Why did they change all the voice actors?

Try listening to French. I clicked the French trailer that came out yesterday by accident and was laughing at 10 seconds in. It almost sounds comedic.

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Originally Posted by Nadirah

JP voice acting always sounds like children to me.

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Listen to Pipin in Japanese and say that. I DARE you XD.

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Originally Posted by Remus

I find it funny that people say Japanese VA is way better, but the japanese players themselves think its not and listen to English voice actors because it sounds better.

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I always kinda thought the same for japanese songs, to us they may sound amazing but to japanese they be saying "Wow, this guy can't sing to save his life" lol
Personally I don't really mind if they changed voice actors or not, near the end I started skipping all the cut-scenes cus I was so tired of the back and forth. When it prompted me that I would need a decent amount of time to watch all the scenes I just laughed as I skipped em.

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Originally Posted by AlphaFox

I always kinda thought the same for japanese songs, to us they may sound amazing but to japanese they be saying "Wow, this guy can't sing to save his life" lol
Personally I don't really mind if they changed voice actors or not, near the end I started skipping all the cut-scenes cus I was so tired of the back and forth. When it prompted me that I would need a decent amount of time to watch all the scenes I just laughed as I skipped em.

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Those were honestly the best cutscenes in the entirety of the 2.x season. I'd recommend watching them at the inn room or something.

I didn't notice but I'm glad if they did, so far FFXIV:ARR has the worst voice acting I've ever heard in my life in a video game imo.

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Originally Posted by Averax

You clearly didn't listen very well when Alphinaud was speaking.

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So far as I can tell Alphinaud doesn't speak during the entire trailer. Is there a time stamp you can point me toward in the video?

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Originally Posted by Dalareid

I didn't notice but I'm glad if they did, so far FFXIV:ARR has the worst voice acting I've ever heard in my life in a video game imo.

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Clearly you didn't play games from the early PS1 and Sega generations, haha. Those had some truly awful VAs--just watch a playthrough of the original RE1.

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Originally Posted by Averax

100% true.

i was actually finally adjusting to how awkward his voice was, and they changed it. At least he sounds like a teenager now.

Part of me hopes they just go over all of his scenes and replace the voice acting, because that's going to be very jarring.

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That could be it, though. His voice is changing because he's growing up!

I use the Japanese voice acting because the English voices sound so.... fake. The accents aren't real accents from anywhere; they sound more like Canadians speaking Shakespearean English or trying to sound Australian. It just doesn't work for me. At least the JP voice actors sound like they're speaking naturally and not trying to imitate an accent from another country.

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Originally Posted by WellFooled

So far as I can tell Alphinaud doesn't speak during the entire trailer. Is there a time stamp you can point me toward in the video?

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About 51 seconds in.

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Originally Posted by KisaiTenshi

snip...
A look at IMDB Shows some of the VA's for FFXIV, but not who they played. So at this point I'm not sure anyone actually knows if the voices were replaced or if the launch trailer just didn't have finalized voices for the English side.

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This list appears slightly different, it shows the actor who did Merlwyb, and Alphinaud. Wonder if the xpac will have a separate page with other actors?http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2703036/...s?ref_=tt_ql_1

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Originally Posted by Mysteltain

Clearly you didn't play games from the early PS1 and Sega generations, haha. Those had some truly awful VAs--just watch a playthrough of the original RE1.

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Do you care for a Jill Sandwich?

Are you also the master of unlocking?

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/01/the...cting-moments/

If that was Alphinaud we heard talking, then from what I heard in that line, he sounded better than he did before, a tiny bit more "grown up." I play the cutscenes in Japanese or sometimes German because I hated the English voice acting so much. But it seems they've been trying to make it slightly better, so maybe I'll play Heavensward in English. Maybe. XD

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Originally Posted by Colorful

About 51 seconds in.

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Thanks for the info!

But we can't be sure that's him speaking since the voice is disembodied. I don't think we can say for sure who's it is.

