XD

Read halfway through the thread, and have any of you been to Australia? I live hear (edit: It's a pun, darnit!) and I have hardly heard a stereotypical Aussie accent.

... But I do say mate a lot, it's in my lingo...

No, no it's not. It's ludicrous for people to say "The Dark Elves don't sound like Dark Elves are supposed to sound!" when no one actually knows how Dark Elves sound in the first place.

The BBC actually did an article relating to the topic of fantasy accents, but with the new Game of Thrones series as the focus, it's in the online magazine or currently on the most read if you want to check it out (I cant seem to post links)

I can't listen to the current Dunmer voice right now and have forgotten what it sounds like. But yeah, the raspy voice was great and would probably prefer it to whatever it is right now, but as long as it's not American, i'm immersed

Again, why?

Why is an American accent so out of place in a completely made-up world?

I think you just answered your own question.

Let me rephrase:

Why is any accent except American considered appropriate in a completely made-up world?

To be honest it can be, depends on the game setting. Their are lots of accents that aren't suitable for Skyrim e.g. Mexican, Australian, Jamaican, Barbadian etc etc

...why?

This is just my opinion of course.

Some accents just fit the lore. I think Skyrim is an improvement in this area over previous TES games. Certain races have obviously been inspired by actual cultures on earth and that inspiration should be reflected in the language, dialect and accent. But as i said it's just my opinion and impacts on immersion for me.

Someone's always asking this question, it seems. I for one actually like the cockney voices over Jeff's grating voice work, since Jeff doesn't seem capable of carrying any more than just one kind of inflection in his voice.

Right, but I'm wondering why you don't think a, let's say, Carribean dialect would be inappropriate for a Redguard. Or why an elf can't have a Spanish accent.

Though I do agree that the old dunmer voice was better, I think I should mention that just about every race had a change in voice from each game.
The biggest change is probably the argonian voice, that now sounds more human. But I find it weird to use a raspy voice in the demo and remove it afterwards, I at least was disappointed when I first heard the dunmer in-game, but at least it was better than oblivions voice acting.
And it wasn't as annoying as the huge variation in Nord accents (some sounded like schwarzenegger and others sounded more scandinavian etc.)

Because logic doesn't always come into it? Even if I logically can say an American accent is just as legitimate for a Dunmer as any other, as personal preference, there's some American accents that are just so yuk that I wouldn't want to hear them in anything. From a non-American perspective American culture can come off as being imposing, and in news, tv shows and films some of the delivery can seem loud and forthright. Not a criticism in and of itself, but those connotations can feel inappropriate in some contexts. That said, I prefer the Morrowind Dunmer voice acting, and to me the accent sounds closer to American than anything else (although it's nicely neutral). Would a trans-Atlantic accent be more appropriate for fantasy characters from another universe?

I see your point, i guess it's all down to our interpretation of each race, however for me a Redguard is more north african, elves are more celtic (taking design of armour, architecture into account)

I'm not saying your wrong, there actually is no right or wrong answer here. What are your views?

This is also partly in answer to the post above yours:

I have no preference for dialects, as long as the voice actor is consistent within their performance.

I think that most problems with dialects stem from unconscious (or conscious) cultural bias, which prompts people to associate certain values with dialects. For example, one might see an American dialect as "loud and forthright', though that might have less to do with the accent than the culture the dialect comes out of. It happens much more easily with foreign languages- I have an Albanian friend who usually sounds like he's angry on the phone (when speaking Albanian), but he almost never is. The language he's speaking just sounds harsher to my ears, which are attuned to the rhythms and tonal patterns of English (and which have been conditioned by the culture I live in to hear Slavic or Russian accents as harsh or villainous).

That is a totally valid point and i cannot disagree with it. In this case though it's less about bias and more about representation of those cultures......i think

I absolutely hate the Dunmer voice. They sound camp. Morrowind was so much better.

Personally I feel that something more like that of a husky Mongolian accent would suit them best


Bethesda should employ this guy to do a few voice overs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w64wh17UDOE

It's a game. Thats why.

My opinion is that, like many others have stated, the ashy atmosphere of the region surrounding Red Mountain has resulted in the raspy voices of the Dunmer located in that region. Why do the females not share that raspy tune, or the other locals? They were given their own voice, to be distinctive. I'm sure that if this were more than a game, as if your imagination could expand the world, they would all sound vastly different. A Nord who had been living on the island would have a raspy Nordic accent, I'm sure, but being a game, the developers had to limit the voice acting. Thusly, all the Nords desparately want you to know that they think you like to dance close to the fire.

If you escaped the limitations of Skyrim being a video game, then you would find a Dunmer who has been living in Skyrim for only a few years, having moved from Vivec, to have a somewhat raspy but rested voice. Then, down the street from him you'd find a Dunmer who was born and raised in the snowy territory to sound more like a local Nord. However, it's a game. So the developers wanted to give the Dunmers a distinctive accent (even if it svcked) and since they only have so much time and money, they gave all the Dunmer a similar voice and accent. It doesn't account for the vast variety of dialects and accents that would truly exist, depending on where the Dunmer came from and how they were raised.

It's the same reason why every piece of iron armor looks the same, or why nobles coming from High Rock or Cyrodill are wearing outfits local to the Nordic regions. In the fantasy created, they would be wearing unique articles of clothing, but since its a game, they get the same old stuff as other NPCs.

I'll agree that I enjoyed the Morrowind voices more, though. I just don't expect it to all sound so cohesive in a game.

NO! The Ash I think would have little to do with it. Even the main landers have that raspy voice. That theory should be put to rest. Also I do agree that dunmer born elsewhere should have a different accent much like any person of a certain descent born in another country would take on characteristics of their host country.

I like the British accents. Elves are usually stereotyped as being posh, learned, traditional, and haughty. You know who else is portrayed as such? The British. There's a reason why the Elves of Warhammer have such voice actors. Granted, I miss the raspy voices as much as the next guy, but I'm not going to complain over it. Then again, I do like cockney accents.

The mainlanders are part of an expansion to Morrowind, and I'm sure the developers didn't take the time to create new voiced dialogue for the citizens. Hence the retained raspy voice. Whether they actually have the raspy voice outside of the limited game environment is unknown.

Just like the Nord brothers who arrive from Skyrim to join the Knights of the Nine don't look like they are from Skyrim, since their armor and weapons are all from the core Oblivion game files.

They sound more of a cross between Cockney and Australian to me which is way, way worse than the fake British one from Oblivion. The once noble and proud race reduced to ashen skinned love children of Twist Oliver and Crocodile Dundee. Seriously? :<

Not these ones. They live in the ashlands in yurts (Turkic tents), have shamans, are into dead people (why Dunmer weren't given the conjuration bonus and the Bretons the destruction bonus I was really surprised to see), are known as assassins and many worship the god of such activities.....

hardly the same. In fantasy type worlds there has often been light elves and dark elves. Altmer & Bosmer are the TES light elves and Dunmer and Orsmer are the TES dark elves. Only the dark elves aren't evil like in many other games.

Elves originate from Germanic mythology and were similar to the angels and fallen angels of Hebrew mythology. Their appearance was like mankind. They live in a realm between Earth and Heaven and they caused good or bad on the planet. Light elves caused good and dark elves cause bad things to happen.

You really are not a person for fantasy, are you?