I was quite excited to call in the Gurkhas until the voiceline was played. It was painfully obvious that an Indian was substituted for the voicelines. The accent recorded ingame is heavily Indian and what little phrase that is spoken in Nepali (Ayo Gorkhali!) is spoken as an Indian person would. It extremely obvious to someone who is familiar in Nepali.
This would be like getting a Frenchman to record English dialogue, making him sprinkle in some stereotypical English phrases in a heavily Parisian accent and calling it a day. While I'm thankful that Gurkhas are being represented in-game, the execution is shortsighted at best and very distasteful at worst. I hope this will be fixed in the future to make this better than it already is.
Typically you'll find that the Gurkhas speak in a mix of Anglo-Nepalese phrases and accents. For reference -
Modern Gurkhas (you'll see they speak simple commands in English while conveying more complex ideas in Nepali when in the heat of battle. starts 4:00):
Gurkhas from the Falklands era (you'll notice their accents are nearly British with some Nepali accent intermixed 1:59min onwards) :
Gurkhas from WW2: (Warning long history paragraph) While I've not managed to find audio/source of WW2 Gurkha soldiers speaking English, I think I know the reason why if I remember the stories of my forefathers (who were Gurkhas). Nepal being a near-feudal society back in the 1900s, the education for the typical Nepalese was non-existent let alone being exposed to English. And Gurkhas were typically recruited from the hardy rural areas where only the fittest survived (hence the famous hardiness of the Gurkhas). Therefore education especially in the rural areas was nonexistent.
Gurkha commissioned officers were British and this was the case till past couple of decades. Therefore British officers were required to learn Nepalese to better communicate with the troops. As a British officer, you'd also have an NCO with a good grasp of English to delegate down the orders. Nowadays, Nepalis learn English in school therefore now there isn't a communication barrier and Gurkhas have an easier time climbing to become an officer. But the need to learn Nepali to become a Gurkha Commisioned Officer from Sandhurst still remains.
So realistically, you'd have soldiers speaking Nepali typically with English being grasped over the decades of service. Higher up the ranks, you go within the Gurkha regiments, the NCO would have good English with native British Officers leading the helm.
While fully Nepalese voicelines might be authentic, it probably will not be as enjoyable as most players would not understand them, therefore mixed English/Nepali voicelines would be the most pragmatic and fun. Hell, it would be a godsend compared to what is, in-game currently.
Solution recommended:
Get a genuine British-Nepalese Gurkha to record voicelines. It is easy to find the genuine article when you get into touch with the Nepali or Gurkha community in the UK. I am more than happy to help connect to the Gurkha community if needed.
Re-do the voicelines to have more personality in-line with the other units. The voice-lines are extremely rigid and spoken as if it was read off a piece of paper than any attempt at making it authentic.
Make the voicelines have a mixed of majority English with some Nepali. This is a good balance between historical accuracy, fun and keeping in-line with the entertaining quips of other units.
Thanks for making it this far and I hope this doesn't come off as condescending. I just want CoH3 to be the best it can and received very well when it releases! Gurkhas have been in the British Army for more than 200 years now and have been in pretty much every imaginable British theatre in ever since! Thanks Relic for the representation!
If anyone is interested in the retelling of the Italy campaign by a Gurkha against the Germans, here you go (starts 3:00mins)! Enjoy! The ending also touches upon and also the recent Nepal-India blockade is a sort subject for Nepalis. Hence why the Indian accent may not be the most appropriate accent given the insight.
Thank you for the in depth feedback on this! We're taking another look at this and will see what we can do in time for launch.
I agree this is a good idea. Just hire someone with a genuine accent to redo the voiceover.
I am no expert but even having been to a few Nepalese restaurants and watched war documentaries the accent sounds completely off. Sounds like a generic Indian accent. I'm surprised this hasn't been picked up already in media coverage and been labelled racist.
The accent combined with the army name as Indian Artillery with ghurkas as a special unit seems to suggest Indians and Nepalese who have both fought for the British and have strong ties are the same when they are very different.
