Community Transmission: Hero Voices - Clone Wars

[Straatford87]

Incoming Transmission

We’ve talked previously about the passion and enthusiasm our community has for Star Wars™. At the core of this passion are the characters that we’ve all come to know and love. All of them evoke a variety of responses from fans – whether it’s a smirk caused by a Han Solo wisecrack or a shudder when in the presence of Lord Vader himself.
Capturing this feeling — this essence — is hugely important to us.

When we announced that more Clone Wars content was coming to Battlefront II, the conversation instantly turned to Obi-Wan Kenobi, General Grievous, Count Dooku and Anakin Skywalker. The passion and excitement that you show for these heroes is insatiable.

Focused Feedback
I was sitting at my desk, finishing off some emails when I saw a message pop-up. It’s from Chris Schlerf, our Narrative Director on Star Wars Battlefront II. We began to talk about voice actors, emotes, dialogue, and a host of other pieces of voice related content.

We talked a bit about which voice lines we think the community would like to see and if there was any feedback that we could use as part of the upcoming recording sessions. To help validate our thoughts, we asked you directly.

You may remember the Focused Feedback threads where we asked what you wanted from Obi-Wan Kenobi, General Grievous, Count Dooku, and Anakin Skywalker. It’s safe to say that you certainly delivered and we quickly found ourselves looking at a mountain of feedback.

The good news is that you not only backed up what we thought, but on a few occasions a “that’s cool, we should add that in” was said by the team.

One example was the suggestion of the voice line, "Your screams are music to my audio-receptors," for General Grievous. This came directly from the community and will now, thanks to your feedback, be found in the game. Another example can be found in Obi-Wan Kenobi’s “When I cut you in half, I should have aimed for your neck instead,” which came directly from our forums.

The feedback we received was so passionate and in such a high quantity that we were really spoiled for choice. We can’t count the amount of “Hello there” requests we had.

Meet the Voice Actors
We had our lines ready and we devised the scripts. The only thing left to do was to pick the voice actors. So, without further ado, let’s meet the voices behind our new heroes.

Obi-Wan Kenobi
We’re pleased to confirm that James Arnold Taylor will be once again taking up the mantle of the Jedi Knight and Master he’s voiced on so many occasions.

Fans of Star Wars will recognise James as the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi from The Clone Wars animated series.

General Grievous
Matthew Wood finds himself in the envious position of not only working on some of your favourite Star Wars movies as a sound engineer, but he also provides the voice to one of its most iconic characters from the Clone Wars era.

Reprising his role from Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and The Clone Wars animated series, Matthew will be providing his voice for none other than General Grievous. Alongside this, he will also be conducting the post-processing work himself, to give General Grievous his iconic sound.

Anakin Skywalker
For Anakin Skywalker, we turn to someone who has also voiced him throughout The Clone Wars animated series, Star Wars Rebels, and Star Wars Forces of Destiny. We are happy to confirm that Matt Lanter will be returning to his role as the Chosen One.

Count Dooku
We are extremely pleased to confirm that reprising his role as Count Dooku is a voice actor and fan favorite, Corey Burton. Fans of The Clone Wars animated series will be all too familiar with Burton’s work and we’re sure will be happy with his addition to the Battlefront II voice cast.

The Recording Studio
The scripts have been produced and in front of us sits a list of every voice line we’re due to add into the game. A list of lines isn’t any use to us though; we need to get them recorded and that’s where the recording studio comes in.

Picture the scene, we’re sitting in the recording studio watching our actors deliver their lines. We might be watching James, Matthew, Matt, and Corey but we’re hearing Obi-Wan Kenobi, General Grievous, Anakin Skywalker, and Count Dooku. It’s hard to describe the sense of glee that you feel as you hear one of our heroes coming to life.

There’s something uniquely special about watching our voice actors do their thing, and that special feeling gets turned up a notch when they begin to play off each other. Hearing Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker engage in ‘friendly banter’ is, as you might expect, a fantastic experience. We might have been sitting within the recording studio, but we were instantly brought into the Star Wars universe.

Audio plays a pivotal role in capturing the magic of Star Wars and has helped create a multitude of special moments over the years. Our aim is to capture these special moments — this magic — and deliver them into the game for you all to enjoy as well.

From the initial reveal, a forum thread asking for suggestions, and into the recording studio itself, it’s been great to see how our community has been part of this process at every step of the way.

The Final Outcome
One last thing.

While we’re all here, we thought now would be a good time to give you a sneak peek at some of the voice lines that you can expect to hear for General Grievous and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

General Grievous

• “You are a bold one.”
• “Your lightsabers will make a fine addition to my collection.”
• “You must realise, you are doomed.”
• “I wield great power, Jedi fool.”
• “The story of Obi-Wan ends here!”
• “Make peace with the Force now, for this is your final outing.”
• “Your screams are like music to my audio receptors.”
• “The Kaleesh are not known for their mercy.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi

• “Hello there.”
• “So uncivilized.”
• “Why do I get the feeling you’re going to be the death of me?”
• “When I cut you in half, I should have aimed for your neck instead.”
• “You haven’t exactly impressed me today.”
• “The strongest defence is a swift and decisive offence.”
• “I understand you’ve had some troubles recently.”
• “Ugh — like bathing in a lake of venom-mites.”

Next week, we’ll be back with another Transmission dedicated to General Grievous which will include all the information you need ahead of his arrival later this month. We’ll be covering topics such as abilities, emotes, appearances and more. Don’t miss it!

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