Graha Voice Actor Change?

Okay, is it just me being sick and stuffed up or did G'raha's voice actor change? He sounds quite different to me and I'm kind of sad about it.

Edit: {{ENGLISH VA - Jonathan Bailey - to be precise}}

I think it's a recast. Sounds nothing like Jonathan

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Originally Posted by MoonNoire

I think it's a recast. Sounds nothing like Jonathan

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That makes me sad. I really liked his original voice actor. I wonder why he was recast... Is Bailey busy?

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Originally Posted by Vespar

That makes me sad. I really liked his original voice actor. I wonder why he was recast... Is Bailey busy?

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

Initially, I thought it was my volume because the sound felt muffled. If this were the case, then it would explain that.

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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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Dont get me wrong. Im happy for him, if thats the case. But I'll still mourn the loss of his voice for G'raha if this is a permanent change.

I noticed the sudden voice change. Explains why someone pointed out there was no voice for them in the trailer.

The new one is clearly trying their best and, while not the same, you can believe it's just G'raha having the snuffles or getting older and getting that "aged" voice.

I don't think it sounds older at all, it's just DIFFERENT, and I don't actually dislike it. I can absolutely get used to this take on him, but it didn't sound like Bailey, sick or in a weird recording set-up, the fuy sounds completely normal. Bailey uses his regular speaking voice and tone for G'raha, so unless he was directed to wildly change his delivery, that's a recast. And that's show business, baby.

Bailey was literally just celebrated as TIME magazine's sexiest man of the year, stars in both Wicked films, and is a lead in the new Jurassic Park. He's a bit busy.

It sounds like the actor that did Hythlodeus's voice, Toby Regbo, is now G'raha, but I'm bot sure. It's my best guess, and he did excellently in that role, so G'raha's in good hands if so. If not, I welcome his new actor wholeheartedly.

I just find it funny that G'raha is supposed to be a great singer and was given a Broadway singer as his English voice actor.... And then hasn't sang a single time in MSQ or any side quests. Wild.

It's a different voice actor. I hope it's a temporary recast. The new voice is not bad but I loathe when VAs change, especially when they have been going for so long.

We all understand that Jonathan Bailey is a very busy person but the amount of lines for the MSQ of a normal patch (and moreso for G'raha lately) is quite low so it's a bit surprising that it happened now. It'd have made more sense if it had been for 8.0 since that would have required way more work.

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Originally Posted by Aco505

It's a different voice actor. I hope it's a temporary recast. The new voice is not bad but I loathe when VAs change, especially when they have been going for so long.

We all understand that Jonathan Bailey is a very busy person but the amount of lines for the MSQ of a normal patch (and moreso for G'raha lately) is quite low so it's a bit surprising that it happened now. It'd have made more sense if it had been for 8.0 since that would have required way more work.

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I was actually wondering if it might be a contract thing since the .4 patch is always treated as the prologue to the next expansion. We're technically in the move to 8.0 now. Erenville got on that boat, Wuk was dragged away after lamenting our Tural adventure is over, and Koana didn't even show up. Dawntrail feels over at last.

Also, this might be taken the wrong way, especially by G'raha fans, but, SE might just not want Bailey anymore if he's so busy or more expensive. We all talk crap on how badly SE budgets FFXIV, and keeping an actor that's now an A list celebrity in Hollywood when they can put that funding into hiring a small group of designers for more and better gameplay content is money better spent right now.

JP voices stay winning

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Originally Posted by RedLolly

SE might just not want Bailey anymore if he's so busy or more expensive.

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Jonathan Bailey has stated that he likes the character and would like to continue being his VA. This was when he was already famous so I'm sure it's not a money issue and Bailey himself seems like an honest down-to-earth person that does things because he enjoys art.

And speaking of art, video games are so, too. I think we, as players, should be way more concerned when money is always used as an excuse in order not to do something that can be mildly inconvenient. Not everything has to be profitable, especially in FFXIV, the main reason why the company keeps afloat. Sometimes things should be done for the sake of art and keeping beloved long time VAs is one of those things.

