Graha Voice Actor Change?

[CosmosNovaRose]

I'm just... sad. My hype for the game is kind of dead over this (yeah yeah I care that much, don't really care nor wanna hear what you think about me because of it), and the harassment over caring about this recast was kind of the biggest blow of it all, to be honest.

I felt this too. My excitement for 7.4 was completely deflated because G'raha is the primary reason I am still subscribed to the story. He's just that well written, and his Jonathan Bailey did a phenomenal job with him.

However, upon hearing about Yuma Uchida's role as G'raha in JP, I started giving the JP audio a listen. And down the rabbit hole I went- I learned a lot about how the EN localization changes a lot of G'raha's dialogue, and even just... cuts out things entirely.

A criticism about G'raha I'd have as a solely EN player was that it felt like his identity issues were forgotten about until his speech in Ultima Thule, where he makes a passing allusion to it with nothing before it really... communicating that. And that's where I learned that Yuma Uchida plays G'raha in a way where, in times of need, G'raha's voice itself switches to the Exarch's.

Yuma plays him in such an intruiguing twofold way, where even in 5.0 theres intentional slips where the Exarch voice is dropped for a more boyish delivery. It's night and day, and it especially gets the point across that there's two identities at war with each other. Mt Gulg, for instance, has a deliberate and obvious change in Yuma's delivery if you call him by his name, versus remaining silent. I don't hear much of a difference on the EN side. Bailey's 'Exarch mode' is more commanding and booming, as the moment in Radz at Han calls for it, but it is still the same voice.

I had learned this week that the JP cast is treated extremely well, and they get to sit in the studio with the writers and discuss the story and context. They get retakes, direction, and they get questions answered. Yuma makes a point to truly understand G'raha and where the character is at, emotionally, for each line of dialogue. His passion for the role is inspiring and entirely wholesome.

I've heard that the EN cast either sends in recordings from home or if they have a scheduled recording session, they only have a certain amount of time allotted, far less direction, less time for retakes, and they don't get nearly as much context going in.

And yet, despite all of it, Bailey was able to interpret G'raha's voice in his own unique way which landed well with the EN audience.

G'raha's 7.4 EN voice is not resonating with a vast majority, to the point many fans are convinced of a recast. Until we know for sure what happened and if Bailey is still on board, I'm actually happy to switch to the JP audio.

Any fans of G'raha would be delighted to hear him there- and also learn of so many little details in his JP dialogue thats omitted in English! I'm actually learning Japanese now because of it.

[shoebilldreams]

I've heard that the EN cast either sends in recordings from home or if they have a scheduled recording session, they only have a certain amount of time allotted, far less direction, less time for retakes, and they don't get nearly as much context going in.

The German actors seem to get even less time/context than the English ones - even not being an amazing German speaker, I could easily tell they had very little direction. As late as Endwalker, it sounded like they didn't know they were in an epic fantasy story, even if they'd been doing the voice since ARR.

In fact, the German voices in Shadowbringers are so lacklustre that Vincent Fallow and Toni Michael Slatter - the German voices of Clive and Dion in FF16 (which is incredible in German, honestly sounds a bit like Ben Starr learned German) - gave up on the German cast in Il Mheg and switched to English.

If anyone's thinking of switching, French G'raha is the very definition of little meow meow. Even has rolled Rs in some of his subtitles, like a purr.

[peachsyder]

I'm personally not a fan of the switch between "Exarch" and "G'raha" voice that happens in the Japanese and find the consistent voice Bailey keeps more compelling. It definitely helps counteracts the flanderization G'raha sometimes suffers in the writing to me.

The discrepancy between the English text and Japanese voiceover is also unappealing to me, personally. It really takes me out of the story to read text with prose and vocabulary that matches a medieval fantasy setting book while listening to the characters speak like Seinen anime characters. Understanding enough Japanese to be acutely aware of the discrepancies is what makes it even more jarring to me.

There's also just an entire different vibe between the English and Japanese voiceover, and certain characters (Alisaie, for instance—why do you sound twelve and why are always yelling at me, girl?) feel like entire different people.

But that's obviously just my personal opinion and I'm aware it's somewhat unpopular. However, I really don't want "switching to Japanese" as a solution to a Bailey recast, frankly... Especially wouldn't want the sentiment of SE reading this thread to be like, "they'll be mad with a recast but they'll just cope and switch to Japanese, it'll be fine".

I think it best to focus on what makes the English voiceover good, of which Bailey's performance as G'raha is the main highlight to me, at least. It'd truly be a major downgrade of the overall quality of the EN voice acting to lose him.

[KiraRavens]

"Wicked press tour" is the reason most people keep saying Bailey might not have been able to record for 7.4, but... that was early to mid November. Surely they recorded 7.4 before this?

He was to the US quite a few times during the summer months going by the social media posts & interviews that popped up on my timeline, though I don't follow closely enough to actually confirm.
However, them leaving out the voice in the trailer could in fact have been them waiting till the last moment and it then just not working out in time after all.
I still think that it would be incredibly weird to recast him permanently without any notice or statement whatsover, so I'll just keep hoping for the best.

The German actors seem to get even less time/context than the English ones - even not being an amazing German speaker, I could easily tell they had very little direction. As late as Endwalker, it sounded like they didn't know they were in an epic fantasy story, even if they'd been doing the voice since ARR.

In fact, the German voices in Shadowbringers are so lacklustre that Vincent Fallow and Toni Michael Slatter - the German voices of Clive and Dion in FF16 (which is incredible in German, honestly sounds a bit like Ben Starr learned German) - gave up on the German cast in Il Mheg and switched to English.

