darkSpyro

I'd like to see Elijah and Gary gone, frankly. They weren't terrible, but they weren't good, either. There's a difference between an actor and a voice actor; it's very obvious throughout the series who is and isn't a pro VA. They should be spending the massive amount that it costs just to pay for those names on other things, like half-decent gameplay and real voice talent.

They did good having folks like Cree Summer, Mae Whitman, Billy West, Kevin Michael Richardson, and the guy who played Cyril (I can never remember his name; he plays Monkey Fist on Kim Possible, though ). All of those performances were pretty good. The celebrity "voice talent"...not so much (see: "Cynder's horrible robot voice is a big part of what ruined DotD" for reference). Mark Hamil would have been great in DotD if somebody hadn't pitch-shifted his voice into a garbled mess (believe it or not, Hamil is actually one of the best VAs out there; he's been the voice of the Joker since the 90s, played Firelord Ozai in "Avatar: the Last Airbender", and shows up in a lot of unexpected places).

I daresay LoS could use someone like Tom Kenny. He's incredibly talented and can do drama just as well as he can do comedy. He didn't just voice Spyro back in the day, he voiced almost every male character in RR and YotD.

Heh, they should get Steve Blum to voice Spyro. That would be hilariously awesome. Scott McNeil would do good work for this franchise, too. Or Neal Patrick-Harris, in case there's a musical number.

nevermind forget what I said ricci plays lily in the movie not kate. got that was dumb of me.

Gary was good IMO, but I hear he is very expensive. Elijah on the other hand needs to go. He's a fine actor, very good in LotR, but he just didn't give Spyro's voice all the power and emotion it needed to really help the character be great.
My Opinion.

I stand by my opinion that Gary is the best actor of the lot; his acting has just as much emotion, realism, and effort put into it as any top-quality "real" voice actor. He may be a movie actor, but he has something Elijah doesn't have: experience. I cannot picture anyone doing a better job than he did with a warm, raspy, wise-sounding voice for a character like Ignitus.

I actually liked Ignitus' voice too. Something about it went well with the character. The Guardians all had good VAs, but Elijah..... Yeah, great actor and all, but not really for Spyro.

Ignitus and the Chronicler had the best voice actors in my opinion. The other Guardians were good as well. I thought Elijah's voice suited Spyro, but voice-acting wise...he could've done a better job.

Also, is just me, or did Elijah do better in ANB and TEN? He sounded...off in DotD. Maybe I'm going crazy or something...

I kind of think they should go back to jess harnell for spyro.

elijah was spyro for ANB,TEN & DOTD and jess harnell? what game did he voice spyro? i hope it wasnt the squeky sounding version of spyro.

It was. I hope they don't choose Jess Harnell again, bad voice actor for Spyro...

even i can do better than jess harnell as spyro & I can if that was him.

Like I said before, Jess was the voice actor for A Hero's Tail, for reference.

There was a post there before, but then the database error popped up. :/

Jess Harnell should come back. He can be the voice of everyone, just like he was for AHT. He'd make an awesome Cynder.

I'm not saying that Gary Oldman was bad as Ignitus, just that a professional VA would have been even better. When compared to some of his co-stars, he did an excellent job. But he is still an actor first and he was basically just playing Gary Oldman and not his role. Ron Perlman honestly would have been my choice for Ignitus (Hellboy, Mr. Lancer, Slade, etc.).

This was my major problem with David Spade as Sparx, too. He wasn't playing Sparx, he was just playing David Spade (and I'm pretty sure he was drunk for at least one, if not most, of his lines in AN. David Spade could fit in a lot of other games, but he didn't make a very appropriate Sparx.

Elijah Wood just...no. His only acting talent is that he plays being a kicked puppy really well (he is this exact same character in LotR, 9, and every other film I've ever seen him in). For a hero who's supposed to be strong and courageous, that was a horrible choice. It made LoS Spyro a very poor role-model.

I still don't think I agree with you regarding Gary; if he was just playing himself, Gary, that's fine, because he still fit Ignitus to a tee. I don't know who Rob Perlman is, but until I see proof, I will not believe that he, or anyone, can do that warm, raspy, compassionate voice as excellently as Gary does. :p It's a very unique kind of quality to his tone that I'm talking about. Has Rob Perlman ever done anything like that, out of curiosity? I know you mentioned him to me before as a possible Ignitus. The only character I know from him is Slade, and I really can't picture that as Ignitus. XD

As for Elijah... while it's true that Spyro isn't exactly his type of character (though Spyro does swing towards the soft-spoken, polite type), I think he was a lot more fitting for LoS Spyro than any previous Spyro actor would've been. I agree that someone else could do a better job of the purple kiddo, but the million dollar question is, who?

