Lore/Voice Actor Panel

I was waiting for these to be completely uploaded but since there's a demand, I'll give in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg1kqsqD2rE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a1YwISRhh0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqqdcZN1d0s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7dZOQzcbLA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bPL8pv8KFE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olyh2dHfmWQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xifGDnVUYyM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEA0AdIYDEM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0B8cxvqgyA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZAyZJlIHeo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUCuFPbk41s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Poo5O66yGs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2pxefQapzM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZAyZ...eature=channel

Can't even hear the clips they are playing. I'm glad I didn't pay for the stream if that's the kind of quality it was.

yep quality was bad

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The_Blade

yep quality was bad

---

The actual sound isn't bad it's just the clips that they show you cannot hear at all. The tychus one is probably the only one you can hear.

"Hell, its about DAMN time" :D

nice.

Yeah, even in the paid stream you couldn't hear the clips with the actors.

I'm honestly shocked no one had the balls to ask where the frack Glynnis was.

No offense to Tricia (yay Canadian hotness!)

Well, it looks like the other uploads of this weren't an accurate thing to guess on. There was actually more clips. Three more of which have been released. This is all of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUCuFPbk41s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Poo5O66yGs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2pxefQapzM

thanks for these, i enjoyed it very much.

one of the best parts was when metzen did the battlecruiser, marine and the ghost. :D

Awesome voice cast, man. Can't wait to hear these guys in action. Especially Tychus :D

Yes!

Awesome panel. I wish they'd had a bit more time for Q&A, but knowing that they'll be back next year to talk about what we've already seen of Wings and give us a peek at Heart is good enough. That's when the VAs will have an opportunity to really talk about the characters and what they're going through, so I suppose it makes sense to save it for later.

Very excited about the voices though -- ALL of the actors seem to be so into the whole thing, and have nothing but heaps of praise for the story Metzen's giving us, so my excitement's going through the roof. I think understandably so. :D

Super happy about the return of Mr. Clotworthy and Mr. Harper, and it's nice to finally have the IMDB fiasco laid to rest and clarified. The new VAs seem really talented and really excited, so that's a huge plus... the only disappointment, of course, is the absence of Glynnis Talken. I love Tricia Helfer from BSG and I'm sure she'll do a fantastic job, but I'm a little confused as to why a recast was called for. I'm sure we'll get this story out of them eventually.

Q: this, minus Brian Bloom for Matt Horner, seems to be the main VA cast of SC2. Anyone else wondering where Valerian's run off to? Either he hasn't been cast yet (which is a luxury they can afford if he only comes up way late in the campaign, a distinct possibility)... or his role has been marginalized as the campaign's writing went on and other opportunities presented themselves. In either case, I'm disappointed it didn't come up in the Q&A.

Well the role he plays is probably 100% top secret. That's probably why they haven't unveiled who's playing the role yet.

(And where did you hear Brian Bloom? Out of curiosity.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aldrius

Well the role he plays is probably 100% top secret. That's probably why they haven't unveiled who's playing the role yet.

(And where did you hear Brian Bloom? Out of curiosity.)

---

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037854/fullcredits#cast

I suppose it's pretty naive to be citing IMDB as a source after everything we've gone through, with it, first-hand... but it's such a random pick that I can't imagine someone naming it without some sort of proof. I remember the guy from Dollhouse by the way -- he was a pretty good actor. :)

As for Valerian, you're right -- part of his role may definitely be secret. For instance, if he is in fact the man behind the 'Moebius Corporation,' we wouldn't want that spoiled definitively just yet. But at the same time, there are more obvious things to discuss, such as his relationship with Arcturus and what that means for the two of them as characters.

But that might only come into play in the latter campaigns. And in either case, as I said before, it might be the kind of information we'd need to wait for at least the first game's release before the VAs could really give us their thoughts on it.

Oh well. This'll definitely tide me over for quite a while. :)

We're also missing Artanis and Selendis - but I imagine that is because they haven't been cast yet as they won't be appearing in WOL

~LoA

LoA, how the hell did you not a straight answer on Glynnis?!

It would have been disrespectful to ask while the new actress was there - and I did ask - privately, and its pretty much what Glynnis told us - they wanted a new direction.

