With certain voice lines in Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections sounding unnatural, fans and voice actors of the game have shared their concerns. Read on to learn more.
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections Under Fire
Voice Lines Sound Unnatural
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections is facing backlash from fans regarding its voice acting. Problems with this game’s voice acting stem primarily from the tones in which the characters speak, not matching what the proper tone should be in regard to the scene.
Voice Actors Voice Out Their Concerns
With fans wondering what the heck is going on, apparently, so are the voice actors. Maile Flanagan, the English voice actress for Naruto Uzumaki, replied to a tweet containing a clip where Naruto asks Sasuke “Did that…wake you up?”, with the “wake you up” line sounding so unnatural and joyful despite the overall tone of the intense fight scene taking place. Flanagan responded with “I can guarantee I did not say that line that way,” “What’s that from? And I guarantee no voice director of Naruto or the games would have me do that in that way.”
In addition to Flanagan, Kawaki’s voice actor, Michael Schwalbe, has also spoken out about the game’s voice acting and responded to a tweet criticizing one of Kawaki’s voice lines during his ultimate jutsu cutscene saying that the actors had no context on what it is they were recording. You've got good ears, we weren't,
Schwalbe replied. They give you a list of lines and we go down the page and do two takes each, and it might say 'final attack', 'small pain', 'attacking'. But I swear to god I do not remember this being the line for that attack because there ain't no way I'd do myself like that.
Schwalbe then sent over some of the voice footage to his friend, who then ran an AI detection program. The program says that AI was indeed used for the game’s voice lines. While AI detection programs aren’t always reliable, the situation undoubtedly looks bad for Bandai Namco.
Bandai Namco Denies Use of AI
Bandai Namco has denied that they used AI voiceovers in the Naruto game in question. In a statement to IGN, one of the Bandai Namco spokespersons claims that the company regrets the voice performances in the game and that a fix will arrive in the near future. He went on to say that “the lines in question were not AI-generated, but the result of inconsistencies during the editing and mastering process.”
