My unrelated-to-Fable complaint is about Moss from the IT Crowd and how annoying it is that stunt casting has become the norm for voice over work in video games and animated movies. Remember when...
My unrelated-to-Fable complaint is about Moss from the IT Crowd and how annoying it is that stunt casting has become the norm for voice over work in video games and animated movies. Remember when character voices were distinct and recognizable and not just Actor-XYZ talking in his or her normal speaking voice?
Imagine Sesame Street came out today. Kermit the Frog would probably be voiced by Chris Pratt, and Miss Piggy by Leslie Jones, neither of them even trying to disguise it or give the character any distinct personality. Voice acting and being able to give a unique voice and life to characters feels like such an undervalued and underused talent nowadays, it makes me kind of sad.
I dont disagree with you, but in the case of Fable in particular it became a trademark to have British comedic actors in voice roles, such as Stephen Fry, Simon Pegg, Jonathan Ross, John Cleese,...
I dont disagree with you, but in the case of Fable in particular it became a trademark to have British comedic actors in voice roles, such as Stephen Fry, Simon Pegg, Jonathan Ross, John Cleese, and of course Zoë Wanamaker.
I never minded at the time and perhaps others consider them bad choices, but either way I think them choosing to use comedic actors again isn't necessarily a further data point in the trend of the industry as much as it is them sticking to "what Fable is".
Not only that but calling Richard Aoyade doing voice work "stunt acting" is a bit off-base too, since at this point he's done far more voice work than he has live acting roles.
Not playing himself as himself though. It's the same with Keanu, Giancarlo, and couple others I'm forgetting. It's now the actor pulling the audience and not the character in front of the actor....
Not playing himself as himself though.
It's the same with Keanu, Giancarlo, and couple others I'm forgetting. It's now the actor pulling the audience and not the character in front of the actor. Aside from that, there's something to say about verisimilitude a fantasy world being out of whack because there's now a very recognisable very real world person in my fantasy story.
See the actor or voice of the actor themself is not the issue, I watch Critical Role, and one of the side effects is that you'll hear the cast in all sorts of games everywhere. Doesn't pull me out of the fantasy though, because they're playing a character with a distinct voice and not themselves as themselves.
I get what you're saying, and agree with it for your other examples. But even though I love Aoyade (esp his panel show appearances), I don't think outside the UK his name is that much of a draw,...
I get what you're saying, and agree with it for your other examples. But even though I love Aoyade (esp his panel show appearances), I don't think outside the UK his name is that much of a draw, TBH. And he's also pretty heavily typecast as the neurotic nerd since he actually is a massive nerd, and has a very very distinctly nerdy voice, so he is kinda forced to play "himself" no matter what the role. :P I wouldn't classify that as "stunt acting" though, since he's not really famous enough for that, and so at this point he's just a standard "character actor" (i.e. actor known for playing the same type of role repeatedly).
That may be true, though the IT Crowd is rather popular, but I don't think that's necessarily the point. It's about having real people in these roles. I personally have no issue with it beyond...
That may be true, though the IT Crowd is rather popular, but I don't think that's necessarily the point. It's about having real people in these roles. I personally have no issue with it beyond thinking it strange (you're always sort of passively recognizing the real person behind the facade) but I understand some are pulled out of the fantasy entirely.
I think the line gets kinda blurry when the actor in question is already well known for their voicework almost as much as they're known for their live acting work. IMO Ayoade classifies, as do...
I think the line gets kinda blurry when the actor in question is already well known for their voicework almost as much as they're known for their live acting work. IMO Ayoade classifies, as do people like Sam Witwer, and a few others. IMO they're not "stunt actors" though, they're just actors who also do a lot of voice work, and did so even before the stunt actor trend really kicked off.
Ah, fair enough. I only ever played Fable Anniversary on the 360 and don't remember anything about the voice acting in that one (or even if there was any at all).
Ah, fair enough. I only ever played Fable Anniversary on the 360 and don't remember anything about the voice acting in that one (or even if there was any at all).
It seems that they are rebooting Fable. I was a teen when the first one came out, and I loved all 3 games. I'm fine with the prospect of a reboot, especially if they handle it well. Overall, I...
It seems that they are rebooting Fable. I was a teen when the first one came out, and I loved all 3 games. I'm fine with the prospect of a reboot, especially if they handle it well. Overall, I liked this trailer.
But that's not really why I'm posting this. The top comment on this video is a guy complaining about how this game is for the "modern audience" and he's reserved about it.
What does this even mean? Isn't all audience nowadays modern by definition? Maybe I'm being pedantic. It also struck me a bit as an "old man yells at clouds" moment.
On one hand, I don't like how companies cling to IPs and are averse to coming up with something completely fresh. On the other hand, most art in existence was built on previous experiences/ideas. Why would we exempt games from this?
So, overall, I can't say that I get the remark. My tastes have always changed with time, so I never thought about such concepts. But anyways; how do you feel about this trailer? Do you have any strong feelings that it's getting rebooted? Maybe you have some ideas about what a "modern audience" really is?