~LoA

That makes me cry. Ugh.

I'm on this damn roller coaster with Blizzard.
They show me something shiny like the Viking, then showcase the God-awful Thor.
They create beautiful maps, but then cover them in corn.
They give me obviously improved UI, but add APM sinks like PC.
They bring back the classic voices to show real concern for the story, but then trade off the most important character for "star power."

I... I need to go lay down...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DemolitionSquid

They bring back the classic voices to show real concern for the story, but then trade off the most important character for "star power."

---

I know nothing of the BSG series or anything else she's been in; to me she's just as random a nobody as the rest of the new voice actors. Does this new girl really qualify as star power? Do SC fans really love their BSG characters or something?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by trace wm

I know nothing of the BSG series or anything else she's been in; to me she's just as random a nobody as the rest of the new voice actors. Does this new girl really qualify as star power? Do SC fans really love their BSG characters or something?

---

I'm just saying that I see no reason to use Tricia Helfer apart from her being more famous. There are plenty of other voice actors to choose from. And when I heard Glynnis in the ZvK it just felt... right, to me and many others.

But instead they pick an attractive screen actor who's just broken out. It doesn't make sense to me unless its purely to add star power.

To add to what Squid's saying, not only does Glynnis have the memories of the original experience to provide us with the closure we'll be looking for, the woman also has a huge range, which she showcased by playing Kerrigan as two completely different characters. Seeing as how her voice doesn't seem to have aged a day --from what we heard in the original trailer -- it's hard to see WHY they would ever need to replace her. The range the woman has should be enough to cover ANY direction they'd want to go in.

But, all due respect to Ms. Helfer, she's not SO widely-known that copies of SC2 will be sold on her name alone. She learned to make a lot out of very little by s4 BSG, but... why was it necessary?


I'm sort of disappointed with MYSELF that I'm not as disappointed as I ought to be for losing Ms. Talken -- the replacement is pretty frakkin' qualified. So... I don't know.

Im not gonna go into extreme detail about this, but putting all nostalgia aside, I am confident this voice cast will deliver a great game to my ears.

I lold at the mensk guy thinking he played Zeratul.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pure.Wasted

To add to what Squid's saying, not only does Glynnis have the memories of the original experience to provide us with the closure we'll be looking for, the woman also has a huge range, which she showcased by playing Kerrigan as two completely different characters. Seeing as how her voice doesn't seem to have aged a day --from what we heard in the original trailer -- it's hard to see WHY they would ever need to replace her. The range the woman has should be enough to cover ANY direction they'd want to go in.

---

Perhaps. But she nonetheless has a smaller body of work (of which the last time she did one, according to IMDB, was almost 10 years ago). Helfer on the other hand has constantly remained in practice over the last few years. So, the latter probably has better emotional range, which seems to be needed for SC2 based on what was described during the lore panel.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mr. peasant

Perhaps. But she nonetheless has a smaller body of work (of which the last time she did one, according to IMDB, was almost 10 years ago). Helfer on the other hand has constantly remained in practice over the last few years. So, the latter probably has better emotional range, which seems to be needed for SC2 based on what was described during the lore panel.

---

This makes a lot of sense and it probably why they replaced her.

But, as far as these changes go, I trust Blizzard :D

TBH, Kerrigan's the one character that I care the least about.

To me, I'd rather have the same old marine voice back, or Mengsk, or the Ghost, battlecruiser, Zealot, whatever.

Maybe I'm just crazy, but I don't really care about Kerrigan, if at all.

forget SC! this is sc2.

i like the new voice actors and the new kerrrigan. i assume she will be great as kerrigan. who cares about the old kerrigan it was 10 years ago, it was lacking.

question: did they show a longer version of these cinematics?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi4U9...69FE38&index=2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmamb...69FE38&index=1

and when will the high quality of these videos be release including the art panel with the new tilesets etc. ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by electricmole

question: did they show a longer version of these cinematics?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi4U9...69FE38&index=2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmamb...69FE38&index=1

and when will the high quality of these videos be release including the art panel with the new tilesets etc. ?

---

No that is all they showed of them.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Crazy_Jonny

I lold at the mensk guy thinking he played Zeratul.

---

So did we ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pandonetho

To me, I'd rather have the same old marine voice back, or Mengsk, or the Ghost, battlecruiser, Zealot, whatever.

---

lol @ the Battlecruiser - gotta love Metzen ;)

~LoA

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DemolitionSquid

That makes me cry. Ugh.

I'm on this damn roller coaster with Blizzard.
They show me something shiny like the Viking, then showcase the God-awful Thor.
They create beautiful maps, but then cover them in corn.
They give me obviously improved UI, but add APM sinks like PC.
They bring back the classic voices to show real concern for the story, but then trade off the most important character for "star power."

I... I need to go lay down...

---

I feel rather exactly the same as this about the VA situation. I'm not saying she'll be bad, but I can't imagine why of ANY of the characters - especially after all the reviews and comments on Kerrigan's character in BroodWar & Glynnis' performance, why that character would need to be taken in a new direction...

At least I can loose myself in the Billion.5 hours I'll be spending on the map editor.

(Also D-9 was amazing)


X :cool:

Guys, please understand that you have nothing to go on when it comes to comparing Gylnnis to the "new girl" other than the almost twelve year old performance in StarCraft. Maybe Glynnis has lost all voice acting talent in general or with this character. Surely, Blizzard has a very good reason for going outside of the norm for them when it comes to voice acting (in StarCraft 2 only; not others). Or, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they don't have a good reason in our opinion. All I'm saying is that we should wait until we've given her a chance before we QQ all over the internet. It's probably already too late for Blizzard themselves to change it much less a few fans on a forum that the higher-ups probably never go to.

That being said, from what I've heard so far in that demo, I'm not really liking this new girl :( But, I'm far from demanding her to be replaced.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TychusFindlay

Guys, please understand that you have nothing to go on when it comes to comparing Gylnnis to the "new girl" other than the almost twelve year old performance in StarCraft.

---

I've been in contact with Glynnis on and off through out StarCraft 2's development, and she voiced 2 trailers that were used at Blizzcon last year. This combined with the bits and pieces we've heard from the new VA gives us enough to make comparisons. That's the reason we're making a big deal about this - we've HEARD Glynnis as she is now voicing Kerrigan, and we've also heard Tricia, and the vast majority of the fans, especially those most interested in the single player campaign seem to prefer Glynnis's performance.

With Blizz bringing back Robert Clotworthy after all the talk about "bringing Raynor in a new direction" it seems ridiculous to suddenly do that for Kerrigan - especially given all the positive reviews on her voice in the original game, and the positive reception to her performance at Blizzcon last year.

You'll note that LAST year, no one was bothered by Kerrigan's VA, only by the Zerg reveal trailer - not voiced by her. However- there was a LOT of talk about getting Raynor's original VA back. Now that he's back, everyone's quiet about that.

Instead they've changed Kerrigan, and the fan base is letting Blizz know that we really don't like the change compared to the original. I'm not saying Tricia will make a horrible Kerrigan, I'm saying that Glynnis will continue to make a FAR better one.


X :cool:

I've heard the Glynnis as well and I loved her. I agree she is better in those parts than Tricia. The point is, though, that you haven't heard the end result. A few lines isn't enough to compare them especially since they weren't very emotional scenes. Maybe Tricia blows her out of the water when it comes to these types of scenes. Maybe she handles the range much better. Who knows. My point is that Blizzard went against the will of the masses because they feel this person is superior. I just think we should ask ourselves why we think they're willing to do this. If they're close in skill or Tricia is worse then I'm sure they'd keep Glynnis.

Guys, there's only one possibly logical reasoning for what Blizzard has chosen this new voice actor. Because she's mad hot. Otherwise the decision is baffling and best not to think about...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by XSOLDIER

I've been in contact with Glynnis on and off through out StarCraft 2's development, and she voiced 2 trailers that were used at Blizzcon last year. This combined with the bits and pieces we've heard from the new VA gives us enough to make comparisons. That's the reason we're making a big deal about this - we've HEARD Glynnis as she is now voicing Kerrigan, and we've also heard Tricia, and the vast majority of the fans, especially those most interested in the single player campaign seem to prefer Glynnis's performance.

