The Voice Acting. . .

[Nandina]

umm.... what? this sounds stupid. they dont even sound american, they sound British in some, and you can tell they aren't English first. besides that japan teaches English. so this is very very very wrong. unless they pick up someone from the middle of no where in japan. or someone who refused to learn another language.

Seems someone isn't following along completely. Context should have told you that I'm speaking of those who were born in the States. Asian-Americans don't have an accent when speaking English because they were born in America where everyone speaks English, and they've heard it their entire lives. If you got one of these people to read a script, you couldn't distinguish them.

[Nandina]

The problem with TC's argument is that these characters do have accents. They are just very subtle.

Which begs the question. What kind of accents where you expecting tc? Full on Engrish? "Ooooh, Herro worriol of right." Seems a bit culturally insensitive and a bit stereotypical to me.

You would have to ask yourself, why were they able to do it for a game like FFXII where there were clearly distinctions based on where a character was from. No one complained about cultural insensitivity in those instances. There's a Youtuber called The Japanese Man Yuta. He speaks fluent English, but has a distinct Japanese accent. There's nothing wrong with the way he speaks, I understand him just fine without the need for subtitles.

You're asking too much, English is not the only language here, if they were to spend extra hiring people outside the UK to conform to different accents they would have to do the same with French, German and Japanese. This game doesn't even have full voice acting, which would be higher priority than chasing VAs with different accents through different countries through 4 different languages.

It's not asking too much. It's really as simple as hiring someone else for the job. Say for example I'm looking to hire someone who can speak Spanish in my business. The pay is $17/hr. It would make more sense for me to hire a fluent Spanish speaker, as oppossed to someone who can only speak conversationally. Either way, the pay is still $17/hr.

[Berethos]

It's not asking too much. It's really as simple as hiring someone else for the job.

Well, except for instead of just looking to hire one person who can speak Spanish, what you actually have is a contract between your business and another separate business that specializes in a specific service that you need. You can layer on additional requests or requirements, but still have to keep budgetary (and timing, since this is a company that works with others and well and can be pretty busy) concerns in mind, and if you end up too demanding they can just opt to not do business with you any more.

Not really as simple as just hiring someone else.

Maybe if it had been an audio book or something, but I feel like someone gesturing wildly while grinning madly with crazy eyes, capping it off with a crazy maniacal laugh, would probably not be whispering in a scheming tone.

Not whispering, nor scheming.

Asahi, in English, was introduced as soft-spoken. That's a trait the English scene continues, where the tone is mocking, before it transitions into building intensity and obsession.

Of course, maybe what's really going on is that both work, and you've convinced yourself that only yours works. Whether it really does fit might still be up for interpretation though, since neither of us actually know the language that you think fits better.

[Razard]

You would have to ask yourself, why were they able to do it for a game like FFXII where there were clearly distinctions based on where a character was from. No one complained about cultural insensitivity in those instances. There's a Youtuber called The Japanese Man Yuta. He speaks fluent English, but has a distinct Japanese accent. There's nothing wrong with the way he speaks, I understand him just fine without the need for subtitles.

*Sigh*
The. Doman. Characters. Do. Have. An. Accent. They. Are. Just. A. Lot. More. Subtle. And. Less. In. Your. Face. About. It.

I don't know why you bring up FFXII. The only people who spoke in a noticeably different accent where the Vieras vague eastern european. But that was to give them a strange and alien vibe.

[Jonnycbad]

Again, in the Japanese version EVERYONE speaks Japanese with various dialects of JAPANESE. There's no "russian accent" in Japanese, or "british accent in Japanese". At least historically in dubbed games/anime/movies, Westerners used VA of various ethnicities to portray characters. Like in Street Fighter games, Zangief in Japanese just speaks with a scruff Japanese voice. In English he speaks with a Russian accent, Cammy speaks with a British accent, Rose speaks with an Italian accent etc. In Japanese, charactesr from other countries just speak japanese but with dialects from different cities in Japan as opposed to speaking japanese with a foreign accent (probably because of limitations of japanese voice actors only knowing japanese and being japanese natives)

[Ameela]

Of course, maybe what's really going on is that both work, and you've convinced yourself that only yours works. Whether it really does fit might still be up for interpretation though, since neither of us actually know the language that you think fits better.

I've literally never seen any of the Japanese voice acting in this game aside from that scene, which I only looked up because the English version sounded so off when I played it myself.

[Berethos]

I've literally never seen any of the Japanese voice acting in this game aside from that scene, which I only looked up because the English version sounded so off when I played it myself.

It doesn't change my point, which is that you've decided that one version fits better than the other without actually knowing if the version you think fits actually does fit.

[Nandina]

Well, except for instead of just looking to hire one person who can speak Spanish, what you actually have is a contract between your business and another separate business that specializes in a specific service that you need. You can layer on additional requests or requirements, but still have to keep budgetary (and timing, since this is a company that works with others and well and can be pretty busy) concerns in mind, and if you end up too demanding they can just opt to not do business with you any more.

Not really as simple as just hiring someone else.

So are all the voice actors working on FFXIV a part of the same company and not independently hired based on their ability to fulfill the role?

*Sigh*
The. Doman. Characters. Do. Have. An. Accent. They. Are. Just. A. Lot. More. Subtle. And. Less. In. Your. Face. About. It.

I don't know why you bring up FFXII. The only people who spoke in a noticeably different accent where the Vieras vague eastern european. But that was to give them a strange and alien vibe.

You clearly haven’t gotten very far in FFXII. So you’re really saying that Vaan, Ondore, Al-Cid, and Larsa all had the same accent?

[Kurando]

I don't know why you bring up FFXII. The only people who spoke in a noticeably different accent where the Vieras vague eastern european. But that was to give them a strange and alien vibe.

This is incorrect. Vaan and Penelo both have distinct American accents, as do a lot of the common folk you'll meet through the game. Ashe, Basch, Balthier, Larsa etc and many of the Empire NPCs all have British accents, perhaps it's a class thing (seeing as a lot of them have high social standing).

[Cidel]

It doesn't change my point, which is that you've decided that one version fits better than the other without actually knowing if the version you think fits actually does fit.

I don't know about you, but in terms of looking at Asahi's mannerisms, facial expressions and gestures I can easily come to the conclusion that the Japanese version "fits" better than the English. It's not even a matter of "you think only one works;" English Asahi doesn't even laugh appropriately in that scene as he flails his head around- by that moment the English version barely even forced out a laugh. He's "obsessed," yes, but if you couldn't tell by his wide-eyed look and outstretched arms, he's also being melodramatic.

There was an interview with Alisaie's VA a few months back where she reveals that they just give you a short description of the character and some lines, and while recording you will at most get the previous voiced line of dialog to play off of.

This makes sense. It shows in the delivery (or lack of) often times.