Why did they change all the voice actors?

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.