Mass Effect 2

Wasn't there also something about people being encouraged to learn another species' language?

I just take the lip-syncing thing as an acceptable break from reality.

Because the translator microbes are just a bit of background lore, and anyone who doesn't know about them would probably be offended if all the lip-syncing was like an old kung-fu movie.

edited 15th Dec '13 11:24:20 AM by Mukora

It's a videogame. Willing suspension of disbelief is a necessity.

Ooooooor just assume a Common Tongue. That, to us, sounds like English.

English IS the galactic standard language, everyone knows that.

More seriously, there's a thing they do in comics from time to time where they'll put a character's dialogue in English but surround it in brackets, with an explanation of "This character is speaking French" in an editor's note. It's done so that we, the audience, can understand what the character is saying without having to speak the language ourselves.

In settings like Mass Effect, I've always assumed that was an unspoken rule. None of the characters are speaking English, but nobody wants to play a combined 180 hours of reading subtitles because they can't understand the wholly fictional language that the developers crafted, and with the exception of some rare instances, few developers want to have to craft an entirely new language to do it, so we all just have the understanding that their language is being translated for convenience purposes.

It's the same reason why everyone speaks English in dubbed anime despite taking place in Japan: because they don't, it's been translated for our benefit, and the audience is expected to take that as a given.

edited 16th Dec '13 8:55:00 AM by TobiasDrake

I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people who have played the whole trilogy reading subtitles, even though it's all in English.

I play with both English audio and subtitles (English is my second language).

I play with both English audio and subtitles (English is my first language).

I play with both Krogan audio and Turian subtitles (English is my only language).

I play with English subtitles.

Fuck Britain, I play with American audio and subtitles.

I play with English audio and no subtitles. English is my third language.

Suck on that, bitches.

Mazel tov. I have to use subtitles for every videogame because I live in an environment where I more often then not simply can't hear the audio. It also helps whenever I encounter the problem of mumbling.

It's still more convenient than having to write multiple alien languages and recording all the dialogue in them.

Pretty much this. Most Writers Are Not Tolkein.

Tolkein is the language equivalent to Gun Porn.

edited 16th Dec '13 1:16:46 PM by soban

It also bothered me that all the aliens have human body language and salutes. Though I suppose if I go there, it's the same issue as having almost all aliens be humanoid.

edited 16th Dec '13 1:27:11 PM by SomeName

@Tobias: okay, so... what does that post have to do with anything? I said that I prefer for them to be using a Common Tongue that just sounds like English to us. Translation Convention and all that. Not that they were literally speaking English.

That post was me giving my two cents on the conversational topic at hand, because I recognized that there was a discussion point being discussed and sprang into action, dispensing logic and reasonable analysis so that everyone may bask in the wisdom that pours like a fountain from my mouth.

Bioware already did multiple alien languages in Kot OR. It works well, until the clips start repeating and all you hear is 'mucha shakpa, runda diho tonga' again and again. I prefer the hand wave if it means lines actually get voice acted.

I played it both in English and in German. In the second instance I had to assume that even the human's are translated. It's unlikely that all humans are speaking German.

—reads both comics linked to earlier; Laughs and d'awwws during the first; swallows and blinks with Blue Rose of Illium—

It's official. Mass Effect 3 opened the floodgates for Krogan feels.

They should remake the Mass Effect Trilogy into one continuous game. It'd have all the DLC, streamlined gameplay, and new content.

There are two problems with that:

1. It's too soon. Consumers would not see the point in buying a compilation game when there already is a Trilogy Pack that contains all three games for the price of one.

2. Size limitations. A game covering the entire trilogy would take up a massive amount of space.

That being said, I'd kill to play ME1 with combat in the style of the latter two games.

edited 12th Jan '14 3:36:26 PM by lrrose

Meh. I actually like playing all the games back to back as one big experience (like I'm doing for the fifth time right now) and adapting to the newer gameplay styles. Makes the whole experience more varied, and makes it feel like Shepard and co are progressively getting more powerful, when you compare their body count and caliber of opponents in between games.