Graha Voice Actor Change?

[RedLolly]

This "is it him or is it not him" debate is tiring and irrelevant. The fact is one simple thing: he sounds completely different, and nobody likes it. Fans want G'raha to sound like he always has — fans want Bailey. And fans deserve to know what happened to Bailey and what they can expect from G'raha in the future. That's it. That's what Square Enix owes us, and that's what they would have already given their JP fanbase if this had happened on their side.

I'm still in the camp of "new actor is trying to sound like Bailey's take on G'raha" since the line that sounds like a dead ringer to JB post edit was felt more like an inflection thing. So, acting. And I think that's where most of the issues are, the new actor is doing his dangdest to sound like G'raha as we've known him, and actually nails it on a few lines despite having a wildly different voice.

And it feels like an example of gaslighting on both sides on if it is or isn't a new actor.

I genuinely like him, I personally expected a change when JB's career took off earlier this year, and welcome it because, well, my concern is more on the actual writing continuing to improve, and I really think it has these last 2 patches. Which is why my issue is why hasn't SE just told us anything after days of asking, and the only two explanations I can think of are both really bad. Either they don't care, or they're protecting the new actor. Both look bad in different ways.

[peachsyder]

Sorry, but I think it's just a coping mechanism from fans who are really scared of the possibility of a permanent recast and want to find any excuse to believe it's Bailey in order to soothe themselves. Listen to the way he says "used to make" in that bass edited video — it's nothing like Bailey's voice or intonation. A poor mic setup wouldn't change that.

There was a point in 7.0 where Y'shtola sounded like she was recording from inside a muffled bathroom, but she still sounded like herself, just on a super low quality mic. People keep trying to find and cling to a thousand different excuses to convince themselves it's Bailey because nobody wants a recast to happen, when it'd be more productive to be here voicing concerns directly where Square Enix actually (supposedly) reads the player feedback. If people are scrambling to do sound editing to make G'raha sound remotely like himself, no matter the reason behind it, we clearly have a major quality check issue at hand. If it was so simple as to increase bass on his voice lines, why wasn't it done by the sound editing team instead of desperate fans clinging to scraps of hope that they're not losing their favorite character's voice actor?

This "is it him or is it not him" debate is tiring and irrelevant. The fact is one simple thing: he sounds completely different, and nobody likes it. Fans want G'raha to sound like he always has — fans want Bailey. And fans deserve to know what happened to Bailey and what they can expect from G'raha in the future. That's it. That's what Square Enix owes us, and that's what they would have already given their JP fanbase if this had happened on their side.

This, a thousand times over.

G'raha sounds different. People don't like it. People are panicking because "JB will get recast" has been a long standing fear up until that BAFTA interview where he is "so determined to not step away from [that] role", when most started thinking we were safe.

Now this happens, and there's just panic. People who want the same, which is for G'raha to sound like he always has—like Bailey—fighting amongst ourselves over whether it's him or not when the fault lies in SE for releasing the patch aware that G'raha sounded extremely off, hence why they hid his voice in the English trailer and only on the English trailer (a detail fans and news outlets alike continue to overlook).

Square knows he sounds off and they intentionally hid it and provided no explanation for it. So let's get to the core of the issue: why does G'raha sound so off, and why are fans being left to speculate whether they're losing their favorite VA, whether he's sick, whether he's on a bad mic setup, instead of the company just telling us?

This shouldn't be so frustrating. 12 pages of forum debate, news outlets writing about it, posts blowing up on socmed, and no one will talk to us. No wonder everybody is going off the rails.

[paradisea]

I'm still in the camp of "new actor is trying to sound like Bailey's take on G'raha" since the line that sounds like a dead ringer to JB post edit was felt more like an inflection thing. So, acting. And I think that's where most of the issues are, the new actor is doing his dangdest to sound like G'raha as we've known him, and actually nails it on a few lines despite having a wildly different voice.

And it feels like an example of gaslighting on both sides on if it is or isn't a new actor.

I genuinely like him, I personally expected a change when JB's career took off earlier this year, and welcome it because, well, my concern is more on the actual writing continuing to improve, and I really think it has these last 2 patches. Which is why my issue is why hasn't SE just told us anything after days of asking, and the only two explanations I can think of are both really bad. Either they don't care, or they're protecting the new actor. Both look bad in different ways.

I'm sorry but JB's career took off long before "this year". Arguably he blew up with Bridgerton, and season 1 dropped in 2020, while season 2, in which he was the main male lead, dropped in 2022. He was cast in Wicked years ago, and even the second movie wrapped filming in Jan 2024. Jurassic Park wrapped filming in Sep 2024.

Plenty of us G'raha fans had been dreading a change long before this, but he stayed through the peak of his popularity. March of 2024 was when he gave the BAFTA interview where he expressed his love for G'raha and determination to stay on the role. What reason do we have to believe that he would choose to leave now? And don't mention his "break", he has literally said the break doesn't affect the fact he's happy and willing to return to his recurring roles such as Bridgerton.

