Greetings,

In the original The Witcher, I think we can all agree that the voiceovers are a bit uneven - some of the acting is good and quite memorable, but most of it remains mediocre. Budget and time constraints no doubt played their part in this, and not enough time and money spent on direction also resulted in a questionable end result. As the only returning voice actor - Doug Cockle as Geralt - gives a much more convincing and nuanced performance this time around, it's clear to me that time, money, and voice direction are important factors when it comes to giving life to game characters. Doug Cockle is an established voice actor, but even established voice actors and actresses won't deliver a memorable performance without the proper conditions.

I digress. What I noticed in TW1 was that when I played it in Polish, the voices sounded much more varied and more convincingly delivered than they did in English - this is despite the fact that I do not speak the language at all, aside from a couple of words here and there that I've picked up. I still felt like the voices were better and had more character. In TW2, I was blown away by how great the English VO's were, the moment I started playing. Again, more time, a higher budget, and more voice direction most likely helped make this as good as it turned out to be. Sure, there are a few bad apples, that's inevitable (Triss being the obvious example), but overall I have not played any 'fully voiced' game in English that's held such a high standard.

When I tried playing it in Polish, however, it did not feel as - sorry! - polished as the English counterpart. The voices felt more monotone in general, and I could hardly notice any pauses left in the dialogue to add drama and flavour - it feels like the actors and actresses are in a rush when they deliver their lines, and the delivery often lacks weight, and is missing that flair I received from the English VO's. I must, of course, attribute a significant amount of this to the fact that I don't understand the language spoken. It's quite possible that someone fluent in Polish might say the acting is superb, and the lines are delivered perfectly. I can't help it, though - comparing it to how it sounded when I played TW1 in Polish, it doesn't feel like they've put as much effort into it this time around.

I don't know if CDPR have made a statement about this somewhere, but is it possible that the main focus has been given to the English version, this time around? The international marketing possibilities being an obvious reason, this wouldn't surprise me, but it sounds weird to me that they would skimp out on what I still consider to be The Witcher world's original language. And it's not only the voice acting itself, the mixing also sounds inferior to the English version. In one-on-one conversations - and not lines you hear from passers-by or what not - it doesn't sound like they've mixed in something that would take into consideration environments. It's like no effort has been made to mask the fact that the actors/actresses are in a studio, speaking into a microphone. It doesn't sound like the character(s) standing in the room; instead it sounds like I'm just listening to a recording. A lot of cheap dubbing in the TV and film media causes this problem as well.

So, again, maybe I would react differently if I spoke both languages fluently, and thereby were in a better position to compare the two. Is there someone out there, having played TW1 and TW2 in both English and Polish, and is comfortably fluent in both languages, that could share their opinion on this? Is the voice acting better in English, or in Polish? Is the different quality of sound mixing as apparent to you as it is to me? I'd really like to know, as I'm trying to play through the game in Polish to add some variety, but the (to me) incomprehensible language aside, it just doesn't feel like it carries the same quality, which makes it difficult to stop myself from simply switching back to English.

I have no idea , but i find the English voice overs in the Witcher 2 really well done , the actors did a fine job all around , even though it has not as many different voices than in other big production games with larger budgets


However since it is your thread Kindo , i apologize for off-topic but wanted to ask you a question please , i hope you don't mind , sorry in advance

First i wanted to thank you for your CEO mod , but i wanted to know if :

Is it possible that in future updates of your mod , you'd change the stats of the " Sword of Creyden" that the friend of Ves gives you in chapter 1 after you drink with them ( cross paradise on whore's arses ) and beat him at arm wrestling ?

i ask cause the sword is supposed to be rare and valuable yet it has really poor stats , even compared to what the mysterious merchant sells , i ask you that also cause its design is orignal (compared to other swords ) , so since it looks special , it would be cool to make it interesting to carry as it is a unique sword (not a robust/superb generic sword )

Thanks for answer :)

Yeah, the first time through, I didn't notice many re-used voices, but you start paying attention it it after a while, and begin recognizing the voice actors - even though they usually at least have a different type of voice depending on who they're voicing (unlike Bethesda's VO's). It's quite the statement for the quality of the VO's, though, if you like me have played it almost eight times, and the voices still haven't started to annoy you.

