StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

[Lavarinth]

Honestly, I didn't even know Raynor wasn't the same voice.

[omega20]

Exactly. Besides, none of them *look* the same, might as well make them sound different.

I just hope they keep Artanis.

Well, I can remember that I read an article somewhere (I can't remember where, sorry ) explaining that Jack Ritschel (Artanis) and Paul Ainsley (Duran) were going to voice those characters in SC II (Although this was also said from Robert Clotworthy and Glynnis Talken some time ago... hmmm...)

[AA7Dragoon]

I don't mind the Raynor voice change, but Kerrigan does bother me greatly.  It's like when they make a movie sequel, and they have the same character under a different actor?  Yeah.. it's not the same.

Raynor is an improvement
Kerrigan is Glynnis
Zeratul is fine (not sure if it's the same actor or not.  If not, I couldn't tell in the videos)

[Lavarinth]

I still don't think that's Kerrigan.

[Aegis]

Raynor is an improvement
Kerrigan is Glynnis
Zeratul is fine (not sure if it's the same actor or not.  If not, I couldn't tell in the videos)

With Glynnis Talken gone, all the voices in that list are different.  In the case of Zeratul, the VA died, so the change was necessary.  I could tell the moment I heard the voice the first time that it wasn't the same, and it was more than simply a subtle drop in voice acting quality.  The same with the other trailers when the stand-ins filled the voices for Raynor and Kerrigan (to which Raynor's accent bugged me above all else).

In all this, I'll simply say do not underestimate the power of voices.  I hold sound in as much regard as graphics, (in some cases, even higher than the visuals), as it is those voices that made the characters who they are. To lose such good voice acting, especially ones as memorable as the likes of Raynor, Kerrigan, and Zeratul, can hurt some of that luster in the final product.  If the new voices end up sucking like crap, well, that just makes the loss of Clotworthy and Campbell that much more glaring.  Personally, I've kinda gotten used to the voices, but so far they really could've been done better (I really hope Raynor will lose that redneck accent above all else; no need to sound like a redneck for him to be a backwater down-on-his-luck former marshal).

[Meta]

Well, almost all characters from Starcraft and Brood War are dead anyway. New castings won't change much... how many characters are still alive... hmm, Kerrigan, Zeratul, Raynor, Artanis, Duran and Mengsk? Of those, only Mengsk's voice really stands out as really good IMHO (Duran had quite a good VA, but it's unlikely we'll see him as an Infested Terran or a Confederate Lieutenant). 

Also remember that Starcraft is a very lightly developed universe that has nowhere near the level of detail that Warcraft currently has. Blizzard spent, what, a decade working on Azeroth non-stop? So this is their chance to consolidate the SC universe, and their characters will likely play a significant role in that. Heh, if they're following the same path as Warcraft has followed ever since Wc3, we'll soon see lots of retcons and stuff like that. Fenix and Aldaris haven't been mentioned ever since SC2's development was announced, and Artanis officially became the Executor (he's basically talking to himself in Brood War ), so you know there's plenty of retcon on the way. It's the way Metzen works. 

However, back to the original topic, I wonder how Blizzard thinks their decision to change these characters will bring profit. Maybe Glynnis and the Raynor guy were demanding too much to reprise their roles? 

My main problem with Starcraft 2's Raynor is that his unibrow is gone, his face looks completely different... it feels as if they got rid of Raynor. Kerrigan will probably not have changed that much, unless she has been evolving, mutating and whatnot during all that time. I'm starting to believe that Starcraft 2 is almost to be treated as a new universe altogether, only loosely based on Starcraft and Brood War.  If the campaign is anywhere near as good as I'm hoping it'll be, this may be a huge improvement over the original campaign.

[mAc Chaos]

They're gonna fuck it up.   I place my hopes in DIABLO.

[Lavarinth]

Too bad you own a mac.

[Legion]

I'm starting to believe that Starcraft 2 is almost to be treated as a new universe altogether, only loosely based on Starcraft and Brood War.  If the campaign is anywhere near as good as I'm hoping it'll be, this may be a huge improvement over the original campaign.

Exactly what I've been thinking. This is not Starcraft 2 as a title. This is KOPRULU WARS 'N' SHIT and then the subtitle "Starcraft 2".

[AA7Dragoon]

Too bad you own a mac.

If you weren't the object of my wet dreams, I'd smack you.

