Graha Voice Actor Change?

There are certain parts that sound like they have Bailey's inflections, just at a different range.

Until we are told otherwise, I'm just going to assume it's still JB.

Colds and respiratory illnesses can affect inflection as well, from what I've seen, and the voice actor seemed to be speaking with a stuffy nose.

There were times when it definitely sounded like Bailey and had his inflection though, just stuffy sounding. I think it's most likely Bailey recording sick from home. They probably just didn't want to draw attention to that which is why there's no comment. Sometimes actor's careers can potentially get effected by things like this and they're trying to avoid attention to the fact that he sounds sick this patch, which would also explain why he wasn't voiced in the trailer, particularly with how his career is now going places. At least that's my guess.

Every other time a voice actor has been replaced it's been announced, I believe, such as Yugiri or the change from ARR cast to Heavensward cast. I don't see why they wouldn't this time around.

This exact same conversation happened when Cid's voice actor was sick. His inflection and vocal quality then sounded even more different then G'raha did in 7.4, from what I could hear.

Not that I think being replaced isn't possible, I just don't think it's very likely with the information that we have.

I think that calm is warranted until we receive further confirmation, just so that we're not drawing all sorts of unwanted attention towards something that might effect Jonathan's career, so I think we should be considerate of that possibility.

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Originally Posted by SKAshe

I think that calm is warranted until we receive further confirmation, just so that we're not drawing all sorts of unwanted attention towards something that might effect Jonathan's career, so I think we should be considerate of that possibility.

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Yes, after being Sexiest Man Alive and Top Grossing Movie Star of 2025, it is we FFXIV players on a forum that Square Enix uses as a placebo so we think we can provide feedback that will really possibly throw his career off track.

Respiratory illness doesn’t change how you pronounce words, though.

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Originally Posted by Bantochan

Respiratory illness doesn’t change how you pronounce words, though.

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I assume you're referring to SKAshe's post where they say:

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Originally Posted by SKAshe

Colds and respiratory illnesses can affect inflection as well, from what I've seen, and the voice actor seemed to be speaking with a stuffy nose.

There were times when it definitely sounded like Bailey and had his inflection though, just stuffy sounding. I think it's most likely Bailey recording sick from home. They probably just didn't want to draw attention to that which is why there's no comment. Sometimes actor's careers can potentially get effected by things like this and they're trying to avoid attention to the fact that he sounds sick this patch, which would also explain why he wasn't voiced in the trailer, particularly with how his career is now going places. At least that's my guess.

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It depends on the condition I think? I'm no doctor or nurse, but I definitely sound and speak differently if I get sick with a bad cold or strep throat. It can get pretty hard to sound like my usual self as is, or even speak in general. There were times I almost lost my voice! I don't wanna imagine how it feels to voice act while sick.

Either way, I hope we either hear a statement soon...or they don't say anything 'cuz it's still JB (probs sick/tired + subpar recording setup) and they feel there's no need to announce anything. (I still think they should address it though even if it wasn't a recast).

A little off-topic but SE is currently hosting an official survey about FF with the option to add a free-style comment at the end, where we have the option to address things like open communication with the EN playerbase and more.

Here's the link: https://questant.jp/q/6K9FPT4N

It's open till 9th Jan

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Originally Posted by KiraRavens

A little off-topic but SE is currently hosting an official survey about FF with the option to add a free-style comment at the end, where we have the option to address things like open communication with the EN playerbase and more.

Here's the link: https://questant.jp/q/6K9FPT4N

It's open till 9th Jan

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727 character feedback written XD idek if they will read any of that or if they will use AI to read it

I left them a 900-char response... I hope they actually do read these.

Added my voice to it, too. Thank you for posting that!

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Originally Posted by KiraRavens

A little off-topic but SE is currently hosting an official survey about FF with the option to add a free-style comment at the end, where we have the option to address things like open communication with the EN playerbase and more.

Here's the link: https://questant.jp/q/6K9FPT4N

It's open till 9th Jan

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Thanks for posting this. Had no idea they even had a questionairre going.

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Originally Posted by lievaordiea

727 character feedback written XD idek if they will read any of that or if they will use AI to read it

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Yeah, not sure either, but if the right keywords come up often enough, even the AI will pick up on it, so it's def worth it. :)

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Originally Posted by IronThistle

I left them a 900-char response... I hope they actually do read these.

