Voice Acting in FF

Ultimecio

Ultimecio

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Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this matter, but I would like to know:

Has voice-acting hindered the franchise? Do you agree with the direction that Square is taking with the addition of Voice-acting in ff games? Do you wish that games would retain their speechless dialogue like the classics of old (e.g. ff1-ff9)? Or perhaps, if a game were to have voice acting, do you wish it to have the option to be in Japanese with subtitles? Feel free to voice your opinions, comments, and experiences that pertain to this subject and respect each other in the process.
 
Ultimecio said:
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this matter, but I would like to know:

Has voice-acting hindered the franchise? Do you agree with the direction that Square is taking with the addition of Voice-acting in ff games? Do you wish that games would retain their speechless dialogue like the classics of old (e.g. ff1-ff9)? Or perhaps, if a game were to have voice acting, do you wish it to have the option to be in Japanese with subtitles? Feel free to voice your opinions, comments, and experiences that pertain to this subject and respect each other in the process.
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My problem with the voice-acting in FF's is that Square-Enix OBVIOUSLY puts way too much money into CGI, and not enough for proper writing or voice actors. I'm no Japanophile purist. I do watch my animes both dubbed and subbed, depending on which version i prefer for which series. My point is, Squeenix's storytelling is down the crapper because they spend too much time, money, and effort on over the top cutscenes and not enough time, effort, and money making the stories/characters actually WORTH something and getting voice actors that can actually ACT.

Of course, the actors/actresses they get to voice the parts are, in many cases, blameless. After all, it's hard to voice a character who doesn't know what his f***ing personality is (Tidus) or a character that is really only in the story to serve as a fresh perspective on the world and takes a back seat to the main cast entirely (Vaan and, once again, TIDUS) there are a few bits of voice-acting gold every now and then, like Auron and Baltier, but that's because even with bad character writing, it's easy to tell their demeanor and role.

Of course, I think Squeenix should cut out the voice acting for a bit and just focus on writing something original with minimal CG sequences, story being their first priority followed by a suitable cast, THEN with the f***ing CG.

There's no excuse for Squeenix having worse plots and voice-acting than Mistwalker, a general upstart company (except, of course, for the fact that EVERYONE WHO MADE FINAL FANTASY GREAT TO BEGIN WITH ARE IN MISTWALKER). Lost Odyssey may as well have been titled "What FF X Should Have Been If Square Weren't Going Retarded".
 
In my experience, I have only been able to listen to and understand some of the Japanese voice acting as compared to the English. I'll start with the Japanese version. Generally, I feel that they have some quality seiyuu's to pick from who do an awesome job bringing these characters to life. Unfortunately, I don't feel the same way with the English voice actors.

It feels like a hit or miss in this area depending on a specific character. There was only really one Final Fantasy game in its entirety where I enjoyed nearly all of the cast, which was Final Fantasy XII. Crisis Core had maybe one or two voice actors I could tolerate and so did Dirge of Cerberus (Vincent, Reeve...jeeze, I don't remember the rest), X was just appalling (at least in terms of the characters we saw the most), X-2 (don't even get me started); however, FFXIII seems like it might be breaking the trend.

If we're counting Advent Children, I would lean more towards hated the English cast and loved the Japanese version (that goes for Crisis Core and Dirge as well). I guess it just depends, like I said, on the language first and foremost, but also on other elements like casting, directing, overall talent and so forth.
 
i really didn't think the voice acting in FFX was to great.
i have never heard the japanese version, but i would imagine its much better,
 
I like the voice acting in FFX and FFXII, despite them making some pretty shit voice actor choices - Tidus and Vaan being the main culprits here, I thought that the standard of the voice acting on a whole was excellent, particularly Auron, Lulu, Balthier and Fran.
 
okay to be fair i should have worded my comment differently, as you say auron was done so well, as was lulu, but wakka and tidus really get on my nerves sometimes, and yuna is abit up and down.

 
I thought the voice acting in Advent Children was good, and from what I've heard in Dissidia sounds pretty good so far. I also enjoyed the voice acting in FFIV DS. Or do those count?
 
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I think it certainly has to stay, I can't see a game in this generation that relies entirely on text to communicate would do all that well. They just need to make improvements in a number of areas and obviously improve the writing of the story, when the story is below par it's hard for the voice acting to be up to standard.
 
I don't think voice acting on the whole at Square Enix is all that bad so I'm not going to really moan since English voice acting on a whole in the gaming industry is pretty poor compared to that of Japan, mainly because the large majority of voice actors don't actually know what they're supposed to sound like and need to get into "character" role by briefing etc, although I do agree that Square Enix should be telling the actors if they're doing it wrong or right. Although, in Square Enix's case of Kingdom Hearts it's pretty much spot on, although I guess it's not easy when Christopher Lee is telling SE how he will do his voice and not the other wat around xDD

But anyway, yeah, I don't really have that much complaint in the voice acting department, Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII Versus are pretty much spot on.
 
I don't think the voice acting was bad at all, except in Vaan's case. His voice annoys me so much. >.> Tidus' voice didn't annoy me. Of course it took me a while to ge used to voice acting in a FF game, but I found it overall really good. I'm currently playing FFXII now and I'm loving Balthier's accent and smexy voice. XD

So yes, I like what Square is doing so far. Though I like the idea of having the option to hear the voices in Japanese, I think the english dub is very good (except for Vaan :gonk:) and there's a tendency of getting better for the upcoming games.
 
I dont mind the voice acting, although Id probably lean more toward just having it text based, if my character strikes up a conversation with someone (Maechen for example) and thy speak to slow it annoys me, if the text box wasnt there aswel, i dont think it wpuld be half as bad, but i find myself reading it faster than the character is talking and i just end up tapping away at the X button

Its also a pain if I have the volume on low or Im trying to listen to music, I dont want to miss the speech, but I cba with faffing with my music everytime someone speaks either ¬¬

I'd sc rap all VA's bar Aurons tbqh.....