(I'll PM you regarding your question.)

I thought the Polish women sounded like men myself so didn't continue but at least I could hear them instead of Geralts low voiced Clint Eastwood style!!

That is a good point. The volume ratio of the voices to sound effects I think is better in the Polish version. In the English version, though the acting itself is quite good, the dialogue is often drowned out by the sound effects, particularly Geralt's.

It honestly makes me wonder if the full English version with all the sound effects mixed in was really tested extensively prior to release.

Although Polish is my native language I played my 1st playthrough with English voiceovers. I did that because of my bad experience with Polish VOs in almost every western title - to me they always feel "stiff" and artificial in some way.

I started my second playthrough 2 days ago and decided to go for Polish VOs this time...and switched back to English quickly. Polish seem so "over-acted" to me, English feel way more natural and fitting.

polish voices/english subs is the best way to go IMO:)

Yes, I have to agree with that. The cursing is really "creative" in Polish VOs and is made with the middle-ages' style and manner, creating a precious linguistic experience :)

Thanks for all the replies. It helps a lot. Even though I don't understand that language, I have also noticed that the cursing sounds amazing in Polish. Overall, Polish is a more flavourful language (a friend of mine is from Poland, and we often speak of languages as a form of expressing oneself, and how certain things you can say in Polish, are simply impossible to say in English), so that's kind of why I'm considering learning the language properly some day. Still, no matter how great a language is - if the voice acting and recording is poorly done, it's not going to make it a more enjoyable experience. Yes, I noticed this as well. Like I said in my original post, they don't seem to have mixed or edited the voices in conversations, to mask the fact that it's just a person standing in a studio, talking (or shouting) into a microphone. This might make voices much easier to distinguish, and they're not as easily 'drowned out' by everything else, as you describe it. What surprised me, though, is that this problem disappeared entirely when I bought a new pair of headphones, and went from stereo to 7.1 surround. I don't know how well TW2 supports this kind of sound system, but ever since I started using these, the voices are always clearly heard, no matter what's going on in the scene.

Did you play the Prologue again after you got the new headphones(7.1?) because the voice overs improve as the game progresses(an occasional obvious edit not withstanding)

I did, and I could hear them clear as day. Granted, I haven't had a big problem hearing the voices even with my old headphones, but enough so that I understand something must be wrong with it, with the occasional scene where I hardly could hear them at all.

The VO's have no doubt improved over the original game.But there is something lacking in it that prevents it from being a truly cinematic experience, I feel that there is a certain lack in emotion sometimes and also the characters lip sync with the dialogue is not perfect. Some of the best vo's I have seen is in the GTA series, even dragon age origins has some really gr8 vo's.
I agree that Triss's voice is very low and lacks depth and personality.I really liked Morrigans voice in DA:O. One more thing I have noted is almost all vo's are done by British artists that's why there is a seeming lack in variety. Any way this is a step in the right direction for CDPR and I am sure by TW3 they will be perfect.

I just finished the game again, this time Polish VO's were activated from beginning to end. From what I can tell, the performance is much more uneven than the English voices. Some I really like (Síle), but most left me quite dissatisfied.

Disclaimer: I don't understand Polish so this might skew my viewpoints.

I have played with both voiceovers and I found that Polish VO has more nuances, some examples:
- you can hear the drunken slur in that certain quest in Chapter I
- you can hear it when the NPC talking to you is suppressing laughter.
- you can hear the tiredness / boredom / I-don't-give-a-damn attitude in Geralt's speeches.
But I must admit that the Polish VO in TW1 feels more polished.

Some things I didn't like about the English VO
- The American accent which feels quite out of place.
- Triss and Dandelion's voiceover. For the latter, he is supposed to be an over-the-top, suave, flamboyant ladies' man, and I don't feel any of it in his English VO.
- Geralt's volume relative to other character's volume.

That being said, the English VO is still overall pretty good. Some good examples are King Foltest, the Striga-and-Witcher-style prostitutes, Iorveth, and the band of merry dwarves.