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Originally Posted by Chiramu

Merlyb is the only voice actor who has a different voice from the Launch Trailer, but that might be because they could not get the original actor for her for these new lines.

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Nah, Merlwyb is still the same as ever. Clear as a day. Still has the same VA as the knight-commander-something-or-other in Dragon Age 2. Last boss I believe she was?

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Originally Posted by Mysteltain

Clearly you didn't play games from the early PS1 and Sega generations, haha. Those had some truly awful VAs--just watch a playthrough of the original RE1.

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If you mean Resident Evil 1 it wasn't even half as bad as this lol. But yeah I bet there's loads of games with awful voice acting but for me this is the one lol.

I'm not sure whether they recast people for some characters, or just had better direction for the actors, but I'm happy they're changing something up.

Let's face it, some of the voiceover work was just awful in 2.x.

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Originally Posted by Waliel

Nah, Merlwyb is still the same as ever. Clear as a day. Still has the same VA as the knight-commander-something-or-other in Dragon Age 2. Last boss I believe she was?

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Meredith. :p /scurriesaway

It's really too soon to say, perhaps they changed the directing?

After all, 2.0 voice acting is different (improved) from the later patches voice acting and they used the same actors

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Originally Posted by Waliel

Nah, Merlwyb is still the same as ever. Clear as a day. Still has the same VA as the knight-commander-something-or-other in Dragon Age 2. Last boss I believe she was?

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Jean Gilpin. she did some Skyrim voices too. Very talented lady.

They changed some voice actors because many of them were terrible. A terrible script can be overlooked with good voice acting, but a terrible script with terrible voice acting just makes for a painful experience, and I don't think the scripts are ever going to get any better.

Possibly cheaper labour to. You sign someone up to do x amounts worth of content for a cheaper price.

I only liked Yda's voice actress anyhow, so I'm not really overly fussed.

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Originally Posted by Lukha

Listen to Pipin in Japanese and say that. I DARE you XD.

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Or better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oC8px1P7C8

The talking in the trailer was too brief for each individual voice. And I wouldn't be surprised if the voices were not coinciding with whomever was on the video.

But sometimes voice actors might not be available to reprise their role, be it financially or they are currently busy on another job.

I just went and watched it again and I'm not sure that it's so much a change in all the actors (except Alphinaud - no way that's the same guy) but maybe recording equipment has changed. It just doesn't have the same tone\quality and half of them definitely aren't synced to the trailer. The blaring background music doesn't help, either. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out - but it reminds me of hearing some of Howard Stern's early recordings and his recordings now. The quality of his voice 'changed' but it wasn't really his voice, it was the equipment he's used over the years.

In the end, SE is still getting acquainted with the whole fully-voice-acted game thing. We can't expect BioWare level content from them just yet.

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Originally Posted by Dalareid

If you mean Resident Evil 1 it wasn't even half as bad as this lol. But yeah I bet there's loads of games with awful voice acting but for me this is the one lol.

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Xenogears was pretty damn awful. Like, I can't even properly make fun of it awful. That's largely due to not many scenes being available to make fun of though lol. Square (Enix) games are pretty notorious for having English VA that are either outright bad or given bad direction. Games that utilize English as part of the default JP game is a prime example of the direction aspect, since in most cases, they won't realize what's bad. Likewise, most non-Japanese speaking folks will usually not realize what's bad VA in that language. If you've ever seen a Japanese movie that tries to use English speaking actors, you'd have a better understanding of that (e.g. the beginning of a movie called Returner).

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Originally Posted by Souljacker

Jean Gilpin. she did some Skyrim voices too. Very talented lady.

They changed some voice actors because many of them were terrible. A terrible script can be overlooked with good voice acting, but a terrible script with terrible voice acting just makes for a painful experience, and I don't think the scripts are ever going to get any better.

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Yep. Some people also just have the voice for it. So when you combine the voice, proper direction, AND the acting capacity, you have yourself a winner. Would people rather listen to Lance Henriksen, someone with years of proper experience in the field of emotional display (i.e. acting and voice work), or listen to any of the given VA from this game? That's the difference between people who know how to play a character (even without proper direction) versus someone who simply thinks something is "good enough". The JP voicework is done by people who already do this as their career, and in many cases, have a long list of past work. They also get proper direction because the director natively speaks the language.

