NEW TRAILER: State of Play May 2019

[Makoeyes987]

I wouldn't call Dissidia 012 as the worst game, but it may be passed as one of the worst prequels ever made and not just because of the voice direction. Laguna was rather annoying than he was in FFVIII, Tidus was...meh, Warrior of Light and Kain were just cold and mean, wasn't fond of Lightning's direction either, and the gameplay was questionable.

I think they were just referring to voice direction and quality. And yeah, Dissidia's PSP games were very hit and miss in that regard.

Honestly if you don't like the new voices that much, just play in Japanese. If the voices are that bad, then that's a totally viable option. Hopefully it'll be fully translated unlike XV.

 

[Tashasaurous]

I think they were just referring to voice direction and quality. And yeah, Dissidia's PSP games were very hit and miss in that regard.

I know, but I was just pointing out that Dissidia 012 wasn't that good of a game in general, not like the first game and NT.

Honestly if you don't like the new voices that much, just play in Japanese. If the voices are that bad, then that's a totally viable option. Hopefully it'll be fully translated unlike XV.

They could maybe have an option with no voices at all, since I usually play with the English voices. Never been one for listening to stuff in Japanese, even with the Subtitles. I'm just completely weird that way, I know.

I mean, I'd do it if I don't have a choice for certain Non-English dubbed things like season five of Sailor Moon, but yeah, I've listened to mainly English Voice actors. With the Remake, however, this one I will have to pass as my last hope for trying it out has now been crushed. I will still keep tabs on it...Just not play it.

 

[Girl Named Captain]

I mean, I'd do it if I don't have a choice for certain Non-English dubbed things like season five of Sailor Moon, but yeah, I've listened to mainly English Voice actors. With the Remake, however, this one I will have to pass as my last hope for trying it out has now been crushed. I will still keep tabs on it...Just not play it.

Not here to dissuade you from being bummed out, but out of curiosity, what was your first exposure to FF7? I guess it seems a bit odd to me to get hung up on the specific VAs when the original game wasn't even voiced, but perhaps I'd feel similarly if my first exposure to the franchise had been Advent Children or something.

Anyway, don't throw in the towel yet...the new voices might grow on you! Cloud's only said "I'm fine" and "A flower?" so far. There'll plenty of time to bond with the new voices in the lead-up to release.

 

[Tashasaurous]

Not here to dissuade you from being bummed out, but out of curiosity, what was your first exposure to FF7? I guess it seems a bit odd to me to get hung up on the specific VAs when the original game wasn't even voiced, but perhaps I'd feel similarly if my first exposure to the franchise had been Advent Children or something.

Well, I played FFVII first, but I was unable to imagine what the group would sound like in my head at the time, and I'm one of those people who hear the voices of certain characters who were voices longer than most, and then I stick with those voices, especially when it's been years of ongoing. KH1 and KH2 were the first time I heard Steve voice Cloud and then it was Advent Children. Since then, I stuck with him and those who voiced those characters far better for years.

It's just frustrating that Steve said that he'd reprise his role as Cloud two years ago, and then suddenly he's not doing it, especially when he recently done so for Dissidia NT and Mobius Final Fantasy, and then now he's been replaced for some reason other than just money issues(at least I think it's not just money issues).

Anyway, don't throw in the towel yet...the new voices might grow on you! Cloud's only said "I'm fine" and "A flower?" so far. There'll plenty of time to bond with the new voices in the lead-up to release.

I'd rather not, thanks. Even now I still haven't grown to like the voice actors that replaced certain ones in Sailor Moon(even before the re-dubbing of all of the seasons that were voiced in English) and in the Pokemon Anime that had a voice change since season 9. So there's no way I'll ever grow onto the new voices, especially since Cloud had the same voice for 17 years. So yeah...thanks for trying to cheer me up, but the Remake is a definite miss for me.

 

[donkeyjack]

Sakurai's Cloud>>>>Burton's cloud. Dude sounds so freaky flat. The guy who did Cloud's voice in Machinaabridged is way better than burton. Dude sounds horrible. Then again I watched AC in Japanese and Sakurai sounded how I pictured Cloud is supposed to sound but Burton? Lmao man take a long hike.

 

[Sprites]

@Tashasaurous if the voice acting is the only reason you were looking forward to this game then I honestly believe you could care less about the remake in the first place. I'm not saying that voice acting isn't a factor to consider but a change of VA would never in a million years want to make me not play a game, how you can make that judgment after a couple of lines or say that's it I'm out because of a chance in VAs I really don't get your stance this.

