Graha Voice Actor Change?

[KiraRavens]

Hey guys, the mood in here is shifting a bit at the moment - if we wanna be heard, it's best to stay respectful towards any and all sides.

It would be great to get more people (especially those who haven't posted in this thread yet) to reply here to show this is important to a lot of people who play (and pay for) the game, but I feel like most points that could be discussed with the current info have been discussed, so best to direct new people to the relevant earlier parts of the thread instead of getting annoyed someone hasn't yet read all 250+ posts in here.

[paradisea]

Hey guys, the mood in here is shifting a bit at the moment - if we wanna be heard, it's best to stay respectful towards any and all sides.

It would be great to get more people (especially those who haven't posted in this thread yet) to reply here to show this is important to a lot of people who play (and pay for) the game, but I feel like most points that could be discussed with the current info have been discussed, so best to direct new people to the relevant earlier parts of the thread instead of getting annoyed someone hasn't yet read all 250+ posts in here.

I think we're all trying to keep in topic and express that this is important to us, but it becomes hard to keep speaking our point when we get barraraged by people with no investiment in the issue coming here to spread misinformation, fight over whether this matters or not because it doesn't to them, or straight up insulting those who do care because they can't understand it, therefore it must be irrational.

I agree and definitely emphasize that people who haven't posted here and care about this should absolutely be doing so, though. Liking posts is well and good, but seeing the amount of individuals to whom this matters to can make a difference.

[KiraRavens]

I think we're all trying to keep in topic and express that this is important to us, but it becomes hard to keep speaking our point when we get barraraged by people with no investiment in the issue coming here to spread misinformation, fight over whether this matters or not because it doesn't to them, or straight up insulting those who do care because they can't understand it, therefore it must be irrational.

I agree and definitely emphasize that people who haven't posted here and care about this should absolutely be doing so, though. Liking posts is well and good, but seeing the amount of individuals to whom this matters to can make a difference.

I share the frustration but the more bickering happens (justified or not), the more watered down the thread becomes. Better to just reply with quotes from before if that happens and let it end there.

[peachsyder]

Snip

At this point it's clear you have a certain view of the people who care about this issue and that nothing will sway from what you perceive them to be. I encourage you to vent your frustrations wherever you're finding "these people out there" who seem to frustrate you so much so you can speak directly to them rather than those who are trying to have a productive discussion here. You don't have to join a discussion into something you don't care about and don't understand why others care about.

[paradisea]

I share the frustration but the more bickering happens (justified or not), the more watered down the thread becomes. Better to just reply with quotes from before if that happens and let it end there.

Currently compiling a post with common points of discussion and links to insightful and useful posts in the thread, both for my own reference because some folks here have made very good points and to hopefully be easy to just quote things to people who keep coming here to reiterate things those of us who have been following the thread from the start are exhausted of talking about. Hopefully it'll be useful to assuage our frustrations, because I'm frankly quite tired.

[paradisea]

Because I share the frustration with the repeated points of debate, spread of disinformation and often plain insults thrown around by people who don't really care about this issue, and also want to keep this discussion as productive and respectful as possible, here's a compilation of useful posts and often repeated points of argument that everyone is tired of replying to.

"Why does it matter at all who voices G'raha? Why do you even care this much about Bailey staying?"
Here's a post about it. Here's another. And another. Another. One more. Have one more. Hell, have three posts in a row.

"I think it's still Bailey, he just sounds sick."
Irrelevant. Whoever it is, the voice is off enough that the difference is jarring to many and enough to make it very plausible this is a recast, be it permanent or temporary. Additionally, G'raha voice line was omitted from the English trailer and English trailer only. Square Enix is aware he sounds off, they're just not saying anything about it, which just adds to people's anxiety. It should also be noted that Bailey has already admitted to have recorded for G'raha while sick and he didn't sound like a whole different person then.

"But I heard Bailey's voice got wrecked because of Wicked."
Wicked: For Good wrapped up filming in January 2024.

"What about Jurassic World?"
Wrapped up filming in September 2024.

"What about Richard II?"
Richard II did indeed run from February through May of this year. However, someone in this thread who watched the play several times spread out through several weeks personally attested Bailey's voice was normal through all of it.

What if his voice got strained some other time through this year?
As another user aptly pointed out, he's sounded perfectly normal as of 4 weeks ago. We can't account for how the guy was through the whole year, nor do we know when precisely 7.4 was recorded, but again—Bailey has already admitted to have recorded for G'raha while sick and he didn't sound like a whole different person then. They also never omitted G'raha's voice lines from the English trailer only before.

"But he said in that interview that his tongue got inflamed and he might sound different in a few patches!"
That interview is from March 2024 and he was talking about when he was doing Company, which ran from 2018 to 2019. Based on timing, that likely refers to when he was recording for Shadowbringers patches, or maybe even as early as base Endwalker if it was by the end of the run—and you could still clearly tell it was him in all of these.

"He said he's taking a break to focus on his charity."
Bailey taking a break from acting was a misquote about him stepping away from 2 potential film roles he could've taken on to focus on his charity instead; he clarified this in an Esquire interview in November. He wasn't talking about breaking current commitments.

"Bailey is just too famous now. He wasn't before, but his career blew up this year."
Bailey's career exploding isn't a 2025 development, even if you only heard about him this year. Bailey has been huge since as early as 2020. Here's a post about it. Here's another post about it. No one is saying that's not relevant, but it's not new.

