Troy Baker's Voice acting ruining a character?

[GypsyTeal]

A great voice acting performance can nearly make or break a character nowadays. I mean, how would The Last of Us's Joel have been seen if a different voice actor was used and the performance wasn't so heartfelt.. emotional.. and just amazing?

 

But to that question is the other side.. Troy Baker voiced and did just.. an amazing job creating what we know of Joel. But now, Troy Baker is a main voice actor in many, many games. And he has been for a few years now. I personally came to know him as Kanji from Persona 4. Then Snow in Final Fantasy XIII. Those two roles weren't exactly lead characters but part of the main cast. Then he was again in the main cast as Jake in Resident Evil 6. Booker in BioShock.. and on and on and on.. And before I knew it, all I heard was Snow, Kanji, Jake, Booker (my personal experiences w/Troy's work) when I heard him acting his heart out as Joel. And honestly, it nearly ruined it for me. Luckily that southern accent was just enough for me. 

 

Now again, I struggle. I am hearing him again in Far Cry 4 and Call of Duty (though he has history voicing in that series but..it's a new character) .. and will be hearing him taking over the role of Ocelot in Metal Gear Solid V. He always, always does an amazing job. This man is just one of the best actors I've heard and seen watching his mocop work. But he is just appearing in so many games, all as a part of the main cast.. and that man has an epic voice, usually one game makers are not asking him to change.. and lately as the outright main protagonist / antagonist and it's beginning to ruin the character for me.

 

Am I the only one struggling with loving his voice, but having issues not associating it with all the many, many characters he's already used it with? =(

[Kurobleidd]

Personally I have no problem with Troy lending his voice to so many games. I've enjoyed his VA from the first game I heard his voice (Tales of Vesperia) to the latest. (inFAMOUS Second Son)

Edited November 20, 2014 by Hikari_Symphony

[Arkthur]

I barely notice the voice actors of any game I mean, how the hell was I supossed to know that Nathan Drake and The Penguin are the same guy IS the same with Troy, I don't pay too much attention to what characters he does, I just enjoy the work.

[Toxi]

Nope, I've enjoyed his work everytime. I think he's done a good job of bringing a completely different vibe to each role. (the ones I've played at least).

[Carville87]

Granted some of his voices sound the same but he has some serious range

 

[damon8r351]

Troy Baker has enough of an acting range to me that I hardly notice it's him until I read a cast list for the game. I didn't notice Troy Baker did Pagan Min until someone here commented on it. Nolan North is another actor that does a lot of voices, but he also has enough of a range to make it unnoticeable to me. I didn't catch on that he did the voice of David (the cannibal leader in The Last of Us) until someone pointed it out.

[GypsyTeal]

I didn't notice Troy Baker did Pagan Min until someone here commented on it. Nolan North is another actor that does a lot of voices, but he also has enough of a range to make it unnoticeable to me. I didn't catch on that he did the voice of David (the cannibal leader in The Last of Us) until someone pointed it out.

 

Hmm, yea that's a good point - I knew it was Baker going into playing Far Cry 4. Maybe I need to stay away from voice casts before I play the game. And same here with Nolan North, that man fools me every time. 

[Scorpiio93]

I didn't know he voiced Kanji! O: I need to read up about Troy more. I've been too busy falling in love with Joel's voice!

[Kashiyuka]

The thing with Troy Baker that makes him the protagonist/antagonist of many games is he has fantastic vocal range.  Joel from The Last of Us is the same voice as Espio the Chameleon from Sonic, Snow from the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy and the biggest contrast of all, the Joker from Batman: Arkham Origins.  Personally, I didn't even know that the Joker was Troy Baker when I saw gameplay, then someone said "Oh yeah, that's Troy Baker".  So damn convincing.  Mind.  Blown.

 

But personally, the fact he's in everything doesn't bother me anyway, since I think he's a fantastic voice actor and an all-around awesome guy from his Twitter.  

 

Love your Serah avatar btw.  

[GypsyTeal]

Love your Serah avatar btw.  

 

Haha, thanks! =)

[antithesis]

I understand what you're saying, but the personality and appearance of a video game character impacts me more than the voice acting.

For example, Nolan North's voice is a defining characteristic of Nathan Drake. The character development and dialogue is so important to selling the Uncharted experience that it's difficult to separate the two.

On the flipside, I barely even registered that North also voiced Desmond Miles in seven Assassin's Creed games. Desmond is little more than a bit player compared to Nate, so it's no wonder North's voice was almost unrecognisable, even though it's the same voice, different character... Maybe if Desmond's character got equal billing to Nate, North's appearance in one game would impact my experience with another, but that's yet to be the case for a video game.