Its definitely jarring when they change VAs hapahazardly. If they ahd made a statement beforehand I might have been prepared for it... but nope.

Hi. This is going to be a little strange I fear, but I'm still almost 99% sure it IS still Jonathan Bailey. You can hear it in the inflection sometimes, and the way he says certain words. If that isn't him, then it's a perfect imitation trying to be a poor imitation.

Knowing how busy he was, it wouldn't honestly surprise me if his voice was just wrecked. You can hear him almost get into G'raha's voice in certain cutscenes, but he's just not able to get it clear enough because his voice is still raw. I'm pretty sure these voicelines are different takes from later on in the patch's development, when he got to rest a bit.

I could be completely wrong, but I'm willing to bet all my gil that's the answer. Or something like that.

Jonathan is super busy from filming Wicked and Jurassic Park and think he has stated he's taking some time away from acting to focus on his charity. So they probably had to change VAs since he couldn't fit it in right now. Whether he returns to the role at some point remains to be seen.

So i did some looking around and, allegedly, he's been overworked. Being in Wicked, Bridgerton, Jurassic Park, and other projects ended up causing him to get sick, so his voice is going to sound different.

I see some saying it's him just he sounds sick but to me it I'm not so sure. I hope Jonathan Bailey can keep playing Graha, and if his voice is overworked that he gets better.

If it is him, ouch he sounds pretty bad. Give the man a break! If its not... well... my earlier point still stands. Its quite jarring.
But the voice sounds entirely different... to my ears anyways.

If his voice is utterly wrecked so badly that we are questioning if it is him...

I don't know, I feel like I'm being gaslit. It just doesn't sound like Bailey at all and if it is because he's ill or wrecked his vocal chords, oh my goodness. Oh my goodness.

I've been worried about a G'raha VA recast for some time because of how JB's career has been taking off, and one thing that made me hope it wouldn't happen was that he (very recently) said that he'd always make time for Bridgerton as he'd love to look back on it in the end and be proud of how far they've come together - and I was hoping that would also apply to FFXIV.

The in-game thing that gives me hope is that they kept his battle shouts in 7.4... and I feel that if they'd recast him permanently, they might have had the new person record new ones too instead of mixing a new cutscene performance with the Jonathan Bailey battle shouts - but that could also be a time thing.

Either way, I'll be crossing every finger, toe, and other limb for this to be temporary.

This would really take most of the fun out of the MSQ for me - seeing my fav character (and quite frankly main reason for staying subbed between patches - story replays, cutscene rewatches, trust fights, and all that) being changed into someone that feels completely different is not much better than seeing the character retired for good or killed off. In a lot of ways it's even worse.

Stories and characters are supposed to make you care - that's their very purpose -, and I do care a lot and would find a permanent recast heartbreaking.

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Originally Posted by RedLolly

I was actually wondering if it might be a contract thing since the .4 patch is always treated as the prologue to the next expansion. We're technically in the move to 8.0 now. Erenville got on that boat, Wuk was dragged away after lamenting our Tural adventure is over, and Koana didn't even show up. Dawntrail feels over at last.

Also, this might be taken the wrong way, especially by G'raha fans, but, SE might just not want Bailey anymore if he's so busy or more expensive. We all talk crap on how badly SE budgets FFXIV, and keeping an actor that's now an A list celebrity in Hollywood when they can put that funding into hiring a small group of designers for more and better gameplay content is money better spent right now.

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This... I hope he was just too busy to record this time (and that the missing voice in the trailer was because they wanted to give it till the very last moment - or to not upset people beforehand).

The new VA wouldn't be bad at all for any new character - he did quite well in fact - but G'raha doesn't sound like himself at all... totally new person and personality, and I hate that.
This is very much numbing my excitement right now, and I hope we'll at least get an official statement soon about what's happening.

I thought he sounded slightly more edgy then usual.

I didn't mind it personally but I can understand him being recasted is upsetting to people.