"Bailey is just too busy now. He had time before, but now he doesn't."
Bailey has been busy since the very start of his run as G'raha. Here's a comprehensive timeline of his projects since G'raha's very first voiced appearance. Again, no one is saying that's not relevant, but it's not new.

"Bailey clearly is just too expensive for Square Enix to keep on their payroll."
Here's a post about voice acting fees in the UK, where Bailey is based on, compared to the US, and why it's unlikely Bailey has just "priced himself out" of Square Enix's price range.

"Maybe Bailey doesn't want to be tied down in a several year long contract."
Here's a post about how voice acting contracts usually work in the UK for live service games like FFXIV, and how UK employment laws frown upon very long term contracts in the entertainment industry.

"What if Bailey just decided he doesn't want to play G'raha anymore?"
Maybe he did. We don't know. We do know he said in his BAFTA interview from March 2024, that he was so determined to not step away from the role of G'raha that he recorded through an inflamed tongue and that he's aware of how much the character means to so many people. We also know he has continued to reprise the role even after getting cast in Bridgerton in 2019 and in Wicked in 2021, his arguably most well known roles, and through recording three seasons of Bridgerton, two Wicked movies and Jurassic World Rebirth, as well as many theater plays.

"He might just have said all that for PR, or maybe he changed his mind by now."
Maybe. But the conclusion of "he'd like to stay if he can" is based on things he's actually said and done while the opposite is conjecture. Most of us would prefer to refrain from speculating on Bailey's intent or how sincere he truly was in that interview because we don't actually know the guy. No one is saying the interview is gospel, but to assume honesty rather than dishonesty is usually what's most fair to someone.

"Maybe it's not about money and Bailey doesn't want to keep voicing G'raha because it's not going to boost his profile."
Maybe so! We can't read his mind. But other than what's already been said, this is a guy who turned down two movie roles in order to work on his charity. Also, he voiced one of the bunnies in Endwalker. Maybe that shows he doesn't care about "prestige roles" that much, maybe it doesn't, but I still wanted to link that because I think it's pretty funny.

"So what if he got recast? What do you want Square Enix to say about it?"
Bailey has been the English voice of G'raha for nearly seven years. The community has the right to at least an official announcement if he and SE are parting ways and—though you may disagree on this one—to know why it's happening. To stay silent and intentionally omit G'raha's voice from the 7.4 trailer is disrespectful to fans, to Bailey, and to whoever replaced him this patch.

Also, most notably, this would never be happening if the situation was about a JP voice actor. The EN community and the English voice actors of the game deserve the same level of respect that the JP side would be afforded.

"This really doesn't matter to me."
You don't have to talk about it.

"I think you're all overreacting."
Just because something isn't a big deal to you doesn't mean it isn't a big deal to others.

"You're insane for writing all this."
I'm actually just a person who put effort in compiling this post due to the fact this is an extremely long thread and information gets lost among so many pages. I'm not prying into Bailey's private life, nor doing this in some twisted attempt at strongarming him into continuing playing the role of G'raha by claiming "he's not busy enough to drop it". I would appreciate if, before you screenshot this post to bash me on social media, you considered the context of this thread and the fact all of the above is just publicly available information that has come up repeatedly through this thread, and I figured it'd be best if it was easily accessible into one post rather than scattered through dozens of pages. I'm sorry that is unreasonable to you.

Hope this is useful and helps dissuade tiring, repetitive discussions into things that have already been said through the thread. Like KiraRavens said before, it would be great to get more people (especially those who haven't posted in this thread yet) to reply here to show this is important to a lot of people who play (and pay for) the game rather than discussing those same points over and over again.

Additionally, feel free to link to posts you find useful that I might have missed.

[Pricia]

I was worried about that too. I was shocked when I heard G'raha. It DOES sound like him at some points, but it could just be coincidental.

I think one of the things people haven't mentioned is that the lines were probably recorded months ago. Yeah, he sounds like himself in interviews, but those are recent. I'm guessing recording conditions would make a difference too.

I wish JB the best whatever he decides, but I also wish SE would update us. I'm not sure they even read these forums though...

[Aviatorhead]

I find it really dumb an suspicious that SE hasn't said anything about this. Either they replaced JB (temporarily or not) and thought they could just avoid any backlash by staying quiet, or JB somehow sounds incredibly out of character, with whoever directs him deciding it was fine.
Vast majority of people would understand 'hey johnathan can't play graha right now, hes busy/sick/whatever, this different guy will voice him until johnathan can come back'. There's no reason to keep that secret. So why haven't they told us anything? Very frustrating as one of the many people who really like G'raha.

[Gwenkatsu]

snip

I have nothing to say on the matter (haven't even played 7.4). I just wanted to chime in and commend you on what might be one of the most constructive posts on this forum for a while, probably ever. /thumbs up/

[paradisea]

I have nothing to say on the matter (haven't even played 7.4). I just wanted to chime in and commend you on what might be one of the most constructive posts on this forum for a while, probably ever. /thumbs up/

The frustration of repeating the same arguments is very good fuel to do something like this, haha. Thank you, and I do hope you enjoy 7.4 whether or not G'raha's voice is a big deal to you, as the story was really good this time. Would have been my favorite DT patch so far if not for all the not-Bailey-voice and all the silence and shadiness from SE around it. Here's hoping he'll be back.