Fryda Wolff Nominated For A Golden Joystick Award

So hig-pitched doesn't actually mean high-pitched, it means..... something that sounds the way you imagine high-pitched things sound?

I'm kind of big on words having actual meanings, myself. I'll take vague over wrong.

It's really weird that ME fans always hate the male VA. I thought all four turned in great performances.

Not really. This forum is basically...

-MET vs ME:A

-Male vs Female

-Shepard vs Ryder

-Companion vs Companion

-Linear vs Open World

I think it pretty much falls right in line with the rest.

Edit: I find it more odd that people who hate on Shepard and such use to be up his ass in the old forum.

Since the trilogy had only one (male) protagonist, unlike DA, I don't quite understand. Or are you saying the ME fans are biased while DA fans are not?

I personally thought Mark Meer was god awful. I loved Hale's performance. But I like both Hawkes, was unhappy with the inquisitor in general but actually liked British male better than British female, and I much prefer male Ryder.

However, while my gripes with Meer actually have to do with his emotionless delivery, I blame the directions given to the voice actors in DAI for the boring result. Because Alix Wilton Regan was great as Traynor but that spark was gone in DAI. They must have been told to speak their lines in this boring school teacher voice. Both British actors sounded like that. They have beautiful voices but they weren't given the right kind of material to shine.

In MEA, it comes down to the very nature of Ryder, I suppose. Bioware wanted the character to be pleasantly spineless. Not much the actors could do with that once more...

That said, Wolff's voice simply annoys the crap out of me. So it's not even performance or skill for me. Just the sound of her voice. It's a first for me in a Bioware game.

The way that statement was phrased, could lead one to suspect that her work ethic or abilities as an actress were in question. It seemed to imply that she was riding on Jennifer Hale's coattails which still has nothing to do with acting skill, and both of them would abhor the suggestion. That's why I also quoted the other poster; it was with the intention of providing insight into who Fryda is and how much work she has put into her career. In case there were any questions about that. Whether or not fans "gravitated" toward Fryda because of FemShep still has nothing to do with her acting ability. People are going to play female characters because they want to. I played FemRyder out of the gate, but that's because I gravitate toward female characters in general. I also played MaleRyder. Objectively, I think Fryda's nomination is well deserved.

Fryda said in an interview a while back that fans were tagging both her and Jennifer Hale in posts trying to compare the two, and she said that she felt it rude to Jennifer, because you're effectively telling a voice actor that she didn't get a job. Voice actors are hired only temporarily, it's not like they get royalties for their work or are on a retainer. I think comparing Fryda to Jen is also rude to both of them. They are different people, different actors, and have strengths and weaknesses in different categories. I find it rudely speculative to imply that someone might like Fryda just because she's the "girl in the franchise." The only ones that can answer why she was nominated are the folks who did so, who aren't here to speak to that. The fact that Fryda is up there along with other male and female VAs, some of whom are more well-known actors (Nathan Fillion, Claudia Black, etc), makes me discount the idea. Same with the idea that notoriety has anything to do with the selection processes. If that were the case, why didn't Natalie Dormer or Indira Varma get nominated? Natalie is a member of the main cast, and Indira voiced two characters and did so very well. All of that is speculative anyway, and still nothing to do with Fryda's talent as an actor. 

As a voter, I am new to the franchise, so I am playing ME:A alongside the Original Trilogy. I like FemShep, I like Jennifer Hale's acting; my like of her had nothing to do with my opinion of Fryda. I also didn't decide to like Fryda's performance because I felt obligated to or because "she's the girl like FemShep." I like her performance because I thought she did an excellent job bringing the character to life; she wasn't stale and she wasn't a paper doll. Whether I like Sara's personality is also irrelevant; this is a judgment of the actress' performance, not how the character was written or the takes that were chosen in the editing booth. Did she invoke a response from me? Yes.

Here's the fun thing about voice acting: It's not all done in one take. It's usually 3. Different takes will have different emotes, emphasis on words, etc. The take that the director likes will be used in whatever you're recording. I don't do VA work for games, so game VAs have a different experience. My understanding from listening to Fryda, Ali Hillis, and Tom talk...for things like what I call action dialogue (burning, dying, rallying troops, etc), there's no scene for them to extrapolate from. These lines are usually on a standalone page in the script. This dialogue can also be played randomly by algorithms in the game regardless of the situation.

If a line on a page reads:

"Let's do this!" The exclamation point at the end means that the statement is being exclaimed. Therefore, the volume of the sentence is elevated. Personally, if I see this in a script with no other context, I am going to read it in a shouty voice unless the director tells me otherwise or I see a stage direction in the script that gives me a context to follow. The caveat is to still do this in character as much as possible (are we really going to contemplate what Sara's motivations for burning are).

I have a funny story about recording a satirical advertisement for my radio station. There was this one line I kept flubbing and I got mad at myself. I broke character and read it in this super sarcastic tone and that was the take that got used.

That aside, I get that some feel strongly that Tom wasn't nominated. I feel strongly too, and the fact MaleRyder doesn't have as much marketing as FemRyder does. I was also sad that Danielle wasn't nominated for her performance. However, I don't think that slamming her while propping him up is the way to go about it. We also don't know what the nomination process for this award. It may be that they can only choose one actor from each game, and they felt that Fryda was worthy of a mention. If it were the other way around, I would be ecstatic that Tom was nominated and sing his praises all the same. They're both terrific actors, and I like their performances both for different reasons. I also don't understand how folks can't be happy for her. This is a breakout role for her.

I've played 3 full Sara PTs, and two half-PTs. (One got bugged, one is ongoing.) Her performance bothers me so much that I don't think I can even finish my current game. Tom manages to salvage the most cheesy, awkwardly written scenes with sarcasm and wry delivery. By contrast, Fryda is goofy turned up to 11. It's horrible, in my opinion. She seems like a cool person. I wish I could feel differently.

I will cast a vote for Aloy's VA in HZD. She was absolutely exceptional. I can't recall a single awkwardly delivered line. That game is so polished.

EDIT: What a waste of time. I cast more than a few votes, many of which went to Ashly Burch and HZD. Then, GamesRadar requested my personal info to submit my votes. No thanks. I don't want magazines, and I don't want to pass out my info.

I don't even know how to respond to the inanity of this post, so I will not. I'll simply thank Element Zero for having my back while I was at work and move on.

Honestly, she didn't deserve this nom, unless is a weak year or something. I couldn't bond, not even a little, with Ryder because of her interpretation.

I don't even know how to respond to the inanity of this post, so I will not. I'll simply thank Element Zero for having my back while I was at work and move on.