British and/or Non-american accent in voicelines used because ESO is staged in a medieval setting?

angelwithashotgun

I realized that when listening to the voicelines in quests, that there is either british or accentless english being spoken. Which got me thinking why an american company would seem to not hire any "american" speaking voice actor. I immediatly thought it must be because such thing as: "The Middle Age" did simply not exist in America and started googling a bit around. I tried to find an answer considering the voice actor choice but couldn't find any. No thread, no post, no Q&A. So I am just throwing this in here, because why not.

kaushad

This is common in the genre, even if it probably isn't true to medieval Britain, but most Men in ESO, other than Nords and Reachfolk, have American accents anyway.

BaalMelqartu

Not personally concerned about accents. They could all speak like a kiwi, Nigerian, Dane or Texan or a complete mixture. It's fantasy.

Danikat

kaushad wrote: »

This is common in the genre, even if it probably isn't true to medieval Britain, but most Men in ESO, other than Nords and Reachfolk, have American accents anyway.

I'm guessing that's the "accentless" English the OP refered to. A lot of people tend to describe people speaking with their own accent or one from their country without a distinctive regional dialect as 'accentless'. In practice everyone has an accent. Even recieved pronounciation which is the closest British English comes to an 'official' form is an accent, just not one anyone has naturally. (Hence the name - it has to be 'recieved' or learned.)

A lot of British actors will tell stories about auditioning in America and being asked to read lines "with no accent" so they put on the strongest American accent they can manage and then get told that was perfect.

Amottica

With the Imperials seemingly modeled somewhat after how we depict ancient Romans it would make sense that European voice actors and actresses would be used heavily. After all, the imperials are at the center of this game.

Danikat

I'm not sure how accurate it is, but here's the game's IMDB page, which lists several Americans, among other nationalities: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3485722/fullcredits

ArchMikem

It's not the High Fantasy setting that dictates the accents used, it's the established cultures of the different Peoples of Tamriel. If the game was full of nothing but middle American voices it'd be all the lesser for it.

Northwold

BaalMelqartu wrote: »

Not personally concerned about accents. They could all speak like a kiwi, Nigerian, Dane or Texan or a complete mixture. It's fantasy.

And, indeed, they do...!

Ufretin

As a non-native speaker I've always interpreted it like this:

• Bretons, Imperials, Redguards, Argonians, Orcs : American (with some exceptions, like Abnur Tharn, Varen: British, ...)
• Nord: Mix of American and weird German/Scandinavian accents
• Reachmen: Scottish/Irish (?)
• Altmer: British upper class
• Bosmer: British commoner
• Dunmer: in between Altmer and Bosmer
• Khajiit: Cats

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Kite42

Bosmer are Dick van Dyke cockney
Khajiit are halfway between Slavic like Russian or somewhere in the middle east. Purrrsia maybe?

- I'll get my coat ...

FrancisCrawford

BaalMelqartu wrote: »

Not personally concerned about accents. They could all speak like a kiwi, Nigerian, Dane or Texan or a complete mixture. It's fantasy.

My take is something like:

• Breton: Generic American
• Imperial: Ditto, but less likeable
• Redguard: Generic Black American
• Orc: Stereotypical "urban tough guy" White American
• Nord: Stereotypical Scandinavian
• High elf: Generic affluent British
• Dunmer: Generic educated British, a little less affluent
• Wood elf: Stereotypical less educated British
• Khajiit: Based on Russian or other Slavic accents
• Argonian: Based on American accents

FrancisCrawford

Kite42 wrote: »

Bosmer are Dick van Dyke cockney
Khajiit are halfway between Slavic like Russian or somewhere in the middle east. Purrrsia maybe?

- I'll get my coat ...

I used to call them Cockney, but I realized I don't notice them dropping Hs.

Aztrias

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

• Nord: Stereotypical Scandinavian
• High elf: Generic affluent British
• Dunmer: Generic educated British, a little less affluent
• Wood elf: Stereotypical less educated British

A lot of it sounds like Americans doing half-bad impressions... it's kind of charming


I have only noticed one Nord in Elder Scrolls media with a noticable Scandinavian accent and that was Mjoll the Lioness in Skyrim(and some other npc's voiced by the same actress who is from Sweden)

I'm not complaining though because heavy accented Scandinavian English often sound pretty bad(especially Eastern Norwegian, just listen to people like Petter Solberg and Jens Stoltenberg and you get an idea)

RevJJ

Aztrias wrote: »

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

• Nord: Stereotypical Scandinavian
• High elf: Generic affluent British
• Dunmer: Generic educated British, a little less affluent
• Wood elf: Stereotypical less educated British

A lot of it sounds like Americans doing half-bad impressions... it's kind of charming


I have only noticed one Nord in Elder Scrolls media with a noticable Scandinavian accent and that was Mjoll the Lioness in Skyrim(and some other npc's voiced by the same actress who is from Sweden)

I'm not complaining though because heavy accented Scandinavian English often sound pretty bad(especially Eastern Norwegian, just listen to people like Petter Solberg and Jens Stoltenberg and you get an idea)

Jorunn the Skald King would like a word.

Aztrias

oh I forgot him...


His accent is not that strong though, Mjoll is much more "swenglish"

Khenarthi

Maybe it's because I'm European, but I perceive a lot of americanness in the accents of most NPCs.

amig186

Most of the actors are American, they just do different accents to make the races sound distinct. Aside from Oblivion which had 1 voice actor per 2 races, Altmer and Dunmer in the series always sounded more English and Khajiit had their funny little accent, while everyone else sounded American. Nords didn't have any sort of accent until Skyrim, and even there only half of them have it. ESO has the largest variety of accents so far, some of them sound better than others but I think the lower class English fits the Bosmer really well, they should keep that for TES 6.

