Why use the actor as a scapegoat? Final Fantasy XIV doesn't exactly have the highest budget or quality, and there are plenty of other things wrong with the cutscenes besides just the acting. Why are the NPCs so slow? Why is the writing so godawful? Why does every cutscene have nothing but talking, nodding, and the occasional walking back and forth? Final Fantasy X has better-animated cutscenes despite being on the PS2.

The reason: Final Fantasy XIV is just treated as a side game like one of Square Enix's many mobile titles that are just there to churn money. The current CEO has run the company into the ground by insisting that everything has high profit margins with the least amount of effort put in. It's no longer good enough to make profit, you need to make an increasing rate of profit every quarter. It is the same syndrome that is causing every other gaming and tech company to fail. You can't make quality games with that mindset. Square Enix will fail in ten years and be bought out and Final Fantasy will become a legacy franchise.

FYI - most of the Scions are voiced by stage and screen actors. Social media has made a "new movement" of amateur voice actors without much screen or stage experience, and you can find them easily on Twitter/YouTube/Twitch (such as Wuk). They are more affordable, as cost of living means that professional actors have to ask for a living wage that greedy companies "can't afford".