Why did they change all the voice actors?

So I just saw the new launch trailer for Heavensward and noticed they changed the voice actors for all the main characters.

Why could they not keep the same voice actors I hate when they change voice actors like they do a lot in Anime..

Use japanese voices, problem solved.

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Originally Posted by lololink

Use japanese voices, problem solved.

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/clap wow your comment is just the most helpful if i could give you cookies I'd just give them all to you since you're so helpful.

On a serious note they haven't talked about it but they will I'm sure at some point talk about it

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Originally Posted by lololink

Use japanese voices, problem solved.

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I like to play in English so no the problem isn't solved.

Well I don't think they will just say, oh damned they changed, let's dub it all over again, so if you don't want to have voice over change the best is to use other languages.

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Originally Posted by lololink

Use japanese voices, problem solved.

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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.

On-topic: I believe it got changed because maybe those voice actors couldn't come back again for certain work reasons else where. Being a voice actor for a MMO can be a bit tough because you need to be coming back every major update and this could cause a bit of stress when they need to do other voice over work at the same time. I don't know if this is true but my theory.

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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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It sounds better because the grass is always greener on the other side, English sounds cool to JP players because it's different, JP are really fond of english, that's why they put english names everywhere.

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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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Different strokes for different folks lol. I"m not JP VOICE ACTING IS BETTER IN EVERYTHING blind that I can't spot a game with shitty JP voice acting I'll play this game in either

They're all the same as before.

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Originally Posted by Waliel

They're all the same as before.

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

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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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Well, English is not my 1st language, neither Japanese. I still preferred Japanese VA though?

Anyway, there are many reasons for changing VA though. For example, the Agency increase the cost for the actors/actresses. That specific VA time frame doesn't match. VA lost interest. Contract expire, etc etc. I guess maybe the same reason with changing the actor from certain movies as well?

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

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Originally Posted by Averax

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

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who would hes nearly as annoying as tidus was lol

Alphinaud's voice was annoying. At least Raubahn's voice is the same, that's all that matters.

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Originally Posted by Waliel

They're all the same as before.

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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. There was too little of Raubahn to tell if his voice actor changed.

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Originally Posted by Averax

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

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Oh, I forgot about that guy altogheter. Need to check in-game, if I'm not lazy. The three leaders are obviously the same as before.

I haven't heard any of the new voices, but they can't be any worse than the old ones. I've never heard such flat and dull voice acting.

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Originally Posted by Waliel

Oh, I forgot about that guy altogheter. Need to check in-game, if I'm not lazy. The three leaders are obviously the same as before.

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It forced me to check him out again lol, his new voice is pretty awesome :).

Could be worse, lol. I played an MMO where the very significant main male character underwent 3-5 voice actor changes. One of which was British. It was... pretty damn awful.

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Originally Posted by reillyblair

who would hes nearly as annoying as tidus was lol

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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.

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. Yoshida probably had the original voice actors only contracted up to the completion of all of 2.0's voiced cutscenes. You know, treating XIV like his Final Fantasy MMO. I have no doubt he tried to get his old voice actors back but they probably wanted more money so he went with someone else. Probably how we got different Gokus and Vegetas, too.

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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Originally Posted by lorel

So I just saw the new launch trailer for Heavensward and noticed they changed the voice actors for all the main characters.

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We have no idea who are the ones speaking in the trailer. I think it's a too early to say that they altered any or all of the voice actors at this point. Wait till we have a chance to view the game ourselves once it's released.

What caught me was a bit of unconnected voice. Someone talking whose voice I didn't recognize and didn't have a face on screen talking. I wonder if they voiced our characters. Doubt it, but it's something I noticed.

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.

I kinda like Merlwyb's new voice. To me quite a few sounded different too. It's not through choice they change them, sometimes original VAs have other commitments at the times they are needed back so they have to be replaced.

Merlwyb and Alphinaud were different. It sounded like the others were the same though. Merlwyb's is at least pretty close to the original, but Alphinaud is not close at all.

I liked them more. I always found Alphinaud and Minfillas voices annoying.

It comes down to real life stuff really. Could they get the person who did the voices previously? Has that person's prices for work gone up? Are they already signed up for a different engagement? There is a lot of reasons why they can't get the person any more or had to change. You can hope they get someone close to the original voice, but more often then not it is really hard to do that. Real life case in point I like to point to for this situation is what happened to the Richard Harris who played Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies. He died. They had to replace him with someone. Even I could tell that Michael Gambon's acting style was different and his mannerisms were different. But, that is what real life can do. Not saying that anyone died here with these voice actors of course, but just saying real life things happen and can change things.

You know what I find funny? This is exactly like the "Au Ra is a copy of X race" debate. There people were swearing on the virginity of their sisters that Au Ra are copies of either Hyur, Elezen or Mi'qote. And they couldn't agree which.

Now they changed "All the voice actors" which means that either one or two of Merlwyb, Raubahn and Alphinaud has been changed. But we can't really agree which.

Could still be the same VAs just trying a different pitch/range. Maybe some without laying as thick an accent as possible this time around. A lot of folks weren't too into it, admittedly I certainly wasn't for a lot of them.

Don't jump the gun.

Yes, NA anime and NA videogames tend to be super-poor "low budget" efforts (which is not to say Japan isn't equally as bad it it, see how many voice actors are in everything)

In NA, there are voice actor guilds, and the developers can not hire one person from the guild and hire a bunch of randoms for everyone else. It's either "all guild, or no guild at all"

Look at Kingdom Hearts and you'll see that SE has access to all the same voice actors Disney has. That is literately the top picks. So if a voice is replaced, it's far more likely a scheduling conflict, or the VA just didn't want to come back.

For example Tara Strong is in everything.

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.

I'll really miss original Alphinaud, but I also really love me some Pippin.

/internalstruggle

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Originally Posted by Pluvia

/clap wow your comment is just the most helpful if i could give you cookies I'd just give them all to you since you're so helpful.

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Lol chill, I don't think he was serious.. Made me laugh tho

What would be nice is some kind of a community rep confirmation of this. But I for one felt like they sounded like the same actors as before. Just with a lot more definition and soul. I think it's similar to how you watch the first season or two of a show, and the actors are kind of meh getting into their roles, but the rest they get much better and experienced in that role, making them more believable. I could be wrong, but they sound like the same to me. If they aren't the same people, with better accents, then they found some people that do a incredible job replicating the existing voices.

I really hope they don't change any of them, and it was new characters who were speaking in the trailer...

The voices have got better and better each patch and culminated in some real good stuff in 2.5 >.<

Merlwyb's voice was interesting to me. I don't know how to describe it...it sounded matronly, yet strong and masculine...she sounded cool. Alphinaud's original voice reminds me of something but I can't quite put my finger on it...maybe Chaos from Xenosaga or Cecil from FF4?

Good, English voice acting was terrible, the reason I swiched to Jap. Now I might give these new ones a try.

It's entirely possible, if they are in fact different, that the individuals who voiced the characters did not want to participate in further voice acting these characters. Similar to how certain actors express no desire to reprise their roles in sequels.

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Originally Posted by Wizarus

Good, English voice acting was terrible, the reason I swiched to Jap. Now I might give these new ones a try.

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JP voice acting always sounds like children to me.

Doesn't help I want to hear the speech, nt read the subtitles.

And this is why the Lich King got a new voice. Blizzard wanted to pay the guy that did it in WC3 a pittance, so they reused his lines from there in Culling of Stratholme and got a new guy, modulated the crap out of it, and used that for new stuff.