Link to original post: [drupal=4794]IGN: "No voice acting, though not necessary,[/drupal]
...does hurt the cinematic feel."
This was said about Skyward Sword. Not that I'm defending SS just yet, since I haven't even played it, but that typically Western-minded statement disgusts me. I haaaate the masturbatory notion that because something is available, it needs to be added. The only thing I can think to describe a VA addition to the Zelda franchise is ham-fisted.
I know it shouldn't be a surprise coming from IGN, but the fact that a few people on GFaqs were actually agreeing with it just makes my skin crawl. More isn't always more, and subtlety sometimes (oftentimes) is a far more powerful artistic tool than explicitness.
A game like Zelda finds ways to express the story and its characters through ingenious avenues rather than just saying "Okay, let's add some VA." The silence of the characters speaks volumes (pun intended) greater than actually hearing what they sound like. The best things come from the oddest constraints. Bach composed within such tight voice-leading parameters, that it's amazing he did what he did. Without those parameters, Bach wouldn't have been Bach. Bach also mathematically spelled his name at the end of each song he did by playing a Bb, A, C then H (B natural in Germany), which gave his works even more character.
For another music example, half of what makes jazz so interesting is the fact that when you expect an Ab7 chord, you modulate with a G7. The obvious choice isn't interesting, nor does it beg a struggle from the artist to engineer new and interesting ways to express something.
There's more to artistic mastery and cinematic poignancy than direct discourse like VA would bring. Time and place are pivotal in such things. Sometimes the observer's hand doesn't need to be held to make certain connections. The facial expressions and terse quips Salvatore made in WW told me more about his character than 15 minutes of high-paid VA work ever could. Were Zelda a game of massive depth, it would be a necessity to supplement the complex dialogue between characters--but Zelda isn't like that. Like minimalist music, the quirky terseness of the Zelda cast speaks volumes with movement, expressions and context. VA, in this case, isn't at all necessary. Zelda's not strange to having silent cutscenes that spoke for themselves by virtue of a story that is matured by alternative presentation rather than explicitly detailing a character relationship (we see how that went in Other M). Personally, I was far more mystified by Samus' story when I didn't know her her measurements, favorite color, favorite Beatle and High School transcripts. Now that delicate character is, to me, broken.
To hell with this obsessive clinging to paralleling "cinema" and tactless maximalism. Some things simply just don't need to be polished and waxed. Not to mention, I think some things are just not meant to be--if I had to hear the Happy Mask Salesman speak at length, I think I'd jump off of a bridge. ._.
...does hurt the cinematic feel."
This was said about Skyward Sword. Not that I'm defending SS just yet, since I haven't even played it, but that typically Western-minded statement disgusts me. I haaaate the masturbatory notion that because something is available, it needs to be added. The only thing I can think to describe a VA addition to the Zelda franchise is ham-fisted.
I know it shouldn't be a surprise coming from IGN, but the fact that a few people on GFaqs were actually agreeing with it just makes my skin crawl. More isn't always more, and subtlety sometimes (oftentimes) is a far more powerful artistic tool than explicitness.
A game like Zelda finds ways to express the story and its characters through ingenious avenues rather than just saying "Okay, let's add some VA." The silence of the characters speaks volumes (pun intended) greater than actually hearing what they sound like. The best things come from the oddest constraints. Bach composed within such tight voice-leading parameters, that it's amazing he did what he did. Without those parameters, Bach wouldn't have been Bach. Bach also mathematically spelled his name at the end of each song he did by playing a Bb, A, C then H (B natural in Germany), which gave his works even more character.
For another music example, half of what makes jazz so interesting is the fact that when you expect an Ab7 chord, you modulate with a G7. The obvious choice isn't interesting, nor does it beg a struggle from the artist to engineer new and interesting ways to express something.
There's more to artistic mastery and cinematic poignancy than direct discourse like VA would bring. Time and place are pivotal in such things. Sometimes the observer's hand doesn't need to be held to make certain connections. The facial expressions and terse quips Salvatore made in WW told me more about his character than 15 minutes of high-paid VA work ever could. Were Zelda a game of massive depth, it would be a necessity to supplement the complex dialogue between characters--but Zelda isn't like that. Like minimalist music, the quirky terseness of the Zelda cast speaks volumes with movement, expressions and context. VA, in this case, isn't at all necessary. Zelda's not strange to having silent cutscenes that spoke for themselves by virtue of a story that is matured by alternative presentation rather than explicitly detailing a character relationship (we see how that went in Other M). Personally, I was far more mystified by Samus' story when I didn't know her her measurements, favorite color, favorite Beatle and High School transcripts. Now that delicate character is, to me, broken.
To hell with this obsessive clinging to paralleling "cinema" and tactless maximalism. Some things simply just don't need to be polished and waxed. Not to mention, I think some things are just not meant to be--if I had to hear the Happy Mask Salesman speak at length, I think I'd jump off of a bridge. ._.
