Which side in Armada 2 has the worst voices

posted on January 9th, 2008, 11:36 am

Okay, simple question (which I think will have a predictable answer), which race in Armada 2 got the worst set of voices?

Now we all know the voices in A2 (like the music) went completely in the wrong direction from how they were in Armada 1. An awful lot of them have this horrible echo effect and some of the voice acting plain sucks to begin with. Here's my opinion on each one...

Federation: Ok, let's run down the list. The battleship voice talks through his nose, The computer voice sounds stoned, the construction ship voice doesn't sound Vulcan despite retaining the Vulcan dialogue from Armada 1 and a the destroyer voice sounds like a 55 year-old commodore with no business commanding a tiny Sabre class. Most of the other voices sound forced, very forced...

Klingons: If they're not talking through their nose (as in the so-called 'Koloth' (why didn't they just call it 'K'Tinga'?) frigate), they're sounding forced... the Klingon voices aren't, in my opinion, as abysmal as the Federation voices, but they can't hold a candle to the Armada 1 voices.

Romulans: The lack of enthusiasm on the part of the voice actors hits some of the Romulan ships particularly hard... Some of them don't even sound Romulan (the Talon's captain sounds more like a Ferengi). The science vessel is particularly bad... such a forced sounding voice, cripes... also the Phoenix voice, who sounds like a ST: Nemesis reject...

Cardassians: The Cardassians actually have the best voices, overall, in my opinion. Most sound suitably Cardassian, though some (like the repair ship voice) do talk through the noses. The cruiser 2 (Gul Vistan class) voice sounds particularly good (though still ever so slightly forced). Many sound a little forced, but it's not quite as bad as some of the other races...

Borg: Oh God, not the Borg voices... this voiceset is by far the worst in Armada 2, if you ask me. I mean, the Borg sounded great in Armada 1. Now, however, it just sounds like someone ran the voice through a cheap robot voice morpher programme (like the sort you see in that recent Optimus Prime face helmet with the voice morpher in it) and then thought (oh, shit! These guys are supposed to be a collective) and doubled the voice up a couple of times. It hardly even sounds Borg at all (it honestly it doesn't sound Borg really), not to mention how completely uninterested the actors (just one actor, maybe?) sounds...

Species 8472: I don't suppose 8472's set it particularly bad... it's fairly decent for the job it does, actually. I can well imagine that's how 8472 might think (think rather than speak), cool, efficient and uncaring. It actually kind of excuses the fact that the voice sounds this way not because it was intentional but because the actor (again, just one, I think) again doesn't sound interested, because it works for the task in this case...

So that's my opinion. Cards are probably the best and the Borg are by far the worst, with the Federation running second...

But it's not really about my opinion... What do you think?

posted on January 9th, 2008, 11:47 am

Borg and Species 8472 are head-to-head in my opinion i still chose the Borg, cause they really disappointed me a lot

[Triarii]

posted on January 9th, 2008, 12:02 pm

Last edited by Triarii on January 9th, 2008, 12:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

8472's voice set is a matter of taste, I guess. I don't think it's great, but I do think it works, unlike the Borg voice set, which doesn't even come close to working...

posted on January 9th, 2008, 12:20 pm

8472 voices are ok imho - maybe not fitting to 8472 in general
yea, the borg voice set indeed, it took away the last bit of atmosphere. the race was a reintepretation of the borg we know from movies and episodes in design and atmosphere with rattle-the-loose-cover-plate soundtrack

[Triarii]

posted on January 9th, 2008, 1:58 pm

Last edited by Triarii on January 9th, 2008, 2:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

with rattle-the-loose-cover-plate soundtrack

Oh, God, I'll say! Some of Armada 2's music makes me want to swear like Armake21 or the Angry Video Game Nerd... It is sooooo bad...

I mean, let's look at each track:

Federation campaign: The same 10 seconds of music over and over again, played slightly different each time, over the course of two minutes. I mean, the Federation track from Armada 1 was also repedative, but at least it was good to listen to. This one is an utter pain to listen to and, like everything else that makes a sound in Armada 2, sounds half-assed and disinterested...

Federation skirmish and multi-player: This one's not too bad... very SF:C III. I'd say the Armada I Federation track is better, but truth be told, this is probably the best track in Armada II...

Klingon campaign: Like the Federation campaign track, this track is pretty much the same few extremely dull seconds repeated over and over again. It doesn't even sound Klingon. How on Earth does a soft, slow, sad track fit the Klingons? This one really, really sucks, an absolute pain to listen to...

