Speculation Should future mainline games have voice acting?

[Queen Of Space]

But time? No

You do realize hiring the VA’s takes time too right? Auditions can take up to a month at the least, scheduling reads and getting Voice acting to get lines, all the takes take a while too. It takes time to code the lines in make sure they play properly and sync up as well as make sure all options have an option already covered and the sound actually plays (if we are going the fully voice acted route) voice acting is closely connected with the coding and you know Pokémon isn’t gonna ruin their release schedule just for some Voice acting leading to more rushed unpolished games! now with voice acting!

 

[ComicMimic]

I’m my opinion, I’m not a fan of voice acting, whenever a game has it (EX ; Project Sekai, Genshin Impact) I immediately turn it off, I really dislike voice acting for some reason and I like that there is none I’m Pokémon so far.

 

[Funnylion]

I mean, Pokemon is a game primarily focused on the Pokemon, not the human characters. It's not like Pokemon actually talk most of the time(with a few exceptions) so I don't think it's a necessity, though it would be welcome of course.

 

[noctiluca]

I think voice acting would be a great addition to Pokémon. Pokémon games have had increasingly long cutscenes and attempt to tell more complex dialogue. The lack of voice acting definitely limits my immersion. Emotion is heavily expressed through voice, and the animated facial expressions of 3D models is not enough for me to really know what the characters are like and what they are feeling. Generic NPCs and non-essential dialogue can have simple greetings like in FE: Three Houses. The amount of languages Pokémon games are available to be played in definitely makes it a costly undertaking, but I think it is worth the investment. It could always be toggled off.

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

I'm in the "It's complicated" boat here, all of 4.2% lol.

The reason I am is TPCi's vocal direction has not been the best over the years IMO, and I would fear some of the casting decisions they'd make-- but at the same time, it'd certainly be interesting to see how it would pan out (I liked Kathy Pilon as a script writer from 2002-2006 more than as a VO director in 2019's Masters, same goes for Crispin Freeman vs his Friede role in HZ: still happy to see them back in the franchise post-their 4Kids days, but it seems even some of my old favorites can falter at times).

It would be nice if it was an all new Generations of characters in Gen X, though.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

I said "it's complicated" because I really like doing the voices myself, but if they expanded what they started in PLA where they have actors for sounds and stuff, that would be cool.

 

[skynerel]

I’m not really interested in voice acting at all.

 

[Sheep]

Love how even this poll is!

I voted yes. I completely understand that people may have specific voices for characters in their heads already and adding voice acting onto this series so late may be weird/tough to get used to, but I think it adds personality, especially in certain scenes where they'd benefit a lot from voices - like Piers singing in SwSh. I'd prefer to have my own character be silent though, there's a certain voice I like to project on my player and I don't think any preset voices would ever be accurate enough lol. We already have voices in Masters for all the units so I think it's easier to adjust to that now than before. (And yes I'm aware the anime exists but the games and anime have always been separate enough to me that it just wasn't the same!)

 

[Dreary_Rowlet]

Yes to some extent. Honestly, it would really help the game feel more alive in a way. Especially in the important cutscenes in the game

 

[Princess Viola]

I'd prefer to have my own character be silent though, there's a certain voice I like to project on my player and I don't think any preset voices would ever be accurate enough lol.

Yeah I feel that if we ever do get voice acting in a mainline game, they should still keep the player character silent, like what they did with Link in TLOZ.

 

[Daenerys]

Absolutely not imo. I hate the voice acting in every single English Pokemon anime dub and I don't trust that an English Pokemon core game with voice acting would be any better.

Of course it'll probably still happen since Nintendo/Game Freak have loved implementing new fan-demanded gimmicks in recent generations.

 

[Emelie]

I think voice acting could improve the cutscenes greatly. Like having Kieran's voice sound different when his character changes or having Volo's voice echo across Mount Coronet when he summons Giratina. The cutscenes when the characters sing should definitely have voice acting. If we can have a song during the credits why not during these moments as well?

I wonder how voice acting would feel in a BW remake though. Would N get annoying to listen to if he keeps his motor mouth trait or would it change the character too much if it was changed?

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

Absolutely not imo. I hate the voice acting in every single English Pokemon anime dub and I don't trust that an English Pokemon core game with voice acting would be any better.

Of course it'll probably still happen since Nintendo/Game Freak have loved implementing new fan-demanded gimmicks in recent generations.

I liked the voice acting in the Series ironically when 4Kids had the reigns, but TPCi has always worried me in this department. The former, for all their flaws, was good at being careful about picking VAs for leads imo.

 

[R.O.B.]

If you asked me this when 4Kids was still doing the anime, I would have said absolutely! Afterwards, hell no! I haven't liked anything put out after Advanced Battle.

 

[Railgun]

I wouldn't mind. I think voice acting would greatly enhance the series, but I am okay with none either.

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

If you asked me this when 4Kids was still doing the anime, I would have said absolutely! Afterwards, hell no! I haven't liked anything put out after Advanced Battle.

Same boat, it’s ironic since the VO director from Masters under TPCi was 4Kids’ head script writer in the later Seasons from late Johto to late AG in Kathy Pilon but I thought the VO direction was still really hit or miss at best and underwhelming mostly. If TPCi had better vocal direction, I might have a different opinion, but I’ve always been worried by them in this department and it hasn’t really been ameliorated very much for close to two decades now imo despite them going though many directors over the years (I thought Buchholz from Origins was their best director way back in 2013, but even then, neither Brock nor Professor Oak was particularly outstanding though I prefer those takes to the main Anime ones post company switch we got stuck with for 17 years overall).

 

[Dr. Gro 3001]

The most that I would want from voice acting in future games is cutscenes where clearly someone is talking and perhaps certain battles that are meant to have some significance like rival or champion battles.

 

[Jaspergold]

Honestly, I think that voice acting would be amazing! It could work in future mainline Pokemon games and it would certainly be refreshing to see something new once again, after Legends: Arceus, though it should be reserved only for moments like cutscenes and other special events, as i don't imagine, that every dialogue in the game spoken out works for Pokemon. It would be too much for now, is how i see it. After all, the prior games didn't use it as much, so it's not a very known thing in the series, and maybe first we should reserve it just for some parts of the game to see how voice acting would work and feel, and then consider whether or not to take it further. But I don't think full-on voice acting is a good idea anyway. For me, it all comes down to the types of games, which use voice acting, like maybe the Final Fantasy series and Yakuza (or Like a Dragon, because they changed the name recently, i think ). I would consider these games to have a rather more epic, more elaborate storytelling, and i'd simply say, that they have a more serious atmosphere. And somehow, it just works there. It's kind of a standard for games like theese, actually. I mean, they don't really do voiced dialogues in Mario, or Animal Crossing or Kirby games that much, right? It reminds me of Super Mario Sunshine, where voice acting is thoroughly used, and it's definitely not bad, it's just... strange to hear characters speaking sentences, when they usually go "Let's a go!!" and "BWAAAAH!!". I, for one would NEVER imagine an English speaking Kirby, if it had its own version of Super Mario Sunshine, (unless like Mario, Kirby would be the one that didn't talk... but that's just a game speculation!).

So i would say, that it would be great to have voice acting in future games, but just a little bit. I like how they did it in New Pokemon Snap, and i think it would be the best option for the main titles!