I know this isn’t that huge of a deal to many, but I was wanting to discuss the fact that many of the voice actors throughout the entire game have a minimum of two different ways to pronounce the same place names/character names. I was thinking that if perhaps whoever is in charge of the VAs, as well as hiring them, were able to communicate how these places and characters are pronounced, maybe there wouldn’t be as many inconsistencies. Idk, maybe it’s too much of an ask over such a little thing, but…small dreams are dreams too.
Without needing to post a spoiler alert…a voice actor is replaced at the end of Act 7 and pronounces their name in a way that suggests that no-one gave them any sort of direction as to how their name is actually said. It looks a little unprofessional in my opinion, but I can overall agree that the VAs all did an outstanding job. My complaint is not with the VAs, but whoever is in charge of direction of them. A little extra communication can go a long way. And to avoid any potential confusion…I am not suggesting that the VAs redo their work or anything close to that. Just asking for future transparency/communication in any voice acting to come, or in a future game.
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I think we can all agree when I say that blizzard has bigger fish to fry right now
While I agree with you 100%, I did say at the beginning that this wasn’t a major issue to many people. I’m not asking it to be made one, either. Just asking for a little more communication in regard to the Campaign dialogue, and how things are pronounced in more than one way. But yeah. I know they have tons of other more pressing matters, but it would be nice to see them fix this minor thing in future games, is all I’m saying. I still haven’t gotten a coherent answer on a bug report topic I created, other than the two people that did reply assuming it was due to a user issue, and not a game issue. And completely ignoring the fact that I actually do know what I’m talking about…most of the time, lol.
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This reminds me of the recent update to the Green Orions vs Blue Oreeons in Star Trek. Maybe they will explain the strange pronunciations in 50 years. 
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I think you should attend Blizzard audition for the next voice actors.
Ah yes…I’ve seen YOU all over the forums. Belittling others for having any kind of opinion that differs in the slightest from your own…so a typical cyber-bully. If you understood even a bit of English, perhaps you’d be able to understand that I wasn’t blaming the voice actors; I actually have an issue with the lack of communication between those who hire them, and the VAs themselves. So, telling me I should audition to be a voice actor is not only way off topic and my original point, but it shows how little you actually read/understood. Maybe Blizzard will hire you to sick on anyone who disagrees with the popular opinion…oh wait! That would be better, since you could get paid for it. You’re already doing it, so why not apply?
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I don’t understand even a bit of english as that is not my language. So I am surprise you replying me as I am writing Japanese now. Are you talking about Kobe Beef dinner?
Another troll think about criticize others ability of English think everyone should have perfect english as this language is only spoke in few country. One of them is a bankrupt country owe majority of the foreign debt to a big country who barely speak english. Interesting forum troll here.
I assume you cant read my japanese writing here, so don’t bother reply as I have changed my topic to having Wasabi on top of sushi. To avoid any off topic discussion.
nahantu has like a dozen different accents it sounds like lol…not much cohesion at all.
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I’m not referring to accents. Though that is a very good point, lol. If you’ve been through Act 7, one minute Eru refers to Maka as in, you know, the Japanese name Maka. Then, not 2-3 mins after you first meet her, he pronounces her name as “Mack-a”. I believe this is when he opens the way to get somewhere…I’d go into specifics, but I don’t want to have to post spoiler alert before I say anything 
Also…male Druid’s VA is another good example of what I mean. I’ve noticed he alternates between pronouncing Neyrelle’s name as “neigh-rel” which is how her name is said…but at least 3 times I’ve counted, including near the end of Act 7, he says her name like “Neh-rel”. I’m not sure what the answer is, other than transparency between the people that direct and hire the VAs, and the VAs themselves. Also, perhaps less rampant creative freedom in pronunciations for the male Druid VA, lol. That one I felt was less on the voice directors, and more on whoever voices him. I know it’s an extremely minor nit-picking thing to talk about, but…I just feel like it could potentially be better than it is.
Also, in terms of the character that we don’t talk about…similar to Bruno (lol), at the end of Act 7…that voice actor is changed at the very end of the cutscene, after killing a certain boss…the original VA didn’t have any kind of Nahantu-related accent that I could hear, at least…but the new VA pronounced his own name in a sentence that suggests he wasn’t told how his own character’s name was pronounced. Granted, the new VA only had a cutscene that lasted about anywhere from 30 seconds to about a minute…so it wasn’t that horrible, but it was enough to give me the feeling that it was a little rushed at the end. Especially since that VA’s lines seemed rushed and rapidly recited. Kind of like what happens with voice actors in CGI movies where they need to keep up with the mouth movements of their characters. Except…there didn’t seem to be any sort of mouth movement to keep up with, so…not sure why it was so rushed. But I digress. I am neither a voice actor, nor do I want to be. Period. Just a person who feels that the voice direction could have been much better than it was. Is it a major issue? Again, not really. But it detracts from the overall professionalism of the game, in my opinion. And yes, there are major issues that do that much worse than this one…but that is another topic for another time. To roughly quote the NPC we don’t talk about…remember that, in the end, DirgeOfRavyn was afraid…of the bad voice acting at the end of the game 
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Seems like it would be best practice to spell out the names of people and locations phonetically for the voice actors when they give them the scripts. Or the way you did above. If they’re going to go to all the effort and expense of recording lines with multiple actors, why not do it right? Maybe they’ll take the suggestion for the next expansion.
