What's in a voice?

[Natsuno]

Now that most people have had a play around with the benchmark and no doubt had a listen to some or all of the voice options, it got me wondering. What do you look for when choosing your own characters voice? Is it anything in specific, or just one that feels right?

Back when I used the ARR benchmark to create my mains original appearance, I chose a voice because it matched the animations of the yes and no emotes, and wasn't too high or low pitched to be confused with what might be a lalafell or roe/highlander (atleast to me). At the time I chose the one that sounded like a cheerful, energetic miqo'te.

With the Heavensward benchmark, I've chosen my Au Ra's voice based on the way she screams. The other emotes don't seem to match, but they're passable. I think the scream sounds the least fake out of all of them. She screams good.

So, what do you look for when choosing a voice for your character(s)?

[StrejdaTom]

Well I just wanted the voice to fit the look and personality of my character and I am kinda satisfied with that except for the laugh emote which seems to be a bit off the hook.

[Cyrus-Wallace]

I look for a voice that primarily could fit my character's face or physical build. I also look for a "legit sounding" voice, with a laugh that doesn't sound neither forced or fake. I wish I had more voice samples though... that trait is truly hard for me to pick and I gotta replay it over and over...

[Shougun]

The voice..

Yes, Yes, Alright!, Wha-.. I.. No.

I just want something that matches my character's look. Trying to find a middle of the road, leaning a bit gruffer because highlander- but not a death growl when you're just nodding yes.

[CGMidlander]

Step one: Check the laugh
Step two: Make character and start the game
Step three: Pray the combat noises aren't horrid

[Slirith]

Step one: Check the laugh
Step two: Make character and start the game
Step three: Pray the combat noises aren't horrid

this /10chars

[Teppie]

I always go for the craziest sounding laugh, the one that sounds like the character has a few screws loose. I like to think my characters are villains in their own universe, so they need a maniacal laugh.

[Selli]

I go for the /cheer that sounds the most sexual so I can creep out my static.

[seida]

I mostly go by the laugh and cheer, since they're emotes I use a lot and I don't want to cringe every I hear them.

Don't need to make a character to check out all the voices though, there are youtube videos which painstakingly go through every sound (battle voice noises as well as all emotes) for each race, gender, and voice available. When I changed back into Elezen I watched the female elezen video carefully and chose a voice I'm much happier with.

edit: example video

[DreadRabbit]

Voice is literally what made me pick Miqo'te over the other races when I joined. Voice is super important to me, and I find that the Au Ra females are leaving me conflicted D: I love the looks, but it seems there's not a voice where I like everything on it. I use /chuckle and /cheer a lot so I'm using those two emotes to gauge what voice to pick. For me it's more what I enjoy hearing over what I think fits the character, though I'll try to make them fit if there's room for it.