Why not find people who could do a good Garrett impression? If they need a voice double, and if I were them, I'd wholeheartedly endorse having auditions for Garrett if Mr. Russell isn't able to voice him for some reason. I also think Mr. Russell reprising his role in a mentor or deuteragonist role would also be neat, kind of like what happened in Dishonored 2. A mission where Garrett's not as fit as he used to be, and therefore has to think more with shadows and puzzle-solving to get to certain places, would certainly have a place in a Thief game.
And if any of this isn't possible, I'd love to see a side-story featuring the Keepers, the Hammerites, the Pagans, or another faction. Surely they have their own share of sneaks with a story to tell.
Originally Posted by Esse
hey esse that is a great idea on the side story's but i think that could be done with a prequel to thief 1 kinda the formation story of all faction in different chapters
also can include karrass time as a hammer,how the woodsie lord came to be/along with how viktoria meet him/etc,how the keepers started would probably be the best place to start maybe start game way back in kath ra din era,and go from there
My vote would still be for Caleb Merrick on that front. He has an "artistcaleb" channel on YouTube. He likes Thief and can do the closest Stephen Russell 'Garrett' voice I've, personally, ever heard. In some of his playthrough videos on YouTube, he'll occasionally mimic Garrett and I've been fooled a couple times before. I don't watch all his vids, I just know he can do a really good Garrett when wants/tries, imo.
I think that if a well-equipped game developer had the right microphone and audio mixing personnel, and the right art direction to help fine-tune the delivery of Garrett's lines here and there, as needed, he'd come quite close to the old Garrett we know. I've wished his voice were used in T1/T2/Dark Mod fan missions and such, but then on the other hand, it might be good to just wait and have a big developer use him in true, fully developed Thief games. He would be amazing, imo. IIRC, he's also expressed nice interest at the thought of doing that, if the opportunity were to ever come his way.
You can hear some of his work in the game, Quern - Undying Thoughts. Watch/listen to the videos on its Steam Store page, for example - https://store.steampowered.com/app/5...ying_Thoughts/
He's slowly making his way through a Thief: Deadly Shadows playthrough on his YouTube channel, actually. I'm pretty sure he's played it before starting this playthrough, but he's just going through it again, as I recall:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxJO...td_OF5jmWqM6p9
Holy crap, you're right. His normal voice even sounds like it could work for a teenage/young adult Garrett, at times.
Last edited by Esse; 3rd Jul 2022 at 12:47.
His Let's Play of TDS has been going on for 9 years. That's beyond getting into the category of ridiculous.
True, but we're talking about his voice, not his let's play marathonsPeople have lives, and other games they rotate to, as we all do... and he switched to mainly/only doing Twitch streams for quite a while, I think. It's not like his very first time playing TDS or anything. Plus, he brought a new baby into the world 2 or 3 years ago, I think it was.
I've started and re-started Thief 2 five or ten times over the past decade and probably only finishing once, lol. I'm not a streamer, but it's just the way gaming goes for some people. You can choose not to watch him. Again, though, I was mentioning him to focus on his voice, and gave a link to his TDS playthrough mainly because I think I've heard him mimic Garrett a few times during that series and am not about to go through 40 videos looking for those snippets, but thought some Thief fans might appreciate the link.
If you know of or find a Garrett voice actor alternative as good as or better, I'm all ears
SlyFoxx has been the go-to voice guy for Garrett for years. I also feel could also be a great candidate, especially for a younger Garrett/reboot or alternative-continuity reboot of Garrett.
Yep, I'm aware... and it's awesome that he's voiced so many FMs. He's been incredibly valuable to FMs and the Thief community.
But, objectively, I just feel Caleb Merrick's Garrett is far closer to Stephen Russell's Garrett than SlyFoxx's.
Caleb is much more in-line with what I'd look for in a "voice double," as you called it, for an official Thief game. His intonation, timbre, and cadence, etc. are almost spot-on, imo.
people really care about voice that much? if so just use Stephen Russel from first 2 games,problem solved
Yep, they do. Just as much as some people care about side stories and prequels. I'm surprised you didn't find Russell's voicing of Garrett amazing enough to make a mark with you. You're truly unique in that respect with the Thief community. To me, it's a bit like if you said you could care less about Eric Brosius and the rest of the audio team's ambient music crafted for T1/T2/T3, and if a new game were made that played 1980s New Wave music tracks instead, you'd be down with that because you don't care about ambient music. I.e., "Do people really care about ambient music that much?" That'd just be foreign to me... I wouldn't get it, but we're all different.
Part of the brainstorming session here is due to Esse saying, "... if Mr. Russell isn't able to voice him for some reason." I know you won't understand since voice isn't important to you, but for some of us, Garrett's trademark voice is a critical component. And I prefer to keep it the same voice through the decades.
Stephen Russell could probably still do an amazing Garrett, but his voice isn't exactly the same as it used to be in 1998/2000, I don't think... based on various recent games I've heard him in. Caleb is younger and could easily match the 1998/2000 voice, imo... and could continue voicing him in the decades to come, that's all. I think that'd be awesome! Especially if we could get more than one official Thief game every 10 to 20 years
But I don't expect you to understand or care, and that's okay. We all have different things we pay attention to in games and everything else in life. Thief 2014's voice actor wasn't bad, but it just wasn't nearly as good as the original games... and didn't really feel like Garrett to me, at least not the one I wanted to hear. Even with better writing it wouldn't have been half or 3/4's as good as Stephen Russell's voiceover work, imo.
