Whenever I download Genshin impact on a new device, the first thing I do immediately is download the Chinese voice pack. I’m not a snob about doubts against subs. The problem is that the English voice turns my favorite characters into unrelated strangers I barely recognize.
Things don’t work out the same way in Inazuma’s latest content, released this month as part of Genshin impact version 2.1. I found myself comparing and contrasting between the English voice and the Chinese voice within the new content. Although Baal and Sara are arrogant characters with a dominant air, they have protective personalities underneath. As he played his Chinese lines of voice in his profiles, he had the impression that they cared for the traveler in a maternal or sisterly way. Meanwhile, English dubbing flattened these women into girls ’heads. Unfortunately, Sara and Baal are not the only characters who have changed their personality through English localization.
A year ago, I started playing the game in Chinese because Paimon, your fairy guide throughout the game, has a infamous annoyance tendency to speak in the third person. Once I did, I knew it Genshin Impact the characters look like real friends in the Chinese voice-over. On the contrary, they look like anime troops in the English voice-over. The differences are so discordant that I find it hard to enjoy the English voice pack.
While my objections to dubbing may seem strange, the Genshin impact the community has often been embroiled in controversy over the English voice. In February this year, voice actor Barbara was harassed online by players because miHoYo had changed her voice to sound less enthusiastic (please don’t do this). It certainly doesn’t help that voice actors can’t always publicly comment on voice prompts which was given to them.
But my voice doubts aren’t just about the controversial characters who have significantly changed their personalities over time. I find that most of the characters in the English version have unnaturally exaggerated personalities, are more arrogant than their Chinese counterparts, or are strangely aggressive to someone who is supposed to be your best friend.
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I wish the English voice direction would allow it Genshin characters for being ordinary people. If you’ve ever found Paimon’s use of third-party annoying annoying, I’m sorry to inform you that most speak Chinese normally. She’s still cheeky and impulsive, but she doesn’t seem to be deliberately trying to look like a fairy. Paimon is a friend in Chinese and an emergency ration in English.
Other characters also sound less relatable in English. The hidden English voice of the hidden Mona who is an impoverished girl with problems of illusion. He would lend money to the grumpy and stumbling Chinese Mona more easily than the aristocratic English Mona.
Nor do I appreciate Kaeya’s mysterious and princely English way of speaking. Chinese Kaeya did suspicious things while looking like a charismatic, normal guy who could be found in a bar. I had to balance my suspicions about his actions with his simple personality. This dynamic does not exist at all in the English voice-over, where he suspected from the beginning.
There are some strangely aggressive changes in English dub. After hearing how Zhongli sounded rudimentary and meaningless in English dubbing, I finally understood why the repeated phrase, “Zhongli is abusive of Xiao,” became a huge controversy in January this year. .
In the Chinese version, Zhongli is a kind father figure who speaks patiently and kindly. Xiao was not originally aggressive either. Englishman Xiao sounds like he wants to get on with me at any moment. Despite the same fearsome appearance, the Chinese Xiao speaks in a very detached, soft and indifferent tone. He wears no heart on his silk sleeve. And the voice guidance also made our boy Venti very dirty. He was so used to a Venti that he was empowered, kind, and mocking. After hearing how he would speak to me in the English voice pack, I wanted to throw him into the lake.
While I can’t claim to know why miHoYo made these soft guys so aggressive, I’ve also noticed a similar pattern for the Japanese location. Unless they are aristocratic, gentle men are forced to express themselves more aggressively for the English market. I can see why, given the kind of sexist masculinity that Hollywood constantly exhibits. But these voice direction options confuse character relationships. Also, shouldn’t men be allowed to be gentle? It’s 2021 and BTS is the most popular band in the world for its soft characters. As popular tastes change, the direction of the voice should change as well.
And the worst crime is how the English characters pronounce “Liyue” and “Qixing.” I am very excited that English voice actors are not bilingual. Still, the anime industry has managed to get many of the English VAs to pronounce Japanese names. When I hear a voice actor pronounce the “e” at the end of Liyue, I realize they use Japanese pronunciation.
I hope they are finally given training to pronounce Chinese names. As someone with a Chinese name, it feels bad to hear non-Asian people carnage Chinese names with embarrassing regularity. Until that happens, I settle for playing with the Chinese voice pack.
The English localization struggles to achieve Chinese nuances, so it relies heavily on anime troupes rather than trying to replicate the experience of interacting with real people. English dub is also much simpler, rather than relying on players to read between the lines and listen to the tone. The location is very subjective, so I can’t say the English voice is necessarily “bad”. My problem is that voice direction changes the context and implications of how English players live the story. Regardless of the language the players choose, Genshin impact it is ultimately a Chinese story. If the characters ’personality changes, I find it harder to connect the different motivations that drive them to commit heroic or evil acts.
Even if you only speak English, I recommend activating the Chinese voice pack to experience a better context for the characters in Genshin impact. Certain characters may be much friendlier than at first glance.