Yeah, this is completely refreshing to me. Tell it like it is. I would love to see more of this. Defend your product with smart reasoning. I didn't take it as not being professional, people need to loosen up anyways.
@EquitasInvictus: All the communication channels that exist today didn't exist ten years ago. Also, developers didn't really seek out all of this feedback ten years ago either. Most fans are not hardcore enough to complain about voice actors in a fighting game, most don't care. It is a small minority that does care and fortunately/unfortunately they are the most vocal. But I think developers sometimes take that loud minority opinion as what the masses are thinking when that is simply not the case.
Those who like the Tekken series can complain and whine all they want about Harada not adding features or voices they want and threaten that they won't buy the game, but at the end of the day they're still gonna buy the next game in the series whether Harada makes good on those requests or not so good on Harada for airing his grievances while explaining why requests such as "GIVE ME THE VOICE ACTOR THE WAY HE SOUNDED 15 YEARS AGO" is insane.
So... that's a 'no' on the voices then? I think it's cute when people in the industry sound off at/about their customers - it just makes it easier to buy less games. Not that I was buying Tekken anyway, of course.
Yeah, how dare people have opinions on how they like to make things.
There are ways to do that without sounding like you are telling your customers to go fuck themselves.
For instance: 'Sorry guys, we can't do that because x, y and z...' or 'We often get asked... let me take a minute to explain why we don't...'
As opposed to: 'Unnnnghhh!! God! Stop being such stupid babies. Let me try and explain this in small words that even you fucking idiots can understand. Not that I give a shit if you understand or not. Whatever.' Again, I'm fine with them taking the latter approach, just don't expect any more of my money. Whatever.
The thing here is that you're assuming that this is a new question and that this was his response. In all likely hood he and other staff members have answered these questions numerous times in interviews and on forums. If you've been working on something for 15 years, and have been subjugated to the same types of complaints time and time again, there becomes a snapping point. Patience can only be so thick before you get tired of the same question being asked over and over again, the same issues being brought up.
We're talking about dedicated/obsessed fans, the kind who often ignore any answer until its the one they want to hear. And even then, there's plenty of room for complaints.
I can't blame ppl. for wanting a series to retain what they most loved about it. It's when that love turns into fatal attraction that it gets weird. I have little interest in Tekken but I saw Deus Ex-Human revolution walk that past/present line and be judged on it, by myself included. i guess I would have to say most analysis both professional reviewer and end user was apropo and well within rights, entitled(so sick of...) or not. But some was nit-dicky and some other even downright fanatical.
Video games...it's getting well past the mark of just calling them that as if they were simple turtle speed evolving code variations of Pong. But that includes the bad as well the good generated by ppl. playing them.
It's about damn time developers start speaking their minds. I'm really getting tired of the amount of bullshit the press and members of the audience get away with nowadays because the sensation that everyone deserves the game they dream about.
I may not play the Tekken games, but this developer has expressed himself rationally and professionally. There was no real form of slander, just a pissed of person letting his thoughts known to the countless idiots we all know they deal with.
Bravo, and I hope more people like this start voicing themselves so this self-entitled mob mentality we have going right now can start being pushed back.
As not a Tekken fan I can't say this matters too much to me one way or another, but I have to say I like this rant. VAs do change sometimes, and while there are a lot of times that I don't like the changes... it happens.
@clush: He makes Namco a lot of money. I'm sure he'll be fine.
Oh he'll be fine no doubt. But that doesnt make it any less of a bad move. I'm not really sure what he's trying to achieve to begin with, but he's probaby shooting himself in the foot regardless with this tone. He's just venting and shouldve probably slept on it.
It's not very well written either, so I doubt he's given it too much thought before flinging this onto the internet. Some things you are better off just sucking up and sometimes you have to think twice about your reactions. I'd argue that's also part of "being an adult".
the mass effect one was justified fans pushing on bioware cause that ending was bullshit, and now they have done good cause that extended ending is satisfying,
but this seems like stupid fans harassing a creator
This.
But Harada does present a reasonable argument. Something that can't be said for Casey Chugson and Hack Walters
I am REALLY liking the new "laying down the LAW" attitude from more J-devs. It's especially good of him to seperate the "I have a bone to pick you with you devs and now I'm gonna bitch" crowd from the "I DONT have a bone with you and I'm gonna bitch" crowd. Sadly, the loudest of the ME3 howlers were of the later. Speaking of which:
I have even complied to the requests of you all spamming me to "bring back characters" from previous installments. You often say, "let's show the dev team how sincere we are by buying 2 copies if they bring back character X", but did you really go through with it? Expecting you to at least pre-order the game, I was met with more spam, after you apparently didn't notice that Jun and Michelle actually return.
This is one of the things I've been hapring on repeatedly, no talk without wallet! You wanna support a dev for a decision you liked? BUY THEIR SHIT. You feel like they're giving you a raw deal? DONT BUY THEIR SHIT.
