Something that's been on my mind lately is MK11's voice acting, mainly the inconsistency between the three games in the reboot trilogy as of late.
To start, I'm well aware that MK wasn't exactly known for its stellar roster of acclaimed voice actors in the Midway era. They were often changing from game to game until MK vs. DC came out, introducing us to the likes of Richard Epcar (Raiden), Tom Choi (Liu Kang), and Patrick Seitz (Scorpion). Since then, these three voice actors have become, in the minds of many fans, firmly cemented as the voice of their respective MK characters, alongside Karen Strassman (Kitana/Mileena).
Not gonna lie, I was pretty disappointed to find out that of the four, only Richard Epcar would be returning to voice his character. I'm no stranger to franchises that seem to regularly recast their character's voice actors (i.e. Resident Evil), but it still stings. Patrick Seitz was hands down the best voice actor Scorpion ever had, and the new guy they got to replace him simply does not measure up. Karen Strassman is also sorely missed. It takes away from the sense of familiarity with the characters. In contrast, a series like Devil May Cry found iconic voice actors in Reuben Langdon and Dan Southworth, and have been able to retain them for the last 14 years. Ask any DMC fan how they would feel about them being recast, and they'd have a fucking conniption.
Don't get me wrong, I understand that it can be a complicated issue. There's voice actor unions to consider, not to mention the strike that happened a few years ago (IIRC), but there's also circumstances where publishers want to save a buck and go non-union, or creative decisions that are arbitrary at worst and misguided at best. There are also the rare exceptions where they get a new voice actor who ends up serving the character better (i.e. Sub-Zero and Johnny Cage). I wish more publishers would realize that voice actors are also a very important part of video game development, especially games that are so heavily focused on story like Mortal Kombat.
As of now, these are the only characters who have retained their voice actors from MKX:
Raiden
Johnny Cage
Sub-Zero
Kotal Kahn
Shinnok
Erron Black
Shao Kahn (not in MKX, but it sounds like his voice actor from MK9 is back, possibly)
I'm glad these voice actors are coming back, but its also a damn shame Seitz, Choi, and Strassman aren't. Meanwhile, we have Dr. Claw voicing Noob Saibot, and Ronda Rousey (ugh) voicing Sonya, when their previous voice actors were considerably superior.
What are everyone's thoughts on this? Do you agree with me on the importance of voice actors? Are you happy with the voice cast for MK11? I'm interested to see what you guys think on the matter.
