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I think its fair to say, based on the few conversations we've had on IC on the subject, that most here consider the voice acting in Metal Gear Solid 1 superior to its two sequels (and the Twin Snakes).

For awhile, I thought this was due to better voice direction on the part of Jeremey Blaustein *sic*. I still think this may have had something to do with it but after recently playing through Metal Gear Solid 2 again right after finishing part 1 I had another idea.

In MGS2, the English voices were recorded first, so the voice actors could speak the lines however they wanted. In MGS1, however, the lip syncing was set in stone and they had to act around it. I've often heard people say that Japanese actors are too fond of dramatic pauses. I don't speak Japanese so I have no idea if thats the case.

Regardless, one of my biggest complaints with the dialogue in MGS2 is the inflection is just bullshit for a lot of the lines. Raiden, Rose, and the Colonel are some of the worse offenders - they deliver a lot of lines in ways that makes the meaning come across entirely wrong. But I realzied while playing through it recently that the actors often rush or hurry through lines that would've been spoken calmly or thoughtfully in the previous game. I can't help but think having to sync their acting to the Japanese lip syncing might have forced the actors to slow down and be more considerate in MGS1. I think the worst offender is Paul Eiding as Colonel (although his performance is still one of the best in MGS2). I used to think he did a hell of a job in MGS2 because he sounds more robotic than in MGS1, but then I heard him in an interview say he didn't know he was playing an AI until the end of the game, and if you listen to him in the Twin Snakes he sounds the exact same so I guess its true. The big problem is he says almost every line at the same sure and steady rate.

It's hard for me to think of examples of the top of my head, but I'm still playing through 2 so I'll try to add any more as I come across them. One example thats sticking out in my mind thought is Raiden saying "But that also means he can't be the terrorist leader behind this thing!" when he hears that Solid Snake is dead. Another one is "Are you saying VR training is some kind of mind control?" which sounds more like an allegation than a question seeking a confirmation.

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I just remembered this Colonel line:
"The dot in the middle is you, Raiden."
Only he says it like
"The dot in the middle is you Raiden." The "you Raiden" is kind of like "ME TARZAN, YOU JANE" and there's no pause anywhere so its just strange. I think if he had to match his lips to the Japanese acting it somehow would've come out better, just because he'd have to have thrown a pause in there somewhere.

What's weird is that in Paul Eiding's interview he sounds like he does in MGS1.

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I always thought they used the volume of the recorded sound to make the lips move, but in the interviews they said they had to sync their readings to the Japanese lip movements.

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Maybe its because I'm so sleep deprived right now but I couldn't follow what was suppossed to be happening in that video.