The Voice Acting. . .

[Kurando]

snip.

Ok let's say for the sake of argument that they needed a Garlean accent, why would it only now be an issue when there have been many Garleans (with speaking parts) in ARR and HW? I mean the biggest example we have here is Cid, why does he speak like an Eorzean? What should a Garlean accent actually sounds like? Because it seems SE have since the beginning had no intention to seperate the two, perhaps they don't deem it necessary or there is some lore relating reasons that haven't been revealed yet.

[Nandina]

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I actually do have a problem with Garleans like Cid not having a different accent. For the sake of the story I ignored it, since he seemed to have been trying to blend in initially. A Garlean accent could sound like anything they want, tbh; but there should be a distinction I feel. The same way they randomly chose the various accents in the UK to represent Eorzea, they could do the same thing with another real life place and Garlemald. But saying that it could be an unknown possibly yet to be revealed reason is an appeal to ignorance fallacy. I can hear the difference between someone from Boston and Staten Island, despite both being in the the US, so why not between someone from Ul'dah and Gridania? It's not like SE hasn't done it before, like with Fang and Vanille in FFXIII.

[Theodric]

-snip-

Many Garleans do have a distinct accent, though...

Regula and many other Garlean Purebloods talk in a very specific upper class accent, with their voices being distorted slightly by his helmet. This was common in FFXII which had a very distinct 'Imperial' accent as well.

[Nandina]

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"Upper-class" isn't a regional distinction, and voice distortion via helmet doesn't qualify as an accent; it's just voice distortion. Just about every country with a class divide has an upper-class accent. There are instances where I can't tell a Garlean apart from an Eorzean. In FFXII, the main cast sounded American to me, where as the Archadians sounded British, and Al-Cid sounded Spanish; which highlights the regional distinction I'm referring to. In FFXIV nearly everyone sounds like they're from the UK, though I'm not entirely sure about Fordola. She sounded different to me and was the one stand out I noticed. Like I know there are different accents in the UK, and that some of the NPCs speak in these accents; but it makes sense to me for this to be the case with Eorzeans given the closer proximity, but not Domans or Garleans from much further away.

[Kurando]

But saying that it could be an unknown possibly yet to be revealed reason is an appeal to ignorance fallacy. I can hear the difference between someone from Boston and Staten Island, despite both being in the the US, so why not between someone from Ul'dah and Gridania? It's not like SE hasn't done it before, like with Fang and Vanille in FFXIII.

How is it ignorance fallacy? I mean we haven't been to Garland so we have no idea how they are supposed to speak or whether SE actually want to give them any kind of unique accent at all. Could Allagan influence effected language and accents on a worldwide scale, no one really knows at least not until we see further expacs exploring it. Not to mention, the accents of a few imperials isn't enough to represent an entire country.

Both Vanille and Fang had Australian accents and without it sounding comedic, I'm not sure how it would fit in to FFXIV now considering the vast majority of the accents are British. I wouldn't want a territory speaking a token accent just for the sake of diversity. From what I hear in the game (as a British speaker) there are essentially just two or three accents, standard, upper class and cockney, so I don't think there is anything too random about it. I've yet to hear any kind of uncommon accent you wouldn't normal hear in the media, so it's disappointing there isn't enough but when catering to an international market some accents will more often than not be ignored.

[Nandina]

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Saying, we don't know to back your argument isn't proof that there is or isn't a distinction. I can't go off speculation of what SE did or didn't intend to do, because neither one of us are a representative of SE. I just know that in real life, when given geographical isolation for a set period of time, accents diverge. Going by the World Map, Garlemald is very far from Eorzea. Now, I'll concede that it may be harder for me to pick up on these slight differences in accent being from America, which is why I'm fine with Eorzea as a whole for the most part (though I wish there were racial differences—like aren't miqo'te supposed to pronounce their H sounds in a different way?) But again, it's just immersion breaking for me that Garleans, Domans, the Xaela from Azim Steppe also sound like they're from the UK.

[Iscah]

Both Vanille and Fang had Australian accents and without it sounding comedic, I'm not sure how it would fit in to FFXIV now considering the vast majority of the accents are British.

I haven't played FFXIII so I don't know what those characters are like, but voice actors doing "Australian" accents usually sound terrible to an actual Australian.

[ElHeggunte]

I haven't played FFXIII so I don't know what those characters are like, but voice actors doing "Australian" accents usually sound terrible to an actual Australian.

Which is ironic since the VA for Vanille is Australian. Fang sounds much more convincing to me and her VA is American.