I get you like the voice in 7.4 better than the original and you're trying your hardest to defend it, to the point you said earlier in the thread that it'd be good to cut budget on Bailey "when they can put that funding into hiring a small group of designers for more and better gameplay content is money better spent", and then you said fans were calling the new VA "trash" and that SE was "likely not announcing anything because he'd get dogpiled". I'm sorry you feel that way, but fans have the right to want their 7 year long voice actor to stay, and if he does leave, they deserve to hear a really good reason as to why it happened. And no, "budget" isn't a good reason coming from a multimillion dollar company when this is their most profitable franchise. People need to stop acting like SE would have to pay Bailey's entire Wicked salary to get him in a booth to record a dozen voice lines.

It's tiring to go in this back and forth of "Bailey is super busy with [projects that wrapped up last year at the latest], it's totally expected he was going to leave soon" when that's just plainly not true. Not on Bailey's part. If people are going to speculate I wish they'd do it with accurate information. But I'd rather we stop speculating and just focus on the one thing: G'raha sounds absurdly different, fans don't like it, we deserve an explanation — preferably with reassurance that he's not leaving.

[peachsyder]

Also I understand everyone hanging onto that one interview where he said he liked the role, but TBH it could very well mean less to him than he let on, actors do this in like every interview ever. Again I'm coping and praying this isn't the case but I don't think one interview is evidence enough that he wouldn't drop the role.

I think it's more reasonable to assume honesty than dishonesty from him.

His determination to stay on the role isn't shown only by that single interview, it's shown by that and the fact that he has continued to voice G'raha through three movies, three Bridgerton seasons, several teather runs where he was doing multiple shows through multiple nights. There's a pretty obscure podcast from years ago that I've been hoping to find again where he mentioned he is aware of how much the Crystal Exarch (I recall he said the Exarch specifically, it was quite a while ago) means to so many people. Also, mind you, that BAFTA interview showed us that the dude literally keeps G'raha quotes that he likes on his phone at the ready to read lol. He describes the writing of FFXIV as "Shakespearean". I'm not inclined to assume dishonesty from him, he'd hardly be the first high-profile actor who just genuinely enjoys doing voice acting even in minor projects.

If you've followed his work and just watched/read most of his interviews, you can just tell he just comes across as a reasonable, down to earth guy who truly loves art and acting. None of this means he couldn't have a sudden change of mind, but he's stuck by G'raha through the busiest times of his schedule, so what's the most reasonable assumption here—that he'd drop the role now that his schedule has become less busy, or that if G'raha "meant less to him than he let on", he'd just have let go of him when it was the roughest to keep going?

And sure, if it ends up that it's Bailey who chose to quit, there won't be much any of us can do. We can't force him to continue. But as it stands, there's more evidence that he's willing and happy to stay than the opposite, so I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that he does want to.

Either way, if it's his choice, they should just tell us.

[Sui-Kune]

I do agree that this isn't Bailey's fault in the slightest, but one thing where I would see merit in reaching out to him (if at all possible — he's notoriously extremely offline) is in the possibility that Square Enix recast him without notifying him at all. If anyone has been around enough and familiar with the Tales series, you might remember that Troy Baker voiced the main character in Tales of Vesperia, Yuri, and was replaced when the game's definitive edition was released in English. People were assuming it was because Baker had become too popular for Tales, but he later revealed he was never approached about doing additional lines/scenes at all, and voiced that he was gutted over it, because he loves the character and would have jumped at the chance to play him again.

The possibility of the same happening to Bailey does exist, and upsets me immensely to even think about. If he's not been made aware, he deserves to know.

I'm not sure how many realise this anymore, since it was from back in 2006, but this exact thing actually happened to the Pokemon series. The *entire* cast was recast without any warning, and they had no recourse either since this was before social media and all we fans could do to voice our displeasure were mail campaigns and internet forums. And of course the actors themselves were gutted about it, and many still are to this day. (And to add insult to injury, they kept all previous creature voices in the bank so to speak, so they were "kept on" as the Pokemon but presumably without any royalties.)

If this happened to Bailey and this isn't a temporary solution that they will have him go back in to re-record the lines, I feel for him. Famous or not, he clearly loves the role and wouldn't voluntarily step away from it. (And I do hope he's getting the rest he needs, no one needs to overwork themselves to death.) I mean, hells, it's not like they haven't used famous actors before; Ardbert was voiced by Joe Dempsie [Gendry of Game of Thrones fame] off the top of my head, and Final Fantasy XVI has Ralph frickin' Ineson as Cid! So it'd be a piss-poor excuse if budget is a concern. (And frankly, VAs in general are paid pennies in the west as it is, pay them more if anything!)

So yeah, if this is a conscious and meant to be perma-recast, toss my hat in as a fan who wants Bailey back, or even just the damned *choice.*

[Wasselin]

I'm not sure how many realise this anymore, since it was from back in 2006, but this exact thing actually happened to the Pokemon series. The *entire* cast was recast without any warning, and they had no recourse either since this was before social media and all we fans could do to voice our displeasure were mail campaigns and internet forums. And of course the actors themselves were gutted about it, and many still are to this day. (And to add insult to injury, they kept all previous creature voices in the bank so to speak, so they were "kept on" as the Pokemon but presumably without any royalties.)

