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Final Fantasy XV - First English voice over actor revealed?

Hedge

Member
Anything but Troy Baker as far as I am concerned.
So Vossler from XII, eh? That makes me sort of excited. Let's hope the VA isn't as phoney as XIII.
 

Exentryk

Member
Jay tweeted this 2 days before he posted the news on his website. I wonder if he was talking about FFXV here.

NsL3LAw.png


EDIT - Jay said it's not related to FFXV.

 

kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
Just in case people freak out, I would say that voiceover for a script doesn't necessarily indicate how far along the game is in terms of completion. Though this brings up an interesting idea in me which is the release of the US version and the completion of an English script. Just putting that out there.
 

Squire

Banned
I meant following 12. 12 was a masterpiece.

Ah, for a second there I was worried.

Worldwide release SE, the time is now.

I wouldn't at all be surprised to hear they're tracking that way. The gaps gotten shorter and shorter from XIII to XIII-2 and so on.

For Japan usually a full year before intended release. For NA and Europe I believe around 9 months?

However this game is a special case. There's VA and casting done since early 2011.....

Actually a year is a good guess for the west as well. It can be much longer, too, depending on the project.
 

Zomba13

Member
It's been downhill since 12. Even 14 - which has a great written localization - suffers from poor voice direction.

This reminded me that XIV even had VO. It was pretty damn bad. Alphinaud was ok though. He sounded as you'd expect and the acting was fine for the type of character. Raubahn though...
 
Please please please give us the option of dual audio this time, I implore you Square Enix. I hate listening to Western voice actors in mah Final Fantasy.
 
Please please please give us the option of dual audio this time, I implore you Square Enix. I hate listening to Western voice actors in mah Final Fantasy.

Well with blu-ray in both next gen boxes - there really is no excuse now. Also didn't the Japanese / Chinese international version of FFXIII released about a year after the original version, sport dual audio. I think so.
 

Shinta

Banned
Please please please give us the option of dual audio this time, I implore you Square Enix. I hate listening to Western voice actors in mah Final Fantasy.

They aren't going to do it. They resync all the cutscenes, even CG cutscenes, to match the English audio. They're not going to include double cutscenes. It would be insanely huge.
 

kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
They aren't going to do it. They resync all the cutscenes, even CG cutscenes, to match the English audio. They're not going to include double cutscenes. It would be insanely huge.

It shouldn't matter that much unless it's not in-engine. Sure it would take more room but not so much that it wouldn't fit on the disc. Having said that, they're not going to do it anyway.
 

Famassu

Member
They didn't fully hired the full english voice cast yet??

Late 2016 or early 2017 release....not even joking.
Wut? If anything, this is good news. At least in the past, Square Enix has usually started voice recording quite late into the development process, when there's not as much of a chance of rewrites or big changes to the script so there's less of a chance they'll have to do expensive re-recordings or that they have recorded a lot of stuff for a lot of scenes that end up being cut from the game. If anything, this could mean there's a big chance they are preparing for a late 2014 release, if they have already finished the recordings of some English VAs (edit: and maybe even a simultaneous worldwide release at that).
 

MilkBeard

Member
Could definitely see him voicing Ignis or Prompto. I would say it's hard to imagine SE betting on an inexperienced voice actor for Noctis, but if he does do that part, I would be okay with that.
 

kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
Wut? If anything, this is good news. At least in the past, Square Enix has usually started voice recording quite late into the development process, when there's not as much of a chance of rewrites or big changes to the script so there's less of a chance they'll have to do expensive re-recordings or that they have recorded a lot of stuff for a lot of scenes that end up being cut from the game. If anything, this could mean there's a big chance they are preparing for a late 2014 release, if they have already finished the recordings of some English VAs (edit: and maybe even a simultaneous worldwide release at that).

While moving ahead with the voiceover process is a sign things are coming together it doesn't necessarily indicate a 2014 release. The script is basically done and it's unsurprising that they have started translating it, or finished it at this point. While the actual game was on hold, I highly doubt the actual story hasn't been finished for years. While some changes are probably inevitable over the passage of time and whatever stuff happens in the company, the script would be done at this point in Japan, and probably has been for years. So, no. Doesn't indicate 2014 release. Doesn't necessarily indicate that development is almost done. Doesn't indicate localization is fast enough for a simultaneous launch.
 

Zafir

Member
Ignis is my guess.

He sounds alright. The thing about voice casting is the games industry kind of really has it's shit together in that regard. FFXIII's cast was sub-par for 2010. If XV is on the same level I think it's going to be really glaring. Same goes for KHIII when it rolls around.



