I finally got to see Renvolt.

[BrianSommer]

Greetings All,

Well a gamer friend of mine got the game and invited me over. She played the scene for me where we are introduced to Renvolt. ("I am Renvolt Magashi of the Endrum Collective, The rest Iam affraid is classified"). All in all, I think he turned out satisfactorly "nasty". Iam looking forward to seeing more of him as she progresses with the game.

I also wanted to publicly thank those of you who sent me messages and Emails regarding the performance. They were all well received and much appreciated. I know some of you mentioned that certain players were more impressed with the Japanese voice work. Iam here to tell you....THAT'S OK! Its all about personal preference. If someone wants to play the game with the Japanese actors, then I am glad they have the option to do that. After all it IS as Japanese game. The original actors give it a more "authentic" feel I supose.

For those of you who enjoy the English version, and were happy with Magashi, I am very glad that my small contribution to the game allowed you to enjoy it that much more. Let us not forget that there are a WHOLE bunch of folks that brought Magashi to life. I just spoke for him.

It sounds like, for the most part, the game is a hit. I am glad you folks are enjoying it. PLAY ON !!!

Brian

[Elleranda]

Thanks for the talent! It was certainly better than Ethan's, ew.

[PJ]

Ethans voice was amazing

But so is Magashi's, so I give you kudos for your fine work

[Kamica]

The lava battle scene was well done. Kudos.

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

The only voice that annoys me is that of Tonnio, but I think that was intentional.

[Elleranda]

On 2006-11-07 18:43, PJ wrote:
Ethans voice was amazing

But so is Magashi's, so I give you kudos for your fine work



Ethans... voice... amazing..?

Does.. does not compute.. does not...*pop*

[Tystys]

Yeah, the only voice that annoys me is Tonnio....and Karen's....the voice actor tries so hard to sound like a man, in my opinion, lol.

Magashi's voice sounds a little bit emotionless in some scenes which I really didn't like...but it sold the character well considering he is a cast, lol

Good job Brian http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

[Parn]

The voice for Tonnio is the same guy that played Roan in Grandia 2, and Jude in the more recently released Wild Arms 4. I don't know the individual's name, but his voice is very recognizable to me, probably because he always seems to voice short adolescent characters (Tonnio's not young, but he LOOKS small so he's an exception). Karen's done by Amy Jo Johnson, AKA the original pink power ranger from the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

I'm not sure why there's so much dislike for Ethan's voice work. Granted, it was kind of rough in chapter one, but it seemed just fine through the rest of the game so far (working on chapter 9 now). He sounds like an air-headed, dumb teenager, which is exactly what Ethan is (no offense to the voice actor, hehe)!

As far as your own performance Mr. Sommers, I think it was handled very well. I'm of the opinion that most of the voice work is on par with the Japanese voices. Yours is among my top three favorite voices performed in the game... I can't figure out who's doing the voice work for Tyler, but he also did an excellent job. I suppose I'll find out in the credits when I watch them at the game's completion.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Parn on 2006-11-07 19:10 ]</font>

[Tystys]

The friggin pink ranger?!

Are you kidding me?!

[Zelutos]

No offence, but i highly doubt you are the real guy who played Renvolt Magashi. When voice actors play the voice, they get to see how it turned out long before the game is released. Just watch any bonus feature added into games: the voice actors always get to see it before anyone else. That's just the way it works.

I don't know how any of you can believe this guy. Unless he can provide some indesputable proof, i refuse to believe he really is who he says he is.

[Kamica]

On 2006-11-07 19:28, Zelutos wrote:
No offence, but i highly doubt you are the real guy who played Renvolt Magashi. When voice actors play the voice, they get to see how it turned out long before the game is released. Just watch any bonus feature added into games: the voice actors always get to see it before anyone else. That's just the way it works.

I don't know how any of you can believe this guy. Unless he can provide some indesputable proof, i refuse to believe he really is who he says he is.



This isn't the first time he has come to the boards. Try looking at other topics that he has posted.

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

On 2006-11-07 19:28, Zelutos wrote:
No offence, but i highly doubt you are the real guy who played Renvolt Magashi. When voice actors play the voice, they get to see how it turned out long before the game is released. Just watch any bonus feature added into games: the voice actors always get to see it before anyone else. That's just the way it works.

I don't know how any of you can believe this guy. Unless he can provide some indesputable proof, i refuse to believe he really is who he says he is.

http://www.briansommer.com/credits_games.html

lolk

[Parn]

What's funny is that he doesn't have to prove anything. If anyone here thinks he's not who he claims to be, then that's your choice... but you certainly aren't going to get some kind of reward for your powers of deduction, or lack thereof.

[Flame]

I thought magashi had a wonderful voice and character design. Great job! I just wish he had some kind of motivation or depth. . .

[Maxurion]

Psh, destroying the planet is fun, who needs motivation?

