American accents sound too ‘modern’ because American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed, and most fantasy is medieval or medieval-adjacent.
I’m all for broadening the use, though. I love that the Witcher games gave Geralt and the other Witchers of the School of the Wolf American accents, though. And Dragon Age (back when it was good) giving the dwarves American accents.
American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed
Nor was modern British English. One of the defining features of modern British English is the lack of rhoticity (dropping the “r” sound), but that’s very modern, only happening in the 19th century. They have managed to recreate how English sounded in Shakespeare’s time by looking at words that were supposed to rhyme, and their meter. To me, it sounds like “pirate English”.
Whether modern American English is closer to Shakespeare’s English is a matter for debate. I’d say it’s closer than RP, but not as close as some rural British accents.
Xenoblade 2 had a nice use of the various English accents, generally each nation/group in the game used a particular accent (eg Mor Ardain = Scottish, villain group Torna spoke American English). One unique character (a blade) had a southern grew-up-on-a-farm accent.
American accents sound too ‘modern’ because American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed, and most fantasy is medieval or medieval-adjacent.
I’m all for broadening the use, though. I love that the Witcher games gave Geralt and the other Witchers of the School of the Wolf American accents, though. And Dragon Age (back when it was good) giving the dwarves American accents.
Nor was modern British English. One of the defining features of modern British English is the lack of rhoticity (dropping the “r” sound), but that’s very modern, only happening in the 19th century. They have managed to recreate how English sounded in Shakespeare’s time by looking at words that were supposed to rhyme, and their meter. To me, it sounds like “pirate English”.
https://youtu.be/uQc5ZpAoU4c?t=299
Whether modern American English is closer to Shakespeare’s English is a matter for debate. I’d say it’s closer than RP, but not as close as some rural British accents.
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https://piped.video/uQc5ZpAoU4c?t=299
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That may be true for regional us dialects, but the core of American pronunciation is older than Received Pronunciation
Xenoblade 2 had a nice use of the various English accents, generally each nation/group in the game used a particular accent (eg Mor Ardain = Scottish, villain group Torna spoke American English). One unique character (a blade) had a southern grew-up-on-a-farm accent.