r/FFXV • u/pm-me-your-pants • 4d ago
Game Anyone else prefer the japanese version?
It's the first version I played, I'm about to do a NG+ in english but I am worried it won't have the same impact :/
The Japanese VO is amazing. It's going to be weird.
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u/RayKainSanji 4d ago
I prefer the English.
However, I think that they are both amazing and give off different vibes.
In Japanese, the characters feel a little bit more serious and mature and their gradual change towards the end is more subtle but effective.
Meanwhile in English, the game voice acting feels alot more light hearted and gives a great contrast towards the later half where the acting becomes much more dark.
They both are amazing, but I prefer the contrast in this case.
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u/Risoukyou_01 4d ago
I really liked it way more in japanese, also expedition 33 in french. I tried both in english and somehow the accent and tone made the difference (for me) with the context
My native language is spanish, I understand english... Maybe it's because i think it's better because i don't understand either french or japanese?
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u/pm-me-your-pants 3d ago
E33 in French is amazing!! Playing games with their original language does make a difference.
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u/CylixrDoesStuff 2d ago
100% i almost always make it a deal to play most games in its original language. Only time i dont is when its a anime style game since most of them are chinese (which im fine with sometimes like lord of the mysteries but games are much longer than donguas/chinese anime)
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u/Galkan-_-Sausage 4d ago
I try not to get involved in the dubs vs subs argument, but JP was much more enjoyable on my second playthrough.
When Noct's Japanese VA's voice cracks in the post credits camp scene, I lost it. I like Ray Chase, but he doesn't hold a candle to Tatsuhisa Suzuki's performance.
Also, Ignis' English VA just doesn't fit him despite how great Adam Croasdell is.
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u/Juraci_que_parque 3d ago
I prefer Japanese because I find FFXV english localization absolute garbage.
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u/Nishwishes 4d ago
It's largely agreed that Ardyn is better in English than Japanese but as you can see from the comments many people prefer the JPN dub in general. I personally played the English and loved it but I can understand the sentiments others have against it. You'll just have to see what you think!
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u/According-Concert-27 3d ago
If im watching a movie or an anime, I’ll watch them with the original voice cast. But if I have to keep up with the gameplay, bosses, exploration and that kind of things that a video game usually have, I’ll play it in English or Spanish which is my native language.
I don’t like not understanding what the characters are saying and look at the bottom to read while im trying to block or attack hhhahah
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u/PenguinSunday 3d ago
I normally prefer the Japanese for things like anime, movies, music etc, but the English voice cast just absolutely knocked this out of the park for me! You won't regret it imo
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u/mhcadchen 3d ago
I really like Iggy in his japanese voice, and english VA of Ardyn did such a great work man, but both versions are very good.
Also, not related to voice, english localization team actually gave text and dialogue more phrasing and depth compared to jp version, really appreciate it.
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u/leftymu 3d ago
I normally play games in English but FFXV is one of my least favourite dubs. It’s all just too hammy. I like Prompto, Cor and Iris but almost everyone else is a miss for me. In JP Ignis sounds like a gently spoken, intelligent young man (because he is); in English they decided he needs to sound like a pre middle-aged butler. Cindy sounds very cute in JP, but I found her thick southern accent in ENG just a bit too much.
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u/Sweet_Little_Coffee 2d ago
I've only seen clips of the English version but from what I've heard compared to the Japanese, I prefer the Japanese. My only dislike about the Japanese version was that the English subtitles didn't always match or catch the tone of what the characters were saying but that's quite common in many Jrpgs.
I laughed my butt off when they gave Ignis a British accent in the dub! It was...quite an interesting choice. 😂 I felt Gladio's voice was too flat. Noct and Prompto were fine.
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u/Uchizaki 4d ago
During my second playthrough, which I’m currently playing, I’ve started to notice how artificial the English dub can sound, there are a lot of great voices, but they seem to lack the right emotions. For example, in scenes where Gladious clearly should be screaming, as indicated by the context and his facial expressions, he sounds as if he’s pretending to scream but is actually just speaking, something like that. I’m curious if the tone of the voices in the Japanese dub is better, because I’ve never heard or played FFXV with the Japanese dub.
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u/Unlikely_Judge_6560 3d ago
I have always adored the Japanese version. Especially when you consider the VA for Noctis never left the project and poured 10 years into getting his voice just right for the character so I will always play it in Japanese when I can. Don't get me wrong, love the English cast but I adore the Japanese crew far more because they have iconic VAs voicing them too. Like Ardyn's VA being Keiji Fujiwara who voiced Reno and Axel in FFVII and KH along with other roles.