I agree with Razz. If they want to bring life in their characters then they need to actually hire Voice Talent and not Movie Actors. Voice Talent are actually seasoned and experienced in carrying their voices to match the emotion and atmosphere of what is going on in said media. Actors, well they not only have to memorize their lines, but they have to actually physically act out the scene themselves. This usually takes a lot of takes to do and make it perfect.

This is not to say that Voice Talent doesn't do the same, but I would guess it would be a lot easier since they have the script in front of them and all they have to do is match their voice to what is going on.

During the events of TLOS, I'm sorry but none of the "Voice Talent" did a good job if not sub par IMO. They are literally just saying the lines, little to no emotion.

So all in all, and don't want to turn this into a TLOS bash fest, I think they should hire: Tom Kenny, Carlos Alaquariz, Jess Harnell, Billy West, or some other famous - seasoned and experienced - Voice Talent.

Elijah Wood as Spyro.. at first I found it really wierd. Like his voice didn't really fit on a small purple dragon.. but I eventually got used to it, and it wasn't so bad, but I'd still prefer a different voice for Spyro. I loved him in tLotR, I absoluetely loved how him as Frodo.
I'd like to see Spyro with a different voice actor. I loved Tom Kenny, but isn't he.. Spongebob now? Jess Harnell was Spyro in AHT? I loved his voice in that game, I'm not sure why. I just loved it. But with a changed design, I'm not sure if that would fit with his design. It might be awkward if he ends up having a design like he does in DotD.
As for Gary Oldman, I thought he was a perfect VA for Ignitus.
And this is a little off topic, but wasn't the voice of Flame the voice of Ember as well in AHT, or am I wrong?

*giggles* How about Richard Horvitz as Spyro? I think that would be fantastic.


About Elijah and Spyro...yeah he kinda does play the same character(he said so himself) And the first time I played the game it was like "Er..Frodo's a dragon?" But he did okay though. I think the producers wanted known names for a reboot of such a well known game get it noticed.

Im a bit late to this topic, but even though many comedic voice actors can do drama work, if you listen to Tom Bromhead's voice work is prty much exclusively comedic. So probably he would voice Sparx or we may see the return of a less serious Spyro.

Personally, I think Gary Oldman and Elijah Wood were part of what made TLoS, TLoS (Or atleast what made it somewhat financially successful). Its going to feel very different without them, unlike the original games where Tom Kenny was the best voice actors, but you could still work with Carlos or Jess.

This Tom Bromhead guy seems like he can do a voice similar to Tom Kenny, I dont know if that means anything.

SPECULATION

Hm...either Spyro, Sparx, Hunter, or maybe Bentley...

Dude! I only just now realized who I was talking to. Hi Fasuhn! *waves*

The closest example I can think of for Ron Perlman is his work for Mr. Lancer of Danny Phantom, though I'm quite sure he's done older characters (he's good enough that I haven't always been able to recognize him). He's done a wide range of voices, from the creepy and sinister, to the devoted but overworked guardian, and even the irked middle-aged demon/man.

If I could re-cast LoS Spyro, I'd probably go for David Kaufman (Danny Phantom, Dexter Douglas from Freakazoid!, etc). He's a very nice mix of polite and heroic.

As for the overall voice talent: there's a difference between acting and voice acting, and a good director can also make a world of difference. Part of why Christina Ricci's performance is so bad in DotD is that she clearly didn't have anyone who could coach her on a better take. You can hear a real difference if you compare Elijah Wood's performances in LoS to his in 9; with a good director in 9, he did a fairly good job.

He also voiced Mumble in Happy Feet. :33

I actually didn't mind any of the voice actors. I liked Gary Oldman and the other guardians, and I didn't mind Elijah Wood too much, it did take a while to get used to Sparx's voices in TEN and DotD (can't remember the names of any of his voice actors) but none of them were that bad. Christina Ricci could've been better, but I think the character she plays is worse than the voice actress herself, so I suppose I could possibly get used to her if Cynder's personality were more TEN-ish.

Quote: Razz

Dude! I only just now realized who I was talking to. XD Hi Fasuhn! XD *waves*

The closest example I can think of for Ron Perlman is his work for Mr. Lancer of Danny Phantom, though I'm quite sure he's done older characters (he's good enough that I haven't always been able to recognize him). He's done a wide range of voices, from the creepy and sinister, to the devoted but overworked guardian, and even the irked middle-aged demon/man. :D

If I could re-cast LoS Spyro, I'd probably go for David Kaufman (Danny Phantom, Dexter Douglas from Freakazoid!, etc). He's a very nice mix of polite and heroic.