This is loosely related, but wouldn't it be cool if, for one glorifying moment, in a cutscene somewhere in the game, your character spoke ONE line? I think I saw that done in one of the Grand Theft Auto games, where your character is silent all game, and then, out of nowhere, says something.

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Originally Posted by Souljacker

I just went and watched it again and I'm not sure that it's so much a change in all the actors (except Alphinaud - no way that's the same guy) but maybe recording equipment has changed. It just doesn't have the same tone\quality and half of them definitely aren't synced to the trailer. The blaring background music doesn't help, either. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out - but it reminds me of hearing some of Howard Stern's early recordings and his recordings now. The quality of his voice 'changed' but it wasn't really his voice, it was the equipment he's used over the years.

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Quite true indeed! Changes in tone (on behalf of the actor) or even changes in equipment (either a setting or different hardware) alone can make someone sound different. I watch quite a few broadcasters on Twitch, one of my personal favorites is Cthulhu_the_3rd. When he got a new headset, he sounded much different.

It does indeed sound more like changes recording equipment and actors getting really used to their roles and whatnot rather than switching actors altogether. You can clearly hear they're still the old ones, or at least I can. Or maybe I am the crazy one here.

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Originally Posted by Chessala

Good choice in changing them but honestly, English dubs usually suck majorly and this game is no exception. It's emotionless, flat, the voiced do NOT fit the characters and...shall I go on? I don't think I will bother.

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Careful, your weeaboo is showing

they should just use the new voices and dub the old CS (and not like they used to be 10-30%). rather 100% and then keep it up like that....
the fact taht in one short conversation we had VO, then after a click, it was gone... was totally distracting already. An immersion killer....

so unless they don't start to use voiceacting everywhere properly (i know there are always excuses but ehy? 10 times smaller mmos use voiceover on all their missions/quests, and with a quite good quality, so SE should be able to do that with ease).
i won't care much about it since it always seemed rushed and without any passion... sadly...

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Originally Posted by Hyrist

Voice in scene with Alphy is actually Pipin, my group is currently speculating. Though it did sound like 2/3 Grand Company leadership changed voice actors.

Hard to keep them on long term - and, to a degree, people complaining about voice acting in NA and their quality could be partly to blame here. Or it could be the VAs were asking for too much for the next go-around. So many unknown factors. Best not to dwell on it.

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Unfortunately, the voice in the Japanese version of the trailer sounds like Alphinaud's voice, not Pippin's. I'm pretty disappointed as I like Sam Riegel as Alphinaud. According to his twitter, Sam has no idea why he was replaced, so it's probably not due to time constraints so much as it's cheaper to get a new actor instead.

Merlwyb does sound different as well, and I feel like Kan-E may have a new voice actor too. I can't tell on Raubahn, though.

Oh come on SE. -_-

If the monster that is The Old Republic can keep all the billion VAs they have throughout every expansion surely you guys can too. This is going to bug me more than it should. UUUUGH!

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Originally Posted by reillyblair

cheaper to get new voice actors then to pay the same ones to return

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Most video games are contracted/licensed, especially major games like the Final Fantasy series, so all major VAs get paid the same amount regardless. However, there is something that Greg Wiesman said once about using a VA to the fullest extent, which is why you may notice some characters having similar voices. But that might apply only to TV.

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Originally Posted by Chessala

Good choice in changing them but honestly, English dubs usually suck majorly and this game is no exception. It's emotionless, flat, the voiced do NOT fit the characters and...shall I go on? I don't think I will bother.

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That might of been true in the past, but now-a-days, everything is collaborated on with Japan, so you can't blame America only, Japan too, every major decision is theirs alone to male; like who does the English voices. And sometimes the English VA is truer to the source material or the way the character was meant to be portrayed, like Ed from FMA.

