Voice acting so bad

English dub can go beyond cringey sometimes. (Emphasis on sometimes) So I get where OP is coming from.

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Originally Posted by FlatLined

I would say the English dub is "meh" at best. Some of the characters IMO have good voices but the majority don't. What I really want to know though is why do they have to talk in a old English kind of way? I know they don't talk that way in the German dub. Not sure if they speak that way in the Japanese dub though.

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They don't. This is just something done by he EN localization team.

That's really no surprise, the majority of them are fairly unknown voice actors who don't have much experience and were likely given very little direction. Not only that, but they're given a script of some form of middle English that's not only a drab to read that drags on endlessly, but they're also unfamiliar with them and their characters given that they don't do much voice work for them.

I know it's in Japanese, but in the trailer the delivery of this line from Noctis' VA was perfect, you can really feel the emotion behind what he's saying. That is voice acting done right, but as we all know, FFXV's budget is over 500 million USD at this point (they said they had to sell 10 million copies to break even) and isn't comparable to FFXIV's lackluster budget.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

The entire cast of Heavensward voiced by the same person doing different accents.

Would pay to see this.

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tbh it almost seems like that's what's already happening in HW.

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Originally Posted by myahele

Most of the budget went to FF15; shame we can't have Sean Bean, Lena Headey, etc as the voices in Heavensward like they do in FF15... oh well.

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From what I've read today, those voice actors are performing in the movie, Kingsglaive, coming out in September. They are not actually performing in the FF15 game.

I love Krile voice actor. She must be mah waifu with that British voice of hers.

It got better later on for me, right at Heavenward.

Before, it was uber stiff.

I feel like it's mainly Americans having issues with this due to the difference in accents... it probably sounds quite jarring.

Which I can understand, being from the UK, I wanted to peel my skin off whenever I had to listen to the American accents rife in FFX. It sounded dreadful.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

I feel like it's mainly Americans having issues with this due to the difference in accents... it probably sounds quite jarring.

Which I can understand, being from the UK, I wanted to peel my skin off whenever I had to listen to the American accents rife in FFX. It sounded dreadful.

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I loveee the accents in the game. The first time I ever heard the British accent was " O.O must steal voice box ". The true only problem with the current is the guy who........ Omg cant remember the name he you know um........ Crap cant say the thing he did without spoiling. O hes the flame generals friend , when i heard his new voice actor i basically screamed in terror and hide under my bed. Like seriously the voice actor was not the right guy for the character

I like most of the voice acting in this game. To each their own I guess!

Have to agree here.. I mean some of it I like, I like Lucia's, Y'shtola's and Aymeric's. When you guys said about the lady who drugged us though, yeah, that was embarrassing. It doesn't fit at all. I think the voice actors need to really get themselves involved more and use more passion in their voices. That's actually the reason most people prefer Japanese voice actors - they use more emotion.

I'm British too. I just think the voices sound forced. A lot of people have this image that all people from the UK sound some type of way (either "posh" or "farmer like") and it's not the case at all. Idk why it bugs me but it does.

I don't understand why so many people are comparing this to an Anime English Dub.

This is a Final Fantasy title. A Triple A, World Renowned RPG epic. Comparing it to an Anime Dub is silly. Compare it to other FF titles.

FF10-13 all had top notch VAs.

Not every character needs an American accent. Not every character needs an Old Timey English accent. There should be flavour. Emotion.

There is nothing.

Like I said, in a studio, most good VAs will act out their part in the studio. They will jump around, move, cry, huff puff and pant. They act out the role.

Most of these VAs in HW are literally just standing infront of a mic with no directional audio, in a sound proof room reading their lines. Absolutely nothing has been done to add directional audio, reverb, echo, anything. Its all very flat, boring and voices like Kriles (especially) hurt my ears.

There is a small handfull that do good but most of them sound god awful and I can't even remember the story from HW because it is so painful to get through the cutscenes. I barely even know what this story is about in this expansion.