Last edited by Darkness_Falls; 4th Jul 2022 at 14:39.
SR's voice is essential, iconic
most all the people who did voices in fan missions of garrett were good enough for me,i did not feel the mission was less with a voice that was a bit different/completely different
game play trumps voice acting
textures trump voice acting
voice acting trumps ??? in thief
so voice is not a key part of fan mission for me
and yes i wont go listen to a guy who mimics someone else voice and get excited about it
a bigger issues is movement in thief 3 that should still be fixed/made into newdark thief 2 engine
never mentioning thief 2014 reboot,so jenavear is a bird ,shakes my head and how did basso live for hundreds of years?
so man more important things to clean up with past thief mistakes
New Basso, new Garrett.
Or maybe the real Basso od'd on healing potions and stopped aging
What games have we heard Stephen Russell in that are more recent? He did some fun thiefy stuff in Skyrim, but that is over 10 years old now, anything more recent that I might be able to try?
EDIT - I see he is the robot detective in Fallout 4 (I remember really liking that guy), and Corvo in Dishonored 2 (2016) (I haven't played that), so those are somewhat recent.
The Keep for Thief 1 and 2 FMs, Shadowdark for Thief 3 and Dark Mod FMs
To each his or her own
I never said it didn't. When you can have the Thief total package, wouldn't you strive for that? Anyone could 'voice act'. Personally, I prefer to hear "Garrett" when I play Thief or as close to "Garrett" as possible so it doesn't feel like I'm playing a fan mission or an entirely different character/person.
And chocolates trump broccoli. Look, I realize voice acting is probably rock bottom on your list of priorities, and the nuance in levels of quality are either imperceptible to you or you don't care. But if it's so not important, what is the harm in getting someone I'm guessing the vast majority would appreciate and enjoy because they're hearing good 'ole "Garrett"? Do you think that if they get a voice actor that actually sounds like Garrett the gameplay and texture quality are all the sudden going to tank? Sorry, I just don't get your logic. If you're not familiar with game development, I understand. But if that's the case, please consider leaving the actual development to the developers. If Thief IP gets in the right hands, they'll know how to deliver good voice acting, including a Garrett voice actor that some or a lot of us can appreciate, and also be able to deliver a good game you'll like. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Getting Stephen Russell or a Garrett-like voice actor isn't going to blow the multi-million dollar budget. It's not like they're going to hire Robert Downey, Jr. to voice Garrett and use his likeness or anything, which would blow the budget unless he's a mega Thief fan and donates his time.
That's good. For me, I hear the 'could be a lot better' voice acting in many fan missions. And it's the main (possibly only) thing that ruins the immersion for me in The Dark Mod, especially when guards/NPCs become alert. I've been hoping for some voice acting updates/replacements to the base game-set for years.
I don't really understand what you're saying, but again, good quality voice acting or an actor who sounds quite like Garrett all the sudden means that the Animation team on a new Thief game won't be able to implement good movements? Or somehow using Stephen Russell in TDS impaired Ion Storm Austin so much that animations weren't to your liking? I'm willing to bet there was no correlation between the two.
I'm pretty sure the game explains this through texts, etc. I recommend playing the game again or Google-searching the plot and keeping an open mind. Did them hiring a decent voice actor cause this mult-hundred year story calamity you speak of, though? I really doubt it
Right, so if they hire me or you to voice Garrett that will allow them to fix all the issues. Got it
Yep! You got a couple of them. Underworld Ascendant (2018) was a big one, too... had many speaking lines.
Stephen Russell's IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1592197/
Last edited by Darkness_Falls; 5th Jul 2022 at 02:22.
@Darkness_Falls, I don't even know why you put so much time and effort into replying to downwinder. He doesn't put effort into his own posts, yet alone thoughts for that matter. Do we really have to explain basic logic?
my lack of effort don't mean i don't believe what i say,its my view,and if others have a view,its there view
great name zomfg1234,nice sleeper/back up account/ohh yes i know its probaly on a vpn for protection
If you don't put effort into representing your views, then nobody will see them as worth considering in the first place, that you should know.my lack of effort don't mean i don't believe what i say,its my view,and if others have a view,its there view
great name zomfg1234,nice sleeper/back up account/ohh yes i know its probaly on a vpn for protection
Also thanks for the compliment, I really took my time to come up with such an epic name.
i think my point was clear i find voice to be one of the lesser things needed in a fan mission compared to story line , game play and assets in fan missions
for example ,conal voice is amazing,zaya voice in t2x was great,etc
not having a Garrett voice did not lessen any fan mission i ever played if anything it made it better,as it gave diversity while playing
also it seems a lot of the more recent Garrett voice seem to use him in a more comedy way when i feel Garrett is dead serious after all he has been through
Yeah, that was going to be my last time putting much effort into a response. I'm not on this forum much, so wouldn't know if I was encountering typical or not. Oh well, it is what it is. We both said what we had to say and I've pretty much moved on
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