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I sincerely hope you are right, and that there is indeed another expansion for this game…in my opinion, it would not make much sense to follow in the footsteps of D2 and D3 and only release one expansion for this game. Especially since they have created such a juicy arc at the end of Act 7…would be a real shame to see it resolved in D5 (if they even have plans for another Diablo game), instead of it being resolved in this one…also, when do we get to fight Baal and/or Diablo? Diablo has so far, only been mentioned by name in D4. Same with Baal. I might or might not expect the “official” fight with Mephisto to start in this game, or perhaps carry over to the next one, if there will be a D5 at all. Not sure how much revenue D4 has pulled in… some game studios have recently been shuttering specific sections of their companies due to their games not going over as well as they expected them to, and firing the devs involved. (looking at one in particular that I won’t name here). Anyway…hoping that D4 was enough of a success to warrant making a 5th game. But here’s hoping the story arc of Act 7 resolves in D4. Even if it might be a bit of a pipe dream But back to the original point…perhaps they will take this advice for their next expansion 
Can you tell me who you’re talking about here? I played through the entire campaign and I didn’t notice it, but I admit I was also catching up on Critical Role while playing so I missed quite a bit of the spoken dialog lol.
edit: oh I think I figured it out, trying to find some video of the bad dialog now to see for myself.
if there was an option to DM people that have a forum account…I would tell you there…but, since I don’t think that is a thing: spoiler alert: I’m referring to Akarat. His voice actor changes after the battle with the Harbinger of Hatred, aka the Wolf. I would think it makes sense from a lore perspective, considering after that fight, he had lost his immortality. However, the VA they hired to finish the job did a very rushed and frantic job delivering his lines in my opinion. He referred to himself not as “Ah-kah-raht”, but as “Ack-a-rat”. I was wondering if the 2nd pronunciation had anything to do with saying the phrase: Ack! A rat! 
I’m pretty sure that is the same voice actor. You are right they pronounce their own character’s name incorrectly in that cutscene but I’m 99% sure it’s the same voice actor. It’s just him without the pitch shifted voice, that we hear when he’s in the lion form. You can hear the same voice actor in the “Akarat’s Letter to the Dedicants” video on Diablo 4’s youtube channel. It’s all the same one.
But yes I agree with you, consistency is important and the voice director needs to be on top of these things. As an example, the voice director for Cyberpunk 2077 made it his top priority to make sure things were as consistent as possible and made sure everyone pronounced everything the same. I still think there’s a few minor inconsistencies that slipped through but they’re so minor I can’t even remember them.
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I noticed that the Sorceress I played now has a more robotic, AI-like tone to her voice. In situations where she shouts for help, it sounds as if it’s being pronounced by a cold synthesizer machine, no feeling, just flat tone. 
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Oh! Thank you! I honestly couldn’t tell it was the same voice actor to be honest. I know that you mentioned that his voice is only pitch shifted while he appears as a lion, but it was present when you go to Travincal for the 2nd time and meet him in a small room that has statues of his Dedicants in it…he reverts to a human form from the lion, yet the pitch shifting is still present. At least in my game it was. And also…I had no idea that there was an Akarat’s Letter to the Dedicants video on YouTube for D4, either. Should have known the voice had been pitch-shifted but was honestly not sure if he just had a very deep voice or not. You know…James-Earl-Jones-esque, but even deeper than that? Guess it could be possible…but yeah. Pitch shifting definitely makes more sense.
You’re hired. Go get em tiger 
While I agree if it’s different VAs for the same character, having it happen across different characters can actually help bring some diversity into the world.
People pronounce things differently, even people of the same culture/landscape. So having some variation between the people of sanctuary (though I bet this is Nahantu specific) wouldn’t be out of place.
I am aware of the fact that people do often pronounce things differently, even people of the same culture/landscape, as you said.
I am also aware that most of my posts read like a freaking novel I wasn’t referring to Nahantu-specific VAs, though. I did mention male Druid pronouncing Neyrelle’s name incorrectly at least 3 different times during the entire Campaign. And he switches between the two, seemingly every other sentence. The correct pronunciation, and then his version of her name, which is “Neh-rel”, instead of “Neigh-rel”.
As well as Eru pronouncing Maka’s name incorrectly but granted…that only happened one time with him. When you first meet Maka, he pronounces her name like the Japanese name Maka, as in the main protagonist of the older anime Soul Eater. Idk, it’s maybe not as old as I think…but it had been finished several years back from what I recall.
At a minimum of 1-2 mins later, as he opens the entrance to the aqueducts under Kurast, he calls her “mack-a”. Not sure what happened there…but I was thinking to myself…uh, Eru? You okay there, buddy? You on something you want to share with me??? But I digress…point being, it isn’t related to the people/VAs of Nahantu, as you were thinking.
I’m all for diversity of culture, especially in the context of a game I’m playing…but I’m not trying to squash that diversity…or at least I hope I’m not. But when the same VA pronounces things more than one way and won’t stick to just one…it is oddly frustrating.