Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

[penfold]

They're not even Claire-from-Lost Australian, they're Borderlands characters with the crazy dialed up to Australian. There was one quest where I didn't even understand the words the NPC was using because they're Aussie slang or something.

Ah the billabong quest?  Yeah i struggled with that one and i have a little passing knowledge of billabongs, swagmen, jumbucks and bogans and what have you.

[Azazel]

I thought the 4 player-characters were already-established NPCs from BL1 and 2? (with typically American accents - because everyone in the future galaxy speaks with an American accent - unless they're bad guys in Star Wars).

Anyway, my heart bleeds so much for Americans having to put in the small effort required to understand another accent and cultural jokes. And I'm not even especially interested in picking this thing up. 

[Rendakor]

Ah the billabong quest?  Yeah i struggled with that one and i have a little passing knowledge of billabongs, swagmen, jumbucks and bogans and what have you.

That's the one. I had no idea what any of that shit meant; I just thought billabong was a clothing line.

Az the PCs aren't Australian just the (new) NPC quest givers. It's really just jarring; if we had Aussie PCs and Aussie NPCs, okay. But the previous two games were mostly American, and here we have the PCs and the old NPCs American but new NPCs all really, really Aussie. It's just jarring.

[Kageru]

In one of the of the interviews a developer mentioned they sent a copy with work in progress VA to the US office. So it was just people in the office reading the lines, but apparently the US office and some of the focus groups thought it was amusing.

Billabong is an old Australian aboriginal term that the clothing line borrowed.

[Azazel]

Az the PCs aren't Australian just the (new) NPC quest givers. It's really just jarring; if we had Aussie PCs and Aussie NPCs, okay. But the previous two games were mostly American, and here we have the PCs and the old NPCs American but new NPCs all really, really Aussie. It's just jarring.

Yeah, I hate it when everyone else around me doesn't speak with an American accent. I barely survive each waking day living here since all those motherfuckers insist on using their own jarring accents. Sorry for teasing, but I just have no empathy at all for this particular bitch, and it'd be the same regardless of which non-American accent was the case. 

I watch a shitload of TV out of the UK, and I just have to listen harder sometimes to understand them, or figure out what a local reference means, or look something up on rare occasions. It's not hard or horrible, and it's nice to live outside my own bubble and put a minuscule amount of effort into learning a little.

[Rendakor]

Again, if everyone was Australian I wouldn't even have noticed. Most games I play are in Japanese with subs for fuck's sake; I don't have a problem hearing things in other languages/dialects. But, it's like this weird half and half thing where you're talking to one lady who's crazy Australian then you take two steps and there's Moxxi sounding like she always has. I'm sorry I want some consistency with the audio in my games.

[Azazel]

Yeah, you'll find that people from and living in different places often speak differently, but can still speak to one another using the same language. I'm not going to taunt you or give you a load of shit about it, but it seems like a pretty petty thing to bitch about. To me it'd be more of a selling point - to have multiple/different cultures reflected in a game rather than "Americans speaking American: In Spaaaaace."

Besides, if there's shit like a Billabong quest in the game, it seems that they made Pandora's moon and some of it's quests very Aussie-themed? If so, then the accents would make sense.

[Mazakiel]

I find that the addition of more accents to the game a plus, it makes the world feel more alive, especially since the games take place in areas that had colonists and treasure hunters coming around from all over the galaxy.  If anything, I wish that there was more variety. 

[Azazel]

Agreed. I'd like to see this become more of a thing, and with wider varieties in the many games and genres where it'd be appropriate.

[pants]

If you get a chance Az, check out the review they do of this on Good Game.  Its very Australianised, from the swearing boganella gun (voiced by one of the actresses from 'Housos'), to Red Belly the boss with a bucket helmet, the aforementioned Waltzing Matilda quest.  They have turned up the Australianification to 11.

[Yegolev]

because everyone in the future galaxy speaks with an American accent

Fuck Yeah!

[Azazel]

If you get a chance Az, check out the review they do of this on Good Game.  Its very Australianised, from the swearing boganella gun (voiced by one of the actresses from 'Housos'), to Red Belly the boss with a bucket helmet, the aforementioned Waltzing Matilda quest.  They have turned up the Australianification to 11.

Will do once my internets are uncapped again. Sounds like the accents being predominantly Aussie make sense then. Housos actress? Brilliant! Now I'm hoping/wishing that they also used Paul Fenech. He'd be fully sick, mate!

[Phildo]

Playing a game where you're constantly ping-ponging between American Frontierspeak and Australian sounds like it would just make the brain hurt.  The logical next step is Space Boston or Space Pittsburgh.

[penfold]

Its very Australianised, from the swearing boganella gun

I was pleasantly surprised when she started dropping C bombs.

It's a word under assault at the moment. At least the Aussies and us Brits keep it going.