Everyone loves Peter Dinklage. How could you not? He's a great actor who stars in great stuff – his role of Tyrion Lannister in "Game of Thrones" is the highlight on a show made of highlights. His role in "The Station Agent" makes a great movie even greater (seriously – check out "The Station Agent").
His role in massively popular video game "Destiny," however, had many fans wondering what went wrong.
In "Destiny," Dinklage voices the main character's traveling companion, "Ghost," a floating artificial intelligence that fulfills the buddy role in an otherwise buddy-less game. Unfortunately, the writing for "Ghost" is horrible. When paired with Dinklage's dispassionate voiceover acting, the result was ... well, it's terrible.
Here's one (in)famous example:
The creators of "Destiny," Bungie Studios, thankfully heard fans loud and clear. In the upcoming addition to "Destiny," an expansion named "The Taken King," Dinklage's woeful voice acting is being replaced by seasoned video game voice actor Nolan North. North is the man behind many of gaming's best voice work, from Nathan Drake in the "Uncharted" series to David in "The Last of Us."
"We wanted Nolan North’s version of the Ghost to wake you up at the start of the journey at level one and follow you all the way to level forty," Bungie creative director Luke Smith told Game Informer. That's an important note; it means that players who come to the game fresh can play the entire game, from beginning to end, without ever hearing Peter Dinklage.
The replacement of Dinklage's voice role unfortunately won't fix other fan complaints with the story of "Destiny." For many – myself included – the game's story was full of tropes that were bookended by cliché dialog and obvious "twists." And that's a real shame, because the game part of "Destiny" is lots of fun.
Will a replaced voice actor be enough to draw players back in who were initially turned off? We'll see! If nothing else, it's got me curious to see how much it impacts a great game I stopped playing nearly one year ago mostly due to the glaring flaws in storytelling and voice acting.
Want even more info on upcoming "Destiny" expansion "The Taken King?" Here's a lengthy trailer straight from Bungie to fill you in:
