Dear Square Enix,

[FallenArisen0990]

Yeah, one MMO tried that and it's now free-to-play.

[Maeka]

I also see youtube videos and bad reviews for ESO's expansions quite regularly which makes me wonder if that game and its expansions are as awesome as people let on. Clearly quite a few critics have issues with it. If it were just one or two here-and-there I'd shrug it off, but I've seen quite a number of youtube critics saying the game and its expansions have issues and are let-downs.

[Marxam]

Adding voice acting is quite expensive, and also makes it a lot harder to adjust things afterward. The desire to use the same voiceactors for each patch also makes scheduling harder.
So adding voice to all new MSQ is actually not all that reasonable. Would be nice - certainly, but too expensive to happen.

I think the problem is that they do multiple language VO. Personally I would prefer if they just stick to the ENG/JAP format since it is a Japanese MMO and English is the most spoken language. No offense to other languages. Personally I play with Japanese dubs since the acting is so much better and more consistent though the English dubs do shine through once in a while. However, SE is treating FFXIV as a cash cow milking it for all its worth but investing just enough to keep it going. Profit is the end goal for all game developers but some do it leaving the customer with a smile on their face and feeling happy to support a product while others just make their customers feel dejected and spiteful of what they just bought yet.

[Nabril]

No wonder SE gets away with cutting corners when there are so many apologists around.

I agree OP.

Are you okay with the voices changing every year or so? Voice actors aren't going to stick around all the time and so if they started now and dubbed all the old MSQs, they would have to redo all of the current quests that do have voices or they wouldn't match. Then, if they did new voice quests and couldn't get the same actors, the voices would change again.

So yeah, keep calling us apologists because we point out what should be obvious to everyone.

[Aluja89]

Are you okay with the voices changing every year or so? Voice actors aren't going to stick around all the time and so if they started now and dubbed all the old MSQs, they would have to redo all of the current quests that do have voices or they wouldn't match. Then, if they did new voice quests and couldn't get the same actors, the voices would change again.

So yeah, keep calling us apologists because we point out what should be obvious to everyone.

You want to talk about what's obvious? Most recordings are done ahead of time, do you honestly believe the patch MSQs aren't written well before the expansion's launch?

What's obvious is, that they're cutting corners, making up excuses and everyone eats it up.

[Bacent]

Eh, I just don't like the weird emphasis there is when people say 'Doh-muh' in the voiced out cutscenes. It's like that one guy on the history channel who says 'glay-see-ers' for glaciers.

[Corue]

Small indie developer Square Enix cannot afford such luxuries.

[Trunks]

The real reason is probably that FFXIV operates on a fixed budget (hence the predictable content cycles), and a change of this manner would force them to either cut the money from somewhere else or ask SE for a larger budget for an 8-year-old project.

Yeah, one MMO tried that and it's now free-to-play.

Non sequitur. That MMO (assuming we're referring to the same one) voiced all story- and side-quests with 16 different player-character voice leads (two per class) to reflect 8 different stories. It flopped because of a lack of endgame content; hilariously broken PvP; lots of little bugs and screw-ups resultant either from rushed production schedules or choice of engine; and just a general failure to meet expectations. You don't lose 700,000 subscribers in 6 months because you spent too much of your nine-figure budget on voice acting.

It also never really went "F2P" in the traditional sense. It has an extensive trial option and a lot of mostly-cosmetic garbage on the cash shop, to be more precise. It's also a bad game managed by the worst of the worst in the video game industry. It's apples and oranges.

Are you okay with the voices changing every year or so?

You have no idea what you're talking about, do you? Voice actors for long-term projects like this usually sign multi-year contracts. Perhaps you'll recall that in 2016-2017 there was a video game voice actors' strike over failed contract renegotiations. That's why Thancred and Yshtola and some others have consistently had the same VAs. Of course, those contracts stipulate how the actors are paid, and more work will mean more payment. But this nonsense about "yearly VA changes!" is just that -- nonsense.

And that is why you get called an "apologist". You're trying to pretend that this is about something other than money, but it's not. Whether you're ignorant or obfuscating is irrelevant. The point is that we all know an "it's all about the money" mindset doesn't jibe with the "we really care" PR theatrics, so you're saying whatever you have to say to divert the narrative away from the obvious.

[Ordoric]

wait till they announce the budget has been doubled for 5.0 and we get more miss freshlies

[Kurando]

To be honest, I kind of like it when there isn't speaking voicelines because it gives me that sense of nostalgia from older RPGs, not just FF. There are some moments when I really think a particular scene should have voice speaking, but in the end it doesn't effect the story that I still enjoy. Definitely do appreciate that of all scenes had voice acting we would have much longer between patches, not to mention a real increase in the size of the downloads/data.