Graha Voice Actor Change?

[RedLolly]

I suppose we won't know for sure until 7.5 or until SE and/or some other involved party says something. If it is a new VA, you'd think they would have announced their involvement by now given the popularity of the game and the character.

And I fully think it would be something held back for a bit because the backlash of losing one of the most popular character's insanely beloved and famous voice actors after about 7 years of loyalty. There is a terrifying amount of pressure being put on the guy just in here.

We've not had any major character get a new voice in the English dub outside of the few unfortunate deaths that have happened over the years, so there is zero precedent of this. The only thing SE has to go off of is how poorly some things went in DT. If it's permanent, is it necessary to re-record certain things like the combat voices? Mahjong? Or just leave that stuff as the original actor recorded it until the new one needs to add to it? Do they need to make a special announcement or no? Just release the content and let the writing and acting speak for themselves?

[xMichiyo]

I'm definitely leaning toward it not being him. Almost certain of it.

They omitted his line from the EN trailer which was a very weird choice. Now he sounds like this... It seems like a rushed recast.
So rushed maybe that they didn't have the new guy ready in time for the trailer and recorded lines last minute.

Even if Bailey was just sick, these lines have got to be redone at some point if possible. I love Bailey and it wouldn't be his fault at all if this is what happened.
As we all know he's incredibly busy, but these lines did not feel like G'raha at all. It really took me out of things any time he spoke because it sounded so flat and odd.

In any case it's a shame, I hope we get confirmation one way or the other sooner than later. This isn't just any recast, this is one of our main characters of many years now! A sudden replacement would be awful but I feel it's coming if it hasn't already happened.

[Garruss]

If it is due to cost and Square doesn't want to pay for a Hollywood actor like Bailey has become, I don't really see an issue, to be honest. Bailey has been a great fit for G'raha, of course, but the new voice the actor did a fine job, and I'd rather the money went into the game itself rather than getting a Hollywood actor to voice a character.

[paradisea]

If it is due to cost and Square doesn't want to pay for a Hollywood actor like Bailey has become, I don't really see an issue, to be honest. Bailey has been a great fit for G'raha, of course, but the new voice the actor did a fine job, and I'd rather the money went into the game itself rather than getting a Hollywood actor to voice a character.

Hey, so newsflash: voice acting for the story is the game itself, not some mythical separate thing.

To quote Aco505's extremely on point words from earlier in this thread:

Jonathan Bailey has stated that he likes the character and would like to continue being his VA. This was when he was already famous so I'm sure it's not a money issue and Bailey himself seems like an honest down-to-earth person that does things because he enjoys art.

And speaking of art, video games are so, too. I think we, as players, should be way more concerned when money is always used as an excuse in order not to do something that can be mildly inconvenient. Not everything has to be profitable, especially in FFXIV, the main reason why the company keeps afloat. Sometimes things should be done for the sake of art and keeping beloved long time VAs is one of those things.

We ought to stop acting like it's just totally okay for SE to decide "muh budget" is an excuse. This thread and the reactions all over social media have made it clear that plenty of people are not just indignant over the lack of transparency from SE but over the very prospect of Bailey being recast. This matters to people. This is the extremely beloved voice actor of one of the most (frankly, if not arguably the) popular characters in the game. Square Enix needs to be doing everything in their power to keep him.

Bailey has made it plenty clear he loves the role and wants to keep doing it, I'm sure he's not unwilling to negotiate just because he's become very popular. Like peachsyder said earlier too, he already came back as G'raha when he was at his busiest and working on his most high profile projects, surely if his rates increased because of his popularity it was then, so why would he be getting cut now?

Let's stop acting like multimillion dollar conglomerate Square Enix is scrambling for money, and even if they were, acting like it's okay for main character voice acting to be on the chopping block. If SE is trying to test the waters with a stealth recast and just hoping people don't complain, then everyone who cares about this needs to make it very clear that we want Bailey to stay.

[bunnymoon]

We need transparency from Square Enix.