The possibility of G'raha being recast has been haunting me since Bailey's career blew up, frankly. My fears were assuaged after Bailey's interview for BAFTA in March 2024 where he talks about G'raha and how he was so determined to not step away from the role that he recorded even when he his tongue got inflamed. It's clear that Bailey himself loves playing G'raha, so I really wasn't expecting a recast anymore, because I always thought that if it were to happen it'd be by Bailey's choice.

But with this patch, I just... I don't know. In some lines, I swear I can still hear Bailey, but in others, it's not just that his voice sounds different, it's his entire intonation/accent? It really dampened my enjoyment of the patch and honestly has got me concerned and demotivated about future content.

If you're gonna call this an overreaction, glad it's not a big deal to you, but some of us are invested in the story and its characters above all, and having a main character that has had the same voice actor for six years delivering a stellar performance that is the very reason many have grown so fond of him be suddenly recast like this is a big deal to a lot of us. Frankly, it's not unlikely watching that character become an entire different person.

That said, it seems odd that of all times to recast Bailey, it'd happen now that his schedule is slowing down. People mention Wicked because it released now, but filming wrapped up in Jan 2024. Even when he was at his busiest, filming for Wicked, Bridgerton, and other projects, he still came back as G'raha. So why now? If it is a recast, was it because his contract covered 7.0-7.3, and SE didn't renew it for 7.4-7.55 onwards? If they didn't, then what was the reason? I doubt Bailey, considering what he said in that past interview and that VA work is not nearly as time consuming as movie/teather, would be the one to decide to quit.

If it was SE's decision, and if it was for budget reasons of all things, I find that frankly insulting. This is a multimillion dollar company, are we seriously supposed to believe they can't afford Bailey in a voice acting role? And to see someone say that it would be a good decision to cut budget on a main character's voice actor to spread it to other areas is absolutely wild to me. You think this is where budget cuts should go? On the widely beloved voice actor of one of the most prominent characters in the entire game?

I want to believe and I truly do hope that Bailey wasn't recast and this patch was just recorded under extraneous circumstances, like him being sick. I'm just really dreading the possibility of a permanent recast. And if it is one, surely it warrants a proper announcement, seeing as G'raha is such a major character. I'm sure a JP recast would be properly communicated, so does an EN one not warrant the same courtesy if this truly is the case?

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Originally Posted by peachsyder

The possibility of G'raha being recast has been haunting me since Bailey's career blew up, frankly. My fears were assuaged after Bailey's interview for BAFTA in March 2024 where he talks about G'raha and how he was so determined to not step away from the role that he recorded even when he his tongue got inflamed. It's clear that Bailey himself loves playing G'raha, so I really wasn't expecting a recast anymore, because I always thought that if it were to happen it'd be by Bailey's choice.

But with this patch, I just... I don't know. In some lines, I swear I can still hear Bailey, but in others, it's not just that his voice sounds different, it's his entire intonation/accent? It really dampened my enjoyment of the patch and honestly has got me concerned and demotivated about future content.

If you're gonna call this an overreaction, glad it's not a big deal to you, but some of us are invested in the story and its characters above all, and having a main character that has had the same voice actor for six years delivering a stellar performance that is the very reason many have grown so fond of him be suddenly recast like this is a big deal to a lot of us. Frankly, it's not unlikely watching that character become an entire different person.

That said, it seems odd that of all times to recast Bailey, it'd happen now that his schedule is slowing down. People mention Wicked because it released now, but filming wrapped up in Jan 2024. Even when he was at his busiest, filming for Wicked, Bridgerton, and other projects, he still came back as G'raha. So why now? If it is a recast, was it because his contract covered 7.0-7.3, and SE didn't renew it for 7.4-7.55 onwards? If they didn't, then what was the reason? I doubt Bailey, considering what he said in that past interview and that VA work is not nearly as time consuming as movie/teather, would be the one to decide to quit.

