Graha Voice Actor Change?

[paradisea]

I think the myriad players that don't use the English dub would beg to differ on putting extra budget aside for an English actor that now falls into a higher tax bracket when other actors are more than able to step in and perform admirably.

I'm not saying it doesn't suck we've lost Bailey, but I just don't feel that's the correct move when we've already seen and felt a thinner wallet be used to build Dawntrail and are seeing the devs have time to put in more detail in cutscenes, environments, and things like a proper seasonal event with a minigame and lots of prizes after the mass complaints and drop off.

Your insistence on coming back to this discussion despite saying some 20 pages ago that you'd step away because you kept upsetting people and repeating arguments that had been talked to death (which you're doing again) is fascinating. Glad you're not invested in Bailey's performance as G'raha as others here are, but you don't have to keep posting if it doesn't matter to you either way. Using your free time on this earth to do unpaid labor for the multimillion dollar corporation by justifying them cutting costs on a beloved voiced actor of a main character of seven years as some "reasonable budget cut" is wild to me. But you do you—just know there are also a myriad players who do use the English dub and this matters to many of us, and we're not worth less than those who don't.

Anyway, now seems like a good time as any to link back to the compilation post I got called insane for in social media since we're heading back into circular, unproductive discussions. Also, gonna quote my favorite response to "muh budget" arguments:

And seriously, can we stop acting like we know what his supposed VA rates are? Surely you don't think that the cost to get him in a booth for a few sessions is the same as his cache for two Wicked movies or something? Why are some so eager to act like it's unreasonable for SE to pay him enough to keep him reprising G'raha when it's hardly the first time they've had A-listers in their games? Or do you forget Mark Hamill (Kingdom Hearts) and Ralph Ineson (FF16) are on their payroll?

I'm just tired of this "Bailey is too big for XIV" debate like having such a big name among your cast is a detriment and not a boon SE ought to be clinging to. Imagine hitting a goldmine like this before his breakout and instead of trying to keep your treasure you hit yourself over the head with the pickaxe.

Anyway, if you're gonna argue budget, at least read shoebilldreams' post on how voice acting works in the US vs the UK before you do, please.

I went through the video's transcript and I wasn't able to find this. Do you have a timestamp?

Edit: The only thing about changing voice actors in the interview that I could see was them talking about the switch that happened in Heavensward and that they weren't sure if the community would accept it back then. I wasn't able to find any other mentions besides what happened in Heavensward. Are you sure this wasn't just misinterpreted?

You can't find it because Koji never "said that something would change [now] and we would not like it". The quote mentioned about actors getting famous happens at this timestamp in the podcast interview with Koji. The full quote is as follows, copied from the transcript:

"I mean, the game has been going on for more than 10 years. And so actors they get old, actors get famous, actors decide they want to go off to Nepal and like, you know, sit in a Buddhist temple for a year because they want to become one with nature. That's fine. There's lots of reasons, but people come and go and and so you have to do those changes like A Realm Reborn."

Koji says this amidst his explanation of why they chose to move from LA based to London based in the change from ARR -> HW specifically. Interpret it as you will.

I'm personally totally fine if Bailey decided he wanted to become one with nature—or any other reason—and stepped away because of it (did you know even the Bridgerton fandom is arguing with Bailey fans there that he didn't show up for part 1 of S4 because he's "too busy", despite the fact he's literally confirmed to have recorded for it and is on record saying he's willing to come back? The argument is the same everywhere lol). Again, my concern and many others', as has been stated to death here, is that this replacement may not have been Bailey's choice, and no, I'm not gonna defend Square Enix's right to allocate their VA budget into their AI slop budget, much less if this happens to be a Troy Baker situation (actor replaced without ever being asked to return because it's just assumed that "he's too famous/expensive for this role now", despite being willing and wanting to return). In fact, I actually think it's an extremely unprofessional and disrespectful thing to replace someone who's worked in your game for seven years through the busiest times of his career and the peak of his stardom without so much as an announcement. I also think the burden of an announcement should not be on Bailey's team, but on Square Enix, who are the ones responsible for the project.

Ugh, can't believe I'm typing all of this again. Anyway, the reason I'm even posting here at all is to mention that Nina Yndis has confirmed herself as the voice of Halmarut on twitter today, as says in the replies that "she was playing 'dumb' because she hadn't gotten the green-light to say anything yet".

So if a new actor has replaced Bailey as G'raha permanently (because frankly, the fact it was someone else this patch at least is not an argument to me) I figured he may have gotten the green light to announce himself now if he so wishes. We'll see, I suppose.

[SKAshe]

You can't find it because Koji never "said that something would change [now] and we would not like it". The quote mentioned about actors getting famous happens at this timestamp in the podcast interview with Koji. The full quote is as follows, copied from the transcript:

"I mean, the game has been going on for more than 10 years. And so actors they get old, actors get famous, actors decide they want to go off to Nepal and like, you know, sit in a Buddhist temple for a year because they want to become one with nature. That's fine. There's lots of reasons, but people come and go and and so you have to do those changes like A Realm Reborn."

Koji says this amidst his explanation of why they chose to move from LA based to London based in the change from ARR -> HW specifically. Interpret it as you will.

