[UPDATE 2]

It seems like the video has been made private, for reasons unclear. You can find a backup here.

[UPDATE]

Rena Strober has responded to our article.

“That’s completely wrong! Of course we’re given character traits and history,” said the voice actress.

While this is certainly different from her original responses, we have to go by what Rena says, in clarification, as she is the source.

[ORIGINAL STORY]

Many fans were curious how the English-only voiceovers for Fire Emblem Fates were somehow noticeably worse than its predecessor, Fire Emblem Awakening. Now, we’ve gotten some new information from a voice actress who played the role of a character seen in most of the game’s media.

Rena Strober played the role of Azura, and performed both regular lines of dialogue, as well as singing pieces. Featured above, an interview between Strober and Super Geeked Up/Super Knocked Up revealed some key information for Nintendo’s Treehouse, and how they deal with voice casting.

“You’re not allowed to know the title of the game, you don’t usually know your character, you don’t know anything about it, because it’s very secret information,” Strober said.

“So I didn’t know I was hired as a singer, and a speaker, but here was this character that I knew singing was her power. So I just sort of did it and had a great time.”

It seems like the voice actors simply get their lines and are told to perform them, with almost no context whatsoever.

“Do they let you know what the other dialogue is or what anyone else is saying or do they just give you your lines?” asked a participant on the show.

“Yeah, and they often change your character name so you don’t know it’s a sequel to something,” said Strober.

It’s understandable to try avoiding spoilers in a story driven game’s development prior to release, however this seems a bit haphazard at best. The last response could be related to just Fire Emblem Fates, or all games Strober has worked on.

It’s worth mentioning this is purely regarding the development of Fire Emblem Fates, and may or may not be indicative of other Treehouse-related games. Strober also mentions that she was under a Non-Disclosure Agreement, and that she broke this when commenting on the first English trailer for the game (which Nintendo was OK with).

How do you guys feel about the English voice acting in Fire Emblem Fates? Sound off in the comments below!