When Ser aymeric talks, I love to hear it. When Lucia talks, yeah. When Haurchefaunt talks, yes... All the rest of them nope. Just no.

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Originally Posted by WinterLuna

Have to agree here.. I mean some of it I like, I like Lucia's, Y'shtola's and Aymeric's. When you guys said about the lady who drugged us though, yeah, that was embarrassing. It doesn't fit at all. I think the voice actors need to really get themselves involved more and use more passion in their voices. That's actually the reason most people prefer Japanese voice actors - they use more emotion.

I'm British too. I just think the voices sound forced. A lot of people have this image that all people from the UK sound some type of way (either "posh" or "farmer like") and it's not the case at all. Idk why it bugs me but it does.

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Exactly. Not to mention theres like what, 10 different dialects of English in Britan? I talked to a guy in his 30s who spoke Cockney the other week and it sounded nothing like this. Ive heard tons of English people talk.

I feel like the people who do like all the VAs just like that theyre accents and they don't care that it sounds forced or theyre used to sub par voice acting from Anime.

They all sound like whiney bitches out of a Harry Potter movie. English people don't all sound like whiney twelve year olds or "posh/farmer" as you said.

Im Canadian and I do a pretty good English accent. I couldn't fool an actual Englishman but I could do better VA than most of whats in the game.



It just really bothers me that with how awful the voice acting is, that they have done pretty much nothing to the audio recordings themselves. Theres no atmosphere at all in the recordings. Like they haven't even been edited at all. Maybe a tiny bit of equalization...

As for who said "OP couldn't do better".

Here is better.

Here is atmosphere: https://soundcloud.com/illeptik/wip

Added tons of atmosphere within a day to some vocal recordings produced at a novice level.

Ok, ummmm, that song doesn't make a good comparison to voice acting, imo. Clicked on the link and was hoping for you reading lines from the game with emotion. Was disappointed. Good music though. I like the beat.

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Originally Posted by KeluBehemoth

I don't understand why so many people are comparing this to an Anime English Dub.

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IDK about others but the difference between JP and EN dubs are about the only parallel I could think of to describe it. And I think it's for this reason:

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Originally Posted by KeluBehemoth

most good VAs will act out their part in the studio. They will jump around, move, cry, huff puff and pant. They act out the role.

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It doesn't sound like most english VAs do this, they are doing what you described, standing in front of a mic reading lines just to get a check and gtfo. No enthusiasm, no emotion.

Granted they aren't all bad. Like others said there are some decent ones but for the most part they aren't on the same level. Personally I just think it has more to do with the culture, anime is a huge part of JP culture (I think?) and the actors just put more effort into their roles. I mean there are plenty of american cartoons that have good voice acting, it's just the anime disconnect.

Would a JP dub of an american cartoon be as bad as most of our EN dubs? I don't think they would.

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Originally Posted by KeluBehemoth

FF10-13 all had top notch VAs.

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FF 10-13 were also all one shot deals that didn't have to worry about things like periodic patch updates.

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Originally Posted by KeluBehemoth

As for who said "OP couldn't do better".

Here is better.

Here is atmosphere: https://soundcloud.com/illeptik/wip

Added tons of atmosphere within a day to some vocal recordings produced at a novice level.

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That's something you did? Was it actually done with your cell phone and 20 minutes in FL studio?

Cool song but it's not voice acting. Apples and oranges, that.

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Originally Posted by KeluBehemoth

I have tried using the English voices on and off since HW released.

I just can't do it any more.

They're so terrible. None of the voices match the characters faces or personalities.

I hope they change in the next expansion.

I wish they used American voices or at least good English ones.

I do t understand why some people actually really like them.

It's at the point where I'm actually embarrassed to have audio enabled while people are around me because it sounds so bad

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I can see some of your complaints, but I think Alphinaud was a big improvement. His voice matches his age.

