Leaders speak their own language

[tom2050]

It's like a shock and awe campaign.. for those who aren't expecting it, Boom! And that person's culture goes up +1.

Tom

 

[Willowmound]

Some people seem to be labouring under the impression that the guy doing the actor-hiring and the voice recording, is the same guy who programs code.

Other people seem to be labouring under the impression that Firaxis have limited funds.

Odd.

 

[thungrim]

Some people seem to be labouring under the impression that the guy doing the actor-hiring and the voice recording, is the same guy who programs code.

Other people seem to be labouring under the impression that Firaxis have limited funds.

Odd.

First, I see no reason to believe Firaxis has unlimited funds. No publisher or developer would touch the game if they couldn't make a tidy margin on it. Second, I don't know who thinks that the voice acting resource is just as capable a coder as he is for voicing. However, the money spent on that resource is equally good to purchase a developer. Thus, the resources are completely interchangeable.

There are those of us who still believe that the net aesthetic effect (and lets be honest here, its nothing but aesthetic) isn't as valuable as another coding resource.

 

[Willowmound]

First, I see no reason to believe Firaxis has unlimited funds. No publisher or developer would touch the game if they couldn't make a tidy margin on it. Second, I don't know who thinks that the voice acting resource is just as capable a coder as he is for voicing. However, the money spent on that resource is equally good to purchase a developer. Thus, the resources are completely interchangeable.

There are those of us who still believe that the net aesthetic effect (and lets be honest here, its nothing but aesthetic) isn't as valuable as another coding resource.

Well, obviously they don't have unlimited funds. But they do have enough funds to include these extraneous, fun features without compromising their ability to make a good game, otherwise they wouldn't have done it.

Have some faith. They're not stupid. They've already given us four excellent Civ games.

 

[WeaselSlapper]

There's not only the English language in the world. You won't get by with intellectual laziness. Open up.

Wow I never thought my simple little option would result in such animosity that people would result to insults in a forum of ideas.

It's not intellectual laziness, for games like Civ there really isn't an immersion factor for me so it adds nothing. Like many other people have said in posts across this form, Civ is not a world simulator, it's a game loosely based of history. They frequently make many historical sacrifices in the sake of making the game more fun to play. I don't see anyone complaining about being able to instantly negotiate a contract with another civilization 1000+ KM away in an ancient time when communications took months.

I realize that English is not the only language in the world. If you really wanted to get into that aspect they shouldn't even have subtitles, because the're are subtitles in life, and any communications that come from other civs should be in their own tongue, and all characters should be their own. However, that would just be ridiculous and I see each leader speaking in their own tongue the same way.

 

[Niptium]

Wow I never thought my simple little option would result in such animosity that people would result to insults in a forum of ideas.

It's not intellectual laziness, for games like Civ there really isn't an immersion factor for me so it adds nothing. Like many other people have said in posts across this form, Civ is not a world simulator, it's a game loosely based of history. They frequently make many historical sacrifices in the sake of making the game more fun to play. I don't see anyone complaining about being able to instantly negotiate a contract with another civilization 1000+ KM away in an ancient time when communications took months.

I realize that English is not the only language in the world. If you really wanted to get into that aspect they shouldn't even have subtitles, because the're are subtitles in life, and any communications that come from other civs should be in their own tongue, and all characters should be their own. However, that would just be ridiculous and I see each leader speaking in their own tongue the same way.

Then, question is : why would you be annoyed if someone spoke a language that is NOT English? For milleniums people have coped with people not speaking there language. Why wouldn't Anglophones?

 

[cephalo]

All this voice recording does tell me something. It means that the possible diplomatic responses will be along the lines of 'yes', 'no' and 'maybe'.

I've always wanted to see some reasoning behind an AI's diplomatic response. I'm thinking that we won't get it in Civ5.

 

[thungrim]

Then, question is : why would you be annoyed if someone spoke a language that is NOT English? For milleniums people have coped with people not speaking there language. Why wouldn't Anglophones?

This only demonstrates your own ethnocentric bias. For all you know our friend WeaselSlapper may only use English as a Second language. The point he's making is that, in his opinion, listening to world leaders speak in their original languages is annoying. Whether he's Anglophone, Francophone, or L337ophone (LOL! L337ophones PWNAGE!) the other languages are basically noise.

 

[thungrim]

Well, obviously they don't have unlimited funds. But they do have enough funds to include these extraneous, fun features without compromising their ability to make a good game, otherwise they wouldn't have done it.

Have some faith. They're not stupid. They've already given us four excellent Civ games.

