Voice Acting Discussion

[Tashasaurous]

I liked the voice actors in Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core(well, except Aerith since I prefered her voice in Advent Children and KH2).

I don't want all of the characters to have different voices. That'll just ruin FFVII for certain for me. I'm okay with the fact that both Nanaki and Hojo will get difference voices for obvious reasons, but please don't have Cloud, Tifa, Vincent, Cid, Yuffie, Barret, Reno, Rude, Tseng, Elena, Rufus, Aerith and Zack have different actors!

 

[JechtShotMK9]

Elena's had voiced lines?

 

[ChipNoir]

Elena's had voiced lines?

Off screen, but yeah, she did. Something to the effect of "Tseng! Hurry!" during the introduction at North Crater.

 

[Tashasaurous]

Elena's had voiced lines?

Off screen, but yeah, she did. Something to the effect of "Tseng! Hurry!" during the introduction at North Crater.

More than that.

Both in Advent Children and Advent Children Complete:

"Tseng! Look at this!"

"....."

"Not a pretty sight, is it?"

*During the attack by Kadaj's group in the Northern Crater"

"Reno! Hurry! Reno!"

*Gunshots*

"G-Get out!"

In Advent Children Complete:

*After Reno and Rude leave*

"Tseng!"

*After Reno and Rude's helicopter is destroyed and Tseng and Elena arrive to pick them up*

"Hey, guys!"

 

[ForceStealer]

I mean, Burton just recorded lines for the new Dissidia, so he's obviously not changing. And I'm confident Sephiroth wouldn't either. Barret had the same voice in the trailer, which was admittedly a little long ago now.

Everyone else, unless affected by the strike, I'm not sure why they'd bother changing them. Of course, when you say don't change Aerith's voice...I don't know exactly who you mean, but it isn't gonna be Suvari. I'd wager they just stick with Bowen. Similarly, Yuffie is not going to be Christy Carlson Romano, but I guess they would stick with Mae Whitman? (that's one where I actually prefer the AC voice).

Also, with regard to the new Dissidia, everyone's English voice is the same as they've ever had as far as I was able to tell. So it's not like Square routinely rotates through VOs.

 

[JechtShotMK9]

^ The first time I've seen "......" referred to as a spoken line.

 

[ChipNoir]

Yeah, the only reason they kept changing through Aerith's VA is because Mandy either refused because of lack of interest or lack of money offered, then Suvari just royally failed. Bowen so far has been the best in my book, and I dearly hope she continues to play Aerith.

 

[Tashasaurous]

I mean, Burton just recorded lines for the new Dissidia, so he's obviously not changing. And I'm confident Sephiroth wouldn't either. Barret had the same voice in the trailer, which was admittedly a little long ago now.

Everyone else, unless affected by the strike, I'm not sure why they'd bother changing them. Of course, when you say don't change Aerith's voice...I don't know exactly who you mean, but it isn't gonna be Suvari. I'd wager they just stick with Bowen. Similarly, Yuffie is not going to be Christy Carlson Romano, but I guess they would stick with Mae Whitman? (that's one where I actually prefer the AC voice).

Also, with regard to the new Dissidia, everyone's English voice is the same as they've ever had as far as I was able to tell. So it's not like Square routinely rotates through VOs.

I prefer Suvari myself, but that's just me. I liked her preformance in both Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts 2.

Yuffie was voiced by Christy Carlson Romano in KH1 and Advent Children, while she was voiced by Mae Whitman in KH2 and Dirge of Cerberus. I liked both, and it's hard to pick which one I'd like to reprise as Yuffie.

I'm not even sure which one will even voice her in KH3 if she and the other Final Fantasy characters that appeared in KH1 and KH2 will return in KH3. I hope they do.

I'm also certain that Burton would be happy to reprise his role as Cloud for KH3 and the Remake as well, and I know for certain that Quinton Flynn wants to reprise his role as Reno again.

^ The first time I've seen "......" referred to as a spoken line.

I just haven't been borthered in adding Tseng's line to demostrate Elena's lines in both versions of Advent Children. That's why I did that. You want me to fix it?