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Originally Posted by Gilraen

English voice acting tends to be treated as one-and-done or contracted for a specific period under the notion that they wouldn't be needed later. A classically bad example of this was the Dragonball/Dragonball Z series where they had around 3-4 different voices for Goku, 2-3 for Vegeta and Picollo. It's not really bad management, either. It's about predicting demand in relation to budget and contract time.

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You are right about the contract, the originals might of only been contracted for 2.0, American voice acting isn't as regulated as Japanese ones, which is why the voices always remain the same. That being said the DBZ example is a bit misguided. Caitlin Glass ( Winry's VA) explained that the reason the VAs changed so much wasn't because of contracting issues, but because of outsourcing and studio space issues. That's why there are two "original" version one dubbed in Canada and one in America, because at the time Funimation had to outsource to Ocean Studios. At the time Funimation didn't have a studio.

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Originally Posted by Welsper59

Yep. Some people also just have the voice for it. So when you combine the voice, proper direction, AND the acting capacity, you have yourself a winner. Would people rather listen to Lance Henriksen, someone with years of proper experience in the field of emotional display (i.e. acting and voice work), or listen to any of the given VA from this game? That's the difference between people who know how to play a character (even without proper direction) versus someone who simply thinks something is "good enough". The JP voicework is done by people who already do this as their career, and in many cases, have a long list of past work. They also get proper direction because the director natively speaks the language.

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I think you might be a little misguided in that thinking. Many VA are actors, and have studied classes for them. Ironically it's usually TV/Film actors who suck at it, but most people over look it because of the famous name. Not saying they can't be good, they just have the mindset of its no different from regular acting, but it is so totally different. That info comes from a Comic-Con VA panel of experienced VAs talking about a famous actor who though voice acting would be easy. And a lot of the VAs in ARR are heavily experienced, but as you indicated the directors and those who get the final say, don't speak the same language, so certain things are either lost or have to be expressed differently. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.


Personally I didn't mind all of the previous VAs but if the new ones sound similar enough then that's okay I guess.

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Originally Posted by Averax

You clearly didn't listen very well when Alphinaud was speaking.

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I try not to.

Also, I'm all in favor of a new VA for Minfilia. (because you bloody know she's not dead yet)

Chaos Wars, by far, had the worst voice acting of any game I've ever played. Yuri/Uru's VA is so horrid that it actually makes me laugh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bangt7d9vGA

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Originally Posted by RentisB

Oh come on SE. -_-

If the monster that is The Old Republic can keep all the billion VAs they have throughout every expansion surely you guys can too. This is going to bug me more than it should. UUUUGH!

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Eh even though SWTOR does english/french/german as well, adding one extra language really does add up in the cost department. Other things to consider is the companies, EA/Bioware, Bioware into itself uses a lot of VA work compared to the amount of games SE has pushed with VA it's nowhere near as close as the amount of voice work done in Bioware games so there is that partnership that builds up as well as experience that allows Bioware a better longevity with their voice actors since they might have it down to a science by now.

This is going to KILL me... I really wish they would have stayed the same.

Also, did someone say that Sam Riegel confirmed he isn't back? If so I will be completely heartbroken...

I was fine with Alph's 2.0 voice actor. I really do hope they got someone new for Minfilla though.

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Originally Posted by MercuryD

This is going to KILL me... I really wish they would have stayed the same.

Also, did someone say that Sam Riegel confirmed he isn't back? If so I will be completely heartbroken...

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Not really confirmed, just that the new voice in the trailer is most likely Alphinaud, as in the Japanese trailer it's Alphinaud speaking that line.

The twitter part is just that someone asked if SE changed Alphinaud's voice actor, to which he responded he had no idea. If he was recast, it makes me sad that even Sam didn't know about it.

Merlwyb's voice actor change made me sad. I mean "Seven hells!" :(

Sometimes VAs will even work when they're sick--I know this from talking to Greg and Chris Ayres several times at cons--because it's work. This does affect the quality of their recordings, so for all we know the actors that sound changed may've been recording with a cold.