That's the beauty of North's talent. People don't realize it's him in most of his roles.

I don't really think they were bad voice actors in XIII though. The choice of using them wasn't wrong. The issue is the direction wasn't great, and even the voice actors couldn't save some of that dialogue.
 

MilkBeard

Member
If SE really wants Final Fantasy XV to catch fire and become a mainstream success, one of the most crucial elements that they have to get right is the English voice acting. No one will take it seriously if it ends up being the same as the last few Final Fantasy titles. It has to be ace. Part of that will rely on good writing, though.

I'm doubtful of this.
 

Shogun1337

Junior Member
If SE really wants Final Fantasy XV to catch fire and become a mainstream success, one of the most crucial elements that they have to get right is the English voice acting. No one will take it seriously if it ends up being the same as the last few Final Fantasy titles. It has to be ace. Part of that will rely on good writing, though.

I'm doubtful of this.

I think FFXV could have phenomenal writing the likes of which we haven't seen since FFIX (delusions of grandeur)

But really, FFXI actually had fantastic writing.. so that'll be FFXV's challenger in my book.
 

Famassu

Member
While moving ahead with the voiceover process is a sign things are coming together it doesn't necessarily indicate a 2014 release. The script is basically done and it's unsurprising that they have started translating it, or finished it at this point. While the actual game was on hold, I highly doubt the actual story hasn't been finished for years. While some changes are probably inevitable over the passage of time and whatever stuff happens in the company, the script would be done at this point in Japan, and probably has been for years. So, no. Doesn't indicate 2014 release. Doesn't necessarily indicate that development is almost done. Doesn't indicate localization is fast enough for a simultaneous launch.
Well, it sure as hell DOES mean the game is not 3+ years from release. It doesn't mean it's 100% certain that it's a late 2014 release, but it means there's a possibility of it happening, especially if we look at how SQEX's development phases advance in the past.

Them having finished English VAs (at least partly) in Fall 2013 could mean they are so far into development they can start focusing on stuff like localization which has usually never been of high priority to SQEX (it has always been "focus on Japan first, then get it out elsewhere ASAP"). Them having finished English VAs (at least for some parts) this early could mean they are aiming for a worldwide release (I mean, IIRC, XIII-2's English VAs weren't finished until 4-5 months before release), since they often don't do it before the Japanese version is done.

And I didn't say XV's development is "nearly done", obviously if I'm predicint a late 2014 (or early 2015 release) I don't think the game is nearly done (1-1,5 years is a long time). I just think that the game isn't in quite as unfinished a state as some of the more pessimistic people still like to think, throwing around completely ridiculous "yeah, this ain't coming unti 2016" estimates. I do think FFXV is actually far further along into development that most believe it to be and that thinking a late 2014/early 2015 release is possible isn't in some realm of complete insanity.

If SE really wants Final Fantasy XV to catch fire and become a mainstream success, one of the most crucial elements that they have to get right is the English voice acting. No one will take it seriously if it ends up being the same as the last few Final Fantasy titles. It has to be ace. Part of that will rely on good writing, though.

I'm doubtful of this.
Nomura is aiming for a kind of FFXII-esque presentation for the story (he's got the event director Jun Akiyama, who's done Vagrant Story, FFT, FFXII & such, for FFXV), now all he has to do is to hire Alexander O. Smith & Co's company to work on the localization and we'll pretty much be guaranteed an excellent localization.
 
Nomura is aiming for a kind of FFXII-esque presentation for the story (he's got the event director Jun Akiyama, who's done Vagrant Story, FFT, FFXII & such, for FFXV), now all he has to do is to hire Alexander O. Smith & Co's company to work on the localization and we'll pretty much be guaranteed an excellent localization.

I remember he said he was impressed a lot by FFXII's cutscenes. That's a good sign. Alexander O. Smith would be the icing on the cake, though. Imagine a more modern FF(modern-sci-fi) with dialog like FFXII(very elaborate speech). That would be interesting. Especially with the parallels to Shakespeare, seeing something like THAT in FFXV would be awesome, actually.
 

Hedge

Member
Nomura is aiming for a kind of FFXII-esque presentation for the story (he's got the event director Jun Akiyama, who's done Vagrant Story, FFT, FFXII & such, for FFXV), now all he has to do is to hire Alexander O. Smith & Co's company to work on the localization and we'll pretty much be guaranteed an excellent localization.