With Blizz bringing back Robert Clotworthy after all the talk about "bringing Raynor in a new direction" it seems ridiculous to suddenly do that for Kerrigan - especially given all the positive reviews on her voice in the original game, and the positive reception to her performance at Blizzcon last year.

You'll note that LAST year, no one was bothered by Kerrigan's VA, only by the Zerg reveal trailer - not voiced by her. However- there was a LOT of talk about getting Raynor's original VA back. Now that he's back, everyone's quiet about that.

Instead they've changed Kerrigan, and the fan base is letting Blizz know that we really don't like the change compared to the original. I'm not saying Tricia will make a horrible Kerrigan, I'm saying that Glynnis will continue to make a FAR better one.


X :cool:

---

The question is, do the fans prefer Glynnis purely for the nostalgia factor or because of the very subjective nature that she is 'better' (in which case, the question is how so)?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mr. peasant

The question is, do the fans prefer Glynnis purely for the nostalgia factor or because of the very subjective nature that she is 'better' (in which case, the question is how so)?

---

It's difficult to judge the new actor for her talents because she hasn't been heard in character yet (not to my knowledge). The argument is that there's little justification for changing the voice of such a pivotal character when the original job was done well. Money clearly isn't a factor because we can assume the new voice actor is more expensive. You don't change Darth Vader's voice because you want to re-imagine the franchise. James Earl Jones defined the voice of Vader, so why would you chance his voice in Empire Strikes Back just for the hell of it? Of course this is their game and they can do whatever they want with it, but the decision is just strange.

I'm sure they have their motives, and because of PR reasons cannot explain what it is.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Blazur

It's difficult to judge the new actor for her talents because she hasn't been heard in character yet (not to my knowledge). The argument is that there's little justification for changing the voice of such a pivotal character when the original job was done well. Money clearly isn't a factor because we can assume the new voice actor is more expensive. You don't change Darth Vader's voice because you want to re-imagine the franchise. James Earl Jones defined the voice of Vader, so why would you chance his voice in Empire Strikes Back just for the hell of it? Of course this is their game and they can do whatever they want with it, but the decision is just strange.

I'm sure they have their motives, and because of PR reasons cannot explain what it is.

---

The counterargument would then be that for the vast majority, Glynnis Talken's voice was not as defining as James Earl Jones' was for their respective characters.

Moreover, given her greater wealth of (and might I add more recent) experience, one can probably assume that Tricia Helfer may be more talented and/or has a greater emotional range than Talken. This range, which appears to be needed for Blizzard's intended story, would thus give her an advantage. In other words, Helfer in all likelihood isn't better than Talken in every way. However, the areas she is better was likely what gave her the advantage in the audition process.

Also, is Talken a professional voice actress? Is she part of SAG? Is SC2 a SAG project?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TychusFindlay

It's probably already too late for Blizzard themselves to change it much less a few fans on a forum that the higher-ups probably never go to.

---

It is probably too late - however, many of the higher ups do go here. At the Blizz after party I was talking with Metzen and he just gushed about how much he loves SC:L. And trust me, he's not the only one who visits SC:L - there are several more of the "big-wigs" that do.

~LoA

There's a reason Robert Clotworthy is back, and I dare say those 10+ page long discussions we were throwing around on a weekly basis had something to do with it. (probably other forums had similar things going on, but this is one of the biggest, so...)

I'm sure SC:L can afford to feel at least partially responsible on this setting of things on the right track, as monumental as that setting may be. :)

Quote:

---

The counterargument would then be that for the vast majority, Glynnis Talken's voice was not as defining as James Earl Jones' was for their respective characters.

---

It really was, though. Look at any review that talked at length about the single player portion of the game (especially BW) and the quality of Kerrigan's voice acting is bound to come up.

I understand what you're trying to do -- lessen the impact of the change and get us to accept something that is, for all intents and purposes, set in stone. The thing is, if anyone remembers those 10+ page discussions, there was one point that came up over and over.

"We'd at least understand the changes if the replacements were obviously talented."

And Tricia is. I don't see why a replacement would be called for (after SC/BW I can't imagine the sort of range that Glynnis ain't got), but at the same time, I'm not ragging on a poor casting choice. I'm just disappointed that things couldn't work out as they did in my ideal version of SC2, even if that might have been unrealistic due to some condition re: Glynnis that none of us seem to know.