I'm Austrian (bilingual with English). I've never played with the German voices myself but Vince is a friend and I've watched his streams, and though there's really good German voice acting, too, FFXIV is ... not great ... in German.

The German translations are usually (not just for XIV but for any FF) much closer to the Japanese original than the EN versions, though, so I will occasionally set the game to German and read up on stuff (or just watch the German YouTube videos). I also speak Japanese - not nearly as well as German or English but well enough to see where either version deviates from the OV, and while some things do indeed have a different "flavour" or are clearer in German, I still very much prefer the EN localisation as it feels more consistent and thought-through. Japanese has a very specific way of saying things, which (literally) doesn't translate all that well to EN, so what MC Koji Fox is doing with the EN localisation is way better than any close-to-literal translation could ever be imo, from a cultural point of view alone, not even mentioning in terms of how pretty and/or poetic things sound.

I'm personally not a fan of the switch between "Exarch" and "G'raha" voice that happens in the Japanese and find the consistent voice Bailey keeps more compelling.

Same... he's not actually two people, after all.

[RedLolly]

Snip of a very interesting take.

One thing about Bailey's take on G'raha is he seems to play up the limerence for the Warrior of Light, which makes perfect sense since Bailey loves to play romantic characters of all types. You can just feel that the man adores our character. He's VERY good at it, too, and I'm not at all shocked so many WoLRaha shippers in fandom spaces are coming into this thread with worries since that's such a detail with Bailey that's nigh impossible to mimic that's been baked in since day one.

The identity crisis part of G'raha's character just doesn't come out in the English version at all, but I agree it's more of a writing issue, as it seems like the original text wants to imply the memory and soul meld between current G'raha and the bad timeline Exarch G'raha wasn't as smooth as he lets on.

There is one short story instance where G'raha struggles to remember a few details on etiquette with Hien, and is glad it's something he can still recall. It's the one Hien asks for information on Corvos and Thancred recommends G'raha go to Hien.


What's funny is I've heard several comments that the German dub has some weird casting choices but that's terrible.

[paradisea]

Bailey grasps the inherent yearning of G'raha's character in a way no other of his actors does, in my opinion. That doesn't mean something inherent romantic—it's that "craving something you can't let yourself have" feeling that was especially notable with the Exarch and still comes out at times with current G'raha. The desire to reveal himself to the WoL and speak as friends, as he says in A Breath of Respite; the desire to adventure together; the desire to be like the heroes of the books he read as child. That's all yearning, and that's something Bailey absolutely nails. His delivery in emotional scenes is without peer, and the fact that he was able to grasp that about the character even lacking the full context that the only the JP cast is afforded speaks immensely to his skill as an actor, IMO.

"A Breath of Respite" in Shadowbringers, "Hello World" in Endwalker, "In Serenity And Sorrow" in Dawntrail are all quests that are so incredibly memorable not just because of the writing but because of the way Bailey delivers G'raha's lines in them. That's what we mean when we say he makes the character to a lot of us.

I appreciate the other languages as alternative takes on the character, but how Bailey interpreted G'raha is what truly made the character so compelling to me and to many others. To have him leave is, to me, to have G'raha become a different character.

Just like if you watched the same movie twice with different actors interpreting the same role you'd come across with different feelings towards the character they embodied, a different voice actor is going to change the way you see the character.

Now imagine you're not watching the same movie twice—imagine you're watching a movie and once you're past the 2 hour mark, a major character starts being interpreted by a completely different actor. Would that not be incredibly jarring? Maybe you'd be able to just deal with it and shrug it off if the character was kind of irrelevant to you, but your friend who's watching with you whose favorite character is that one is going to feel a lot different. Especially if the new actor happens to be noticeably... lacking, in comparison to the original.

Sure, G'raha won't be changing faces, but that's how a recast feels to a lot of us. In the same note, that's how switching languages after seven years of playing in another one might feel to some too, myself included. It's not really a solution, so I'd rather not go there. The VAs in other languages are not going anywhere, so enjoying their interpretations of G'raha while not losing the one we have in English is the scenario I think we should focus on.

[Laerune]

Just know that if a voice actor was replaced, Square Enix would have never have pulled this with their Japanese playerbase.

[Bantochan]

further to this (as apparently my brain likes to stew unanswered questions like a darn unseen processing system in the background - and this apparently was one...)

can anyone post what the other languages say?
Please can someone in go speak to graha and see. if its similar to what graha says in EN we can be sure its part of the story and not related.

Text in EN below (direct accidental copy from when i was typing out my 7.4 personal discord review)

G'raha Tia: Warm fare-thee-wells can ease the sting of partings, as we come to terms with an absence not soon forgotten.
G'raha Tia: To tell those we hold dear what they've meant to us, and to wish them the best... We should seize that chance whensoever we can.

I am also interested in this.

[Amariel34]

I just started 7.4 and immediately, in one line, I could tell it wasn't him. This voice sounds more light and airy, in a way. Bailey's voice had more richness to it and depth. Not saying this VA is BAD, he's just not Bailey. Unless a different set of audio equipment was used to account for the change in voice. I also hope this was just a one-time thing. I would greatly miss Bailey's voice as G'raha is one of my favorite characters next to Erenville. Whom I also hope they never replace his VA, should we see him more in coming patch/expansions.

Edit: Upon listening to some other lines, it does sound like him at points. Is it possible that some of his lines were recorded with a different setup than others? Like some were added last minute so he had to use what he could get access to on short notice? Otherwise this VA is good at, sometimes, impersonating Bailey's voice fairly well.

[Lollerblades]

There are certain parts that sound like they have Bailey's inflections, just at a different range.

Until we are told otherwise, I'm just going to assume it's still JB.