Gloria, the female protagonist from Pokemon Sword & Shield will be making an appearance in Pokemon Masters EX as a fully-voiced character. Even though Pokemon Masters EX is merely a spin-off mobile title, this most recent addition to the game gives us fans an idea of what the Nintendo Switch titles could have been if they had voice acting — and boy, did we miss out!
Pokemon Sword & Shield has received a variety of negative reactions from its players, including criticism surrounding the infamous dex cut. However, probably the most noteworthy criticism is the fact that both games didn’t have voice acting.
The long-standing series of Pokemon games never had voice acting before and honestly, there was never any need to include that, until Sword & Shield that is. Players began to feel like something was missing in their gameplay, as the Nintendo Switch title had several instances where the inclusion of voice acting would have made sense but there wasn’t any.
The best example for this would probably be this one scene in Pokemon Sword & Shield wherein players encounter Piers, the Dark-type gym leader in Spikemuth. This scene has the gym leader performing in front of the infamous Team Yell, and we can see his mouth moving but no sound comes out of it.
It’s during times like these when fans begin to realize that maybe it’s time for Pokemon to follow the footsteps of other fully-voiced Switch titles, like Fire Emblem: Three Houses, for example.
Gloria, a Trainer from the Galar region, debuts on 11/29 at 10:00 p.m. PST!#PokemonMasters pic.twitter.com/XWOV1JpTpc
— Pokémon Masters EX (@PokemonMasters) November 26, 2020
On the bright side, fans will be given the chance to listen to Pokemon Sword & Shield’s female trainer, Gloria, as she speaks in a British accent in Pokemon Masters EX. The official Twitter account of Pokemon Masters EX posted a short announcement video, which showcases Gloria being paired with the legendary Pokemon Zacian.
The developer hasn’t revealed who the voice actress is just yet, but this information will most likely be revealed as soon as Gloria goes live in-game on November 29.
Before the official release of Pokemon Sword & Shield, fans had circulated memes depicting Gloria with a very obvious Scottish accent. This makes sense though, as the Galar region where Gloria resides is supposedly located in the UK.
As a matter of fact, characters from the game itself have a tendency to say British slang in conversations. That being said, some fans are disappointed that Gloria doesn’t have a Scottish accent because, as one fan said in response to the announcement tweet, “her outfit is clearly Scottish.”
Nevertheless, we’re simply happy to finally put a voice to a beloved character. Hopefully, The Pokemon Company will take this as a lesson and will include voice acting in future installments. Even Team Rocket is fully-voiced in Pokemon Masters EX, so what’s stopping the company from including voice acting in its mainline series?
There’s a lot of potential that can be seen in having fully-voiced characters, especially in a massive franchise such as Pokemon. It will definitely benefit the company if it considers implementing voice acting in its games going forward.
