Voice Acting Discussion

[Lex]

I vote for a Cloud/Zack mishmash.

 

[Octo]

^ooh yes, and maybe at some point Cloud/Sephiroth mash

 

[Starling]

I guess it would depend on who the voice is meant to belong to. The lines from something Sephiroth has said would be Sephiroth but it seems that most of them are meant to be Cloud's subconscious, who is represented as a younger version of Cloud. The thing is, I'm not sure we're meant to recognize the voice, so voicing those lines might hint too much at who it belongs to. For example, Kingdom Hearts games have a habit of starting with a voice we never get to hear, and therefore can't say for sure who it belongs to. While it's easier to guess at who the voice(s) in Cloud's head belong to, it's still probably best to leave it ambiguous.

 

[clowd]

I want Ryan Gosling as Cloud. They could have Gilbert Gottfried play everyone else as long as Gosling is Cloud.

You know it just came back to me how good Final Fantasy XII's voice acting and dialogue is compared to Advent Children - it doesnt have the 'Disney' feel to it all. Whoever was responsible for that game's voice overs should be in charge of this remake.

I never really cared for any of the Advent Children voice actors. They were passable, but thats it.

 

[Pixel]

Jack Fletcher has been casting director on I think every voiced squareenix thing since spirits within, except Ff7 compilation and Kingdom hearts. I hope they bring the remake to him at Studiopolis.Although he did do ffx, and signed off on yunas terrible acting. Most of it comes down to the talent of the actor, but casting director is responsible for telling them their line reading was shit.

 

[Splintered]

I really like what Jack Fletcher has done. I can forgive the first voiced Final Fantasy, voice acting isn't what it use to be. Especially because there's a lot of back and forth between what the companies want, I remember listening to an interview where he had to talk down Squeenix from making Lightning's voice higher.

Most of it comes down to the talent of the actor, but casting director is responsible for telling them their line reading was shit

Yeah, iirc, Dissidia was terrible about that, a lot of the voice actors said that the director did nothing.

^ooh yes, and maybe at some point Cloud/Sephiroth mash

When I was younger, I thought it was a mix of Cloud and Jenova.

 

[ForceStealer]

It's hard to tell because Barret's voices lines were very one note in terms of character, and it's impossible to tell how he will perform in the more dramatic moments. I'm very protective of Barret tbh, and I will cut someone if they fuck up his moments.

Watch the Cowboy Bebop episode Ganymede Ellegy. Knowing that Jet Black has the same voice as Barret, it should allay any fears you have

Most of it comes down to the talent of the actor, but casting director is responsible for telling them their line reading was shit.

I don't know if that's true. Obviously talent enters into it, but none of these actors really have a lot of conext about these characters, I think more falls on the director in these dubbing sort of situations.
I also like what Fletcher's done for the most part.

 

[anxiousheart]

For me, Steve Burton is Cloud so I'd hate to see them change his voice actor. I'd say if I could choose returning cast I'd love both Steves back (Burton and Blum), Jamieson Price, Greg Ellis, Rachel Leigh Cook and Andrea Bowen as Aeris. All of the voices for the Turks in Crisis Core were great, especially Rick Gomez and Tseng's VA and of course Quinton Flynn as Reno. For Sephiroth, I don't mind and I think maybe some regular contracted voice actors for Square Enix will appear somewhere (I'm betting we'll see Troy Baker on the cast list).

 

[Strangelove]

I remember listening to an interview where he had to talk down Squeenix from making Lightning's voice higher.

why would you even think this square

 

[Fangu]

^ I know rite X(

And yes, XII has fantastic VA work. But then again XII is fantastic in general

 

[Keveh Kins]

Zack's voice actor carries Crisis Core, especially in the English game. If not for Zack's English VA that game would have a way worse reputation.

Quoted for mega-truth.

I thought Crisis Core was one of the better entries voice acting wise on the whole though. Newburn really pulled off not insane Sephiroth and made him likeable in spite of Sephiroth's personality of almost not having much of a personality, just being a really dry dude.

This may be lynch worthy but the more and more I hear Quinton Flynn in games the more and more I've started to dislike him. I think it's mostly just because he plays very similar characters a lot of the time. Light hearted or wise cracking or kind of dorky or goofy in some way (ala MGS2 Raiden). I wouldn't mind if they replaced him as Reno for the remake. Same time though, it'd be interesting to see how he'd play the much more sinister and shady Reno of the OG.

I'd love Michael Rooker as Cid

 

[ForceStealer]

^I also thought Crisis Core was Burton's best performance as Cloud. You had happy innocent Cloud in addition to sad inadequate Cloud, as well as serious, murderous intent Cloud.

 

[Tetsujin]

^I also thought Crisis Core was Burton's best performance as Cloud. You had happy innocent Cloud in addition to sad inadequate Cloud, as well as serious, murderous intent Cloud.

Interesting. I though CC was Burton at his most out of place.
Probably more to do with his voice which is way too old for a 14-year old.

 

[Starling]

Maybe that's because Cloud doesn't look and sound 16 in that game. I know when Young Justice had Jesse Mcartney voice 13 year old Robin, they pitched his voice up a bit so he'd actually sound younger. I'm not sure how well that works on average but in that case it was a subtle change that made a difference. They'll need to get someone else to voice 8-9 year old Cloud and Tifa.

 

[Pixel]

I was just about to say. I really hope they get good child actors for young cloud and Tifa. The kid voices in FFX bug the hell out of me.

For child Aerith in Case of Shinra, I pitched her up slightly, but that really wouldnt work in most cases.