Nice job, Magashi's voice is awsome. He definately comes across as the evil bad guy, heh heh.

[Ryna]

Mr. Sommers is the person he claims to be.

For the purpose of this topic, let's just stick to critiquing Magashi's performance in the North American version of the game.

Personally, I haven't played through Story mode on the North American version yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

[HUnewearl_Meira]

On 2006-11-07 19:47, Parn wrote:
What's funny is that he doesn't have to prove anything. If anyone here thinks he's not who he claims to be, then that's your choice... but you certainly aren't going to get some kind of reward for your powers of deduction, or lack thereof.



Perhaps he doesn't offer any proof, but we've looked into it, and he's not some punk trying to pull one over on us. He is the genuine article. He is the voice of Renvolt Magashi.

Brian, as I previously made you aware, I am greatly appreciative of your work, and I do hope that you'll stick around and participate in our community with us. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[Remedy]

Wow. =O.o= You're the dude that did his voice?

I am most impressed by it - easily my favorite voice so far (only on Episode 8 at the moment, however). A splendid job. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

[Celestial]

isnt this the same guy who did darth malak from KOTOR??

they sounded way to alike to me.

[Sinue_v2]

Yes, I'd have to say that Megashi's voice work was one of the best in the game. It's truely unfortunate that Sonic Team neglected to flesh out the character more and provide a motivation for him. Rather than turning into a truely bad-ass and awe inspiring character, he became a cliche throw-away plot device. "Look, here I am, I'm evil and need to be defeated". Even Lassic had the basic motviation of wanting to escape death and sought out the darkness of his own free will - corrupting a once benevolent leader.

It's a shame your voicework was a bit wasted on a poorly written character.

As for Ethan - he does not sound like a "typical airhead teenager" - he sounds like a drunk. He slurs his words, regularly cuts their pronounciation short, and changes tempo far to often.

Though, I cannot rightly blame any of the VAs in PSU - simply because alot of the problem lies in direction. Take, for example, Crispin Freeman. Freeman is probaly one of the best well known and enjoyed VA's in Anime as far as I can tell - but his preformance in "Angel Sanctuary" was horrid. What was different? The lazy directors didn't bother to give him any direction and instead just let the VAs "have fun" and flesh the characters out on their own. I don't think Freeman knew much about the character he was playing - nor the situation and motivations which drove that character. His preformance sounded flat, out of context, and out of character.

Despite all this - I'm not overly upset at the VA work in PSU. Much of it is decent, such as the Megashi work, and there is certainly much worse out there (Ex. Star Ocean III). I just think it could have been much much better had even a little more attention been paid to it.

[Pontifus]

Magashi's voice? Seriously? Good job. Magashi was probably one of the better voices in the game. Rest assured that I appreciate your work. I am sort of disappointed that Magashi had no personality, but I blame the writers for that.


On 2006-11-08 01:13, Sinue_v2 wrote:
As for Ethan - he does not sound like a "typical airhead teenager" - he sounds like a drunk. He slurs his words, regularly cuts their pronounciation short, and changes tempo far to often.



He sounds more like he's baked all the time, IMO. I mean, seriously...90% of the time he's way too laid-back, and then all of a sudden, he runs into a giant wall and it's the greatest thing he's ever seen.

[ViciousXUSMC]

His voice was the only one I did like, but I just have to hear what he sounded like in the japanese version, I bet its even more evil.

Of course they did some editing to your recordings with reverb and all that jazz to make it sound robotic. If you sounded like that in real life I would feel bad for you http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

[Mewn]

Magashi's voice is, in my opinion, easily the best voice in the game. You captured his menace and malevolence very well indeed. Kudos.

[1337Beeb]

Wow! I loved his voice. Good work.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Still semi on topic. While the dubbing for the game was not the greatest it was not horrible.... except... The main character.

Why did the guy with the biggest role, and the most lines have the worst voice actor? I mean utterly horrible it didnt fit the scenes or the mood at all.

[Tuxedose]

Just finished Story Mode and I must say that the
character voices was suprisingly good. Thank you Mr.Sommers for your outstanding performance with Megashis voice. I also say thank you to all the other
Actors that made great voices.

Is it true that Amy Jo Johnson made the voice for Karen? anyways it was a great voice and I hope to hear them all in a future game soon http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif.

[Nisshoku]

Well, just for kicks, I thought I'd go through the credits on my PC version of the game, just to see the list of voice actors.

Ethan Waber - Nick Tagas
Karen Erra - Erin Cahill
Hyuga Ryght - Andrew Ceglio
Nav/Hiru Vol - Darren Jennings
Magashi - Brain Sommer
Tylor/No Vol/Daren/Curtz - David Rosenthal
Tonio/Pete/Hal - Amy Rubinate
Leogini/Taragi - Mak Atherlay
Dallgun/Rutsu - Owen Thomas
Tomrain/ Narrator - David Nowlin
Mirei - Giovannie Pico
Maya/Lumia/Norphe - Amy Provenzano
Lou/Kalam - Bret Walker
Liina - M Hutchinson
Do Vol - Roger Jackson
Dohgi - Peter Kepler

[DONTOSE]

does any one elis find Ethans voice very familia

[Kers]

I really liked Magashi.. not the love to hate him sense, but the cool evil guy deal. But his motivation and background wasn't explained which upset me because I wanted to know his character!