[Lavarinth]

Too bad you own a mac.

If you weren't the object of my wet dreams, I'd smack you.

In this instance, I now prefer you would. Haha.

[Aegis]

Well, almost all characters from Starcraft and Brood War are dead anyway. New castings won't change much... how many characters are still alive... hmm, Kerrigan, Zeratul, Raynor, Artanis, Duran and Mengsk? Of those, only Mengsk's voice really stands out as really good IMHO (Duran had quite a good VA, but it's unlikely we'll see him as an Infested Terran or a Confederate Lieutenant). 

Don't forget Stukov, thanks to the magical deus ex that is Zerg infestation.   Unless someone wakes up and changes their mind about including the N64's storyline in there, to which that would make me happy. >>

Even then, with the ones mentioned in there, that's actually still a decent number of the cast that's still alive, the bulk of that group in itself having already played significant roles throughout both SC and BW.  The ones that did die, a number of them weren't really around long enough for us to care, like Razagal who was pretty much someone that was set up to die one way or another.  Amongst all the VAs, only Zeratul's was the one who died; the rest as far as I know are still alive, and at least two of those we know for sure wanted to reprise their roles very, very much.

However, back to the original topic, I wonder how Blizzard thinks their decision to change these characters will bring profit. Maybe Glynnis and the Raynor guy were demanding too much to reprise their roles? 

Don't know about Glynnis' scenario, although she was the one who actually let it known that Blizzard gave her the pink slip rather than Blizzard making the announcement themselves.  Clotworthy, on the other hand, wasn't even given a chance to audition for the role.  That sounds like Blizzard already made up their mind that they wanted someone else for Raynor as opposed to a VA wishing for more money.  I've never really heard of a VA that's given top dollar anyways. >>  Well, if they end up somehow casting Talken and Clotworthy again, I'd definitely be happy, but for now I just hope that whoever will take over those roles will actually, you know, act their parts.

As far as their new appearances go, Infested Kerrigan at least looks like a Zerg this time as opposed to the S&M queen of before while still maintaining the basic look.  She even made high heels look dangerous. >>  I was even fine with the new look Raynor, complete with having a full head of hair.  I don't know why, but seeing him with hair amused me.

[AA7Dragoon]

Too bad you own a mac.

If you weren't the object of my wet dreams, I'd smack you.

In this instance, I now prefer you would. Haha.

Very well.
[me=AA7Dragoon]smacks Lavarinth with his BIG BURRITO.[/me]

[Meta]

Well, almost all characters from Starcraft and Brood War are dead anyway. New castings won't change much... how many characters are still alive... hmm, Kerrigan, Zeratul, Raynor, Artanis, Duran and Mengsk? Of those, only Mengsk's voice really stands out as really good IMHO (Duran had quite a good VA, but it's unlikely we'll see him as an Infested Terran or a Confederate Lieutenant). 

Don't forget Stukov, thanks to the magical deus ex that is Zerg infestation.   Unless someone wakes up and changes their mind about including the N64's storyline in there, to which that would make me happy. >>

Even then, with the ones mentioned in there, that's actually still a decent number of the cast that's still alive, the bulk of that group in itself having already played significant roles throughout both SC and BW.  The ones that did die, a number of them weren't really around long enough for us to care, like Razagal who was pretty much someone that was set up to die one way or another.  Amongst all the VAs, only Zeratul's was the one who died; the rest as far as I know are still alive, and at least two of those we know for sure wanted to reprise their roles very, very much.

According to IMDB the dude who did Zeratul is very much alive, everytime this subject shows up on fan sites there's discussion whether he's alive or not. 

But yeah, Stukov had a fantastic voice as well. To be honest I liked Fenix, Daggoth and Duke, and didn't like how they weren't included in the expansion (they pretty much showed up and died, meh). I think Daggoth's VA wasn't available for the expansion or something. Raszagal, yeah, she didn't get much screen time for a new character, but the way she behaved towards the end of the Protoss campaign made it really obvious that she'd show up again sometime.

[IskatuMesk]

Too bad you own a mac.

If you weren't the object of my wet dreams, I'd smack you.

In this instance, I now prefer you would. Haha.

Very well.
[me=AA7Dragoon]smacks Lavarinth with his BIG BURRITO.[/me]

you just got smacked by AA7's BIG BURRITO

it was super effective!