 

[Starling]

I forgot they'd need child Aerith too. I can't wait to see how adorable they all look in HD. I really enjoy getting to see what characters were like when they were younger.

 

[Random Nobody]

I prefer Kim Possible for Yuffie. Beau Billingslea is perfect for Barrett. At the very least, he can actually act, and you know they only allow, like, four negroes in the voiceover business at once, so it's either him, Keith David, Kevin Michael Richardson, or James Earl Jones.

And I don't necessarily mind Steve Burton or Rachel Leigh Cook, but I wouldn't be mad if they were replaced for the remake (and I doubt they will be). Their accents make me want to claw my ears off at times.

My thing is that all of them were cast back when Square was still transitioning into fully-voiced titles, so a lot of it is vestiges of early instalment weirdness that was in large part caused by the choice to cast big-name celebrities who may or may not have been actors, but were overwhelmingly not voice actors by trade. Mandy Moore and Mena Suvari Aerith were weird enough, but I will never forgive them for Lance Bassiroth.

I think most of all I just want them to allow RLC to speak with a normal-ass voice instead of that bizarre, 40-year-old, suburban minivan mom #faque bubbly inflection they have her doing most of the time. And everybody sounded bad in Dissidia, that shit was like a punishment from god or something.

also anyone think the remake trailer narrator sounds like ron perlman

 

[Pixel]

I prefer Kim Possible for Yuffie. Beau Billingslea is perfect for Barrett.

And I don't necessarily mind Steve Burton or Rachel Leigh Cook, but I wouldn't be mad if they were replaced for the remake (and I doubt they will be). Their accents make me want to claw my ears off at times.

My thing is that all of them were cast back when Square was still transitioning into fully-voiced titles, so a lot of it is vestiges of early instalment weirdness that was in large part caused by the choice to cast big-name celebrities who may or may not have been actors, but were overwhelmingly not voice actors by trade. Mandy Moore and Mena Suvari Aerith were bad enough, but I will never forgive them Lance Bass Sephiroth.

I think most of all I just want them to allow RLC to speak with a normal-ass voice instead of that bizarre, 40-year-old suburban minivan mom #faque bubbly inflection they have her doing most of the time. Like, everybody sounded bad in Dissidia, that shit was like a punishment from god or something.

also anyone think the remake trailer narrator sounds like ron perlman

I liked Mandy Moore's Aerith. She has a softness to her voice. Her lines were a bit shit, but you can hear that she tried to make them work. And hearing her in Tangled makes me sad she didnt reprise the role.

The trailer voice sounds like George Clooney

 

[Random Nobody]

I liked Mandy Moore's Aerith. She has a softness to her voice. Her lines were a bit shit, but you can hear that she tried to make them work. And hearing her in Tangled makes me sad she didnt reprise the role.

I actually don't mind Mandy Moore's actual performance much, considering how way back and relatively early Kingdom Hearts is in the timeline of voice titles. For her specifically, it was just odd to me because up until that point, I don't think she'd had any experience in voice work. I mean, I really think part of the reason she was chosen was predicated on her star power as a pop singer back in the early aughties. Of course that doesn't have any bearing on the quality of her work.

...Mena Suvari on the other hand....

 

[Pixel]

Well, I think she had acted in A Walk To Remember by then. When I was looking for a voice actress for Aerith, I sent out clips from that film as reference for the voice.

 

[Starling]

Keep in mind that VAs that may not have had much experience at the time may have improved over the years since. While celebrity status shouldn't be the reason someone gets hired for the job, it doesn't necessarily mean they'll be bad at it.

 

[Random Nobody]

Keep in mind that VAs that may not have had much experience at the time may have improved over the years since. While celebrity status shouldn't be the reason someone gets hired for the job, it doesn't necessarily mean they'll be bad at it.

Which is what I was getting at with Mandy Moore.

Steve Burton and RLC, on the other hand, I think I can only characterise their performances over the last ten years as "inconsistent." I'm sure some of that has to do with poor voice direction, but even at their best, I don't think I could ever say they were outstanding. And the thing with even just being decent is that FFVII OG hits so many different beats (I'm actually curious to see which one they'll emphasise) with at once being 90's cyberpunk, drama, action-adventure, and some serious Evangelionesque surrealism and psychological horror. Even for seasoned voice actors, it'd take some serious skill to convincingly portray, say, someone with debilitating psychosis and also be able to pull off the goofiness at the same time.

By contrast, I'm really looking forward to the reveal of who FFXV's cast is (besides Gladio, since I suspect it's Popeye Vogelsang), because in just that one trailer alone, ol' dude who plays Noctis gives a more dynamic performance than the entire cast of FFVII have done over the last decade, combined.

 

[Splintered]

Steve Burton and RLC, on the other hand, I think I can only characterise their performances over the last ten years as "inconsistent."

I'm hoping that this is just ignorance of the role, and it changes because he's learned more about his character to the point he'll be good in FFVII, because Burton has been consistent across games, I don't think he'll change. But I'll agree that the voice acting can be described as passable at best, there hasn't really been any standouts, but between Dirge and Dissidia, there wasn't much to work with.

 

[Pixel]

If you listen to the extra lines she did for ACC and DC, she seems to grasp the character better. I remember hearing her pronounce something, and thinking, nice work.

 

[Lex]

Sometimes I wish I could sit them all down and explain the events of the series to them, because you know a lot of VA's just show up to record some lines then disappear without a scooby about what's going on. Then I remember it should be Square's job to do that. And also the VA's should watch some YouTube vids about the shit they're filming for, surely some role research is just professional? XD.