If it was SE's decision, and if it was for budget reasons of all things, I find that frankly insulting. This is a multimillion dollar company, are we seriously supposed to believe they can't afford Bailey in a voice acting role? And to see someone say that it would be a good decision to cut budget on a main character's voice actor to spread it to other areas is absolutely wild to me. You think this is where budget cuts should go? On the widely beloved voice actor of one of the most prominent characters in the entire game?

I want to believe and I truly do hope that Bailey wasn't recast and this patch was just recorded under extraneous circumstances, like him being sick. I'm just really dreading the possibility of a permanent recast. And if it is one, surely it warrants a proper announcement, seeing as G'raha is such a major character. I'm sure a JP recast would be properly communicated, so does an EN one not warrant the same courtesy if this truly is the case?

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100% this on all points

Last time when they recasted the ENG voice actors they did not communicate, we the players found it via trailers.

So there is a history of SE doing this. If Bailey is busy, then I can understand, but if it's money thing, then no.

If Raha got recasted, then don't be surprised if more scions will recast. SE would NEVER do this to their Japanese players.

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Originally Posted by Laerune

Last time when they recasted the ENG voice actors they did not communicate, we the players found it via trailers.

So there is a history of SE doing this. If Bailey is busy, then I can understand, but if it's money thing, then no.

If Raha got recasted, then don't be surprised if more scions will recast. SE would NEVER do this to their Japanese players.

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There was only one major case of recasting, ARR going to HW when the entire cast went from USA to UK. Every recast since (Yugiri, Edmont) were due to the original actor no longer being alive.

I'm definitely torn on whether it was a recast (I hope not!) or just him on a bad day because I swear some lines almost sounded like him...

Now I'm seeing comments elsewhere that Bailey was horribly ill and some lines were recorded by a sound alike? Another mentioned it sounded like Jullus's voice actor (Nigel Pilkington) was that cover/replacement.

Honestly didn't mind the quality of the work here if either is the case. We're just all so attached to G'raha as he was always performed by Bailey that the difference is incredibly jarring. If anything, the writing is back to the quality I missed it being and I don't want to be too hard on an alternative actor or a sick Bailey.

I just wish someone at SE would step up and say something to clear up the confusion. The whole situation is very strange.

1. Great day to be playing with JP voice track, especially since the English 'translation' was a garbled mess this time.

2. Please put your client language down when you write threads like theese, I went "Uchida Yuuma sounds like Uchida Yuuma though?".

I'm rather certain it's a new actor, but that's okay for me; the situation is what it is, and I've been expecting something along these lines sooner or later. I got used to the total recast after ARR; this will be fine, too. I did enjoy his performance a lot and thought the character was very well acted, but I use different voice languages at different times, and the main reason I like the character is the writing. To me it was actually a relief to hear an apparent recast instead of having the character written out. I'm happy to move on with this state, the (presumed) new guy is doing a good job.

I've waited so long to spend some quality time with Graha. And when it finally happens, turns out it's some impostor. Figures...

Sadly, I'm in the camp that it's a new VA. Apart from the voice being much higher than usual and lack of specific intonations, there is a very noticable lisp. I can't imagine if JB was so sick to have his voice change so drastically, that he would still record the lines.

Still, I will hope that I'm wrong. Losing him would be a sad coda to this disaster of an expansion...

Sounds the same to me on JP voices. Hope this helps.

At the start up until leaving Tuliolal, it's still clearly the same VA.

After hard to pin it down.

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Originally Posted by Immut

Sounds the same to me on JP voices. Hope this helps.

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It doesn't because this is an English forum and we're obviously talking about the English voice.

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Originally Posted by RedLolly

Now I'm seeing comments elsewhere that Bailey was horribly ill and some lines were recorded by a sound alike? Another mentioned it sounded like Jullus's voice actor (Nigel Pilkington) was that cover/replacement.

Honestly didn't mind the quality of the work here if either is the case. We're just all so attached to G'raha as he was always performed by Bailey that the difference is incredibly jarring. If anything, the writing is back to the quality I missed it being and I don't want to be too hard on an alternative actor or a sick Bailey.