And I'm not trying to be horrible here but honestly Tash the negativity and speculations you are bringing to this is the same thing you did with KH3 I'm reading your posts and going yep I've heard this sort of thing from you before, you really seem set in always preparing for the worst or seeing the worst in everything, it completely baffles me sorry but it really does seeing you in the exact same mindset everytime I read your posts.


My thoughts on the VA changes...for me Steve Burton got better and better as the years went on with Cloud but honestly I find it hard to see him with the full rollercoaster ride of personas we're expecting to see from Cloud, I still think he could deliver better on lines on more recent roles and if he hasn't been dropped I feel like he really needs to deliver for this but if he has been replaced I look forward to seeing what Cloud's new VA brings to the role.

Controversial opinion maybe but George Newbern honestly I thought he had his moments but at times he felt very wooden and robotic in his lines like you could tell he was reading the script, so if he's replaced for me it's not the worst but similar to Steve if not he really needs step it up in my opinion.

I guess Rick Gomez being replaced for Zack would make me kinda sad I think he brings a ton of energy to Zack, granted Zack's role is small in FF7 itself but in CC he was great and he's always done a great job with Zack anytime he's voiced the role in other FF projects.

My other thought is maybe given that this is a remake and people have extremely high expectations for this game, (I imagine there is high expectations for the VA too) they want to go down a different route with the VAs and maybe they want to wipe the slate clean and start afresh with a new cast for the main roles.

Or money talks who knows at this point it's all still speculation.

 

[OdaDaimyO]

The guy who did Cloud's voice in Machinaabridged is way better than burton.

That's not surprising at all, because he is a real professional VA, he is the Voice of Deku in MHA.

 

[Tashasaurous]

@Tashasaurous if the voice acting is the only reason you were looking forward to this game then I honestly believe you could care less about the remake in the first place. I'm not saying that voice acting isn't a factor to consider but a change of VA would never in a million years want to make me not play a game, how you can make that judgment after a couple of lines or say that's it I'm out because of a chance in VAs I really don't get your stance this.

And I'm not trying to be horrible here but honestly Tash the negativity and speculations you are bringing to this is the same thing you did with KH3 I'm reading your posts and going yep I've heard this sort of thing from you before, you really seem set in always preparing for the worst or seeing the worst in everything, it completely baffles me sorry but it really does seeing you in the exact same mindset everytime I read your posts.

Well, it wasn't, but I was hoping that most would've stayed. What first made me first start to have serious doubts about the Remake was that they have Barret wear sunglasses which he never did in the OG, then when Nomura mentioned it was going to have connections with the Compilation, he then confirmed that it would have no direct or any connections with it at all and I'd been hoping and possibly still am to see hints of the other FFVII titles in the Remake.

Sorry, but it feels like everytime I try and hope for the best in these games, they always lead to disappointment. I really tried to give this Remake a chance, but each news despite how good it looks isn't promising.

My thoughts on the VA changes...for me Steve Burton got better and better as the years went on with Cloud but honestly I find it hard to see him with the full rollercoaster ride of personas we're expecting to see from Cloud, I still think he could deliver better on lines on more recent roles and if he hasn't been dropped I feel like he really needs to deliver for this but if he has been replaced I look forward to seeing what Cloud's new VA brings to the role.

Controversial opinion maybe but George Newbern honestly I thought he had his moments but at times he felt very wooden and robotic in his lines like you could tell he was reading the script, so if he's replaced for me it's not the worst but similar to Steve if not he really needs step it up in my opinion.

I guess Rick Gomez being replaced for Zack would make me kinda sad I think he brings a ton of energy to Zack, granted Zack's role is small in FF7 itself but in CC he was great and he's always done a great job with Zack anytime he's voiced the role in other FF projects.

My other thought is maybe given that this is a remake and people have extremely high expectations for this game, (I imagine there is high expectations for the VA too) they want to go down a different route with the VAs and maybe they want to wipe the slate clean and start afresh with a new cast for the main roles.

Or money talks who knows at this point it's all still speculation.

Which the former part I'd been concerned about, especially with the English Directing guys deciding to go with the "Out with the old, in with the new" which feels like they want to erase and forget the past.

The latter part, that I find more annoying but not surprising. Anyway, sorry about all of this.

