Final Fantasy vs. Resident Evil

[Biohazard EX]

That's another thing. Final Fantasy was always better WITHOUT voice acting. RPGs in general, I prefer without voice overs. That way, they could have any voice you could possibly imagine. Frankly, I thought Tidus sounded very annoying. So there you go. There's a hero who I don't want to play as, because not only is his underwear showing from the bottom of his shorts, but he sounds annoying and is your typical angsty kid with daddy issues.
Heck, I've got issues with my dad, but I don't sulk about it when I'm working.

[Rock it.]

Indeed Biohazard EX, voice acting in RPGs were always make-or-break resources. The Elder Scrolls series comes to mind: Morrowind (the third game in the series) was a pretty involving experience, and each NPC felt relatively unique due to the lack of voice acting and greater focus on individual dialog. Oblivion, the 4th entry, on the other hand, felt constantly bland due to it's extremely bleak voice work, repetitive lines, and only 6 people to voice act 1,000 or so npcs. It redefined repetition.

In Final Fantasy, the weak voices are supported by an equally weak script. Back in the NES/SNES days, that was acceptable, but after games like Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, the likes of FFX have no excuse to sound like they do. I refuse to finish that game to this day.

[Biohazard EX]

I just never bothered finishing it. It's not that I refuse to, it's that I didn't find it that interesting. And yes, I've seen the horribly sappy ending.

[P Anderson DIE]

I hate Final Fantasy, so Resi hands down.

[Becky's Butt]

I mostly second that, but I must say that I like when a game story somewhat parallels a real life controversy or such. Final Fantasy, sadly, never had a good story, and the characters (wich Square is so proud of), were always paper thin and ridiculous looking. Don't even get me started on the dialog and voice acting.

Well, for starters, hardly any FF character is paper thin. Every main protagonist has a filled out backstory, character motivation and personality. Cloud was a boy who only ever wanted friends and atttention. He tried to enter SOLDIER for that reason but failed. He was eventually used in an experiment where his mind was horribly damaged constructing a false past based on Zack. Through the game he pursues Sephiroth, he thinks, out of some sort of revenge but eventually learns he is being compelled to follow him thanks to the experiment. He also discovers his true memories thanks to his childhood friend.

Then there's Zidane. He had no memory of his birthplace except that there was a blue light. So he chased after this place he thought he belonged but never could find it until something totally unrelated it seems leads him to another planet. There he finds his birthplace and his destiny. He rejects his mission as Angel of Death to everyone he knew and loved but depressed and traumatized by teh fact his point of existence was to kill everyone he loved, he has to have their encouragement and support to realie he's not really alone. That he can still depend and be with them.
God I love that scene.

Tidus was raised by an abusive, alcoholic father and a rather useless mother. Though he sort of follows in his father's footsteps he resents the man greatly. Eventually he's brought to a new world where he discovers more about his father, about how his father changed from the bastard he was and became quite the hero... only to find out that his father was also the monster destroying the planet. He continues on knowing this while also questing with the woman who grew to be his love...and then discovers that this love will die. So the guy has to deal wit the end of the journey seemingly going to end with his father and his love dying. Bummer.

And that's only a brief summary of their characters. There are many other characters I could elaborate on if you want.

In Final Fantasy, the weak voices are supported by an equally weak script. Back in the NES/SNES days, that was acceptable, but after games like Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, the likes of FFX have no excuse to sound like they do. I refuse to finish that game to this day.

Totally ridiculous comparison. LoK has pretty much the best voice-acting in video game history period. Just because FFX can't compare with the godliness of Tony Jay and Simon Templeman doesn't mean it was weak voice-acting. Especially compared to RE, which is the subject of this topic.

[Biohazard EX]

Comparisons aside. I just don't think Final Fantasy should have voice acting in it. It was better when it was just text. Gamers should stop being such lazy asses and read something OTHER than forum posts every once in a while.

[aris13]

For me Star Wars Kotor is the only RPG with good voice acting. Trust me.

[Biohazard EX]

Depending on the context of the game. Like, I think Anime has its own style of voice acting, which has to be different from non-anime voice acting. In that context, Jeanne D'Arc had great voice acting for an anime.

