Would you play games with french dialogues ?

(sorry for my bad english, I'm french ^^)

In France, some of us prefere watching/playing english movies and games in english with french subtitles rather than with the french dubbing. So I wondered if was the same for english people the other way round : would you play games with only french dialogues (and english subtitles of course, as french is a rather difficult langage =P) ?

You may not be familiar with subtitles though, since most of games in the world are made by english people. Or perhaps you turn on subtitles with japanese animes/games sometimes ?

I hope I'm in the good forum, I don't really know this website =/

I play with subtitles with every game. If a game was to not dub English I'd probably not mind but I still love hearing some of these english vioce actors. The English vo guys are so good now I prefer my anime dubbed too.

People often listen to Japanese voices with english subtitles. Its quite common, even in English ,to listen to the original language with subtitles in your own language. I would happily listen to a french voice with english subtitles, were it a french game.

As a french-canadian, I obviously wouldn't mind. But I guess your question is basically if we would play games in a language we don't speak. I definitely would. I watch the original version of movies whenever possible and I don't mind subtitles, so the same applies for games.

I will often play games where the characters are from another country in their native spoken language with subtitles...when that is possible. In sci-fi games I enjoy when the aliens speak in unintelligent gibberish with subtitles.

So, yes I would play games in French... Afterall, I played Heavy Rain (ba-dum-CHING)!

You are indeed on the right website. We are experts in playing video games in French here. Watch the Bientôt l'été Quick Look for some video proof.

Kidding aside, I wouldn't care if a game is partially in French if it's better than the English dub. English is not my first language in the first place. I wouldn't watch a French movie or TV show with English dubbing for sure.

If there is an English voiceover, I go with that. I never listen to languages I don't understand unless there is no English option.

On my second playthrough of Remember Me, I turned on French dialogue just for the fun of it because so few games have French dialogue as an option. I watch a ton of anime and foreign films anyway, so video games voiced in different languages don't ever seem strange to me. They just seem...normal, I guess.

i prefer to watch or play stuff in the language it was created in, so if they are French games, or games that take place in France, then i would totally prefer to play with French VO and English subtitles.

I played Remember Me in French and I felt it was better for it.

I like it when games/movies/etc use the real languages of an area. MGSV is pretty good for that too. You even have to get interpreters in that game. A really nice touch. I think it also is cool in how that effects localization. If most of the game's audio isn't in the "main" language of that area (usually English or Japanese) then a lot of it really doesn't need to re-recorded.

And speaking of anime, there's a fan edit of the series Code Geass where the Britanians use the English dub while the Japanese use the original Japanese audio (and bilingual characters switch back and forth) it was a cool effect. I don't think they stitched together the entire series though.

@paphos: Absolutely 100% yes. I always prefer to have the language match the country it was made in, unless a character is deliberately voiced in a different lanuage. I do it for movies/anime, so I'd do it for games as well.

I would play games in french with english subtitles. In all honesty In most cases I prefer games/movies in their original language with subtitles.

No, but then again I speak French.

I think that video games sorely need more culture. And that despite being an international medium, the target audience are unfortunately English language speakers. There needs to be more games that are spoken and presented in different languages and cultures. It's probably difficult (risky and time consuming), at least for indie developers to make a game in a language that's not English and have it only be played with subtitles. I think it'd be a really wonderful thing, but I also understand the realities of it.

If it's a good game, I'll play it.

Sure, I prefer subtitled.

If the game takes place in another country (say, Assassin's Creed) I'll usually change the dialogue to the native language of that country if available and read English subtitles. I played Assassin's Creed 2 in Italian, and I'm sure I would have played Unity in French if I had decided to buy it. One game that I found handled something like this pretty well was Binary Domain. Surprisingly well, actually.

I also generally don't watch the dubs of films or TV shows with some limited exceptions. Cowboy Bebop is a show I prefer to watched dubbed, for example, but I would never watch Hard Boiled dubbed into English.

@paphos: Absolutely I would. I already play The Witcher in Polish, so I don't see a reason why I wouldn't be interested in a similar experience with a French game. When it comes to games made in foreign tongues, I tend to try playing a little bit in English and the original language and stick with whichever I end up liking more.

@paphos:

Welcome to the forum. I typically dislike subtitles, because any attention I need to spend reading is time that I can't enjoy the rest of the video as much. Games are the same way. Never Alone comes to mind. That game is subtitled in English, but I couldn't really get into it, and that was probably part of the reason why.

I do make exceptions for some foreign films, though.

I've gotten used to subtitles over the years because I often play narrative games with the volume at a relatively low level and I've gotten used to only looking when I need them, but I still prefer the dialogue to be in English most of the time unless the dub is awwwwfullll. I have nothing against the idea of playing a game with a foreign language, but I do think that foreign language media is innately less... uhh, engaging? It can certainly be interesting and atmospheric, but it's often difficult to pick up on the nuance of some of the writing.

I certainly think there is a place for a high quality French-only videogame story, but I think they'd be incredibly hard to find considering the best written/translated games probably have the budget for a half-decent English voice cast too. If only for the business reasons that selling a French language game to non-speakers is probably a good way to lose money. Bientôt l'été for example seemed interesting, but overall poorly executed and I'm not sure it sold very well either.

I played Unity in French and most other games that have the option. I almost always play with the native language (or narratively appropriate language) if a game offers it. .

I am bilingual for the record, used to be fluent in French 10+ years ago, so I use subtitles now to help me out when I need it.

I often use subtitles regardless.

Sometimes I go native language but that's very rare for games I would say. Last one I can recall doing it for was Dynasty Warriors when I was still way into that. Took time off that series though.

I played through pretty much the entirety of Lost Odyssey with french dialogue and english subtitles more or less just because I'd already played it before and wanted to change things up.

I watch french films and I play the yakuza games, which have no english option, and valkyria chronicles with subs, so sure why not.

I would. I'd prefer listening in English, but I have no problem with games that use other languages. I know some people played Assassin's Creed Unity in French with English subtitles on because the English accents on French people felt strange.

I turn on subtitles most of the time anyway, for both movies and games.

That said, I really can't stand playing or watching something that isn't dubbed in English. Totally removes me from the experience to the point where I'd rather just stop.

Probably not. Not sure how representative a cartoon can be but I watched the first couple of episodes of Wakfu and didn't enjoy listening to the language. I'd rather listen to German or something.

If it's live action, I don't want to watch an overdubbing because the voices and mouths don't match up and it just feels weird. I don't have a problem with subtitled video games and anime, but if I can watch those in a language I understand, I will.

Sure if I felt it made sense for the game (e.g. if it was made in France), but I also can speak very limited French. So I may not be the best person to ask.

I prefer movies and TV shows in their original language with subtitles, but for video games I tend to prefer English, even if I live in a Romandy.

Maybe if it was a video game with motion captured acting like L.A. Noire or Uncharted, but most voice acting is done first then the video game footage is matched up to it.

As someone who studies language in University, I prefer to always watch media in its original language. I'll turn on subtitles if I have too, but it's great practice to just deal with it. I just find it more emotional than a dub.

Also French is set to be my third language and it is difficult as fuck

Sure, I generally play games in their native language, especially if the localization was done on the cheap. I always watch anime in Japanese, so I'm used to subtitles.

I will always watch or play things as originally intended if that's a feasible option. I actually learned a huge amount of my english from reading books with an encyclopedia close by. Some patience and ability to read context will get you far. XD

My ability to understand through text is a lot stronger than my ability to listen as well, so I'll usually have subtitles on no matter what. I don't really lose out on anything when avoiding a dub. Except when the subtitling/localization/translation is awful, then the entire thing is more or less ruined.

I would have no problem with playing a game with subtitles regardless of native language.

Of course. I hate dubs with some weird passion. I would be very happy if games didn't just make all foreign characters speak English. I already watch mostly foreign films with subs anyway, dubs are for dummies.

It'll never happen though cause then devs can't just hire the same handful of VAs they use for every single game ever.

I would play as long as there were subtitles in english

I always prefer to play a game with it's native voiceover with English subtitles. Forced English dub takes away from the experience. Take a game like Jade Empire for example. I realize it wasn't made in China, but how cool would it have been if the characters spoke Mandarin? It always seemed super weird that they spoke with some colloquial American accent.

Funny, I was thinking about this recently. I want more games to be developed/based in regions where English isn't dominant so they do native VO with English subtitles. I would've much preferred to have Sleeping Dogs entirely in Chinese (not to say the English is bad) because it just feels more authentic. Same goes for fighting games, it was really cool when Tekken made the jump to having their characters speak their native languages. I'd love to see that in SFV having Rashid with an Arabic voice over rather than forcing me to choose between English and Japanese would be great.

Sadly without any evidence to back this up I think the common populace tend to veer towards Dan's opinion on these things in that they'd generally not bother with subtitles.

I actually prefer to play/read/watch stuff in the original language if it's a language I understand. I'm fluent in both French and English and even thought my main language is French, I prefer to play games in English because I always feel like there's something lost in translation.

Also, I'm from Québec and let's just say our version of French is... something else so whenever something get's over here translated in French, it's usually safe, boring, international French. What boggles my mind is even the Ubisoft games made in Montreal and Québec uses that type of French EXCEPT when a character specifically speaks French in the English version of the games. That's why I loved the modern day stuff in Assassin's Creed Black Flag. Ubisoft tend to make games for everyone and don't inject much of their own culture in their games but whenever I hear our own brand of French in their game, it makes me happy.

All that rambling aside, if the game was originally in French, of course i'll play it in French.

I am a native English speaker, so most of the media I consume (including video games) is already in English.

For me, it's a case by case basis when it comes to international content. Like I think there are some video games with excellent Japanese voice acting and poor English voice acting, so I would sometimes switch the vocal track. If I were to ever play a Yakuza game, I would want to listen to it in Japanese with reading English subtitles. But sometimes the English voice acting is good or there are no Japanese vocal track options, and I'm perfectly fine with that.

There's also the case with foreign movies. If I were to watch Blue is the Warmest Color, I would want to watch it in original French. There's also the fact that some dubs can be kind of awkward. With subtitles you can have a more literal translation with what the text is, without too much to worry about. The only real issue I can think of is if in the original language, a sentence can be said with fewer words than more or less the same sentence in a different language. With dubs on the other hand, sometimes the focus is matching up with the person's mouth and not what a person is literally saying. I can't remember a specific example, but I have seen some stuff like this with anime or animated feature films. Or on the flip side, you could have a dub with a literal translation that doesn't match with the person's lips and watching that can look weird.

The thing is this typically only comes up with Japanese games. There are French game developers, but it feels like almost all of their games are in English. I honestly haven't encountered this with another language besides Japanese to English. (For the record, I would play a subtitled French game.)

I speak only English and I recently started always playing games with subtitles on so that I don't miss dialogue, so I certainly wouldn't mind playing a game with only French audio and English subtitles. If I had the choice between English audio and French audio, I would probably choose the French audio in two scenarios: 1) the game has a French setting and the audio helps with immersion or 2) the English audio is very bad and I'd rather not hear it.

No problem. I don't mind my media in any language provided there are subtitles that I can understand. I actually prefer it in its native language. I don't think I've ever seen nor heard a good dub job ever.

Sure, I usually have subtitles on in every game I play anyway. It wouldn't really bother me that they're speaking a language I don't understand as long as the subtitles are there.

That depends greatly upon the game. I've played games with literal gibberish languages and enjoyed them just fine. In movies, I prefer native languages because they better match up to the visual performance of the actors. I never used to care when it came to games or cartoons because that disconnect already existed, but with the increasing fidelity of performance capture techniques, I am now more inclined toward native languages for games that utilize this technology. For games that don't, I definitely prefer English. I don't know any French, whereas I imagine there are many in France that know English. This probably explains a fair part of the discrepancy in taste between the two countries.

I really enjoyed playing Assassin's Creed (2?) with Italian voice and English subs.

I would play any good game, in any language.

It wouldn't bother me in the slightest, like anime I prefer to hear the original audio with English subtitles. As long as the subtitles are translated well I wouldn't see it being a problem, I think by default most games I play have the subtitles on. I played Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid both in Japanese but with no subtitles, there were none so I hadn't a clue what was going on. The same thing for Demon's Souls, I was glad to finally play it in English. Pretty sure I got to play the Metro games in Russian and the English subtitles were pretty good.

As soon as I read the question Metro came into my head, I don't hate the English VO like a lot of people seemed to, but it's really cool putting the Russian VO on and experiencing it that way.

As long as I have some way of still understanding the game (subtitles) I don't mind a spoken language I don't understand at all, I actually think it's pretty cool really.

I played Remember Me in French.

It mostly just depends on my mood. Sometimes when I'm feeling scattershot or just easily susceptible to being distracted having an English track in games just works for me. I use subtitles regardless if it's in my native tongue or not since I'm somewhat hard of hearing. Some games if they elicit such a palpable atmosphere or sense of place I go with the non-English track. For instance I played through the Metro games in Russian and I could not imaging doing it in any other language, I just got so into the world that I had to play it in Russian. People have said they played Remember Me in French and looking back I really wish I did that, since for the most part other then Nilin and a few other characters the English voice acting was not super great in that game.

To answer the question though, yes I totally would play a game that only had a French language track with English subtitles. Reading subtitles isn't something I'm opposed too if it's the only way to experience something. I do notice that I tend to go exclusively dubbed for Anime though, just kind of always gone that way unless no English dub was available or is beyond the pale kind of horrible. Watching foreign live action movies with English dubbing is something I avoid like the plague though, it just never looks right at all.

Unless they are true masterpieces of dubs, I like to play my games in their intended language.

I want to hear what an evil endgame mastermind boss sounds like speaking French.
I want to hear what a videogame sweet-talking romance scene sounds like speaking German.