Don't get me wrong. I do have faith in Firaxis, and will give the game its fair shake. Its just not a design decision I would have made.

 

[Willowmound]

I think it's neat.

 

[Niptium]

This only demonstrates your own ethnocentric bias. For all you know our friend WeaselSlapper may only use English as a Second language. The point he's making is that, in his opinion, listening to world leaders speak in their original languages is annoying. Whether he's Anglophone, Francophone, or L337ophone (LOL! L337ophones PWNAGE!) the other languages are basically noise.

Don't turn this argument on its head. It doesn't make sense. I'm the one satisfied with Firaxis's feature. He's the one that is annoyed if he "cannot understand the character's speach". Good thing he can read the dialog box that's sure to be in English underneath the fullscreen leaderhead.

 

[thungrim]

Don't turn this argument on its head. It doesn't make sense. I'm the one satisfied with Firaxis's feature. He's the one that is annoyed if he "cannot understand the character's speach". Good thing he can read the dialog box that's sure to be in English underneath the fullscreen leaderhead.

Turn the argument on its head? You're the one making it about English subtitles. WeaselSlapper could be from the Republic of Bacon, and play with subtitles in Baconese according to the language preferences, and his point will be exactly the same.

 

[WeaselSlapper]

Then, question is : why would you be annoyed if someone spoke a language that is NOT English?

Not once did I ever say that they had to speak English only. I would like to have the option to have the leaders speak English for the English version, but I would also expect them to speak German for the German version. At first each leader speaking their own language would be cool and interesting, but would then become frustrating because I would have to read stupid subtitles, and I hate subtitles. I find myself too busy reading subtitles and I don't get to enjoy the visuals.

 

[Niptium]

Message is the same : open up.

 

[Willowmound]

Not once did I ever say that they had to speak English only. I would to have the option to have the leaders speak English for the English version, but I would also expect them to speak German for the German version. At first each leader speaking their own language would be cool and interesting, but would then become frustrating because I would have to read stupid subtitles, and I hate subtitles. I find myself too busy reading subtitles and I don't get to enjoy the visuals.

Though, seriously, in Civs 1 through 4 there are only "subtitles". Just...shut your ears or something.

 

[WeaselSlapper]

Though, seriously, in Civs 1 through 4 there are only "subtitles". Just...shut your ears or something.

To be honest I don't read anything any of the other leaders say in Civ IV I just look at what they are asking for/demanding. If they're going to speak I would prefer to understand what they say rather then read it, it eliminates the point of having them speak at all.

 

[Willowmound]

Guess you'll just have to wait for the "No noise" mod, then.

 

[Loppan Torkel]

To be honest I don't read anything any of the other leaders say in Civ IV I just look at what they are asking for/demanding. If they're going to speak I would prefer to understand what they say rather then read it, it eliminates the point of having them speak at all.

Have you seen Mel Gibsons Apocalypto or The Passion of Christ, or any other foreign movie like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? You didn't enjoy those more than had they been done with English voices?!

 

[The_J]

Am i right, that you're here complaining about 18 leaders speaking their own language, but nobody is complaining about the units of 34 civilizations in BtS, who speak their own language ?

And i guess, only the greeting will be inttheir mother tongue, and the rest will not have any sound.

I assume that there will be subtitles. So far, there hasn't been any Civ where the leader speaks any language, you just have to read it. Nothing has really changed from a functional standpoint.

One of the articles (or rumors) has already said, that there will be subtitles.

This has nothing to do with me not wanting to read, it's about the Devs adding elements that don't enhance gameplay.

3D graphics also don't enhance gameplay.
They are there for atmosphere, not for gameplay. Same for the sounds.

 

[WeaselSlapper]

Have you seen Mel Gibsons Apocalypto or The Passion of Christ, or any other foreign movie like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? You didn't enjoy those more than had they been done with English voices?!

I find movies with subtitles epically annoying. I always wind up missing most of what happens on screen because I'm too busy reading. When I want to read I read, when I want to watch a movie or play a game I don't want subtitles. I wouldn't expect a book to say something in the original language then put a translation after it.

Having people speak in a language I don't understand and then having to read what they say ruins the experience. Now I have seen movies where a character was dropped into a foreign setting and doesn't understand the language. When the character first gets to the new setting the characters around him speak their native tongue, with no subtitles. That makes sense (at least if the movie is more of a 1st person perspective) and then they transition to the audience language as the character learns the native language. However this is not Civ. Adding this feature adds nothing to the experience for me I would rather just have them speak in a language I understand.