With Destiny set to receive its Taken King DLC in about a month, it looks like the game's voice cast will be receiving a shakeup, too. It turns out that Peter Dinklage will be sidelined moving forward, replaced by the pipes of one Nolan North.
Known around the gaming world as “that guy who is the voice of basically everyone,” Nolan North will become the voice of your floating companion, Ghost, that adorable floating contraption that scans environments, unlocks doors, hacks into mainframes and occasionally makes quips about the events unfolding around you.
This news comes from a recent Game Informer post, the result of an on-site visit with the development team at Bungie.
When Destiny first launched, the voice work of Peter Dinklage as your Ghost sidekicks was called into question by just about every review that hit the internet. Worry first popped up during Destiny's big reveal trailer a couple of years ago, to which Bungie responded by saying that what folks heard was a raw version of the audio, which still needed to be thrown through filters and whatnot to give it that semi-computerized tone.
That alchemy didn't seem to work once the game proper finally launched, as folks more or less booed the performance in unison.
Since then, Destiny has seen two main expansions, both adding additional bits of story without your Ghost ever saying a peep. Bungie got around that by having a couple of new comrades talk to the player as they went on their new missions but, even so, the sudden lack of chatter from your Ghost was a bit odd.
According to the recent Game Informer article, Nolan North will be taking over the role moving ahead. He's done work in games big and small over the years, but he's probably best known for his role as Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series. But, seriously, if you can think of a game with people talking in it, he's probably involved.
According to the original story, North's familiar voice might be a bit surprising once fans finally hear it pop up in Destiny, as he apparently tried to capture the feel of what has already been done in the original launch of the game.
When discussing his understanding of the robotic character, North told GI that he found it interesting that a ghost can actually be killed.
“A Ghost is not just something that can be turned back on,” North said. “It has an idea of ending. It understands mortality. It has a vested interest in helping you succeed.”
That grasp of the character might help North inject a bit more vitality into the role, something that was missing the first time around. Personally, I'm a little sad to see Dinklebot go but, if anyone can breathe new life into the role of Ghost, it's definitely Nolan North...Or maybe Samuel L. Jackson.
