segment, but is a thing unto itself. I must believe a king is a king, not a serf. I must believe that the thief is a thief, rather than a merchant or more believable as a town guard. Characters must FEEL like the thing they are supposed to be, if immersion is to be as deep as it needs to be to satisfy my particular preferences. But at the same time, if I am to be betrayed by a character, I like to know of it only when it occurs, not suspect it from the start. There is an art to ensuring this, and many games fail at it from the get go, by being almost pantomime like in their shallowness. This is always a mistake, and usually issues from someone cheaping out when hiring talent, either in the writing department, the voice acting department, or both. Having NPCs be about business unrelated to your quest until you speak to them, is another important way of making sure that the first impression one has of them, the one that sticks, is one which matches their intended identity, not one which breaks the feeling of being embedded in an unfamiliar universe. Devoting time to making the flow of a city, town or village in a game, any game, feel realistic is fundamental to its success when it comes to immersion.

Skyrim delivered on all of these points for me. I played it through a number of times, used many different character builds, followed different paths along the way, and found new and interesting things about each path I took, each character I built. It had MASSIVE replay value for that reason. Now, there is more to it, but those points cover the most important aspects for me, personally speaking. No doubt there will be people who have different angles on it, but thats how I see the thing, at any rate.

Hey, since we're on the topic of accents in video games, are there any fantasy games that have southern accents in them?? I'd really like to know so I can avoid them. lol

LOVE an Rpg.

I wouldn't say accents matter too much, but they sure can add some atmosphere when they do it right.

I was disappointed that Sean Bean didn't voice King Regis in FF15, he was great in the film.

And, although not an rpg, The Getaway deserves mentioning for having some of the best English voice acting I've ever heard on a game.

hmmm...Europeans are as many as they are different and so is the culture of each part of Europe. So I guess it would vary from person to person.
I traveled to Skyrim last year and as an Icelander I was caught by surprise because the majority of the characters in that game were given Icelandic names so I felt kinda at home in there...plus with the dragons flying around (there are a decent amount of dragons in Iceland btw)
My ideal video game immersion is Fifa 18 though.

a reply to: fenian8

That made me belt out in laughter!

Especially if you partake in some of that Fools Parsley before you play

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: JinMI

Yes I get immersed in RPG's never more so than with The Witcher 3 which is the best RPG ever created , it has a truer more believable world than any I have visited before.
Accents don't sway me but European accents fit better within a fantasy RPG than American due to age of existence IMO.

It is odd that the Witcher have a few 'Americanized' voices thrown in there doesn't seem to break it, but it is noticeable.

a reply to: skalla

Good cliched european accents help immersion in Skyrim imo though ..eta- and Witcher 3 too, great call

That's basically the point I was getting at. All in all, could is there a noticeable discernment from European ears to the accents used and does it help or hinder their experience.

Kind of an ignorant question but, regardless of my post history, I am here to deny it!

a reply to: Gothmog

Didn't mean to leave any out, just going with what I'm experienced with. That being medieval/renaissance fantasy games. I've played, but not a big fan of sci-fi/space etc. Very few JRPG's and the ones that I do, they're not voiced. Heard great things of both Stalker and Metro as they are post apoc, I may check them out!!

a reply to: TrueBrit

Good gawd Brit. I swear I could ask you to describe a brick and you would give me a 5 page essay! You sir are in the wrong line of work!

I couldn't pinpoint every dialect or inflection to a particular place in Europe. At best, I could get a atta'boy from placing them to the right country! So for me, being American, it's 'good enough' for immersion.

However someone like you, who can, would be the direct target of the question in the OP and that answer, in your case anyway, is no...more or less.

I must say, given your critical criteria for video games, you may very well like the witcher 3. Voicing preference aside, this is the most glorious video game environment I've ever been able to take part in. Truly a masterpiece of our time.

a reply to: Necrobile

I was curious to that as well. Fallout 4 captures the cliche eastern, or Boston accent fairly well. I've heard Red Dead Redemption captures the old west well.

a reply to: SlowNail

Having never played, does that Kind die perchance? Seems to be Beans M.O.

a reply to: JinMI

I have heard very good things about the Witcher series in general, but most particularly the third game. Unfortunately, I have had a rather serious wake up call about the state of the games industry over the last few years, and coupled with the cost of getting a current gen machine, I cannot justify the expenditure. Games as service models mean that what I would refer to as real gamers, may as well throw in the towel and stop spending their money on either the hardware, or the software, until the companies currently ruining the gaming market place become so starved and terrified of collapse, that they will stop the ludicrous expectation of making money from a game, other than its listed, box price.

I currently have a PS3, and unless the lootbox, season pass, buy the DLC or you only get a quarter of a game mentality, straight up ends, I may never upgrade again, which would be a shame, but is something I am preparing myself for as a result of the frankly mercenary behaviour of the companies which are producing the big titles at the moment.

This does mean I will miss out on allegedly great experiences like the Witcher 3, but it also means that I will not be exposed to the relentless destruction of gaming as an industry, by people who have no respect for the art of creating games what so ever. As long as the Wilson Lootbox and the other facets of corporate needs bleeding into the product itself, rather than being correctly kept completely at bay, as they used to be, I will, unfortunately, remain in retro mode at best.

a reply to: TrueBrit

As the saying goes, the show must go on. While there are still 'gamers' to pay for the hardware and software at a profit, it will keep on. As this thread shows, I've never been a latest and greatest type. I see the obvious money pits that currently choke the industry.

a reply to: Gothmog

I tend to agree and like both the STALKER and Metro series - as well as a lot of others like the Witcher, Elder Scrolls, Ultima, Mass Effect, NeverWinter Nights and others re: RPG's.
I like other genre's too.
In response to the OP - as long as the voice acting doesn't strike me as "odd" or sound stupid in relation to what I'm playing then I'm happy. I like a variety of voices and I'm quite happy to play games with foreign accents - as it makes a nice change from the stereotypical american or european voice acting in a lot of games.
I'm a big fan of the STALKER series of games and played several with full russian dialogue, as it added to the atmosphere and immersion.
The only game that jumps into my brain as being a little off putting for me personally, was Far Cry 3, as the indigenous characters were based on New Zealand's Maori - which jumped out at me purely because I'm from NZ. I imagine people over seas probably liked the change - and I got used to it, but the first couple of times I played, I found it weird. That's probably just due to the NZ being small and it was one of the only times I've heard a Maori accent in a game.

a reply to: muzj03
Your lineup sounds a lot like mine
My off put was Call of Duty 2 way back in the day in the Russian part..."man the machine gun Vasili"