As for the overall voice talent: there's a difference between acting and voice acting, and a good director can also make a world of difference. Part of why Christina Ricci's performance is so bad in DotD is that she clearly didn't have anyone who could coach her on a better take. You can hear a real difference if you compare Elijah Wood's performances in LoS to his in 9; with a good director in 9, he did a fairly good job.

I was beginning to wonder. XD Fanboying over Gary should've been a tipoff for you! XD HIYA RAZZ :D *hugs*

See, from what I can make out of Ron Perlman, he'd make a better Malefor than anything else. You said creepy, sinister, and demon/man, and it just makes me think he's better suited to dark-voiced, bad guy (or badass) characters, and you also said irked and overworked, which makes me think of characters that are annoyed and express it in their speech. XD Unless he's like some kind of Cummings (who has seemingly done every kind of voice imaginable), I can't picture Slade voicing Ignitus, because I can't seem to associate warm rasp with that kind of voice. I just worry that a change in voice actor would mean a change in the tone and feeling of the voice. :\ Ignitus wouldn't be the same without that slight hoarseness mixed with a compassionate tone.

Danny Phantom as Spyro? By golly, that actually sort of works. Confident enough to fall in heroic but soft enough to fit a personality like Spyro's. If I remember him right, at least.

I'm liking this Ron guy the more characters I hear he played. He sounds phenomenal.

I'd kind of like to see Danny Phantom too, someone should get the audio from Danny and clips of Spyro and mash it together. See how well it fits.

I'd like a lot of VA's from the Avatar cartoon too, I think they'd do a good job. Some American anime dubbers(Vic Mignogna who played Edward Elric and Tamaki Suoh)wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Quote: Fasuhn

See, from what I can make out of Ron Perlman, he'd make a better Malefor than anything else. You said creepy, sinister, and demon/man, and it just makes me think he's better suited to dark-voiced, bad guy (or badass) characters, and you also said irked and overworked, which makes me think of characters that are annoyed and express it in their speech. Unless he's like some kind of Cummings (who has seemingly done every kind of voice imaginable), I can't picture Slade voicing Ignitus, because I can't seem to associate warm rasp with that kind of voice. I just worry that a change in voice actor would mean a change in the tone and feeling of the voice. Ignitus wouldn't be the same without that slight hoarseness mixed with a compassionate tone.

I just finished a game that had someone who might make a good Ignitus, or at least the voice was similar enough that I could see it being possible to get the voice really close to how Ignitus sounds. Then it would just be a matter of getting emotion right, and there were not any parts with the character that showed if the person could do it. Unfortunately, I cannot find the name of the voice actor. The game is Divinity II: Ego Draconis and the character is named Wesson. (As a note the game was originally done in German, I refer to the voice used in the English version)

Quote: minredd

I'm liking this Ron guy the more characters I hear he played. He sounds phenomenal.

I'd kind of like to see Danny Phantom too, someone should get the audio from Danny and clips of Spyro and mash it together. See how well it fits.

I'd like a lot of VA's from the Avatar cartoon too, I think they'd do a good job. Some American anime dubbers(Vic Mignogna who played Edward Elric and Tamaki Suoh)wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Mae Whiteman also played Katara in that cartoon. Although, TEN Cynder and Katara don't sound alike at all. o.O

I can imagine Ignitus having Iroh's voice. xD

The "irked and overworked demon/man" is actually Hellboy and he's more like my dad after a long day at work than anything else. Grumpy in the funny way. Ron Perlman also plays more compassionate characters (like Mr. Lancer). I know I've heard him elsewhere, but I can't remember the names off the top of my head. He is very much like Jim Cummings in his versatility, though.

Oh man, Mako as Ignitus! Oh, I miss him so much (Mako, not Ignitus since he's still technically around ).

change my mind i think they should stick with tom kenny.