Yeah, the only reason they kept changing through Aerith's VA is because Mandy either refused because of lack of interest or lack of money offered, then Suvari just royally failed. Bowen so far has been the best in my book, and I dearly hope she continues to play Aerith.

Mandy just sounded...not quite suited for Aerith in my opinion. She's better off as Rapunzel in the Tangled franchise. She's more of a hyped kind of person who'd like to play hyper-ish characters; like Lana in the first Princess Diaries movie and well, Rapunzel in pretty much all of the Tangled titles.

But they'll probably pick someone else to voice Aerith. I have no idea who will voice Nanaki since he only had seven words to speak in Advent Children.

And personaly, I don't care who voices Hojo because his voice is just...cringe worthy. Plus, he has to have a replacement in the Japanese dub anyway since his original actor died, same thing with Xehanort for KH3.

 

[Mother]

Meanwhile, I'm just hoping they don't stick with Rachael Leigh Cook as Tifa's English-language VA. I even quite like RLC as an actress but she's too bubbly or something as Tifa. Her cadence and inflections didn't seem to match Tifa's character in ACC and overacted several key lines. Exhibit A: "Dilly dally shilly shally"... yikes.

Nothing in Advent Children was handled well. That was just purely the fact that they were still in VA infancy, and they had a shit script to work with.

RLC has come into her own as Tifa through other games, especially Dissidia Duodecim.

Absolutely, ACC's voice direction left much to be desired and you're right, she does sound better in Dissidia. Still rather pitchy though, I hope the voice acting in the remake is a little more nuanced.

I agree with Tashasaurous in regard to Mandy Moore as Aerith's VA. Love her as a VA but don't quite love her as Aerith. Her energy doesn't quite suit the character, it's a little too Disney girl-next-door. Though it probably suited the KH franchise very well.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

One thing I would like to see is a wider range of accents - not all American/Canadian. Barret I suppose must be American, although it would be interesting - challenging preconceptions - if they decided to give him an Australian or New Zealand accent.

 

[Tashasaurous]

Absolutely, ACC's voice direction left much to be desired and you're right, she does sound better in Dissidia. Still rather pitchy though, I hope the voice acting in the remake is a little more nuanced.

I agree with Tashasaurous in regard to Mandy Moore as Aerith's VA. Love her as a VA but don't quite love her as Aerith. Her energy doesn't quite suit the character, it's a little too Disney girl-next-door. Though it probably suited the KH franchise very well.

The remake is already cringy as it is, I really hoped that most of the characters didn't end up having all of their voices replaced.

And well, Mandy did spend most of her time over at Disney Studios when you think about it. Both Princess Diaries and Tangled are Disney property. Best case scenario is that she returns to reprise her role as Rapunzel for KH3....just hope they don't end up asking her for reprise her role for Aerith as well.

If I had to choose between the two, I'd rather Aerith's Crisis Core actress.

One thing I would like to see is a wider range of accents - not all American/Canadian. Barret I suppose must be American, although it would be interesting - challenging preconceptions - if they decided to give him an Australian or New Zealand accent.

Tseng doesn't sound American/Canadian to me.

I'd rather they just stick to what they got, thanks. Plus, it's already hard enough for Steven Blum to make that deep tone when he does Vincent; I don't think he needs another challenge if he does return as Vincent. He'd probably get a sore throat just by doing that and I wouldn't want anyone else to do that as well if they have enough talent as they got already.

 

[Mother]

One thing I would like to see is a wider range of accents - not all American/Canadian. Barret I suppose must be American, although it would be interesting - challenging preconceptions - if they decided to give him an Australian or New Zealand accent.

Y'know, this is an interesting point - I had always read Red XIII's dialogue in a refined English accent. Vincent too but Steve Blum shattered that illusion in ACC very quickly and I am not one bit disappointed about it.

I wonder if they do cutscenes in places like Nibelheim, Cosmo Canyon, Gongaga etc if the townsfolk will have different accents. In fact, it would be cool if they could flesh out cultural details between geographical locations to mimic countries/tribes on Gaia in this way. Defining different races and tribes across the game world have become a recurring thing in subsequent Final Fantasy games so I expect so, and it has me very, very excited.