[riderkid]

Disturbing. Characters like that should not exist.

hey i think hakus hot! girl or not!...

and yes i do have a pink DS and am proud of it.

women dig a guy whos secure with his masculinity

[Biohazard EX]

hey i think hakus hot! girl or not!...

and yes i do have a pink DS and am proud of it.

women dig a guy whos secure with his masculinity

There's a difference between being secure with one's masculinity, and going out of you way to look girly, JUST so that you can prove that you're secure with your masculinity.
I'm totally secure, that doesn't mean I'm gonna wear pink, or god forbid makeup. I don't care what anyone says, guys should not wear mascara.

[Gradon]

Haku...Naruto perhaps?
He looked like a girl, sounded like a girl, and dressed like one.
Whats up with that?

This is completely off topic and against the point though; the topic wanders off to a completely new topic, again.
I agree that FF has some really weird hairstyles, have you seen those cosplay contests, the Japanese girls who have like 8373727288 sploches of gell on their hair, must be very sticky and very dry afterwards....

ROFL Biohazard, I've worn makeup, its fun.

[Biohazard EX]

And still, none of them can stack up to Marge Simpson's hairstyle.

Point is, there's a level of girlyness I can tolerate in a male character. Somehow, Squall hadn't crossed that line. Kuja, however....
The line is here-->| And he's way the hell over there ---------------->

[Rock it.]

@ Nikkolas:

When characters are filled with backstory doesn't mean they are filled with personality. Just take the Prince from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time: He had zero backstory, but was a good character. Not always likeable, but always enjoyable. How's that they say? Good voice acting and a strong script I say. You can't define him as "cheerful", "badass" or so, because like a true human being, things like his mood changes. Sadly, in every FF, you can just pass a character as "the cheerful one", the "badass one", "the caring/loving one" and so on. The stereotypes never change, no matter how much background they have.

As for LoK's gang, they are the most fleshed out characters to ever ***** a video game. Raziel also had a really bland background as of Soul Reaver 1, but he was still a great character, because he'd act in believable ways, and had believable reasons (not to mention Michael Bell's amazing voice over). Everything he did was plausible, I don't recall a single "WTF WHY HE DIDN'T DO THAT!" moment. Same can't be said about FF.

And yes, Final Fantasy HAS weak voice acting, fact, even when compared to RE. I might be wrong, but I recall an interview with Mikami that said that the B movie VA on the first 3 games were intentional (or was it the first game only? Can't say), and even if they weren't, they were on the "so bad it's funny" side of things, not the "so bad I can't stand it" that games like FFX did.

[Becky's Butt]

I like characters who drip testosterone and others who wear makeup. As long as they're appealing, they're cool with me.

Besides, you have to admit there's something funny about girly men. You get your ass beat by some guy the size of Arnold with an eye patch and you can feel no shame. You get beat by a dude with pink hair and lipstick and you have to cry yourself to sleep every night.

As for LoK's gang, they are the most fleshed out characters to ever ***** a video game. Raziel also had a really bland background as of Soul Reaver 1, but he was still a great character, because he'd act in believable ways, and had believable reasons (not to mention Michael Bell's amazing voice over). Everything he did was plausible, I don't recall a single "WTF WHY HE DIDN'T DO THAT!" moment. Same can't be said about FF.

Raziel was a naive fool in SR1. Only the fact he grew a brain in SR2 made me take him seriously as a good character.
And there comes a point where believability can't be considered. What would you do after hundreds of years of burning in Hell? How would you feel? Exactly - no one here can possibly know what they'd do or say if they were in Raziel's position. They can guess but that's all.

I personally wouldn't trust the voice in my head implicitly just so I could kill someone.

[Biohazard EX]

Uh huh... And you... LIKE crying yourself to sleep?

Look, like I said, there's just a level. I mean, Seipher was feminine looking. But he wasn't GIRLY. There's a difference. Kuja was a girl. A girl who was referred to as he, pretty much.

Sephiroth (in Advent Children at least) looked like he was wearing lipstick, that's ridiculous. So much for 'SOLDIER'.

Look at this crap:

I'm sorry, but... That's sick. I don't look at that and say, "Oh yeah, that's a totally badass villain who I respect." Like I may have when he was simply this: