I've stuck with the Japanese.

The English voices sound totally fine, would not have complained if that was just how it was. But for Anime/JRPGs/What have you I generally just prefer to stick with the original given the option.

I went with the Japanese voices, and one thing that annoyed me when I first started the game is that the subtitles seem to be on a .5 to full second delay, but this somehow became less of a problem for me as I went on.

Went with english at first just to see how it sounded and planned on switching to Japanese if I needed to. Turns out the english VO is pretty incredible imo so I stuck with it.

I'll almost always default to English if it's decent, and it's quite good for Automata overall. The only thing I don't like is the lip-syncing not matching up, but that's easy to overlook in a Japanese game.

I was thinking about starting up a second playthrough on hard and using Japanese for kicks, but I have a hunch I'll end up switching it back, because I've grown too accustomed to the English voices.

I usually go with english unless it's noticably bad. (would've gone japanese with BotW given the option)

I'll probably play in English. I've seen that there's dialogue in the middle of combat. I only have one set of eyes. Besides, the subtitles are for the English audio, not for the Japanese audio, so there are sync issues and incorrect translations.

Japanese, haven't heard the English though.

I wasn't sure what to pick at first, since I played both Nier and Nier Replicant, with the latter being in Japanese and also the most canonical. But I ended up picking English anyway since I already play enough games fully in Japanese as it is. Can't go wrong with either voice track, though.

Also, Peter Brown just totally spoiled that Ending E on the Bombcast like it was nothing, huh? Well, good thing I beat the game yesterday.

In addition to there being dialogue mid-combat, the subtitles tend to blend in with certain areas in this game. Outside of combat, there were times when I had to move to a darker area just so I could read the subtitles since with the sun's reflection, white text wouldn't pop out very well against sand or cement, for example. I would have switched if I didn't like the Japanese portrayals as much as I do.

Aw did he talk about the credit sequence? Cause like I could see not thinking of that as a plot spoiler necessarily but it's such a cool moment to just have happen.

I'm not too far in but I went with English - I love seeing how a game plays in a localized format and I find the whole process fascinating, also I think Kira Buckland absolutely rocks as 2B!

My general policy on Anime and Video Games is that I will always stick to the language I can understand unless the English voice acting is especially terrible. I think the ENG VA in Nier Automata is actually pretty good, so I'm sticking with it.

I'm trying to learn Japanese so I went with that option.

Been pretty great so far, aside from the subtitles being a tad delayed as @redyoshi mentioned.

If you're going to play a Japanese ass (intended) Japanese game, then you should do it in Japanese. (I haven't played Nier yet, currently playing Nioh, but when I do, I'll go with the Japanese option).

@captain_insano: Or, you know, do it however you find most enjoyable.

If you're going to be a purist, turn off the subtitles as well. The subs are for the English audio.

Haven't yet got the game but when i do play it will be in English. After the hours of subtitles in Yakuza 0 i need a bit of a break from reading.

Never once have I played a game with english voice acting and thought "wow I really like these voices"

I'll stick to japanese whenever I can. As far as I'm concerned the Japanese market for VAs is just so much better and it greatly helps the quality

Given that the subtitles are based on the English dubbing only...it really is a question of which language voice over do you think "sounds" best. I personally enjoy the English voice actors for this game. It would be interesting to see if there were any changes in actual dialogue between characters, but that is going to take learning the language.

@qtanimeboi: Nier, and Nier Automata have really good English voice acting all around. I'd highly recommend it.

I really disliked the English voices in the demo so when it comes out on PC I will for sure be playing in Japanese with English subs.

As someone who majored in Japanese back in college, I would just turn on Japanese subtitles and menu as well. It's a form of language practice for me.

@axersia said:

Eh, you think so? Papa Nier was the original design for that character, so I'd argue that's the more canonical one. Not that it matters, Liam O'Brien is the only way to experience Weiss as far as I'm concerned.

When it's a game with a lot of dialog my policy is to always go with the original version (exceptions may apply). Specially for Japanese games if the original voices are not available I will tend to import. Resident Evil is an exception because usually the protagonists are supposed to be English speakers so I don't mind.

@efesell: Yep, he sure did. I get why someone who isn't a Nier guy would think that wasn't a spoiler but damn son.

