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This week’s Nintendo Direct was packed with surprises, one of which was the announcement of the third game in the Xenoblade Chronicles series.
Long-time fans of the franchise will be familiar with the fact that the localisation of past entries has been (mostly) handled in Europe rather than the US, a fact which is reflected in the abundance of regional British accents in each game.
As you may be aware, Nintendo Life is based in the United Kingdom, so hearing the main characters speak with British accents is more jarring than you might expect; while regional accents have appeared in other RPGs in the past (Ni No Kuni and Dragon Quest being two notable examples), the main ‘hero’ of a video game almost always speaks with a North American accent. Therefore, hearing regional British accents in a Nintendo Direct is more of a shock than you might assume to us Brits.
It would seem that some gamers from outside of the British Isles are feeling the same way.
As Max points out, the reason that Xenoblade Chronicles featured a British voice cast is because Nintendo of America declined to localise it, so Nintendo of Europe did the work instead. While it’s not strictly true that the entire Xenoblade series “has to be British” – Xenoblade Chronicles X was localised in North America by Nintendo Treehouse and the external company 8-4 – it does seem to have become the accepted norm with fans:
What’s your opinion of the accents in the Xenoblade Chronicles series? Do you think the franchise ‘has’ to be British now, or do you feel the mix of accents in the game works well? (It’s worth noting that not every character is using a British accent, before you say.)
Vote in the poll below, and while you’re at it, let us know your favourite Xenoblade Chronicles character – based solely on their voice and meme-worthy battle cries – in the comments section below.
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