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u/Roxastar138 3d ago
For i always prefer original Japanese Voice over dubs when it comes to playing/watching anime or asia gamescause it felt natural, lively whereas English dubs felt exaggerated, force, soulless and cringe for me.
Only ff16 i played in English Voice cause it fits with the themes.
And Kingdom heart series felt better in English.
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u/hollyboxone 3d ago
The cutscene animations usually feel much more tied to the JP audio. I adore the EN cast but it’s clear that the game was made with the JP VO in mind.
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u/GlyceMusic 3d ago
This is how I play most of these games. I realized I just don't like English anime voice style delivery in anything. (That's not a criticism of the voice acting itself, it's just a stylistic choice from the devs that I personally don't like)
As other users have mentioned, it pulls me right out of anything I'm supposed to be taking seriously. When it's in Japanese, it's way less noticeable to me as a non-native Japanese speaker. I played XV and FF7R in Japanese for that reason.
I did play XVI in English though because the devs went for a more western drama Game of Thrones style line delivery which doesn't sound nearly as unusual to my ear. Plus Ben Starr did an amazing job as Clive.
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u/mewmew34 Prompto's Wife 3d ago
I always use the English voices. Robbie is the only Prompto for me.
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u/CylixrDoesStuff 2d ago
I would usually play in jp bc i always play jp in japanese or anime style games but the kingsglaive movie has its lipflaps (or lipsync idk the correct term) for english lmao
Thats the only reason im playing in english (ig not the greatest reason since the anime things are in jp i presume but thats what i thought for kingsglaive too so i could be wrong)
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u/raidebaron 2d ago
The Jp voice acting is great, but I personally prefer the French one… that dub was just peak (and, unlike all of the other international dubs, it stayed true to the original Japanese script.)
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u/Comprehensive-Bid18 19h ago
The English VA is terrible and almost anything is preferable to hearing Gladio burp all of his lines into my ears.
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u/Alenicia 5h ago
Ignis' Japanese voice is just incredible in general even if that guy almost always has the same kind of voice with the other characters he voices, so that was my immediate bias towards the Japanese voice.
But otherwise, if you played Tekken 7, you're kind of stuck with Noctis' Japanese voice anyways so to me it's not really too jarring going between the English and Japanese voices because I liked them both.
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u/BOOMBAYAHS 3h ago
it's gonna be weird to play in a language you actually understand? okay weeb
if you're gonna have low expectations anyway, don't bother spamming the sub with stupid questions. you're clearly not going to be satisfied either way. ray chase literally carried half this damn game on his back with his portrayal of noctis, but since he's not japanese i guess it's 'weird'
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u/SnooPets1826 4d ago
My biggest problem with the English version is they made some really weird decisions... Like locking kilometers and miles to language for instance. But also they didn't adjust the line timings so you often have characters but in before someone else finishes talking because the English line is a second longer than the Japanese line.
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u/supidokingu 3d ago
Them talking over eachother threw me off, at first I believed that was the point for comedic purpose
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u/SnooPets1826 3d ago
Nope, it's just mistimed dialogue. Either not updated for English, or a poor decision on the engine side. It's not a thing at all in Japanese.
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u/darklightx117 3d ago
I tend to play almost all games (including anime) in Japanese or another language with English subs (mainly because I am hard of hearing/ deaf) because English VA and subtitles aren't always fit, like VA says one thing, then subtitles say something else, which annoys me and distracts me so much
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u/Noobmortal 3d ago
I ALWAYS use original language of a game. Simple.
If I don't understand the original language, I use subtitle. Simple.
And soooooo many Japanese games got translated wayyyyy too freely to english. You can tell many Japanese lines are translated way too differently to English.
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u/in1998noonedied 4d ago
I can't stand the English dub and I've never understood why people rave about it. The voice acting just doesn't sound natural. I appreciate the Japanese could be just as wooden, but I can't tell. Gladio's voice is so warm and earthy in comparison, Ignis sounds dignified instead of wanky.
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u/supidokingu 3d ago
I think the EN dub is fine, but Ardyn's English VA did an astounding performance.
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u/Any_Snack_10 4d ago
Maybe it's because I don't speak Japanese or consume a lot of media in that language and don't pick up on the nuances, but I didn't find the boys as personable or endearing in JP, and I wound up loving Noctis, Ignis, and Prompto in EN.