We can speculate about all the details till the cows come home, but that gets us nowhere.

And the truth of the matter is that this would never happen with the Japanese voice actors. English voice acting is simply not respected in the West, not even when it's involving the literal biggest star on the planet right now.

If Yuma Uchida needed to be recast, permanently or temporarily, we would have known before the patch.

[jackabee]

We need transparency from Square Enix.

We can speculate about all the details till the cows come home, but that gets us nowhere.

And the truth of the matter is that this would never happen with the Japanese voice actors. English voice acting is simply not respected in the West, not even when it's involving the literal biggest star on the planet right now.

If Yuma Uchida needed to be recast, permanently or temporarily, we would have known before the patch.

Agreed and seconding, I would appreciate a concrete source over wild mass speculation. Whatever the situation is, we need truth and transparency.

[Laerune]

If Square Enix wont answer, cant we just JB?

[mildlymoonstruck]

We should be pushing Square Enix for clarification/transparency on the situation rather than JB because they are the entity responsible for making questionable decisions re: this entire thing, such as omitting G'raha's voice line from the ENG trailer when it's present in all others. I'm not going to pretend I'm not biased; I also look on Bailey's early 2024 BAFTA interview where he speaks so fondly of the character and his commitment to it that I'm willing to give him far more grace on whatever the issue is that has necessitated the recast (since I do believe it's a recast, whether permanent or temporary) than I am the company who chooses acting shady over transparency from the jump. And make no mistake, it IS a shady move because it speaks to their own awareness that they knew the fans would clock that G'raha sounded different and made a choice to hide it until they could release the patch. I also agree with what others have said that it's not only disrespectful to the players, but also to Jonathan Bailey, who has spent years including the absolute peak of his career still giving his all with G'raha's vocal performance even when being pulled in multiple directions for high-profile Hollywood and theater commitments, AND the new VA who has stepped into a debut performance for a beloved character, that they outright HID from the trailer. I doubt they'd be treating their JP VAs like that if Uchida was the one who ended up being recast instead, and it is on Square Enix to address this before it's on anybody else.

[paradisea]

We should be pushing Square Enix for clarification/transparency on the situation rather than JB because they are the entity responsible for making questionable decisions re: this entire thing, such as omitting G'raha's voice line from the ENG trailer when it's present in all others. I'm not going to pretend I'm not biased; I also look on Bailey's early 2024 BAFTA interview where he speaks so fondly of the character and his commitment to it that I'm willing to give him far more grace on whatever the issue is that has necessitated the recast (since I do believe it's a recast, whether permanent or temporary) than I am the company who chooses acting shady over transparency from the jump. And make no mistake, it IS a shady move because it speaks to their own awareness that they knew the fans would clock that G'raha sounded different and made a choice to hide it until they could release the patch. I also agree with what others have said that it's not only disrespectful to the players, but also to Jonathan Bailey, who has spent years including the absolute peak of his career still giving his all with G'raha's vocal performance even when being pulled in multiple directions for high-profile Hollywood and theater commitments, AND the new VA who has stepped into a debut performance for a beloved character, that they outright HID from the trailer. I doubt they'd be treating their JP VAs like that if Uchida was the one who ended up being recast instead, and it is on Square Enix to address this before it's on anybody else.

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.

[peachsyder]

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.

Okay, yeah, as a long time Tales fan I was familiar with the Troy Baker/Yuri Lowell situation, and it hadn't crossed my mind yet that it is possible Square Enix recast Bailey and never even discussed it with him. That's gutting. It's an eerily similar case to this, to be honest: actor becomes a part of big projects after his initial casting in the game, and is eventually recast with a soundalike. Fans assume it was just because he's too big for little small time jRPG voice acting role but it turns out the actor never wanted to leave, he was just never asked to return. Troy Baker's tweet for the unfamiliar.

It would be widely unethical for this to be case, but it certainly warrants considering the possibility that Bailey hasn't been made aware he's been recast at all. In which case, my god, I will actually go ballistic lol.