I’ve been schmoozing with my contact at Squeenix, who happens to have been the head of the DQ8 localization team. We’ve been talking about all the different accents and puns in the game, and it’s pretty neat. He let slip something cool: Ricky Grover, the voice talent for Yangus, mirrored him perfectly: he’s not only a real Cockney and dyslexic, he’s also an ex-criminal! At first he wasn’t going to be able to do the part due to other constraints, but he identified with the character so much that he flew in on his own money.
Another neat tidbit is that Kid’s accent from Chrono Cross is based off of my contact’s sister (he’s Australian).
I’m wondering if he’ll let me post the whole conversation, because there’s some other cool info in there, but that’s the only stuff I actually asked him if I could post.
I’m amazed that he said you’re allowed to post the fact that one of the voice actors is an ex-criminal. Then again, knowing the lengths that corporations will go these days for publicity…
To my understanding and some comparisons, the EU release seemed to have the Symphonic Suite soundtrack plastered on it when compared to the US version and the OST I had of it.
This true? We got something out of being the late release again?
He’s apparently pretty well-known as a comedian, so it’s not like he’s some obscure voice actor. And I don’t really see how this would possibly impact S-E in a bad way, honestly.
Maba: No, the US release also had the symphonic soundtrack.
Umm, ex-criminals aren’t procluded from ever working again. It’s called rehabilitation, and it’s how we turn former bad-eggs into productive members of our community. Besides, if we didn’t ever allow anyone to work again if they were ever in legal trouble, we’d lose most of Hollywood.
Um, I never said I personally disagreed with it. Just that its possible that if some parent group finds out about it, they would make a big deal about it. And I think they would.
I highly, highly doubt that any parent group would grab hold of the fact that a voice actor in a video game at one point had an unspecified criminal background. They’re not that nuts.
I don’t care what the constraints of this guys job is, You don’t throw out a bomb like that without wanting to elaborate
Anyway, I don’t even know what this game is we’re talking about, but I’ll agree that in this day and age of buying prostitutes in videogames, family groups probably aren’t going to get upset over a voice actor - when they probably don’t even know what a voice actor is
We’re talking about Dragon Quest 8. You know, not exactly Grand Theft Auto. 8p
No, I’m not going to pry, because it’s not my business. Perhaps you’re entirely missing the point. O_o Yangus in DQ8 is an ex-criminal, which is why this deal with the voice actor is so cool - he identified with Yangus because he was exactly like him, a dyslexic Cockney ex-criminal. I wouldn’t be just randomly throwing out stuff like that.
Having not played DG8, that DOES sound pretty neat. And Curtis, you do seem to be looking into this a bit mroe than you have to. It was jsut meant to be an “oh, that’s cool” kind of revelation, ya know?
Yeah, and I was wrong to think it would somehow bring bad publicity. But still, if it was me, I’d be curious as hell to know what the guy’s criminal record was. Just human nature, I guess. Still, I can understand not wanting to push, since this guy probably has people all the time asking him questions.
Yeah, sorry, I can be a little rough around the edges, especially nowadays. Anyway, that is a weird coincidence - but life is full of those, if you’re paying attention.
