I can't really disagree with anything you've said, though I do find your argument about that people can't have expectations for voices to be shaky.

Personally I don't mind there not being voice-overs and I don't mind the reading. Here everything that's not in my native language is subtitled (we don't do dubbing in the Netherlands thank god) anyway so I've been reading subtitles my whole life now.

I also don't mind if they would do this, and give everyone voices, but I'd really like Link to forever stay silent. It might be an old idea and realistically was only really applicable in the very first game, but still Link is supposed to represent 'me', so I'd like to imagine in my head what he might be saying. On one hand I like the uniqueness of Zelda being one of the only big franchises that does not include voice-acting and it sort of adds to the mysticism of a 'legend', but on the other, if it's done right I'm all for it.

Long story short, I don't really care either way.

Skidmore said: Do you mean, something like Call of Duty Series?

are Bayonetta 2 and Xenoblade classified as Call of Duty too? since both of them have voice acting

Maybe it could work on a spin off title. A game like "Zelda's popstar adventure" would make a great game to put voices on. You could control Zelda and make her sing her way to the finals in a singing contest. You could also make her use hot outfits *drools*.

And you could also add a sim dating element where you can date different guys (Link, Tingle, Ganondorf, Sheik, etc...) and stablish a serious relationship with them! And maybe... they could release a Director's Cut edition, with sex scenes!!!!

The Legend of Zelda needs voice acting. The lack of voice acting is jarring in modern gaming and it makes Nintendo look cheap. It's time for Zelda to be brought into the modern age.

mophinz said: Skidmore said: Do you mean, something like Call of Duty Series? are Bayonetta 2 and Xenoblade classified as Call of Duty too? since both of them have voice acting

I was saying with everybody else talking and the Protagonist silent.

Don't jump into conclusions, the Modern Warfare story mode was one of my favorites.

I knew who the author of this thread would be as soon as I saw the title.

I wouldn't be mad if there were voice acting so long as Link didn't speak. I also think that since in the games, Hylian is an ancient language (Link to the Past you need a special book to read it, Wind Waker it's just gods and the King of Red Lions that speak it) that it would be fine if it were in the native language of the audience. It would be cool if Hylian was still treated as a special language with special voice acting, much like alien languages in sci-fi movies or things like elvish or orcish in fantasy movies.

1. The voice acting might be bad.
This is not a valid argument because in can be applied to anything. Music shouldn't be in Zelda because they could hire shitty musicians? No. The entire argument for voice acting goes under the expectation that Nintendo should be compitent enough to hire talented voice actors, write a good script, and implement them in a tasteful way.
I often see people bring up things like Metroid: Other M, the Zelda CDi games, or the Zelda show as arguments against voice acting in Zelda. Again, these are not valid examples. They were poor because of their quality, not their existance. No one ever said, "Battlefield 4's online was shit. That's proof that the next Battlefield should not have online multiplayer." That would be stupid. If something lacks quality, the solution is to improve it. Destiny's story wasn't good. The next game should have a better one, not none at all.
Zelda U needs voice acting, but obviously that means that it needs good voice acting.

Japanese developers aren't really able to connect with western audiences in the voice acting category though. Some things they do work, but they're style is preferred to be theatrical vs. natural or Hollywood.

There are some exceptions like Atlus, but they are too far and few between. So "might be" is much closer to almost certainly, at least for the ears of westerners. I don't know how Japanese gamers feel about the voice acting of their games today.

**The dialogue will more than likely be floaty. It's not just an issue of quality, it's preference in terms of cultural differences. Also the Japanese language is based more on symbolism and representations of meaning inside words as opposed to dynamic usage of words.

Japanese video game music seems to be universally loved on the other hand, so I don't see how you could argue against their music right now. At least not on a bigger scale.

As for your argument against reading not being more immersive. That's kind of a moot point. Imagination and subtlety is what is key regarding only reading text versus hearing it. You get to make up your own mind about how a character sounds at any time. And how you feel about them or how you think they sound can change on replays. Limitations are kept off as a result of text only.

I'm not gonna lie. I'd like to hear Link being voiced by Eduardo Bosch.

Gee, I wonder what Nintendo is up to.

Stop trying to kill Nintendo's magic!