Not quite. Yoko Taro has straight up said that Brother Nier was the original and Papa Nier was created for American audiences. And let's not forget that the Ending E described in the "Grimoire Nier" companion book follows Ending D from Nier Replicant.

Thus, Automata is a sequel to Replicant and not Gestalt. I'm sure I could look up some data logs in Automata that would confirm this, due to slight differences in time periods between Gestalt and Replicant, but I can't be bothered right now.

That's not to say that Nier Gestalt wasn't still excellent, of course.

@axersia: Oh yeah, you're totally right about which Nier came first. Dunno how I ended up with my information.

In regards to ending E in Grimoire Nier, I've only read the google doc translation that says it was "a younger version of him", which I always just read as "either one", but still figured it was probably written with Brother Nier in mind. I'll always prefer the father/daughter setup from Gestalt, but yeah, Replicant is likely the "more" canon one after all.

Still waiting for the PC version, but in general I default to Japanese for games that give the option.

That said, these games have generally had pretty good English voice acting, especially the original Nier was actually quite good. So I assume Automata is keeping up the trend. And in games like Bayonetta, where it was originally made for English I will do English.

I went with Japanese but the subtitles are just "dubtitles" which always disappoints me

I usually stick to Japanese voices when it's an option, but the English voice acting in Nier and Nier Automata were good enough that I made an exception.

Interesting that so many choose to play with japanese VA. I wonder if the same goes for Persona 5 when that's out.

I live in Japan so I decided to go with English voices. Not bad so far. I've noticed Americans can be pretty harsh on english voice actors, especially on Japanese games. It certainly wasn't always this way but I feel like Japanese to English localisation these days is pretty impressive. I'd definitely agree many Japanese games benefit from their original language... but only if you speak Japanese, otherwise you're still reading the translated subs anyway so it wouldn't make a difference.

Heh, not really. It's usually like the same 7-8 people doing everything. Same as in the West.

I went with English. The lip sync didn't bother me since they don't animate at all during most of the voiced dialogue. On top of not knowing Japanese and the subtitles being for the English version, its really a no brainer.

I think especially so there for me. The localization for those is fond of peppering in the honorifics for flavor and that's just kinda sounds strange.

Based on the English footage out there now (which there's no reason to believe is not final) that is not in Persona 5.

Well that's fantastic. One of the few major gripes I had with 3 and 4.

I played in English. Unless you're a video game god I don't know how people are going to absorb the subtitles while fighting which happens at several points in the game. Also the dub is really good.

@TechnoSyndrome: I don't really recall a lot of serious fights that also had extensive dialogue, so it was pretty easy to just lazily fight something while conversations went on.

Playing a game with audio I can't understand is never a choice I will make. If I can make it English, then I will, bad VA or not.

That's not to say I won't play a game that doesn't have english audio, I will(and have) played several. Just saying that I'll always put it on English if I can.

I haven't played it yet, since I bought it on Steam, but I'll be playing with the Japanese voices. I vastly prefer Japanese voice actors, so I always choose Japanese voices when available.

Beat the game (40 hours) with English the whole way. I figure I'll do Japanese if I ever replay it down the line, which I'm sure I will. The english dub was great.

Not sure how people think the English dub is good, it's mid 2000's anime bad. I tried it for 15 minutes and had to switch back.

Oh it's totally not, go back to those times and review.

Like hey it's fine if you like the Japanese more but let's be reasonable about it.

@axersia said:

Yeah, right? When he started talking about experiential stuff I was assuming he was going to talk about the multiple endings existing and maybe playing as different characters, but that felt like straight up saying the end of the game. I'm only ~10 hours into my first playthrough, and I was pissed.

Using English, it's really good tbh. I like 9S a lot.

@horseman6: Lol, not even close. This is why people don't like sub fanboys.

Enjoy whatever you enjoy most, but let others do the same, and don't act like you know better from a whole 15 minutes.

Not surprised that it's almost 50/50 for this game when it comes to using English or Japanese voice actors. Both are really great and even the English VA's sound very....anime-ish? They did hire good caliber voice actors like Kira Buckland after all.
Personally I played with both, English on the first and then Japanese in my 2nd full play through of the whole game.

Is there a lot of Ambient dialog during gameplay? If so i usually go english as its impossible to read subs while playing.

@oursin_360: There is a decent amount, even in the middle of boss fights. Even in English it was sometimes hard to keep up with monologues while focusing on the fight.