For what it's worth, I'm not seeing the same comment anywhere, so either we're getting fed different comments or it's been buried or deleted. Either way, without reading the wording within the...
For what it's worth, I'm not seeing the same comment anywhere, so either we're getting fed different comments or it's been buried or deleted. Either way, without reading the wording within the full context and tone of the comment it's hard to say exactly what they might have meant but my first (unfortunate) inclination is to think that they might have been making a dog whistle-y gripe about the "presenter" being black (Richard Ayoade is an international treasure and everyone should watch IT Crowd), the game's main character being presented here as a woman that isn't just a sex object, or both.
Maybe I'm being too cynical, but I don't tend to give much credence to the comments of a YouTube video, maybe only slightly more than the amount I give to the comments on a news article. It's always been my impression that there's little more than pot-stirring going on in those venues.
As for the "modern audience" I honestly think that the only thing significantly different about gamers now vs. gamers back in 2005 when the original Fable released is that we acknowledge that there are more of us from all sorts of walks of life. I think back in the early 2000s there was still a mindset that games were mostly for boys (not real Men, and certainly not women or girls. And don't even mention anyone that doesn't subscribe to binary gender theory, it'll just confuse the poor basement dwellers! (all sarcasm, for the record)) and that games were still largely designed with a focus on the entertainment of that relatively narrow band of their potential audience.
I think, in contrast, that the "modern audience" acknowledges that all sorts of games for all sorts of people and even different games for the same people at different stages in their lives is a positive thing. Some folks might call that "woke" and rail against it for that reason only, but I think you're right when you call the YouTube comment an "old man yells at clouds" moment. Ultimately, whatever it was that they disapproved of enough that they felt they needed to make their voice heard on the subject, decrying something for being "too modern" is, by the very nature of the statement, just an indication that the commenter is feeling left behind because the world never stops moving and changing and is outpacing their own personal evolution.
In my own experience I can understand that sentiment a little bit, because real personal growth can be exhausting. It's a process of constantly reevaluating your beliefs and either adjusting or wholly realigning your goals whereas sticking to a point that you've always held as your "true north" is significantly easier. The problem with the "true north" approach is that it's a bit like building a straight road for the sake of an easier drive, regardless of the number of bridges you have to build over the river that winds back and forth across your path. The modern audience are just the folks that build their road along the side of the river to follow its overall course and only make bridges that are necessary to get them where they want to go, if the river starts running in a direction they don't want to travel.
As much as I love Ayoade, having a cgi version of him advertising a video game is not particularly a thing I wanted to see. Personally speaking the thing I liked about the original Fable and the...
As much as I love Ayoade, having a cgi version of him advertising a video game is not particularly a thing I wanted to see.
Personally speaking the thing I liked about the original Fable and the reason why I never played any of the sequels was not because the designers knew what was optimal and built a game around it, but because it was like a bunch of experiments put out into the world. It wasn’t really based on anything; sure it had its inspirations but it was full of originality and optimism.
I assume what the commenter meant by modern audience was that they were expecting this game to be like every other AAA title out there; workshopped to hell, audience tested, with gameplay so streamlined it might just play itself if you’re not too careful. While I can’t fairly judge the rest of the series I think that seems to be a turn off to the audience who likes it since I have heard plenty of complaining about the latter games with the Fable moniker.
My unrelated-to-Fable complaint is about Moss from the IT Crowd and how annoying it is that stunt casting has become the norm for voice over work in video games and animated movies. Remember when character voices were distinct and recognizable and not just Actor-XYZ talking in his or her normal speaking voice?
Imagine Sesame Street came out today. Kermit the Frog would probably be voiced by Chris Pratt, and Miss Piggy by Leslie Jones, neither of them even trying to disguise it or give the character any distinct personality. Voice acting and being able to give a unique voice and life to characters feels like such an undervalued and underused talent nowadays, it makes me kind of sad.
I dont disagree with you, but in the case of Fable in particular it became a trademark to have British comedic actors in voice roles, such as Stephen Fry, Simon Pegg, Jonathan Ross, John Cleese, and of course Zoë Wanamaker.
I never minded at the time and perhaps others consider them bad choices, but either way I think them choosing to use comedic actors again isn't necessarily a further data point in the trend of the industry as much as it is them sticking to "what Fable is".
Not only that but calling Richard Aoyade doing voice work "stunt acting" is a bit off-base too, since at this point he's done far more voice work than he has live acting roles.
Not playing himself as himself though.
It's the same with Keanu, Giancarlo, and couple others I'm forgetting. It's now the actor pulling the audience and not the character in front of the actor. Aside from that, there's something to say about verisimilitude a fantasy world being out of whack because there's now a very recognisable very real world person in my fantasy story.
See the actor or voice of the actor themself is not the issue, I watch Critical Role, and one of the side effects is that you'll hear the cast in all sorts of games everywhere. Doesn't pull me out of the fantasy though, because they're playing a character with a distinct voice and not themselves as themselves.