What. I've never heard Nomura talk of XII. Man, if that's true my hype for XV suddenly doubled. :x
 

RaikuHebi

Banned
lol. I just hope they get someone who actually knows good voice direction this time around. It's embarrassing.
Committed Committees: Final Fantasy Rescue Quest will allay your doubts!

Please hire some British voice actors SE.
I'm sick of the usual American rotation.
Considering these characters are royalty it would actually make more sense if they had British accents.

Troy Baker will be voicing Stella.
Kagari will rage.
 

Asd202

Member
Well, it sure as hell DOES mean the game is not 3+ years from release. It doesn't mean it's 100% certain that it's a late 2014 release, but it means there's a possibility of it happening, especially if we look at how SQEX's development phases advance in the past.

Them having finished English VAs (at least partly) in Fall 2013 could mean they are so far into development they can start focusing on stuff like localization which has usually never been of high priority to SQEX (it has always been "focus on Japan first, then get it out elsewhere ASAP"). Them having finished English VAs (at least for some parts) this early could mean they are aiming for a worldwide release (I mean, IIRC, XIII-2's English VAs weren't finished until 4-5 months before release), since they often don't do it before the Japanese version is done.

And I didn't say XV's development is "nearly done", obviously if I'm predicint a late 2014 (or early 2015 release) I don't think the game is nearly done (1-1,5 years is a long time). I just think that the game isn't in quite as unfinished a state as some of the more pessimistic people still like to think, throwing around completely ridiculous "yeah, this ain't coming unti 2016" estimates. I do think FFXV is actually far further along into development that most believe it to be and that thinking a late 2014/early 2015 release is possible isn't in some realm of complete insanity.


Nomura is aiming for a kind of FFXII-esque presentation for the story (he's got the event director Jun Akiyama, who's done Vagrant Story, FFT, FFXII & such, for FFXV), now all he has to do is to hire Alexander O. Smith & Co's company to work on the localization and we'll pretty much be guaranteed an excellent localization.

Or maybe we could just say that voice recording for Versus started YEARS before it reveal as XV in Japan. This means jack shit.
 

Famassu

Member
I remember he said he was impressed a lot by FFXII's cutscenes. That's a good sign. Alexander O. Smith would be the icing on the cake, though. Imagine a more modern FF(modern-sci-fi) with dialog like FFXII(very elaborate speech). That would be interesting. Especially with the parallels to Shakespeare, seeing something like THAT in FFXV would be awesome, actually.
Well, I think Jun Akiyama's inclusion already shows in the trailers we've seen so far. There are no Snows holding their silly speeches about being heroes or Vanille-like exaggrated cutesy, high-pitched kawaiiii~ characters. I've said this before, but I really like the exchance between kid-Noctis & the king. It just felt way more natural than pretty much anything in FFXIII. The one thing XV might fall flat on is that Nomura has said it won't be 100% serious all the time and will have its more lighthearted/funny moments, so there might be instances of goofiness that are more cringe-worthy or don't quite sit with Akiyama's usual style.

What. I've never heard Nomura talk of XII. Man, if that's true my hype for XV suddenly doubled. :x
Well, there are at least two ways how FFXII has influenced XV. First of all, like I said, Nomura wanted Jun Akiyama to be a part of the project because he wants the flow/presentation of character interactions to be more natural & not the usual exaggerated anime-y stuff and he knows Akiyama is one who can help achieve that based on his past work.

Second, the overworld is more like FFXII than anything else in the series. They originally prototyped a more old school world map, but came to the conclusion that even if the world map was far more massive than FF world maps of yore (Nomura got lost searching for some city/village on the map :p ), it looked silly with realistically proportioned characters and in the context of the game & what they are trying to achieve with it. So now it should be like FFXII's realistically proportioned overworld, though more advanced a version of that (so there should be no or very few loading screens and they are bigger in scope otherwise as well).

Or maybe we could just say that voice recording for Versus started YEARS before it reveal as XV in Japan. This means jack shit.
You really think they'd record voices in several languages if the game really was 2-3 years away from release and, thus, very prone to cuts and some edits in dialogue & changes in story, not to even mention possible schedule conflicts if they had to keep what is likely a very large cast of VAs at hand? Just no. They might've started Japanese voice recordings early, but I doubt they'd advance to English version if the game really was 2-3+ years away from release. This is something that SUPPORTS the game being quite far into development and possibly releasing not TOO far into the future, even though, yeah, it doesn't guarantee the game is going to release a year from now.
 
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