I just checked out the story trailer for AC Shadows and noticed Ubisoft’s pinned comment about the Japanese audio track. I switched to the Japanese voices, and honestly, it felt way more immersive, even though I can’t read or speak the language—my only experience is with watching anime. However, I’m worried that the game might not feature proper lip syncing for the Japanese voiceovers, and if the dialogue in English will differ significantly from the Japanese version due to localization. I’m really curious if anyone has more insights on this or can direct me to any official info from Ubisoft. Thanks in advance!
4 Answers
I really hope they nail the lip sync! I had a frustrating experience with Ghost of Tsushima where the Japanese dub didn’t match up with the lip movements. It totally took me out of the experience, lol.
Based on a video I found, it looks like there will be Japanese lip syncing in the game. While I can’t say for sure that the lip movements match perfectly, they do sync up well with the audio in terms of timing, which is typically a good sign of quality. It can be tricky with dubs since sentences vary in length across languages, but it seems promising! Personally, I’m excited to experience the Japanese voices regardless.
There’s a lot of good news regarding lip syncing! Recent games have been utilizing AI technology for lip syncing, which should help with Japanese voices. Generally, prerendered cutscenes might not have unique lip syncing but in-game dialogues should. Looking back at the previous AC games, like AC2 with Japanese dub, I found that the English subtitles matched the Japanese voiceovers pretty closely, which bodes well for Shadows.
Good point! They might want to put in the extra effort to ensure the lip sync is solid across multiple languages, especially since they’re reaching out to different demographics.
From what I’ve gathered, AC Shadows seems to have three tiers of cutscenes. The lower-tier ones use stock animations, which will likely have decent lip sync for Japanese audio. The mid-tier features a mix of keyframed and motion capture animations, while the highest tier might not sync perfectly, as seen in past games like AC Mirage. In the end, I’d guess around 85-90% of the cutscenes will have decent lip sync, especially for the ones that are more basic.
Yeah, I’ve noticed that too! They have this new “immersive mode” planned for different languages, so hopefully, the lip sync will be on point with the diverse languages being used.