[Booth chatter]
My name is Matthew Mercer
and I am the voice of the male norn player character.
I've been with Guild Wars 2 for a while, now.
Quite a while.
It's been a gracious and awesome ride.
I've done a lot of things in between,
between each expansion of the game.
And so it's always kind of a fun way to keep the character voice and personality.
A little bit of dialing back into the world.
Thankfully they do have audio reference from the last time you record,
so when you get in the booth you can match what you previously did.
But also the drive to the session is very much
about getting into the mindspace of your character.
Thankfully my character in this game, the male norn,
is a lot taller and brawnier than I am.
So it's a fun little play in the freeway on the way over, just
[In character:] Feeling larger and more dangerous, I think.
[As the Commander:] "I'll deal with it. Don't go anywhere."
The Sunspears will decide what to do with you.
One of the challenges for voicing a player character
versus a non-player character is,
non-player characters are generally "story-fixed."
Meaning there's a moment in time
and a scene in which you have to
really encompass what the mindset of that character is.
And you can be more dynamic,
you can be more in the moment.
As a player, because a lot of different parts of dialogue have to fit together,
you have to find the sweet spot
where things don't stand against each other too much
in case any of these branching trees of dialogue and such intersect,
but also sound natural.
And not everything sounds monotone and the same note over and over again.
It's a very…
It's a very more technical note in the back of your mind when you're doing these lines.
That's where the challenge is of doing a player character.
Also the volume of lines, comparatively.
Because NPCs will pop in and out,
but the player's always there.
So the script is definitely a lot more formidable
when it comes to recording for player characters, definitely.
Path of Fire has been a real…
A real interesting experience for my character.
For the player character in general.
Um, it's not often that a character gets the opportunity to die,
peruse the afterlife and then struggle their way back,
and in doing so possibly have sent other evils into the world that might come to fruition.
So for me I think it's fun to explore that kind of encapsulated
trip to the Underworld and trying to salvage your soul in the face of despair.
It was really fun to take a character who has been very stoic
up to this point.
You know, the male norn is very sure of himself.
He's risen to a commander
and then to be brought to that level of almost lost mortality
was kind of fun to bring that back
and what haunts him after that.
And then eventually the general loathing for Balthazar
and what he represents and has done to the world around him.
It's fun to inhabit that.
[As the Commander:] "Plenty of accounts to back that up."
Then again, Joko says a lot of things. He claims he killed Balthazar.
My favorite thing to bring to this role is…
Ah, man, I think for me--who's generally not a big, brawny guy--
I think it's fun to bring the thought that I could pretend to be.
And some people might believe it.
[Laughing]
I see…the player character at this point
is not just on this path of renown or heroism
but has responsibility.
So it's been great to ride into that point
where he's now just at the super front line of these cataclysmic events.
Do-or-die situations.
As to where it can go…
Oh man, I can't even begin to fathom.
Like, the scope is already so intense.
[As the Commander:] "Okay everyone, listen up."
If you're human, stay behind the bramble walls.
Your role is support only.
I would like to see this hardened, burly warrior
have to make sacrifices that affect him in a way
that normally a norn--this very masculine character--
cannot hide the emotions that brim beneath.
I think that'd be a fun exploration.
For me it's always, for some reason it's very impactful to watch
the armored exterior of a hardened mercenary or warrior crack.
You know, it has almost more impact at that point.
For him to break that masculine shell.
So I would like to see that explored more, definitely.
If I could give my character any advice,
I'd say, "Don't forget where you came from."
Don't forget hard drinkin' in Hoelbrak.
Because I know you've been on the road a lot,
you're not giving yourself time to relax, unwind, and get into a fistfight just for the hell of it.
I think that's the norn way.
And for me I'd like to see some of that classic norn, Norse influence.
You know, [In character:] "C'mon and hit me 'cause it feels good!"
kind of scenario come back.
But maybe that's just me.
[Silly voice:] "Okay."
Well, hi-dowdy-doo!