 

[Tashasaurous]

One thing I would like to see is a wider range of accents - not all American/Canadian. Barret I suppose must be American, although it would be interesting - challenging preconceptions - if they decided to give him an Australian or New Zealand accent.

Y'know, this is an interesting point - I had always read Red XIII's dialogue in a refined English accent. Vincent too but Steve Blum shattered that illusion in ACC very quickly and I am not one bit disappointed about it.

I wonder if they do cutscenes in places like Nibelheim, Cosmo Canyon, Gongaga etc if the townsfolk will have different accents. In fact, it would be cool if they could flesh out cultural details between geographical locations to mimic countries/tribes on Gaia in this way. Defining different races and tribes across the game world have become a recurring thing in subsequent Final Fantasy games so I expect so, and it has me very, very excited.

Am I the only one who wants pretty much all of the English cast from Advent Children to return for the Remake?

 

[Mormz]

Eh, I’d be fine with only bringing back Blum for Vincent, but I’m a big fan of his in general. Everyone else was just ok to me, I’m sure there’s much better offerings in the VA world though.

 

[leadmyskeptic]

I'm all for exploring different accents/inflections etc for the npc inhabitants of the world, and even with some of the main cast...but to me, it's a defining part of Barret's character that he's essentially a "VII Universe" counterpart to an American (as opposed to British, Irish, Australian...German?) black male. Fiddling with that is more like tampering with the core DNA, rather than making a stylistic change or an update to the surface. Even the developers' upset reaction (and swift alteration) to fan perception of his flat-top hairdo always seemed melodramatic and unnecessary to me.

 

[Tashasaurous]

Yeah, well, I'm completely different, because I seriously dislike characters having different voice actors if those said actors are still alive and had their reasons in wanting to continue or not. I just hate characters having changes of voice actors all together, because they're not the same as what I'm used to.

I mean, most of times if characters of any show or games have to get new actors due to their original ones ending up either being unavailable or are dead, that I can understand.

But to replace them when their English actors would love to reprise their roles as said characters just because people want different, that I don't like.

In the end, though, no matter if characters with first time voices of chosen actors are bad or are totally awesome or just good, I grow fond of them either way and stick with those voices for pretty much my entire life.

As I said a million times before, I don't care about who voices Hojo as long as it isn't high-sick-pitched like he sounded in Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core.

Not too sure if Liam O'Brien will voice Nanaki again since he only had seven words to say in total for the entire speaking FFVII history so far. Gosh, the Guardian didn't have much of appearences, not even much spoken in the Original game.

Everyone else, I'd love for them to return.

I think we should be worried how bad or good Scarlet, Heidegger, Rufus's father and Palmer would sound like since they'll all be voice-casted for the very first time.

If I had to choose, I'd pick Rachael Lillis for Scarlet due to her voice as Jessie(and Misty) in the Pokemon anime from season 1 to season 8 and the first 8 movies. But that's just me.

 

[Mother]

Eh, I’d be fine with only bringing back Blum for Vincent, but I’m a big fan of his in general. Everyone else was just ok to me, I’m sure there’s much better offerings in the VA world though.

Steve Blum should just play every character and it'd still turn out good.

(Steve Blum as Vincent: yes. Steve Blum as Marlene: double yes.)

 

[Roger]

Yeah, well, I'm completely different, because I seriously dislike characters having different voice actors if those said actors are still alive and had their reasons in wanting to continue or not. I just hate characters having changes of voice actors all together, because they're not the same as what I'm used to.

I mean, most of times if characters of any show or games have to get new actors due to their original ones ending up either being unavailable or are dead, that I can understand.

But to replace them when their English actors would love to reprise their roles as said characters just because people want different, that I don't like.

In the end, though, no matter if characters with first time voices of chosen actors are bad or are totally awesome or just good, I grow fond of them either way and stick with those voices for pretty much my entire life.

People's voices change over time. Compare Steve Burton in Kingdom Hearts 1 when they cast him for the part and anything later, quite different. It's gonna be at least a little different either way.

 

[ForceStealer]

Well, for now at least, it sounds like the strike is over. So unless they've already started recording (lol), they should have access to anyone they want.