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No, I'm sorry, but this is absolutely unhinged.

This whole thread is completely ridiculous. It's been one (1) patch wherein G'raha's VA sounds, at points, slightly off - we've had no other indication anything is the matter, let alone that he's been recast, or that it's anything other than a case of his being ill, busy or having extra lines he was unavailable for. Both his VA and SE have remained silent on this, and that will more than likely be for a reason; it is not an excuse to clog up customer surveys designed for feedback on the franchise because you're breathing into a paper bag over your favourite character's VA. It's childish, disrespectful and invasive, and if you had any thought or regard for JB at all, you'd leave matters well enough alone and wait for him to comment on it. By all accounts, he's voiced the character for six years despite his career trajectory and given a performance that's clearly moved you all - even if he has moved on, try being grateful and patient instead of demanding information like petulant children.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

No, I'm sorry, but this is absolutely unhinged.

This whole thread is completely ridiculous. It's been one (1) patch wherein G'raha's VA sounds, at points, slightly off - we've had no other indication anything is the matter, let alone that he's been recast, or that it's anything other than a case of his being ill, busy or having extra lines he was unavailable for. Both his VA and SE have remained silent on this, and that will more than likely be for a reason; it is not an excuse to clog up customer surveys designed for feedback on the franchise because you're breathing into a paper bag over your favourite character's VA. It's childish, disrespectful and invasive, and if you had any thought or regard for JB at all, you'd leave matters well enough alone and wait for him to comment on it. By all accounts, he's voiced the character for six years despite his career trajectory and given a performance that's clearly moved you all - even if he has moved on, try being grateful and patient instead of demanding information like petulant children.

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my 726 char was about the non responses to the forum in general plus the way the general direction of the game has gone.
I very much doubt anyone took time out to actually state ref graha VA least i didnt. do you not care about anything in the game? other than to say folks are being silly?

I used my response to advise them i have ZERO confidence in the next expac. they could give the best patches in 7.5 but the utter change from 6.5 to DT made me feel I can no longer trust the continuation we get.
Part of that lost trust IS the non-response to ANY issues addressed on these forums. from the EMote requests, difference faces, that feet thread (tho i hope they never see that) EVERYTHING

At this point.. the issue is the constant NON RESPONSE by SE ref any issue the playerbase has.
Regardless of how deranged you think we are in this thread - surely as a consumer you can see this is bad business practice to ignore multiple voiced concerns repeatedly

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

No, I'm sorry, but this is absolutely unhinged.

This whole thread is completely ridiculous. It's been one (1) patch wherein G'raha's VA sounds, at points, slightly off - we've had no other indication anything is the matter, let alone that he's been recast, or that it's anything other than a case of his being ill, busy or having extra lines he was unavailable for. Both his VA and SE have remained silent on this, and that will more than likely be for a reason; it is not an excuse to clog up customer surveys designed for feedback on the franchise because you're breathing into a paper bag over your favourite character's VA. It's childish, disrespectful and invasive, and if you had any thought or regard for JB at all, you'd leave matters well enough alone and wait for him to comment on it. By all accounts, he's voiced the character for six years despite his career trajectory and given a performance that's clearly moved you all - even if he has moved on, try being grateful and patient instead of demanding information like petulant children.

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This is mean-spirited. Just because it doesn't matter to you doesn't mean that it shouldn't matter to anyone. To some people, the VA makes the character and all they're asking for is transparency from SE about whether or not he's been replaced. It's a perfectly valid thing to leave feedback about, regardless of whether you think so or not.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

G'raha's VA sounds, at points, slightly off

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Slightly off was Yshtola at the end of 7.0.
Graha in 7.4 had people asking questions about VA change the moment patch dropped.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

Both his VA and SE have remained silent on this

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Which is the issue.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

try being grateful and patient instead of demanding information like petulant children.

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When / if it's actually announced that JB is being recast (for whatever reason), you can be sure that he receives loads of well wishes and thank yous.

I get it, you don't care about it. You don't have to No need to resosort to insults. For many this would be a major, major change. And whatever happened (actual recast, health or tech issues) - SE is not scoring any points by trying to ignore the issue.