Yeah, your replies are appreciated as I also think people are jumping to conclusions too quickly. I saw the part of the interview you were talking about and just figured he was talking about the experience of the voice acting space in the most general terms as he's worked on a lot more games then just FFXIV. Honestly I think assuming otherwise is probably reading too much into it. I'm fine if Bailey needs to leave, like he's gotta do what he's gotta do. I just don't see why Square Enix would suddenly drop Jonathan Bailey without explanation when they've explained why every other voice actor has gotten replaced. Like maybe there's scheduling conflicts or something but I think the playerbase would understand that. Also keep in mind the only news site that reached out to Bailey as far as I'm aware is Kotaku, and I probably wouldn't want to answer their questions either given their tendency to over-sensationalize and stir up drama. He's focusing on his charity right now and I imagine doesn't want that sort of distraction. Plus he's been having interview after interview lately and I can see why he wouldn't want to be hounded by Kotaku.

Anyway I just wanted to reply to that comment about the interview since it seemed like people were getting really hung up on it / reading too much into it. Wasn't really intending on reigniting the whole conversation again.

[BedtimeBear]

I did 7.1-7.4 last month and yes I feel like i'm being gaslit here. The recent patch is not him.


Again, he's kinda booked and busy now so a temp replacement is understandable.


If he's costing too much going forward, I can't really blame SE here.

[Aco505]

If he's costing too much going forward, I can't really blame SE here.

I can. If money was the issue, which I doubt considering Bailey's statement on voicing G'raha, the company should try to negotiate and find a middle ground instead of always using money as an excuse to avoid doing something mildly inconvenient. Not everything needs to be profitable all the time, especially in FFXIV, the very game that helps keep the company afloat. Video games are art and should be treated as such; if some extra money had to be spent to keep a beloved long time actor, then why not?

[PaulH]

Proof will be in the credits or until a cited credible news source or annoucement is made until then for me it is all speculation.

[RedLolly]

Koji also had a interview with Trash Taste and he mentioned how they prefer to not replace voice actors unless the voice actor has become too famous. He also said that somthing would change and we would not like it.

Wow! There it is!!

[RedLolly]

I can. If money was the issue, which I doubt considering Bailey's statement on voicing G'raha, the company should try to negotiate and find a middle ground instead of always using money as an excuse to avoid doing something mildly inconvenient. Not everything needs to be profitable all the time, especially in FFXIV, the very game that helps keep the company afloat. Video games are art and should be treated as such; if some extra money had to be spent to keep a beloved long time actor, then why not?

I think the myriad players that don't use the English dub would beg to differ on putting extra budget aside for an English actor that now falls into a higher tax bracket when other actors are more than able to step in and perform admirably.

I'm not saying it doesn't suck we've lost Bailey, but I just don't feel that's the correct move when we've already seen and felt a thinner wallet be used to build Dawntrail and are seeing the devs have time to put in more detail in cutscenes, environments, and things like a proper seasonal event with a minigame and lots of prizes after the mass complaints and drop off.

I think Bailey's contract was what was sacrificed on the pyre for the devs that have the means and drive to care again. And it really hits that the new guy gets to cut his teeth on the first patch since base Endwalker and 3 lines in DT that G'raha actually sounds like the Exarch is still in there, and probably the FIRST time we've heard him have a gun back and forth with Krile. It's all been very weird for me since the voice is wrong but the writing is dead on.

Also, I'm not sure Bailey could just take a cheap contract for voice work if his agency/union has protections in place to protect actors from getting ripped off. It might seem like a non-issue, but if a A-lister is willing to do that, it could hurt negotiations for lower tier actors that work for SE (they could treat his contract as the absolute best when he actually settled for a lowball offer out of love for the gane) or Bailey's future contracts.

[RedLolly]

snip.

-It was getting heated so I took a break.
-I was genuinely curious about updates so I lurked.
-The new people talking were a lot less parasocial about the change and I kinda forgot why I said I didn't want to participate in this mess of a thread.
-The money issue is still my main theory on what I know of contract work and his status even if you think that's absurd.
-I really liked 7.4 and so the voice adjustment wasn't hard for me and I really can't help but just hear Bailey reading a script over actually immersing into G'raha anymore. That's a personal problem, I'm aware.
-I think I was more upset seeing others get *so* upset over an actor changing to the point sone were suggesting they'd rather the character die than hear a new VA (seriously?), and, for some reason, I felt like I needed to defend the fact I don't think it's a big deal and disliked how much gaslighting is going on over it all.

[mildlymoonstruck]

-It was getting heated so I took a break.
-I was genuinely curious about updates so I lurked.
-The new people talking were a lot less parasocial about the change and I kinda forgot why I said I didn't want to participate in this mess of a thread.
-The money issue is still my main theory on what I know of contract work and his status even if you think that's absurd.
-I really liked 7.4 and so the voice adjustment wasn't hard for me and I really can't help but just hear Bailey reading a script over actually immersing into G'raha anymore. That's a personal problem, I'm aware.
-I think I was more upset seeing others get *so* upset over an actor changing to the point sone were suggesting they'd rather the character die than hear a new VA (seriously?), and, for some reason, I felt like I needed to defend the fact I don't think it's a big deal and disliked how much gaslighting is going on over it all.

I'm genuinely not sure what reception you expected or keep expecting your comments to get when you either continue to insult participants in this thread for feeling differently than you do re: being disappointed about the poor way the multibillion dollar company you're white-knighting for handled a major recast, misrepresent the continuing dialogue of issues people here have taken with it by conflating it with the lone odd man out in 40+ pages who suggested G'raha be written off or the extreme reactions you've seen from people on OTHER socmed sites, or boost misinformation which the people you keep returning to engage with in bad faith then have to correct so it doesn't snowball.

[RedLolly]

I don't even know what to say.