 

[ChipNoir]

I'm all for exploring different accents/inflections etc for the npc inhabitants of the world, and even with some of the main cast...but to me, it's a defining part of Barret's character that he's essentially a "VII Universe" counterpart to an American (as opposed to British, Irish, Australian...German?) black male. Fiddling with that is more like tampering with the core DNA, rather than making a stylistic change or an update to the surface. Even the developers' upset reaction (and swift alteration) to fan perception of his flat-top hairdo always seemed melodramatic and unnecessary to me.

Nah. We've already seen a better interpretation through Sahz, who is undoubtably black, portrayed by a black voice actor, but doesn't fall into such a broad stereotype that is more negative than positive.

Although really, Barret seems to have jumped from an 80s stereotype to a 90s stereotype. More than a few people have drawn comparison between this new version of Barret and Wesley Snipe's character Blade from 1998, which did come out very shortly after Final Fantasy VII hit the U.S. From the sunglasses to his personality, its VERY similar.

 

[ForceStealer]

Beau Billingslea has had very little to work with in the compilation. I'm very confident that he can provide an excellent portrayal of Barret with the greater range of emotion Barret gets to display in FF7.

He's done a ton of things, so I hate to continually pigeon-hole him as "the Jet guy," but that character actually isn't a terrible corollary to how good he can be as Barret.

 

[Tashasaurous]

People's voices change over time. Compare Steve Burton in Kingdom Hearts 1 when they cast him for the part and anything later, quite different. It's gonna be at least a little different either way.

No, what I mean is that I don't like how they replace the first (or second voices if I prefer actors like Terri Hawkes for Sailor Moon over the other voice actors they choose to voice her, for example) to voice the old characters.

Like how I prefer Mena for Aerith in Advent Children and KH2. Everyone else I've heard for the first time in Advent Children, KH1 and KH2, I'd want them to stay;

Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Yuffie(Though I like her Dirge of Cerberus and KH2 voice actress too, so whether they pick her or the one who voiced Yuffie in KH1 and Advent Children, I'm okay with other one of the two), Vincent(especially, since you can't replace Steven Blum, no way!), Rufus, Reno, Rude, Tseng, Elena, Zack and Cissnei(if she's gonna be in the Remake-probably not) for example.

Oh yes, and let's not forget Geroge Newbern as Sephiroth. Perfection to the max!

I am aware that people's voices change, because it's part of getting older. But I still prefer them reprise their roles none the less.

Well, for now at least, it sounds like the strike is over. So unless they've already started recording (lol), they should have access to anyone they want.

I think voice actors deserve the same credit as live-action actors(even if said live actors are also voice actors).

 

[ChipNoir]

Eugh. I just can't get how you can like Mena Suvari's take.

 

[Tashasaurous]

Eugh. I just can't get how you can like Mena Suvari's take.

Well, I just like her voice. I especially loved how she told

Spoiler

the MCP in KH2 "Bon appetite! Don't talk with your mouth full." Always makes me crack a smile and laugh

.

Then again, it's like how my sister can't get why I prefer the 90's English Dub of most of season 1 and 2 and the three films of Sailor Moon, or the english dub of seasons from 1 to 8 of Pokemon or the english dub of all of the Cardcaptors episodes and the first movie.

In the end, I suppose that's just me and I'm happy with that.

 

[lithiumkatana17]

Eugh. I just can't get how you can like Mena Suvari's take.

Well, I just like her voice. I especially loved how she told

Spoiler

the MCP in KH2 "Bon appetite! Don't talk with your mouth full." Always makes me crack a smile and laugh

.

Then again, it's like how my sister can't get why I prefer the 90's English Dub of most of season 1 and 2 and the three films of Sailor Moon, or the english dub of seasons from 1 to 8 of Pokemon or the english dub of all of the Cardcaptors episodes and the first movie.

In the end, I suppose that's just me and I'm happy with that.

I guess I'm also one in the few that liked Mena Suvari's take as well.

Some of her lines fell flat emotionally, but the pitch and softness of her voice at times I thought really nailed what I thought Aerith would sound like.