X/X-2 had a terrible English cast, lol.

Matt McKenzie (Auron) was the only good one.

Go ahead and watch a few Japanese and then watch the same in English.

Meeting with Yunalesca is a great example.

I have heard bad voice acting and this isn't one of them. The voice acting isn't the greatest but it doesn't annoy to the point of me not wanting to listen to it anymore. I think it's pretty good voice acting you also need to remember they can't keep bringing high profile voice actors because it is a MMO and they would need to pay them continuously at a high price and I don't think FFXIV has the budget for that but they do have enough to make ok voice acting which I enjoy personally.

its way better then the stuff you hear in other mmo's

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Originally Posted by Sucuri

Have you ever watched Anime, in Japanese, then the same anime in English, and said to yourself, man the English version was so much better!....?

I highly doubt it.


Just be happy the Garlean Empire doesn't rush us shrieking "ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!!!"

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The whole true story, +1

I believe the second review I seen of this game 2 years back said as soon as the game starts, switch the voice acting to japanese because the english dub is insulting. Everyone says words that not usually used in the english dictionary and almost every character has a british accent as if everyone in america only accepts that sort of accent in the media. Its annoying, yes, bad, not really. The voice actors are only doing what they're told and they're doing it right. Whoever was in charge should be punched for making every eorzean sound like a pompous asshole, though lately that couldn't be anymore accurate XD

To be fair it's much better then other mmo's that have voice acting. It's not the greatest and there are some cringe moments, but overall its not that bad.

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Originally Posted by Sucuri

Have you ever watched Anime, in Japanese, then the same anime in English, and said to yourself, man the English version was so much better!....?

I highly doubt it.


Just be happy the Garlean Empire doesn't rush us shrieking "ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!!!"

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Ghost Stories (anime) : p

The voice acting is pretty bad, but it beats trying to read all of the text. I wish the whole game was voice acted.

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Originally Posted by Antonio_Xul

but it beats trying to read all of the text. I wish the whole game was voice acted.

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This your first Final Fantasy game or any post SNES RPG or something?

Yes they are horrible.. First time I tried english out of curiousity I was horrified..

The old dub? Mediocre at best, although a few got better as patches went on. I miss Urianger's and Merlwyb's old voices, and thought they were better than their newer ones. Nothing beats Gideon Emery. He stole the show in FF12, and it sounds like he's returning in FF15.

The newer dub? While a few are questionable, its been solid performances all around. The only complaint I would have about the newer dub was Ysayle's incredibly bad incantation of Shiva, even in comparison to her old voice, which we heard less of in 2.4. Even then, its nowhere near Minfilla's borderline Darth Vader "nooooooooo" in ARR.

A while back, YoshiP commented that the Japanese don't like the Japanese voices either. They only sound better because you aren't native in Japanese and can't tell the difference.

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Originally Posted by LunarEmerald

A while back, YoshiP commented that the Japanese don't like the Japanese voices either. They only sound better because you aren't native in Japanese and can't tell the difference.

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Exactly. It's the same how an exotic accent sounds sexy and interesting to foreigners but is nothing special where everyone has that accent.

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Originally Posted by LunarEmerald

A while back, YoshiP commented that the Japanese don't like the Japanese voices either. They only sound better because you aren't native in Japanese and can't tell the difference.

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Don't know why this comment is getting so many likes.
What if you're someone who can speak fluently in both English and Japanese and you find one better than the other? What's your response to that?

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Originally Posted by LunarEmerald

A while back, YoshiP commented that the Japanese don't like the Japanese voices either. They only sound better because you aren't native in Japanese and can't tell the difference.

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Maybe some don't like them due to personal preference, but a lot of them are established voice actors, at least that's what a IMDb tells me.