 

[ForceStealer]

Dissidia 012 was great, I was just referring to the voice acting.

 

[Animexcel]

Sorry, but it feels like everytime I try and hope for the best in these games, they always lead to disappointment. I really tried to give this Remake a chance, but each news despite how good it looks isn't promising.

Which the former part I'd been concerned about, especially with the English Directing guys deciding to go with the "Out with the old, in with the new" which feels like they want to erase and forget the past.

I understand with being loyal to a voice actor after being in the role for a long time. Like Netflix is redubbing Neon Genesis Evangelion, and they casted age-appropriate voices now, and fans of that original are livid. So somewhere between the PSX trailer(was that him in that trailer?) to the State of Play trailer, something went down that decided not to keep Steve. Whatever the reason was, it wasn't clicking this time. Maybe it was to keep the artistic integrity of the Remake. The focus is to make the game great, so whatever it takes to make it great, I am down for that. They got someone who sounds like him at least.

 

[Sprites]

Well, it wasn't, but I was hoping that most would've stayed. What first made me first start to have serious doubts about the Remake was that they have Barret wear sunglasses which he never did in the OG, then when Nomura mentioned it was going to have connections with the Compilation, he then confirmed that it would have no direct or any connections with it at all and I'd been hoping and possibly still am to see hints of the other FFVII titles in the Remake.

That's because it's a remake not a remaster they're going to do things differently here Tash it's not going to be an exact copy of the original game with upscaled graphics and again I can't get my head around that because they're including sunglasses on Barret you began having doubts, you cant expect the character details to stay exactly the same, if you're going to have that perspective you may as well be annoyed because they didn't include the massive ridiculous spike at the front of Clouds hair from the original game.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

#BringBacktheSpikeorTakeAHike

 

[ForceStealer]

How else can he pop the balloons on the snowboarding course? Which is exactly what I always imagined was happening.

 

[Tashasaurous]

Dissidia 012 was great, I was just referring to the voice acting.

I know. I just thought Dissidia 012 wasn't one of my favorites.

I understand with being loyal to a voice actor after being in the role for a long time. Like Netflix is redubbing Neon Genesis Evangelion, and they casted age-appropriate voices now, and fans of that original are livid. So somewhere between the PSX trailer(was that him in that trailer?) to the State of Play trailer, something went down that decided not to keep Steve. Whatever the reason was, it wasn't clicking this time. Maybe it was to keep the artistic integrity of the Remake. The focus is to make the game great, so whatever it takes to make it great, I am down for that. They got someone who sounds like him at least.

Not that I'm a fan of Evangelion, but why do they think it's a good idea to erase all the hard work the original English voice Actors did for the 90's anime of anything and replace them for newer ones that don't sound right?

This now makes me fear that they'll re-dub Advent Children which I seriously don't want, but at this point they'll probably do it for newer fans and money.

That's because it's a remake not a remaster they're going to do things differently here Tash it's not going to be an exact copy of the original game with upscaled graphics and again I can't get my head around that because they're including sunglasses on Barret you began having doubts, you cant expect the character details to stay exactly the same, if you're going to have that perspective you may as well be annoyed because they didn't include the massive ridiculous spike at the front of Clouds hair from the original game.

Well, I have been trying to give this Remake a chance even with a few minor differences, but each time it's been one disappointment to another, and the fact that they decided to just kick Steve out given what he said two years ago was the last straw, plus all of Steve and George's hard work in Dissidia NT and Mobius Final Fantasy makes it feel like they both lost their jobs in voice acting. So, I'll avoid the Remake, sorry.

 

[Random Nobody]

Steve certainly had a wide emotional range in portraying Cloud beyond being sullen or grumpy.

 

[Animexcel]

Not that I'm a fan of Evangelion, but why do they think it's a good idea to erase all the hard work the original English voice Actors did for the 90's anime of anything and replace them for newer ones that don't sound right?

This now makes me fear that they'll re-dub Advent Children which I seriously don't want, but at this point they'll probably do it for newer fans and money.

Since they bought the license to the series and want to release it to a wider audience, I'm thinking they heard the old dub and thought that it was weird hearing a middle aged man trying to sound like a 12 year old boy.

I seriously doubt AC will be redubbed. There really isn't a reason to.