If this happened to Bailey and this isn't a temporary solution that they will have him go back in to re-record the lines, I feel for him. Famous or not, he clearly loves the role and wouldn't voluntarily step away from it. (And I do hope he's getting the rest he needs, no one needs to overwork themselves to death.) I mean, hells, it's not like they haven't used famous actors before; Ardbert was voiced by Joe Dempsie [Gendry of Game of Thrones fame] off the top of my head, and Final Fantasy XVI has Ralph frickin' Ineson as Cid! So it'd be a piss-poor excuse if budget is a concern. (And frankly, VAs in general are paid pennies in the west as it is, pay them more if anything!)

So yeah, if this is a conscious and meant to be perma-recast, toss my hat in as a fan who wants Bailey back, or even just the damned *choice.*

Joe Dempsie is a star, but nowhere near the level of fame, and presumably salary that Jonathan Bailey likely now commands. Jonathan Bailey is a movie star now.

I hope he continues as Graha but even if he loves it, this is a job for him and I understand if he moves on since he can now make more than Square Enix is willing to pay for voice acting in FFXIV.

I really don't think the work in this patch sounds like Jonathan Bailey, so I hope if it is him, that he is able to re-record it. If he has been recast they better at least try to find someone a little bit closer to his voice and performance because this didn't sound like Graha at all to me.

[EstelleCere]

I really hope he isn't being recast. I think like others have said, he might've just not had the time for this patch to voice Graha since he was working on a few things iirc, and I think I read somewhere that his tongue got inflamed or something like that. I hope that Square will end up showing us full transparency if he does end up being recast though, because literally so many people love him as Graha and it might not feel the same if he is changed.

[RedLolly]

Snip

Honestly the whole "people are calling the new voice trash" was me mixing the comments I've seen on social media and the forum inyo one mess of frustration and sadness, and elsewhere some have used way nastier words than "trash" in voicing their displeasure with G'raha in 7.4.

I don't actually like the new guy more than Bailey. Neither are my favorite actors in FFXIV. If I was forced to pick actors I genuinely loveI'd go with Luke Allen-Gale on Zenos, René Zegger on Emet-Selch, Andrew Koji on Hien, Robert Vernon on Estinien, and Olivia Morgan on Shale and Feo Ul (the range on her!!).

And clearly I'm barely a Bailey fan outside of FFXIV because I always forget how old Bridgerton is.

I'm just confused and concerned by how shattered everyone that loves G'raha is, except me, apparently. I think the tism in my brain locked in on just trying to say it's no big deal (and I do like the delivery in 7.4 a lot) when clearly it is and I'm the outlier.

So I'm just gonna bow out, but I would also like an official announcement on if G'raha has a new actor or not.

[KthAura]

(Apologies for weird English. It ain't my first language and I wrote this when I'm kinda sleepy lmao)

I personally would be heartbroken if Bailey got recast for I absolutely LOVE his work as Raha. I was shocked as many when I first did 7.4 MSQ, yet as I continued on, it sounded more like the Bailey in my opinion. Listening to the comparisons and edits from this twitter post that I'm sure a few have mentioned in this thread, I do think it's him with just not feeling pretty good after all his performances plus a bad set up. There's a bit of slurring in their speech, and quite frankly the quality of the voice recording isn't the same compared to the others. Heck, and if it wasn't with a director nor with him getting the chance to remember his voice from how busy he's been, I wouldn't be surprised if that caused issues with his line delivery. (But that's just me, an animation student who only has surface level knowledge about voice acting lol). Though I feel it would be unfair to call the voice acting trash n all- if anything it's just...not ideal. Definitely not the same quality you'd expect. If they wanted to replace someone, they should've tried to get someone who nailed the voice and was in studio.

Regardless of Raha's VA being recast or not, I find it extremely unacceptable by how his voice is suddenly inconsistent and not have the same quality as the others. This SHOULD be an issue they should address for it's not only a slap on the face for us players, but also a slap on the face for the actor(s) as well. People should focus on letting Squenix know that we want a statement about this- 'cuz if they could re-record a CERTAIN LINE from Wuk Lamat after enough people complained about it, I feel they should do the same for Raha's lines in 7.4 if enough people complain about it as well.

So try to spread the word about this thread and get others to comment in it!! We deserve answers!! I know many are freaking out about it all but it's best to put this energy into ACTUALLY TELLING THE TEAM WE WANT ANSWERS ABOUT HIS VOICE IN 7.4!!!!


TL;DR: I'm expecting the worse but hoping for the best. Praying it's just Bailey having an off day recording + cruddy setup. I hope Squenix can be transparent about this because it would be ridiculous to do this with a fan favorite like Raha this suddenly without any prior announcement.

[bunnymoon]

In theatre, they announce when the understudy will be taking over.

"Due to scheduling conflicts, G'raha Tia was voiced by [blank] in this patch."

"Don't worry, Jonathan Bailey hasn't gone anywhere."

An announcement like that would be so easy.