Is it possible to have a parasocial attachment to a fictional character?
Anyway, Graha sounded off for a few cutscenes, which to me seemed like vocal strain
Later in the MSQ, he sounded like his usual self

The survey was for FF as a franchise, which I've been a fan of since like 2000 and have played most main entries and many spin-offs, and my custom response actually never touched upon the VA drama here. I was actually more interested in FFXIV pushing more solo verses multiplayer content (I love solo stuff, keep increasing the quality, but lock that to MSQ.) and that I wish we got more mainline entries kore frequently.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

No, I'm sorry, but this is absolutely unhinged.

This whole thread is completely ridiculous. It's been one (1) patch wherein G'raha's VA sounds, at points, slightly off - we've had no other indication anything is the matter, let alone that he's been recast, or that it's anything other than a case of his being ill, busy or having extra lines he was unavailable for. Both his VA and SE have remained silent on this, and that will more than likely be for a reason; it is not an excuse to clog up customer surveys designed for feedback on the franchise because you're breathing into a paper bag over your favourite character's VA. It's childish, disrespectful and invasive, and if you had any thought or regard for JB at all, you'd leave matters well enough alone and wait for him to comment on it. By all accounts, he's voiced the character for six years despite his career trajectory and given a performance that's clearly moved you all - even if he has moved on, try being grateful and patient instead of demanding information like petulant children.

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Maybe don't assume so much and then start insulting people over the things you imagine we said in that survey - makes you look like a petulant child, you know.

I've been playing FF for almost 30 years and I assure you whatever you think I wrote, it's not that.
But I absolutely did mention that open, if possible in-advance communication and a timely response to large-scale concerns (this forum post is one of the most viewed in the entire EN forum so take from this what you will) is a great way to build rapport with the playerbase - and since the survey has a strong focus on social media and community management, this was exactly the kind of feedback they asked for, too.

I filled out the survey to talk about several things, and this JB situation is only among those things and it was only a couple of sentences out of a lot of stuff mentioned. I'm sure many treated the survey the same way.

Giving a nudge to the thread since its been buried. Still no confirmation on either way as far as I can see.

Finally had time to do the story. He just sounded sick. I'm confused why it became such a big deal.
It was clearly still him, just a little lower in pitch. It lacked the usual upbeat cadence and airy tone, but overall still sounded like whatever his real name is.

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Originally Posted by Batbrat

Finally had time to do the story. He just sounded sick. I'm confused why it became such a big deal.
It was clearly still him, just a little lower in pitch. It lacked the usual upbeat cadence and airy tone, but overall still sounded like whatever his real name is.

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Funny. To me it was clearly not him. Guess we'll find out which one of us is correct sooner or later.

It's 100% not him at all.

A couple FC mates hit 7.4 last night, and we had the exact same experience as everyone here.

This is the first thing we're all going to check for in 7.5, isn't it? Is it Bailey? Is it the same voice and tone as 7.4? We might not even know til 7.55's credits roll and that's rough.

My vote is still "new guy doing a sound-alike attempt so on the nose with Bailey's delivery we're left confused."

On bluesky, the EN FF14 account had been namedropping Arcadion voice actors so at least we get credit for their performance. Probably only because the raid series is over now! Just wish they'd announce G'raha's new actor too, or at least have Bailey rerecord his 7.4 lines and hotfix if it was indeed him.

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Originally Posted by Daralii

My understanding is that he's become a big name and is very busy.

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Big name?
*checking his filmography on wikipedia*
What has he done in these years apart of being a judge in 1 episode of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World, and some minor roles in Wicked and Jurassic Park 7?

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Originally Posted by SuperZay

Big name?
*checking his filmography on wikipedia*
What has he done in these years apart of being a judge in 1 episode of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World, and some minor roles in Wicked and Jurassic Park 7?

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I haven't actually watched the things he's been in, but even I know he had a significant part in Wicked (main male role) and apparently was a fairly major character in Bridgerton which I believe was a fairly big show.

Regardless, I've just done 7.2 for the second time on the character I level with my wife, and at that point it was still clearly Bailey voicing the character. He sounded a bit hoarse, but it was obviously him and the difference in voices to 7.4 was night and day.

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Originally Posted by JRonnie

Funny. To me it was clearly not him. Guess we'll find out which one of us is correct sooner or later.

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Still feel this way.

But I am both patient and petty. I am waiting for the credits in 7.5 and expect apologies.