My wife's godfather donated his inheritance to the Gurkhas, whome he had fought alongside. They are very highly regarded in the UK, at least in certain circles - and sorely underappreciated in others. If you didn't manage to do this in time, I hope you can do this later. I would appreciate their dedication and loyalty could be rewarded in this small way.
+1 I hope this gets addressed. It's great to see the franchise paying homage to the diverse members of the armed forces that participated in the Mediterranean theatre. Part of the reason I even got into the original COH1 was because it helped me feel connected to my family who served. I'm sure that there are plenty of players who were excited to see themselves represented in this game and they deserve to have it done correctly.
A while back the Gurkha actor was recast and voice lines re-recorded thanks in part to this feedback. Unfortunately it wasn't ready for launch. This should be included in a bigger patch in the next couple months.
A while back the Gurkha actor was recast and voice lines re-recorded thanks in part to this feedback. Unfortunately it wasn't ready for launch. This should be included in a bigger patch in the next couple months.
well i could say this about germans. The german/english accent is horrible... sound like you are just making fun of german people, nazi or not. German langue is still same.
A while back the Gurkha actor was recast and voice lines re-recorded thanks in part to this feedback. Unfortunately it wasn't ready for launch. This should be included in a bigger patch in the next couple months.
A while back the Gurkha actor was recast and voice lines re-recorded thanks in part to this feedback. Unfortunately it wasn't ready for launch. This should be included in a bigger patch in the next couple months.
When it comes to voice acting relic always was the best, not even StarCraft compares to DOW1 voice acting, homeworld and COH were amazing too, you guys need to go back to your roots and keep the quality high, that's why Relic is known in the RTS sector.
A while back the Gurkha actor was recast and voice lines re-recorded thanks in part to this feedback. Unfortunately it wasn't ready for launch. This should be included in a bigger patch in the next couple months.
When it comes to voice acting relic always was the best, not even StarCraft compares to DOW1 voice acting, homeworld and COH were amazing too, you guys need to go back to your roots and keep the quality high, that's why Relic is known in the RTS sector.
A while back the Gurkha actor was recast and voice lines re-recorded thanks in part to this feedback. Unfortunately it wasn't ready for launch. This should be included in a bigger patch in the next couple months.
Great to hear, thank you! They sound a bit too much like the fast food restaurant on the corner right now. :)
A while back the Gurkha actor was recast and voice lines re-recorded thanks in part to this feedback. Unfortunately it wasn't ready for launch. This should be included in a bigger patch in the next couple months.
Is there any hope of getting the German voices redone? Buddy of mine almost exclusively plays as the Germans and kept telling me how much he hated the new voice acting. I said i thought it sounded pretty good (I tend to play Americans). When I heard the German accents I immediately agreed. The Germans sound Canadian.
Is there any hope of getting the German voices redone? Buddy of mine almost exclusively plays as the Germans and kept telling me how much he hated the new voice acting. I said i thought it sounded pretty good (I tend to play Americans). When I heard the German accents I immediately agreed. The Germans sound Canadian.
I was quite excited to call in the Gurkhas until the voiceline was played. It was painfully obvious that an Indian was substituted for the voicelines. The accent recorded ingame is heavily Indian and what little phrase that is spoken in Nepali (Ayo Gorkhali!) is spoken as an Indian person would. It extremely obvious to someone who is familiar in Nepali.
Hey Ram!
Good on you for bringing this up, and good on Relic for changing the voice lines (and including Indian and Nepalese; it's the first video game I know of to do so). I only found your post after I got curious about the voice lines changing; I knew plenty about the Gurkhas and supported a campaign a while ago for them to receive a proper pension.
I only realised after reading your post that I'd never heard a Gurkha speak before (I read history rather than watch documentaries).
Anyway, well done Ram, I hope you enjoy the new voice lines too
Relic well done with COH3 and taking a new angle and time period
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