I get what you're saying, and agree with it for your other examples. But even though I love Aoyade (esp his panel show appearances), I don't think outside the UK his name is that much of a draw, TBH. And he's also pretty heavily typecast as the neurotic nerd since he actually is a massive nerd, and has a very very distinctly nerdy voice, so he is kinda forced to play "himself" no matter what the role. :P I wouldn't classify that as "stunt acting" though, since he's not really famous enough for that, and so at this point he's just a standard "character actor" (i.e. actor known for playing the same type of role repeatedly).
That may be true, though the IT Crowd is rather popular, but I don't think that's necessarily the point. It's about having real people in these roles. I personally have no issue with it beyond thinking it strange (you're always sort of passively recognizing the real person behind the facade) but I understand some are pulled out of the fantasy entirely.
I think the line gets kinda blurry when the actor in question is already well known for their voicework almost as much as they're known for their live acting work. IMO Ayoade classifies, as do people like Sam Witwer, and a few others. IMO they're not "stunt actors" though, they're just actors who also do a lot of voice work, and did so even before the stunt actor trend really kicked off.
Ah, fair enough. I only ever played Fable Anniversary on the 360 and don't remember anything about the voice acting in that one (or even if there was any at all).
It seems that they are rebooting Fable. I was a teen when the first one came out, and I loved all 3 games. I'm fine with the prospect of a reboot, especially if they handle it well. Overall, I liked this trailer.
But that's not really why I'm posting this. The top comment on this video is a guy complaining about how this game is for the "modern audience" and he's reserved about it.
What does this even mean? Isn't all audience nowadays modern by definition? Maybe I'm being pedantic. It also struck me a bit as an "old man yells at clouds" moment.
On one hand, I don't like how companies cling to IPs and are averse to coming up with something completely fresh. On the other hand, most art in existence was built on previous experiences/ideas. Why would we exempt games from this?
So, overall, I can't say that I get the remark. My tastes have always changed with time, so I never thought about such concepts. But anyways; how do you feel about this trailer? Do you have any strong feelings that it's getting rebooted? Maybe you have some ideas about what a "modern audience" really is?
For what it's worth, I'm not seeing the same comment anywhere, so either we're getting fed different comments or it's been buried or deleted. Either way, without reading the wording within the full context and tone of the comment it's hard to say exactly what they might have meant but my first (unfortunate) inclination is to think that they might have been making a dog whistle-y gripe about the "presenter" being black (Richard Ayoade is an international treasure and everyone should watch IT Crowd), the game's main character being presented here as a woman that isn't just a sex object, or both.
Maybe I'm being too cynical, but I don't tend to give much credence to the comments of a YouTube video, maybe only slightly more than the amount I give to the comments on a news article. It's always been my impression that there's little more than pot-stirring going on in those venues.
As for the "modern audience" I honestly think that the only thing significantly different about gamers now vs. gamers back in 2005 when the original Fable released is that we acknowledge that there are more of us from all sorts of walks of life. I think back in the early 2000s there was still a mindset that games were mostly for boys (not real Men, and certainly not women or girls. And don't even mention anyone that doesn't subscribe to binary gender theory, it'll just confuse the poor basement dwellers! (all sarcasm, for the record)) and that games were still largely designed with a focus on the entertainment of that relatively narrow band of their potential audience.
I think, in contrast, that the "modern audience" acknowledges that all sorts of games for all sorts of people and even different games for the same people at different stages in their lives is a positive thing. Some folks might call that "woke" and rail against it for that reason only, but I think you're right when you call the YouTube comment an "old man yells at clouds" moment. Ultimately, whatever it was that they disapproved of enough that they felt they needed to make their voice heard on the subject, decrying something for being "too modern" is, by the very nature of the statement, just an indication that the commenter is feeling left behind because the world never stops moving and changing and is outpacing their own personal evolution.
In my own experience I can understand that sentiment a little bit, because real personal growth can be exhausting. It's a process of constantly reevaluating your beliefs and either adjusting or wholly realigning your goals whereas sticking to a point that you've always held as your "true north" is significantly easier. The problem with the "true north" approach is that it's a bit like building a straight road for the sake of an easier drive, regardless of the number of bridges you have to build over the river that winds back and forth across your path. The modern audience are just the folks that build their road along the side of the river to follow its overall course and only make bridges that are necessary to get them where they want to go, if the river starts running in a direction they don't want to travel.
As much as I love Ayoade, having a cgi version of him advertising a video game is not particularly a thing I wanted to see.
Personally speaking the thing I liked about the original Fable and the reason why I never played any of the sequels was not because the designers knew what was optimal and built a game around it, but because it was like a bunch of experiments put out into the world. It wasn’t really based on anything; sure it had its inspirations but it was full of originality and optimism.
I assume what the commenter meant by modern audience was that they were expecting this game to be like every other AAA title out there; workshopped to hell, audience tested, with gameplay so streamlined it might just play itself if you’re not too careful. While I can’t fairly judge the rest of the series I think that seems to be a turn off to the audience who likes it since I have heard plenty of complaining about the latter games with the Fable moniker.