 

[Ite]

There’s not really a precedent for that kind of thing. They don’t remake every James Bond movie whenever they hire a new actor. A movie is still a thing done by a team, only George Lucas does that kind of re-release of media content (he despicably recast Boba Fett after Attack of the Clones)

If we’re talking Square, they haven’t redubbed the FFXIV dialogue despite casting changes in the expansions. So just cool your jets m8

 

[Girl Named Captain]

Another thing re: Cloud's VA is that this IS an entirely new game...as a remake, by definition, it can't coexist in total comfort with established canon. So if we're to believe we're seeing genuinely rebooted iterations of these characters, it would be kinda weird if they started speaking with the exact same voices they've always had.

It also occurred to me earlier that Ray Chase really raised the bar for English-voiced FF protags. Like, even if you weren't a big fan of XV or even of Noctis himself, it is very hard to fault Ray's performance in a technical sense. If that level of performance is the new standard, then it makes complete sense that they would want to go back and re-examine the casting of their most beloved protagonist ever, because they are really betting the farm on this game - the atmosphere over there is probably that there is no room to let "good enough" slide on a project with such huge implications for the company's future.

This sort of thing is inevitable as good localization becomes a higher priority and the industry continues to figure out how to effectively localize. It's a messy process!

 

[Tashasaurous]

Since they bought the license to the series and want to release it to a wider audience, I'm thinking they heard the old dub and thought that it was weird hearing a middle aged man trying to sound like a 12 year old boy.

I seriously doubt AC will be redubbed. There really isn't a reason to.

That's just wrong. Okay sure, it is strange for a grown guy to voice a 12 year old boy(apart from Sammy whom I assume was voiced by a female cast member like Ash and Max have been for years in Pokemon), but no one had any issues like that for years or even raised much of a complaint. To me that's more like erasing history and starting over like the Original English Cast never even happened and that's just beyond wrong in my opinion.

Another thing re: Cloud's VA is that this IS an entirely new game...as a remake, by definition, it can't coexist in total comfort with established canon. So if we're to believe we're seeing genuinely rebooted iterations of these characters, it would be kinda weird if they started speaking with the exact same voices they've always had.

That's the excuse why they kicked out Steve Burton as Cloud? That's the lamest thing I've ever heard. And what would that mean for Cloud and the others in the future appearances in possibly KH4 or Dissidia NT's possible sequel? Will they forget Steve Burton and George Newbern and keep the new actors (which the new Sephiroth voice actor is very questionable)?

...Well, there goes my hope and wish in hearing Quinton Flynn as Reno and Rick Gomez as Zack again.

 

[Cannon_Fodder]

Another thing re: Cloud's VA is that this IS an entirely new game...as a remake, by definition, it can't coexist in total comfort with established canon. So if we're to believe we're seeing genuinely rebooted iterations of these characters, it would be kinda weird if they started speaking with the exact same voices they've always had.

It also occurred to me earlier that Ray Chase really raised the bar for English-voiced FF protags. Like, even if you weren't a big fan of XV or even of Noctis himself, it is very hard to fault Ray's performance in a technical sense. If that level of performance is the new standard, then it makes complete sense that they would want to go back and re-examine the casting of their most beloved protagonist ever, because they are really betting the farm on this game - the atmosphere over there is probably that there is no room to let "good enough" slide on a project with such huge implications for the company's future.

This sort of thing is inevitable as good localization becomes a higher priority and the industry continues to figure out how to effectively localize. It's a messy process!

Well said! Especially the bit about Ray Chase. I wasn't expecting to like Noctis all that much, but Ray's performance sold me on him pretty quickly.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Another thing re: Cloud's VA is that this IS an entirely new game...as a remake, by definition, it can't coexist in total comfort with established canon. So if we're to believe we're seeing genuinely rebooted iterations of these characters, it would be kinda weird if they started speaking with the exact same voices they've always had.

Yeah, this was never a "reboot" though. This isn't some attempt at jump starting a franchise or resetting it back to zero. It's a remake of the OG. What you're saying is true to a point, but I definitely don't see them going for a full on reboot here; they're trying to line this game up very closely to the expectations and high notes of the original. There's updates and mixed in additions because obviously they have to do that to fully utilize the potential of the current gen and make the game not so predictable, but they want this to stay recognizable.

And if your reasoning were the case, why'd they originally hire the original voice actors for this project in the first place? Burton and Newburn stated they had done lines for the remake and were on board.

So something happened, and in Japan, the same voices actors are doing the characters too. So no, I don't think they're looking at it quite like this at all.

This sort of thing is inevitable as good localization becomes a higher priority and the industry continues to figure out how to effectively localize. It's a messy process!