It must boil down to either a poor script, or incredibly poor directing then. If you take a look at the JP cast they're almost all high profile, been in several games and anime, if they were bad I don't imagine they would have been hired, even the English cast has a lot of high profile names. To name an example of what I believe to be poor directing (spoilers for 3.1+), there's the voice of Y'shtola's new VA, Robyn Addison. She sounds fairly... robotic? Not sure how to describe it, but I've asked several friends and they agree, she does have her moments but it's mostly like someone's reading their lines for the first time while being recorded, now compare that to her role of Sera in Dragon Age: Inquisition. I never had any problems with Sera's voice acting, I felt as if it was great and matched the character perfectly whereas Y'shtola's performance is done so poorly I almost switched back to the Japanese voices (luckily a few like Krile, Alphinaud and Tataru really stand out).

The English voice acting in 3.0 is a lot better than it was in 2.0 - people really should give it a chance instead of brushing it all off as terrible just because some of the 2.0 voice acting wasn't great.

I'll never understand the obsession with people claiming that the Japanese voice acting is 'so much better'. You do realise that the vast majority of people playing on the NA or EU servers won't be able to understand it, right?

This is also not the first RPG to make heavy use of British accents and dialects. I firmly believe that it fits - and it's a lot better than yet another game being voiced by Americans and nobody else.

As for 'established voice actors', honestly a lot of them tend to be overrated. Not without talent, perhaps, but some are so ridiculously overused (appearing in the majority of major titles) that the novelty wears thin. Especially if they have a distinct voice and don't pull off different voices.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

I'll never understand the obsession with people claiming that the Japanese voice acting is 'so much better'. You do realise that the vast majority of people playing on the NA or EU servers won't be able to understand it, right?

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Personal preference it's not an obsession and it doesn't matter about not understanding voice acting is a beautiful thing regardless of language anyone with half a brain can tell who's giving it there all in a performance and who just rocked up to the studio to say their lines and leave.

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Originally Posted by LunarEmerald

A while back, YoshiP commented that the Japanese don't like the Japanese voices either. They only sound better because you aren't native in Japanese and can't tell the difference.

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I find that hard to believe when you have award wining talent like Shuichi Ikeda, Rina Satou and Rie Tanaka involved. The English cast are literally whos that will have no legacy to speak of.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

As for 'established voice actors', honestly a lot of them tend to be overrated. Not without talent, perhaps, but some are so ridiculously overused (appearing in the majority of major titles) that the novelty wears thin. Especially if they have a distinct voice and don't pull off different voices.

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I've never had this problem myself, but that's mostly due to my piss poor memory. I didn't even realize they had replaced the voice actors for Heavensward until someone had told me and then I listed back to the older ones. As for not understanding the language, while that may be true you can still tell if some things are better, obviously you can't tell with pacing which is a problem with cutscenes in FFXIV due to the dialogue system being click to proceed, but you can feel the emotion behind the voice, which is something some characters sorely lack... FFXIV's facials animations really don't help either, but that's another topic.

I'd rather see "overused" established actors than ones "new" to the industry, especially when we rarely have voice acting. If they're going to pick up relatively new people, at least them practice their roles with many lines of dialogue instead of giving them an hour of voice work per expansion, and then getting rid of them for the next.

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Originally Posted by Yasuhiro

Don't know why this comment is getting so many likes.
What if you're someone who can speak fluently in both English and Japanese and you find one better than the other? What's your response to that?

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My response is: If there are any who are fluent in both, I'd like for them to post about what they prefer and why. It'd be interesting to hear from them, but my guess is they'd be kind of meh on both, just slightly less on one, and probably varying over what is preferred based on specific passages and speakers.

Not entirely unlike favoring gruel over white toast for breakfast because it's a cold day.

Such is the fate of English dubs. I have yet to see ANYTHING dubbed in English that is not horribly unfitting. SE just met the standards.

I personally stay with the Japanese and I am not intending to EVER use English OR German. I can't even stand the trailers.

Have you tried watching Cowboy Bebop in English, Chessala?