How is this news? Developer annoyed by fans of long time established franchise series? Why do we need an article on this?
Because we need to look at he fact that gamers have become a self entitled bunch that feel like they should control every single aspect of the design that goes into games and worst they do it in the most obnoxious idiotic way.
How is this news? Developer annoyed by fans of long time established franchise series? Why do we need an article on this?
Because we need to look at he fact that gamers have become a self entitled bunch that feel like they should control every single aspect of the design that goes into games and worst they do it in the most obnoxious idiotic way.
The problem isnt the BioWhiners. It's that devs pay attention to them. People in large groups are idiots and the internet is comprised of large groups of people.
I have little vested interest in the Tekken series itself or whether I'm feeling entitled. I usually don't say a thing and vote with my feet. However the responses to this article are really decisive and addicting to read. The rights of the consumer versus the rights of the developer is what it seems to boil down to. Ultimately I suppose either side can understand each other or not understand each other. Whatever.
This seems like kind of a pithy thing to even care about. Like, small enough that I'm surprised he even addressed it, especially given voices in something like Tekken have never seemed all that important. It's not like it has famous voice actors (at least, not famous on this side of the pond), and there aren't tons of iconic lines or something.
If David Hayter stopped voicing Solid Snake, people are going to notice. When Mark Hammil is no longer the Joker, his absence is felt. Those are characters that talk a lot and imbue their characters with life and personality.
But who gives a shit about Tekken voices? 90% of them are battle cries. It's all about perspective.
Don't really give a damn about Tekken or its voices but it's nice of him to be so candid. Refreshing.
To play the devil's advocate a little, maybe if less developers acted like they couldn't be bothered to actually address their fans' concerns directly, there would be a few less people constantly questioning - or "whining" about - things they simply don't understand.
He mentions a need to act as adults, yet more often fans/customers are written off like whiny children any time they dare express even legitimate concerns about the products they're buying.
I really hate "bring back" requests, because essentailly people just want the same game they played 20 years ago. Tekken and Halo are the chief offenders in the "this is a brand new game and I feel like I already played it/ I'm already bored." scenario.
I don't understand this- Street Fighter has used different voices for almost all of its iterations over the same time frame - nobody seems to care.
Why are the voice actors important to a fighting game?
Maybe it's only important because they haven't changed the voices in so long, so fans have come to expect them? Should have started changing them with each generation.
I like that this guy stood up and said something about this. To be honest people will always want how they imagined playing a game was, and expect that to continue, but what if that were to change and instead of trying t recreate those feelings through the same type of game we create new feelings akin to that with new games. For me I try to support new IPs more than established franchises because I want to say thank you for trying something new and going out a limb, those experiences are what is exciting, falling in love with a new game, not trying to fall in love again with a game you are already in love with. It is like trying to experience that first hit of a drug again, almost nothing compares to that first hit and you are constantly trying to recapture that hit with larger quantities of that same drug but nothing compares, it is until you switch it up and try something new that you can experience a new kind of hit. (I am not saying games offer similar side effects in any way, just was a good example haha)
But who gives a shit about Tekken voices? 90% of them are battle cries. It's all about perspective.
Tekken fans, apparently.
^
Maybe Tekken fans should care about things that actually matter, like fighting mechanics and game balance. Don't get me wrong, though I kind of get it - In Street Fighter 4, I switched to Japanese voices almost immediately because Chun-li, Ryu, etc. all didn't sound "right" unless they were using the original VAs. But either Harada is easily annoyed or people are bothering him way too much about something that is relatively insignificant.
Solid Snake talks a lot. Nathan Drake talks a lot. The Joker talks a lot. Their voices matter. But this is a fighting game. It does not bother me so much that Spider-man in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 sounds completely different than Spider-man in Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Certainly not enough to prompt somebody from Capcom to come out and tell me "Hey, stop being a baby and suck it up, loser."
One way or the other, somebody in this situation is overreacting.
@Saganomics: I was unclear, I totally agree with it being okay to call out artists for making a product that the consumer finds terrible. Effort certainly isn't going to appease everyone, and I've found even my favorite writers/game designers have produced products leaving a sour taste in my mouth.
But It goes back to the fact that regardless of how you feel about it, it's still someone's creation, and hence deserves to be treated with respect to the fact that someone created this over many painstaking hours. It might be the worse thing you've ever experienced, but the creator should never be nagged to reach into their work of art and change things because the consumer disagrees with the way it was created.
Total agreement.
Woah, I think this is probably the best thing I've ever read on this website.
He is right, fans can be completely crazy with their requests/demands and unreasonable, i remember seeing someone shouting and screaming for Heihachi to have his original voice actor despite the fact he died over a year ago. Im sure they will use as many samples as they can but it just gets unmanageable. The only question fans should be asking is "is the game any good?", if the answer to that is yes then there shouldnt be any problem.
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