I'm still hoping for this to be a temporary stand-in, and that they'll re-record 7.4. But yeah, nothing else to say or do until 7.5 drops or they release a statement (which is highly unlikely at this point).

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Originally Posted by JRonnie

Regardless, I've just done 7.2 for the second time on the character I level with my wife, and at that point it was still clearly Bailey voicing the character. He sounded a bit hoarse, but it was obviously him and the difference in voices to 7.4 was night and day.

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I had been away from the game for a while, and did 7.3 nearly back to back with 7.4, which just made the change all that more striking to me. Baffles me that at this point we still have "it's clearly him" opinions, but if there's one thing this whole fiasco has taught me is that people have wildly differing ability to detect difference in voices. It's not even a matter of being G'raha superfans or whatever, I have friends who don't give a damn about him or his actor but who just have a good ear whose immediate reactions were "oh this is absolutely not the same guy" as soon as they played the patch. My hope remains that this was a last minute, temporary stand-in, because it certainly wasn't Bailey.

I hadn't looked at this thread in a while (stuff certainly gets exhausting here, getting insane comments like that one person in the previous page at this point still is so...) so I unfortunately missed that survey link. Lots of stuff I'd have wanted to talk about regarding the current state of the game, communication with the EN fanbase (which does include this VA issue) being just one among those topics. Glad to hear some folks here were able to send their thoughts, though.

Hope y'all have been doing well. NA Fanfest approaches, as does 7.5, which still won't have credits, by the way. That's a 7.55 thing. If G'raha has any voiced lines at all, though, I suppose we'll see how he sounds.

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Originally Posted by peachsyder

if there's one thing this whole fiasco has taught me is that people have wildly differing ability to detect difference in voices.

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As the person doing all that non-credited-voice-identifying stuff for the last few years... yeah, some people's guesses on who some characters are voiced by are wild. And even when you show your evidence like "this is from her documentary voice reel where she pronounces that vowel this way" or "this is from a 2018 Instagram live where he made that exact sound" they can't hear it at all :D

I also don't understand thinking his voice is "hoarse". I don't think this actor sounds hoarse at all. He sounds perfectly clear, almost too much so, in my opinion. His voice sounds of a higher register. I don't hear any "hoarseness" like this man was ill or anything. I'm not sure what everyone is talking about there...

Well, when I made this thread I didnt expect it to get to 40 pages. I figured someone would know instantly if it was/wasnt him.
Even so, Im glad to see I'm not the only one here who thinks its not him. I usually have a keen ear, and it sounded so different. So if it is him, I'll be really confused and impressed that it changed so much.

That said, I hope Bailey returns if it isnt him. While I dont mind this mysetry voice, I am quite partial to the original voice.

Is it such a big thing if it’s not him? I liked G’raha’s voice before but the replacement seemed pretty inevitable to me lol. They probably can’t afford Johnathan Bailey anymore…

Maybe it’s like a stunt double lol? He wasn’t available so they got a ‘G’raha-adjacent’ VA lol

maybe he was too busy filming bridgerton season 4

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Originally Posted by Tesco

maybe he was too busy filming bridgerton season 4

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He's not in it.

He was doing a play though, so that doesn't leave much time for anything else.

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Originally Posted by Pricia

He's not in it.

He was doing a play though, so that doesn't leave much time for anything else.

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He is in season 4. He's in the second half which hasn't aired yet.

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Originally Posted by Connor

Is it such a big thing if it’s not him?

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Its not that its a bad thing. Many of us have grown to love G'raha's character because of Bailey's voice acting performance. Having them change VAs without warning feels jarring and to some upsetting.
Honestly, voice acting adds a lot more than you might think to a character. For myself, it remains to be seen if this mystery voice actor will have the same impact with G'raha that Bailey's performance has had up until now, or if it will dampen my love for the character.

If it was Bailey his staff would have said so, since they and Square Enix are refusing to answer, I think he has been replaced.

Koji also had a interview with Trash Taste and he mentioned how they prefer to not replace voice actors unless the voice actor has become too famous. He also said that somthing would change and we would not like it.

If it's temporary, it's fine, but if he has been replaced and SE is silence on purpose then shame on them.

I did 7.1-7.4 last month and yes I feel like i'm being gaslit here. The recent patch is not him.


Again, he's kinda booked and busy now so a temp replacement is understandable.


If he's costing too much going forward, I can't really blame SE here.