I.. Definitely wouldn't give them that much credit. For every XV you get two Type-0s and a Kingdom Hearts

 

[Tashasaurous]

Yeah, this was never a "reboot" though. This isn't some attempt at jump starting a franchise or resetting it back to zero. It's a remake of the OG. What you're saying is true to a point, but I definitely don't see them going for a full on reboot here; they're trying to line this game up very closely to the expectations and high notes of the original. There's updates and mixed in additions because obviously they have to do that to fully utilize the potential of the current gen and make the game not so predictable, but they want this to stay recognizable.

Well, for all we know, the Remake could be going into a full reboot but with the same story and new added scenes not related to the Compilation and that's what they're aiming without everyone who loved the original and the Compilation even knowing until the last minute.

For example; in the recent Remake trailer when all of this started, Aerith gave Cloud a Flower in the Church instead of Sector 8 like in the OG.

And if your reasoning were the case, why'd they originally hire the original voice actors for this project in the first place? Burton and Newburn stated they had done lines for the remake and were on board.

So something happened, and in Japan, the same voices actors are doing the characters too. So no, I don't think they're looking at it quite like this at all.

I can't figure that out either, unless they decided the Original English cast no longer interested them and decided to secretly fire them and not call them back and instead hired new people while Steve and George were both busy doing their obviously final recordings as Cloud and Sephiroth for Dissidia NT and it's DLC as well as Mobius's recent update of using the Remake story material in the English voicing.

Could be anything and it will always suck.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Well, for all we know, the Remake could be going into a full reboot but with the same story and new added scenes not related to the Compilation and that's what they're aiming without everyone who loved the original and the Compilation even knowing until the last minute.

For example; in the recent Remake trailer when all of this started, Aerith gave Cloud a Flower in the Church instead of Sector 8 like in the OG.member

The addition of new scenes and mixing up the order of some events doesn't make it a reboot. We don't know if anything else for FFVII is coming after the FFVII remake. If nothing does, then it wouldn't really be rebooting much at all.

I can't figure that out either, unless they decided the Original English cast no longer interested them and decided to secretly fire them and not call them back and instead hired new people while Steve and George were both busy doing their obviously final recordings as Cloud and Sephiroth for Dissidia NT and it's DLC as well as Mobius's recent update of using the Remake story material in the English voicing.

Could be anything and it will always suck.

I mean, I think it's very likely what Mr. Ite said, earlier. Money. A lot of game studios have been shying away from using union backed, experienced vocal talent and opting for new, unaffiliated and cheaper voice actors. They really want to try to save as much money as possible and to most studios, voice work isn't a high priority. Continuity is not a big deal to them.

 

[Tashasaurous]

The addition of new scenes and mixing up the order of some events doesn't make it a reboot. We don't know if anything else for FFVII is coming after the FFVII remake. If nothing does, then it wouldn't really be rebooting much at all.

Well, if not a sequel to Dirge of Cerberus or a remake of Before Crisis, then possibly a sequel of the Remake and no connections with the previous titles at all. That'll qualify it as a reboot.

I mean, I think it's very likely what Mr. Ite said, earlier. Money. A lot of game studios have been shying away from using union backed, experienced vocal talent and opting for new, unaffiliated and cheaper voice actors. They really want to try to save as much money as possible and to most studios, voice work isn't a high priority. Continuity is not a big deal to them.

Like I said; it sucks and it's unfair. And if that's the case, then it looks like all of the original KH English cast won't be hired anymore for future KH games due to wanting to not ask them anymore and go for newer ones which will never match that of what everyone's used to.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Well, if not a sequel to Dirge of Cerberus or a remake of Before Crisis, then possibly a sequel of the Remake and no connections with the previous titles at all. That'll qualify it as a reboot.

And I highly doubt they'd do that. Like, ever. I don't see them creating brand new sequel spin off series from scratch, especially with AC being a thing.

Like I said; it sucks and it's unfair. And if that's the case, then it looks like all of the original KH English cast won't be hired anymore for future KH games due to wanting to not ask them anymore and go for newer ones which will never match that of what everyone's used to.

I mean, that wouldn't be much of a bad thing

Granted not for everyone but Haley Joel is sounding less and less like a convincing teenager with each iteration of the franchise. However, the voice work decisions fall a bit more on the shoulders of Disney than S-E in that series. Since Disney is a major stakeholder in that.