I hope they use this great character in other episodes or a prequel at least.

Something to develop him!


-Your voice acting made the character great even without his needed bio!

And I really enjoyed the sort of ..electronic? touch to his voice.
I think there was some sort of filtering they did with your voice. Was there? It didn't take away from the acting you did; using some special effects was better than having a person make it up. Kudos if it is possible to do that without special effects.
Again, that low artificial vib topped off his sinister Cast persona!

Thank you.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Kers on 2006-11-08 11:32 ]</font>

[Kent]

You can tell that some effects were added to the various voices of the CASTs, in order to make that more... Computerized feel to them. The male/female voices for Casts, are just like those of the other races, with some sound effects added in.

[Mewn]

I really liked Magashi.. not the love to hate him sense, but the cool evil guy deal. But his motivation and background wasn't explained which upset me because I wanted to know his character!
It may well be explained.

Magashi isn't dead, and he appears in Episode 2.

[A2K]

On 2006-11-07 19:04, Parn wrote:
Karen's done by Amy Jo Johnson, AKA the original pink power ranger from the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.


On 2006-11-08 08:02, Nisshoku wrote:
Karen Erra - Erin Cahill


Hmm... wrong Pink Power Ranger, it seems?

I liked Ethan's voice. I did hear the occasional slur but I don't think he was anywhere close to sounding drunk. The only voices I could say I disliked were Tonnio's. I disliked Tonnio's mostly because he sounds more like a little boy than an angry short man. I got used it eventually though.

[BrianSommer]

Thank you again everyone. ALL the coments are appreciated. As I have said before, ulitmately I work for YOU. The Gamer. So any comments, good or bad, are important to me.

ZELUTOS:
You go right on questioning the reality that is handed to you. Personally I think it is a fine trait. Dont believe everything you hear or read. Honestly, there are mornings when I am not sure that I AM ME either. So you are in good company. However, I have to say that in all the years that I have been doing VO work for Games, I have never been invited back to see the finished project before it is released. Most of us "working actors" go in, record our lines and they are done with us. There are, on ocasion, anamatics and other animation at the sessions (especially if it is an ADR -dub- job). But the only time I get to see the finished project (sound, FX, edited, etc) is when the game is released. I am sure some of the "big time celebs" might get brought back for some "photo ops" with the finished character, but us "blue colar" actors just move from job to job.

SINUE_V2:
That has to be one of the most intellegent and insightful comments on character work that I have read so far. You obviously have a good handle on what makes a good character great. Daws Butler (a famous VO actor from the 40's and 50's) said, "These are not voices, they are characters". This is something that I remind myself of whenever I am doing a job. It is much more important to know WHY your character is saying something, than HOW he is saying it. The characters voice is hallow if there is no reasoning for him to be saying what he is saying. I remember the Bio that came with Magashi's audition material was fairly brief. I think they wanted him to be simply cold and calculating. So there was not much added to the characters background. They wanted him to be a single-mindedly, tactically driven bad ass. His focuse was to complete the task at hand, and then get on to the next one, by using whatever means. So kudos to you for understanding that it is much more than making sounds with your voice. After all they do call them...voice ACTORS.

And to those of you that commented on the actual SOUND of Magashi. There was certainly some EQ'ing of the audio, but not very much. That "rumble" or "growl" you hear in the back of his voice is just plain old me. (of course I dont sound like that all the time). But it was that growl that landed me the job. They commented on it when I came in for the session. So there was plenty of water in the booth to keep the ol' pipes "lubricated". He was SO MUCH FUN to play.

Thanks again everyone, and enjoy the game. Perhaps you will hear me again soon.

Brian

[Zorafim]

On 2006-11-07 18:36, BrianSommer wrote:
If someone wants to play the game with the Japanese actors, then I am glad they have the option to do that.


Wait, there's an option to chance the voice acting to Japanese? Where?! Why didn't you tell me this sooner?! *searches though game menus*

By the way, I'm going to repeat what others said, but nice job with Magashi. It was half way decent, which is quite a compliment from somebody who hates dubbing. It annoyed me that he had no motivation, even more so because it seemed like he had a large one near the beginning of the game. His last appearances were just random and came out of nowhere. But at least he sounded cool.

[Parn]

On 2006-11-08 12:29, A2K wrote:
Hmm... wrong Pink Power Ranger, it seems?

Seems that way! I could have sworn it was Amy Jo Johnson, but it seems I'm losing my touch. Heh.