I just wish someone at SE would step up and say something to clear up the confusion. The whole situation is very strange.

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If this is true, it is not out of the question for them to re-record his lines when he is better during the patch 7.5 recording session and replace the flawed recordings.

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Originally Posted by Hyperia

If this is true, it is not out of the question for them to re-record his lines when he is better during the patch 7.5 recording session and replace the flawed recordings.

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That's assuming that they're willing to pay whatever he or his agency are asking. The tail end of 6.X and all of DT has felt like them trying to cut costs on the EN dub, and even if Bailey loves the role, he's not going to do it for free. If they decide that a cheap soundalike is good enough, I wouldn't be surprised if they stick with him.

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Originally Posted by Daralii

That's assuming that they're willing to pay whatever he or his agency are asking. The tail end of 6.X and all of DT has felt like them trying to cut costs on the EN dub, and even if Bailey loves the role, he's not going to do it for free. If they decide that a cheap soundalike is good enough, I wouldn't be surprised if they stick with him.

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VA cost-wise. One thing we learned from the bayonetta mess is that it's fairly uniform across the market, so doubt he'd change the rates. Especially after he mentioned he would like to continue Graha

"Cheaper" sound-a-like. Let's not accidentally insult the guy.

Thing is that "This line sounds just like Bailey!" is just as likely "The new actor is trying to sound just like Bailey for the role."

Also, because of the suggestion that it could just be a very sick Bailey, saying I actually really liked the new voice work in 7.4 makes me feel like a nut job. I think it fits G'raha fine. Bailey's actually much lighter than the actors in other languages, so despite the acting quality being high since he started in ShB, G'raha is one of several voices that's wildly different from the original vision in Japanese.

I don't think it's needed to re-record Bailey's work either for things right away. G'raha is unique in that he has two different sets of combat dialogue, one for the Exarch and one for G'raha, which you can swap between depending on his costume and when the dungeon is set in the MSQ. If this is permanent, just swap in a third for 8.0 Duty Support and his new outfit for Trusts.

I think the main cast that does come with us to 8.0 are due for some visual design refreshes as is.

Or, God forbid. Swap languages. Yuuma is genuinely excellent. The subtitles don't have to change.

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Originally Posted by GrizzlyTank

VA cost-wise. One thing we learned from the bayonetta mess is that it's fairly uniform across the market, so doubt he'd change the rates. Especially after he mentioned he would like to continue Graha

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Bailey being considered an A-lister now might actually bork that. It's been an issue with animation that getting celebrities to do voice acting inflate budgets in hopes it will draw in more eyes without consideration on quality in an insanely expensive and time consuming medium.

And it could just be time. Literally. He's dangerously overworked himself for years now and it's the very most likely reason to step away from a role he really enjoys.

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Originally Posted by 0blivion

2. Please put your client language down when you write threads like theese, I went "Uchida Yuuma sounds like Uchida Yuuma though?".

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You right! I honestly forget that folks play in other languages. Though in my defence most folk responding on this thread, play in English and it is the English forums... but w/e. I was referencing the English VA. Not the JP/GER/FR, etc.
That said, if we lose Bailey as G'raha's VA, I will likely never use the English voices again. I'm genuinely frustrated everytime they change voice actors. Its super jarring.

Though honestly, I wish they'd give us a direct Japanese translation for this purpose as well. So we can play in native dialogue and have the spoken words and text actually match. I know enough Japanese to know that its not always the correct translation.

I dont think he was recasted, i think he recorded his lines from his home or just a bad setup. Something similar happened to Y'shtola a few patches ago where her lines sounded like they were recorded with a phone.

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Originally Posted by BeoCat

I dont think he was recasted, i think he recorded his lines from his home or just a bad setup. Something similar happened to Y'shtola a few patches ago where her lines sounded like they were recorded with a phone.

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Could also be that he's bit stuck in a different cadence/dialect after acting session, and weren't given appropriate feedback for a sound director when recording the lines.