Muizer

angelwithashotgun wrote: »

I realized that when listening to the voicelines in quests, that there is either british or accentless english being spoken. Which got me thinking why an american company would seem to not hire any "american" speaking voice actor. I immediatly thought it must be because such thing as: "The Middle Age" did simply not exist in America and started googling a bit around. I tried to find an answer considering the voice actor choice but couldn't find any. No thread, no post, no Q&A. So I am just throwing this in here, because why not.

I think so. Americans may not care, but e.g. in Europe I think we're conditioned to associate the American accent with more modern themes.

Northwold

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Kite42 wrote: »

Bosmer are Dick van Dyke cockney
Khajiit are halfway between Slavic like Russian or somewhere in the middle east. Purrrsia maybe?

- I'll get my coat ...

I used to call them Cockney, but I realized I don't notice them dropping Hs.

I was wondering why a lot of people called them cockney when I've always thought most of them sound like Devon colliding with Norfolk via Sydney, but I think it must be the tour guide, because she definitely *is* doing cockney/mockney (along with a few other characters) and it sticks. The others are, well, globe-trotting, and not always in a good way, but maybe the accents shift between the tree-dense wood elf zones and the slightly greener ones.

LikiLoki

khajiit cover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4Eo_eF2Dbk&list=LL&index=123

Soarora

It’s not really a medieval setting except for the Bretons. Every race has their own accent and are based on different cultures. The accent and the culture may or may not match.

FrancisCrawford

Northwold wrote: »

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Kite42 wrote: »

Bosmer are Dick van Dyke cockney
Khajiit are halfway between Slavic like Russian or somewhere in the middle east. Purrrsia maybe?

- I'll get my coat ...

I used to call them Cockney, but I realized I don't notice them dropping Hs.

I was wondering why a lot of people called them cockney when I've always thought most of them sound like Devon colliding with Norfolk via Sydney, but I think it must be the tour guide, because she definitely *is* doing cockney/mockney (along with a few other characters) and it sticks. The others are, well, globe-trotting, and not always in a good way, but maybe the accents shift between the tree-dense wood elf zones and the slightly greener ones.

All I want is a tree somewhere
'igh above the 'igh elf air ...

(For me, right or wrong, the quintessential Cockney accent is the one from the commonly posh Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady. ... And if she'd gotten that film role as she should have, fewer people might have ever been subjected to *** ***'s accent in the film she made instead. )

https://youtu.be/yMNPD0MZD2I?t=47

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZx1zKoNBx4

Ye_Olde_Crowe

Amottica wrote: »

With the Imperials seemingly modeled somewhat after how we depict ancient Romans it would make sense that European voice actors and actresses would be used heavily. After all, the imperials are at the center of this game.

And this is why I always found the Imperials' American accent somewhat jarring, tbh.

Monte_Cristo

I thought the Khajiit accent was supposed to be Romani?

angelwithashotgun

Yes exactly, so I totally forgot to mention that; wrote this post in 2 minutes without reading through it. Yes there is the very distinguishable slavic accent aswell. Totally forgot that. But I just came to realize, that, what I consider the "american" country accent to be, was simply not found in the game. And hence my thoughtprocess.

Four_Fingers

I guess they couldn't afford any voice actors from another planet, Nirn.

Northwold

angelwithashotgun wrote: »

Yes exactly, so I totally forgot to mention that; wrote this post in 2 minutes without reading through it. Yes there is the very distinguishable slavic accent aswell. Totally forgot that. But I just came to realize, that, what I consider the "american" country accent to be, was simply not found in the game. And hence my thoughtprocess.

There are a lot of American accents spread through the game (immediately springing to mind, Lyris Titanborn, Jakarn, I think Darien although it's a long time since I heard him so may be wrong on that, various unimportant NPCs).

Also worth mentioning that a large number of the original stars are British. Michael Gambon (actually Irish and British), Kate Beckinsale, John Cleese, Malcolm McDowell, Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy. Although that may well have come from the decision to go British rather than caused it.

Crown_of_Antlers

I've often thought that some of the Bosmers sound Australian. In fact there's a male in Grahtwood who I can't listen to without thinking of Crocodile Dundee.

ArchangelIsraphel

I'm not sure what OP means by an "American Accent" since accents can vary from state to state in the US and sound very different. Heck, where I'm from in the north east, you can have a different accent just by living in a different city, and I'm sure regional variations exist in states across the nation as well. Someone from Mississippi, for example, isn't going to sound a thing like someone from New York, unless they migrated there.

A lot of these regional variations are spread throughout the game- they aren't "accentless" at all.

Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the parent company Bethesda is actually German based.

Nightowl_74

I don't pay a whole lot of attention but I know I've noticed characters speaking with a "generic" American accent, because that's what I hear every day here on the west coast. I can't say I've ever noticed regional U.S. accents in the game, but that could just be because my ears aren't as attuned to picking them out from among the rest.

Northwold

Nightowl_74 wrote: »

I don't pay a whole lot of attention but I know I've noticed characters speaking with a "generic" American accent, because that's what I hear every day here on the west coast. I can't say I've ever noticed regional U.S. accents in the game, but that could just be because my ears aren't as attuned to picking them out from among the rest.

Lyranth in the Deadlands says "most" instead of "almost". I like to think she grew up in the Deep South on a farm.