DDFF Meme: Day 9: Favorite Voice.

[railenthe]

 

…Do I really need to say it? We all know I’ve got a pair of obvious favorites.

…well, I might. ‘Twould be a disservice to be so short with this entry. And so we have our picks, in a countdown, from the top!

 

1) Kain Highwind. His voice has so much damn bass in it that the first time I heard it—on a pair of studio headphones no less!—I had to stop and pop my ears. It rattled the bones in my jaw, it’s so deep. The man could scream at the top of his lungs, and yet he still sounds like something that rose from the depths of the abyss, here to steal your soul through the sheer power of his rich, deep voice.

2) Mateus Palamecia. The fact that his delivery is intentionally Bowie-esque is a bonus, of course. He’s always got this smooth, devious sound going on—and that silky, Bowie-esque delivery lends itself quite well to my head!canon, in which Mateus provides the voice-overs for VOID™ chocolate (not to mention the sexy, smooth-jazz-accented shots of him eating said chocolate).
“Void Chocolate. Give in to the temptation.”

Can’t see it? Consider, briefly, that the original name of his EX Burst was…Seduction. YEAH. Add that to the fact that the delivery emulates Jareth!Bowie, and…well…YEAH.

3) Gabranth. Even now, where the accent is either barely there or not there at all and I have my own Fridge-Logicy theories on this one I still cannot get enough of his voice. The speaking accent nearly had me—but it was “DESTRUCTION! RRRRAAAAGGH!!!” that sold me on his voice. I have a thing for enraged, incomprehensible roars.

 

 

Comments

I won't be happy until the entire cast of Dissidia is mooglefied

[toffeethesnob.livejournal.com]

Kain is possibly the ONLY character who sounds sexier in english than in Japanese (and Koichi Yamadera wasn't half bad) IMO. It's weird...in english a lot of the cast is incredibly lulzy particularly in their battle quotes (mondegreen, anyone?) whilst in Japanese everyone is somewhat more sophisticated. I love both versions since the Japanese is the original director's intention for how the characters sound and act whilst the English version is just hilarious. I mean who doesn't love it when the villains break out the HAAAAAAAMMMM!!!?

I've heard a bit about the Gabranth accent slippage theory and I'd like to hear your views. (I miss the terribly sporadic cockney that went around masquerading itself as RP...it was so silly...)

THEORIES! (Also this took so long because of work and surprise plans last night GEH)

[railenthe.livejournal.com]

Even Kain's not immune to mondegreens. I can think of a few people who heard "FLESH OF THE COVENANT!" which took my brain in places it really should not have gone but. I HAVE NO REGRETS. Considering that there are things that just don't translate, it's not surprising. But I will concur--Kain is magnificently done.

…even THAT sounded wrong. Anyway. The main reason for the difference is because they had to improvise, having lost touch with Gabranth's original VA. But, when you stop and think about it, there are some reasons why the accent slippage works in theory.

Now on to my theories. Minor spoilers for FFXII
Keep in mind that this is wild guessing on my part, but not quite of the Epileptic Trees variety:

1) [The more logical theory] Gabranth is not a native of Archadia (established fact). He joined them after his homeland was wrecked by the armies and Basch had already cut and run, joining the rebellion. Note that Basch doesn't speak with the accent. Conclusion: He adopted the accent as a way of blending in with the Archadians. (I haven't gotten super-far in game, but on one occasion, when Basch manages to push the right buttons, he drops it. I don't know if it happens again because I NEED TO GET THE PS2 BACK DANG IT)

2) [The slightly more Epileptic Trees theory that's been bouncing around on TV Tropes] This isn't Gabby. Vaan's reaction to seeing Gabranth, pre-battle, is quite similar to when he sees Basch in that torture-cage-thingy. Gabranth's reciprocal quote to Vaan seems to mirror the reaction that Basch has on finding out that Reks was Vaan's brother. CONCLUSION: As far as Vaan knows, BASCH LIVES and therefore he is pissed.

3) [Wild mass guessing, contains spoilers] Dissidia wreaks havoc with the timeline of most of the series. There's some evidence that the worlds of II and IV are the same, separated by about a hundred years (see the story of Cecil's Deathbringer, left by a Dark Knight named variously in translations as Leon, Leonhart, and Renault in one amusing mistranslation; in-game canon makes Leon the first Dark Knight in the series). At the end of XII, Basch takes over Gabranth's position, going as far as taking on his identity to keep certain events quiet. CONCLUSION: This is Basch, not Gabranth, thanks to the timescrew, and thanks to the effect of memory wipes, no one has any idea.

There's holes aplenty in all three of these, especially the second two. Logically, the first one is the more likely of the two.

Of course, this is all theory. One piece of Fridge Logic thanks to the first one, but theory.

[toffeethesnob.livejournal.com]

Oh I know all about mishearing Kain. "Dragon's flask! WITH ALL MY STRING!" "LAMBS OF THE COVENS!" "Dragoons skip to me!"

The first one definetly has a lot of logical weight to it in terms of theory; we never hear a true Landis accent (because Basch fled to Dalmasca we can't tell if that is a faithful rendition of the accent or if it has adapted overtime) so Gabranth disguising his heritage with an archadian one makes a lot of sense. (I haven't played XII in over a year so I'll have to check that out)

I'm not too sure about the epilectic trees (mostly because they are epilectic trees) but they don't seem to have any evidence to prove they're wrong. It's the same with the Kuja-could've-been-a-Cosmos-warrior theory; because we have snippets of potential and no proper evidence to discredit the notion it could as well be taken that way. But hey, awesome theories are awesome and until S-E decides they don't like it we're free to assume that Gabranth is Basch, Kuja was summoned by Cosmos originally and that Yuna turned into a J-poppy petty thief because she hung out with Zidane for far too long.

But nice reasoning and a very interesting read. :)

[railenthe.livejournal.com]

I wanna know what kind of drink is in a Dragon's Flask.

It's stuff like this that's the reason Dissidia is a crack writer's dream. And a few serious ones, but even the serious in this game is inherently cracky...