Klingon multi-player: At least this one tries to sound Klingon, but why are half of the Armada II tracks the same 10 seconds over and over again? It gets pretty boring after not very long, you know...

Romulan: This one even manages to be worse than the Klingon campaign track. The Aramda I Romulan track was fantastic. It was a dark and mysterious techno track. It fit the Romulans perfectly. The Armada II track, however, in addition to being the same dull few seconds over and over again, sounds less like 'eyes and knife in the dark' and more 'mad scientist who gets laughed at by everyone around him'. Absolutely awful...

Species 8472: Why oh why oh why did they think making every track the same 10 dull seconds over and over again was a good idea? And what the Hell are those very odd noises in the background. Yeesh, another one that's an absolute pain to listen to... I don't care if it fits Species 8472 or not (I really don't think we know enough about the species to say), it sucks...

Borg campaign: Yawn... so boring! There's barely even a track playing at all at times... I thtink we can agree that silence is not a way to set a Borg tone... the Borg just aren't a quiet evil... that would be the Romulans (and yet a near silent track would of course not work for them either).

Borg multi-player: That repeating thud makes it almost sound more 'robot stomp' than 'we are the Borg'. The same 10 seconds repeating, of course... It's not as bad as some of the other ones, but absolutely can't hold a candle to Armada I's Borg track (which I think was perfect).

Cardassians: Well, like so many of the others it's the same 10 seconds over and over again, but it's actually kind of a guilty pleasure for me. It's the only sound track in Armada II I really like. Like the Cardassian voices, it's not quite as half-assed sounding as the tracks and voices of the other races...

[Dr. Lazarus]

posted on January 9th, 2008, 7:01 pm

Last edited by Dr. Lazarus on January 9th, 2008, 7:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think the Borg personally, they were strange to listen to, I don't know what program they used to alter the actors' voices.  On the other hand, species 8472 had a kind of creepy pseudo-spiritual apathetic coolness to them, sometimes I played them just to listen to them threaten everybody.

"The weak shall perish"!!! 

posted on January 10th, 2008, 1:19 am

Well, the way I see it, Species 8472 may seem like monstrosities in the outside, but we know from the episode where they were training to infiltrate Earth that they are capable of negotiation and such. If memory serves, they also communicate telepathically. Therefore, who's to say they would have to scream and make insectoid noises when you click on them? If you are 'hearing their thoughts', as it were, I think it's quite possible that pseudo-spiritual coolnes is exactly what it might 'sound' like, to a human mind... They are advanaced enough to build living space ships and all that, after all...

posted on January 13th, 2008, 10:33 pm

I voted 8472.

Well, to be honest, I actually kind of liked the way the sound set was put together, but it did not fit with the 8472 (who desperately need a real name, and soon).  It's been a while since I played stock (2 years?  3?)  but it still sticks out in my mind as horribly out of place.

posted on January 14th, 2008, 3:25 am

*Shrug* we all have a right to our own opinions...

posted on January 14th, 2008, 3:54 pm

i was actually kind of surprised that 8472 was featured in armada 2 back then as only little was known about this race opposed for example the cardassians. so yea, this voiceset was very surprising

[Casper]

posted on February 3rd, 2008, 7:33 am

Last edited by Casper on February 3rd, 2008, 7:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

the romulan voices in a2 seem to be the worst, IMHO. the borg and federation are nearly as bad, but the rommies (at least to me) seem to go that extra mile to very, very, very bad.


---  edit

i think the Cards are handsdown the best voice set in A2, though that shouldn't be too hard.

posted on February 3rd, 2008, 10:13 am

I've gotta go with the Borg. They're dull, dreary... I turn the voices off whenever I play as the Borg, it just annoys me that much, lol.

Little thing I noticed last week: Some of the female voices ingame are voiced by the same person who was Cmdr Larsen in Bridge Commander, Dr Stevenson in Elite Force 2, and played Seska in Voyager. I knew 'secondary' actors/actresses played multiple roles in the shows, but i hadn't realised it extended into the games too, lol.

posted on July 1st, 2008, 7:55 pm

8472, I don't like how friendly they sound. The A2 Federation Construction Ship sounds better than the A1 version, that sounded like the Captain had a blocked noce.

posted on July 3rd, 2008, 5:17 am

A simple fix for the Klingon sound track would be to use the  music from "Heart of Glory" episode. along with  several  tracks fron other  vidio Games  Like the "Studdershark "theme from M4W.  or somthing from Klingon Acadamy  vidio game .