Graha Voice Actor Change?

[Underscore]

JP voices stay winning

[Aco505]

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

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.

[Vespar]

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

[njorun]

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.

[OliverQ]

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.

[SamuraiMiqo]

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.

[Wasselin]

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.

[Vespar]

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.

[RedLolly]

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.

[KiraRavens]

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.