Movies are a different story. Film producers want you to see the actor AS the character, but I find it really difficult to separate the actor from the role. Johnny Depp gets as close as anyone to a great character actor because he's willing to change himself to fit the role, e.g Edward Scissorhands, Sweeny Todd, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Pirates of the Caribbean. The rest of the Hollywood A-Listers fail to sell it to me - all I end up seeing is "Brad Pitt starring as..." Brad Pitt is Brad Pitt. It doesn't matter what movie he's in, it's just Brad Pitt in a different costume and I don't commit to the role.

 

That's why voice acting for video games and animated film is acting for the 21st century. We don't go into it with a preconception of the character,  so it's much easier to immerse yourself and accept them as who they are, rather than how they're supposed to look, act and sound based on past experience.

Edited November 21, 2014 by ant1th3s1s

[Redgrave]

I kind of make it my own game to point out if he, Steve Blum, Nolan North, Jennifer Hale, or Tara Strong are voicing a certain character. I swear I've heard him in Dragon Age: Inquisition at a couple points already. It's sometimes harder to point them out if they voice background characters though.

[GypsyTeal]

I understand what you're saying, but the personalities and appearance of a video game character impact me more than the voice acting.

For example, Nolan North's voice is a defining characteristic of Nathan Drake. The character development and dialogue is so important to selling the Uncharted experience that it's difficult to separate the two.

On the flipside, I barely even registered that North also voiced Desmond Miles in seven Assassin's Creed games. Desmond is little more than a bit player compared to Nate, so it's no wonder North's voice was almost unrecognisable, even though it's the same voice, different character... Maybe if Desmond's character got equal billing to Nate, North's appearance in one game would impact my experience with another, but that's yet to be the case for a video game.

Movies are a different story. Film producers want you to see the actor AS the character, but I find it really difficult to separate the actor from the role. Johnny Depp gets as close as anyone to a great character actor because he's willing to change himself to fit the role, e.g Edward Scissorhands, Sweeny Todd, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Pirates of the Caribbean. The rest of the Hollywood A-Listers fail to sell it to me - all I end up seeing is "Brad Pitt starring as..." Brad Pitt is Brad Pitt. It doesn't matter what movie he's in, it's just Brad Pitt in a different costume and I don't commit to the role.

 

That's why voice acting for video games and animated film is acting for the 21st century. We don't go into it with a preconception of the character,  so it's much easier to immerse yourself and accept them as who they are rather than how they're supposed to look, act and sound based on past experience.

 

You know, I never thought about how Nolan North's performance as Nathan Drake and Desmond were pretty much the same sounding, but sooooo different. Exactly right though, the characters are so different.. Never thought of that!

 

I appreciate your take on it, I find myself agreeing with nearly every word.

I kind of make it my own game to point out if he, Steve Blum, Nolan North, Jennifer Hale, or Tara Strong are voicing a certain character. I swear I've heard him in Dragon Age: Inquisition at a couple points already. It's sometimes harder to point them out if they voice background characters though.

 

I find myself guessing a lot of times when I hear a familiar sounding NPC now in games who it is.

[Lady Lilith]

Yeah, no, it doesn't make much of a difference, since he sounds different in most of the games he VAs in.  Then again, I'm not really the type of person who thinks about things like which actor is a VA in which game, but nothing that he does strikes me as too similar.

[Mog]

A voice actor never ruined a character for me, what i don't like is when i hear the same voice everywhere.

 

Say, we're talking about Troy Baker and he's been in a lot of games recently, i don't mind that but when i hear Jake from RE6 i immediately think of Snow from Final Fantasy XIII and that annoys the crap outta me. Same thing happens with Nolan North's voice, i loved him as David in The Last of Us because i could never guess that voice was done by him, but when i played Spec Ops: The Line, there he was again... Nathan Drake's voice.

 

This happens all the time and it's not just in games, it's in animated movies, cartoons, animes, etc... i'm not sure why but i only feel annoyed when it comes to games, if i heard Kratos' voice in another character i think that ruins Kratos himself, his uniqueness, know what i mean? Probably not...

[Ryumoau]

I personally found Nolan North voicing various roles alot more distracting because he lacked the range that Troy Baker has. I honestly can't think of two of his characters that i've played as that sound the same. Kanji from Persona 4 sounds nothing like Joel from Last of Us, who in turn sounds nothing like Joker from Batman Origins or Mitchell from Advanced Warfare.

 

So i don't mind Troy Baker voicing all these lead roles as long as he can keep doing fresh takes for each role.

[CasaDeBen]

I dont understand how this matters and differs from any actual actor doing multiple roles over a career. If they are noticeable in things its not a bad thing. They excel at what they do. If they give a bad performance its still like any other actor.