the new german localization is absolutely awful in comparison to the old one. The old localization was made really well but the new voices sound very boring and many phrases are less expressive than before.
The new english voice-over seems to be very similar to the old english voice-over. So why is the new german voice-over so much different from the old one? Does the new studio don’t know about the old localization?
Some examples:
Trolls don’t have accent anymore
FS: “Benötigt Ihr meinen Rat?” (Do you need my council?) is not pronounced like it’s a question. In the old localization it was “Braucht Ihr meinen Rat”. It has the same meaning but I think the old version is better.
New shadow hunter voice is really really bad (voice is too deep)
Shadow hunter (Ready1): “Möchtet Ihr was echt gruseliges sehen?” ( Want to see somethin’ real scary?) was comparable to the english version before but now it sounds really really boring.
TC (Ready1): “Die Axt im Haus erspart den Zimmermann” was replaced by “Ich habe das Kriegsbeil ausgegraben”. The old phrase was epic. The new one is really boring.
Shaman “Sturm, Erde und Feuer, hört meinen Ruf” is less expressive than before.
New human worker voice is ridiculous
New archmage voice is also ridiculous. Pronounciation (or stressing?) is not on point.
MK: “Wartet bis Ihr mich im Einsatz seht” was replaced by “Wartet bis Ihr mich in Aktion seht” (Wait 'til you see me in action!). Both phrases have the same meaning but the old version sounds a lot better.
Footman and Rifleman both say “Was braucht Ihr?” and both sound really similar. In the old version they were easy to distinguish.
The old footman voice was really nice and now it’s very monotonous and doesn’t fit as good as the old voice
These are just some things that I realized by watching the videos below.
Orc gameplay:
Human gameplay:
I hope someone at Blizzard will finally compare both localizations and realize that the old version was fantastically superior.
Blizzard, please make changes to the new voice-over!
full solidarity with german players
russian localization is just awful same
Some actors read the text without any emotion. This isn’t only a bad level for blizzard personally, it is not professional at all
Make possible to remove the russian sound, or don’t let out this shame
Why complain? At least you have own language client. How about those of us that even doesn’t have own language client. Forced to play on English. Old files are maybe not compatible with the remastered version.
Yup. I will change the new WC3 voices into english.
I don´t like the new german voices
I want to hear dialects like: “Was Ihr wolle?” instead of “Was wollt Ihr?” (What do you want?)
And I don´t like the fact, that my human priests sound like Thrall or something like that (8:54 Human Gameplay - The first Voice “Ich komme um dieses Land zu läutern”)
Take the original voice files if this is your replacement. That’s an extremely poor job. All voices sound extremely bored and out of place. What is this? oO
In the Starcraft: Remastered they gave us the option to choose between the old and new voices. So I have my hopes up that we will be given the same option in Reforged as well.
I am here to stress the point that you should really give the players the option to switch to the original voices. It’s not just nostalgia but also the fact that the new voices are lackluster.
The original post has already emphasised some shortcomings but I really have to say that I am even more disappointed by the Undead voice actors.
I will give you two examples to clarify my statement:
When the “old” Dark Ranger replied a second echoing voice accompanied every line to make her voice sound more haunting. The newer voice-acting however completly drops this effect which can only be explained by cheap or lazy production.
Another infamous example must be the Banshee:
The “old” Banshee replied every line in deep screams and considering the harsh nature of the German language she used to give me the creeps.
The new banshee however, seems to intent to put me to sleep.
Concluding my statement with those two examples (and there are many more) you can see that the new production is missing the vibe and the atmosphere of the old voice-acting. This is not only based on the fact that we all are nostalgic neckbeards but rather on the lack of effort put into the new voice lines.
This is a shame. I’ve completely switched over to English voices with my games because localization started becoming worse. That was around 2007/2008 when the HD gaming era began.
The only games I would still bother to play in German are Ubisoft games and WarCraft III.
Not every line could be translated properly because of the wordplay nature of some references (Mörserkampf anyone?) but it was effort put into it. And now this.
Oh well. Give is the option for the old voices at least, and I’m happy.
PS: Anyone here plays German WoW? How is the voice actor situation there? Did some of the WC3 actors made it? Is the quality ok?