Ok i did some research about chrisitna ricci and man ok now i understand probably why cynder is used as a sort of weird way. Ricci i saw alot of pictures of her almost nude like posing for some sort of playboy magazine, maybe it may have nothing to do with it, but i see the connection with cynder and herself in real life. Just google image her name and you'll see. I dont understand why they would choose an actress like her to represent a character in a game that children play sure its not like shes doing a game that does sexual content on there but shes not a actress to give a good representation either. Its like having lindsay lohan or megan fox play ember which they have the personality to do it hahah but anyways, ricci looks kinda um emoish, sorry it may not be the word or proper way of saying it but i cant think of another word, but i dont want to get anyone mad at me. theres something about her that well gives something bad about her. Now i beg no offense to anyone when i say this but shes not a good actor or actress to play a character if shes doing stuff like that on magazines. mae whitman was a great example of a great actress and a role model, but i know i know its not about being a role model its about acting, but ricci couldnt act either, maybe it couldve been the coach but they are pro's they ought to be the best i mean gary oldman did excellent. again no offense if anything i said offended anyone. im just giving my thoughts of her.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/catherine-wolpe/5/332/b0b

You'd see this if you looked in the video again. Perhaps she will replace Christina Ricci?

^ But she's not a voice actor, it says she works in marketing and advertising

Quote: GamingMaster_76

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/catherine-wolpe/5/332/b0b

You'd see this if you looked in the video again. Perhaps she will replace Christina Ricci?

No, GamingMaster. She worked with Activision as Assistant Account Executive, it didn't say anything about the voice acting..

And according to the Dutch Game spreadsheet, the next game will be Action/Adventure.

Well i guess for now we'll have to sit back and wait.

Hopefully it will have 3D platforming too.

well who knows that be cool but usually games like spyro wont make out for 3d unless they either pay alot of money for the technology and knows it will sell or do it once the other gaming companies have done it, but we'll see you never know.

*facepalm* I meant actual 3D platforming, like jumping from platform to platform but being able to move around, not just moving left and right, like the Spyro games! Not 3D. >.<

I just hope Action/Adventure doesn't mean more tedious combat with nothing else.

All the Spyro games were Action/Adventure..

Quote: Aura24

All the Spyro games were Action/Adventure..

Only DOTD has been an Action/Adventure... Every other has been classed as a Platformer...

Strange, on Activision's Spyro page it showed all the Spyro titles after Insomniac an Action/Adventure game. O.o

So that would mean...

Quote: Aura24

Strange, on Activision's Spyro page it showed all the Spyro titles after Insomniac an Action/Adventure game. O.o

So that would mean...

ANB won for the best GC Platformer of 2006, so that was a platformer. And TEN was pretty much the same gameplay besides the time... So I assume that was a platformer too...

Hmmm so spyro did win a award so he's not that bad after all, guessing activision thought he still has potential and bought him for that reason in mind, now DC543 sorry i thought you meant 3d gaming hahaha my bad.

I really don't see how ANB or TEN can be considered a platformer..... Heck, there were hardly any platforms to jump on.

According to Gamefaqs, DOTD on the Wii is also a platformer.

^ That's what I'm thinking. How can it be a platformer? A 3D platformer is like the first four Spyro games.

ANB and TEN, combat aside, were very much platformers. DotD...not so much.

Then again, my perception of platforming is running around and jumping on stuff...whether or not they're actual platforms doesn't matter to me.

*thinks* How is Sly Cooper a platformer? I don't recall many actual platforms to jump on, at least in the last two.

Platforms and Action/Adventure... it does not really matter. Both are RPGs that focus on just a few aspects of the gameplay to the exclusion of others.

Speaking as a life-long platformer, ANB and TEN are not in that genre at all. They're very basic combat games with a sprinkle of platforming and puzzle solving thrown in. Real platformers are games like Super Mario Bros, the original Spyro trilogy, and the original Rayman.

RPGs are significantly different from both of these genres and come in a number of variants. The one you're thinking of is the action RPG, which includes games like The Legend of Zelda and Okami.

Sly Cooper is kind of an open game. It has elements of various categories, but I think it's considered an action/adventure game.

Quote: Razz

RPGs are significantly different from both of these genres and come in a number of variants. The one you're thinking of is the action RPG, which includes games like The Legend of Zelda and Okami.

The RPGs I like best have a mix of all three (the Divinity series, though only the latest had what most consider platforming).

It is not so much that they are the same, but there are many things that will pop up in each genre and each can have the defining elements of the others, resulting in the lines being quite blurred.

Quote: S240sx24

Hmmm so spyro did win a award so he's not that bad after all, guessing activision thought he still has potential and bought him for that reason in mind, now DC543 sorry i thought you meant 3d gaming hahaha my bad.

Bare in mind, it won the best platformer for the GAMECUBE, a year before the Wii's release... When no one was really playing it anymore...

Yeah I see. Well hopefully with all the time they are taking now he'll be good.