Yunas VA made me cringe, repeatedly, her voice was terrible imo

Oh and another thing, Im easily distracted so I find myself missing qui te alot when theres talking, text boxes demand my concentration :gonk:
 
I know a lot of people hate FFX's voice acting, but I have grown to like it over the years. I liked Auron, Lulu and Rikku, they were perfect. I only really tolerated Tidus and Yuna, at most. I feel they all got the job done though, and none were downright irritating, and got in the way of the storytelling.

If the protagonist from FFX/XII hadn't been a whiny, niave teenager, I don't think people would have the same issues with voice acting. If Cloud and Squall happened to have been voiced first, there wouldn't have been as much backlash. Tidus and Vaan are just characters that are easy to hate.

Personally, I feel the series would be seen as seriously backward if it hadn't made the change from text to voice acting though.
 
Never really bothered me for the most part. Sure, there are a few cases where you cant STAND the voices, or sometimes just a few lines that an otherwise great voice will stumble into. All ive heard so far is Advent and Crisis Core and some of Dissidia.

As for Eng vs Jap, depends... I love Cloud, Zack, and Angeals Eng actors better *minus a few cheesy lines of course*, Sephiroth... I like both evenly, but I guess I prefer Newbern a *tad* more.

All the female characters are pretty bad in English with the exception of Tifa and Aerith, I cant STAND most female Japanese voice actors... they sound like theyre making a hentai porno! Most of the supporting cast with the exception of Cait Sith sounded better in English... Japanese character and creature acting has *yet* to captivate me... its too over the top for now.
 
Return to speechless dialogue? *shakes head until it explodes* I never liked that about older games due to my short attention span. It's very sad because back then gave the best games ever played, but the constant reading and not being able to comprehend it drove me insane. I was always getting lost.

Honestly, I like the direction they're heading in. I love hearing my characters talk. It gives them more of a personality. I would definitely not like it if it were in Japanese with English subtitles (again with the reading).
 
Personally I think the VA in games where there is is decent, but there are some games that haven't got any at all and that's one thing I don't like. Sure, I appreciate they spend money on GFX etc. and all, but like others said, they don't spend enough.
Subtitles are sometimes hard to skip and to read as well...

Overall, I'm OK with it. I just deal with it as I go along the game.
 
I really think it comes down to what characters in what game you are talking about. For instances, Yuna in FFX was incredibly melodramatic. The voice actor seemed as though she didn't care much for her role. Her acting dramatically improved for FFX-2 though, despite the game being rather dull (at least to me it was). The voice actors in FFXII were quite good though. Take for instance my favorite character, Balthier. The voice actor for his character seemed as though he cared a good bit for his role.

Generally speaking, I do like the addition of voice actors. I find it gives me a voice to put with the characters face. It gives a new depth to the character as well. Honestly, if Tidus' voice actor didn't have such a whiney voice, it would have been fairly difficult to place that character to be a whiner.
 
Honestly, with FFX, X-2, and XII; I loved all the voice acting. There were a few times that made me cringe, like when Tidus and Yuna were laughing...UGH! Other than that, I could stand it.

As said above though, I love VA's because it gives the story more life, the characters more personality and I don't have to sit and scroll through TEXT BOXES! -___-!

In FFVII and FFVIII, I've gotten lost numerous times because I didn't comprehend what they were explaining. =/. Give me a voice actor anyday, that way I can just sit and watch. Most times with the voice acting you have the dialouge at the bottom of the screen as well.
 
I like the voice acting, to be honest. Some of the voices aren't the best, but at least they give the characters a more 'alive' kinda feel to them. Usually, even without voice acting, the characters tend to make up for it with movements and gestures. But still, I think they go even better when paired with voice acting. It makes them seem more real.
 
I'm neutral. While I cannot deny disliking it to some extent, it does give life to the characters, which also plays itself as a nice change from the usual 'text-box conversation' style of interaction amongst characters. At least, there is more emotions expressed via the voice, compared to punctuations in sentences.

That said, I must admit I can't bring myself to like the voices that much. I'd rather listen to the original Japanese voice actors. (Simply because I've an uncanny interest in originals..)
 
in my opinion,the voice acting in all games and movies are rather messed up,for instance,in ffvii:cc,the voice actor playing zack did a great job,i didnt find faults,but clouds VA,that is something square enix shouldve fixed,in ac,he sounded all tough and dark,in cc,he sounded like a 15 year old kid,yes,i know he was just 16,but aqt the end also,even though he didnt speak that much,i think they shouldve gotten the same VA(i dont think his voice developed the 4 years he was in the mako tube,be serious),but,as i said,there are also others,like in ff XII,i think the voice acting was rather great,but in X,they screwed up with yuna,tidus seemed to be with the right emotions,so,its just the fact that they hire the wrong people,saw how messed up it was,but didnt want to pay extra money to get it right even though the game would be a multi-million dollar title,so,its square enix just being cheap and wanting to make money,i mean,even in the chrystal chronicles:ring of fates,they could have done better,what,the kid is supposed to have been training non-stop for 3 years and still sounds like a little dutch girl,are you serious,i mean,he should sound like a freakin warrior,and dont even get me started on aeris(or aerith if you prefer)in advent children,she sounded like an idiot,in crisis core,the VA did a good job,but in advent children,she screwed up,i never heard zack speak in ac,so cant judge him,and has anybody ever heard nanaki speak,you would think he speaks with a rough rogue like voice,he sounds like a cloud with a very deep voice,so,again,its the fault of square enix and hiring the cheapest VAs they could find
 
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