i think the voice change is actually perfect for alphinaud's character development. arr alphinaud has that Stuck Up Redditor voice and then he's humbled tf down in heavensward. it wouldn't hit right if the voice actors were the same.
F F, i had that experience when came the scene where Nanamo has both Kan-E-Senna & Merlwyb around the table talking about dismantling the Monetarists, yep i remember that and it was sooo weird it gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it
Same, started heavensward 2 days ago and I immediatly missed the old Alphinaud's voice. I don't think I'll ever prefer the new one. I won't forget the arr scene where he finds Cid in the church with that soundtrack
My experience was basically. *Record scratch in the middle of heavensward as I pause, slowly turning to Alphinuad with a squint.* “Wait… How havent I noticed yet?! You went through puberty didn’t you?!?! Your voice sounds so different! Why is that?!”
I liked Sam Regal Alphi, I really do, but hearing the BotW style faux Brit accents side by side with real Brit accent (which I remember hearing first in FF14 from Ser Aymeric in post ARR) was rather weird.
@@LucasVieira-fr9cu This was likely done on purpose. Some American union actors use different names in non-union voice acting gigs, like how Taliesin Jaffe was credited as T. Axelrod for his work as Thancred in ARR or Mary Elizabeth McGlynn was credited as Lucy Todd for her work as Hydaelyn. Same goes for Sam Riegel using Sam Regal.
I had the opposite reaction. Only ARR voice I missed was Merlwyb. The rest felt like when someone obviously talented gets miscast for a role. The old VAs were clearly talented with a lot of quality work under their belt, but FFXIV quickly evolved from a more cartoony game to a far more dramatic one, at times, and that largely started in Heavensward. The roles needed more dramatic voices. It's common knowledge that the new VAs tend to come from theater backgrounds. That better fit what the characters and story eventually became. Even the new Merlwyb nails her dramatic parts, especially in post-SHB.
"The only ARR voice I missed was Merlwyb" ... Bud. Merlwyb is like the ONLY ONE that didn't change voice actors XD She's the same one from ARR onwards.
Same. Looking back on it, I absolutely DESPISED Alphinaud in ARR and it was purely due to his voice. The Sam Regal himself is talented, but he was NOT a good fit for Alphinaud. Like you, the only one I miss is Merlwyb.
The ARR cast was absolutely talented, but ARR was also a rush job and held together with string, tape and faith--and it WORKED, oh my lord did it work in the end, but we have to remember the crappy circumstances(1.0->2.0) which that miracle came from. They didn't have the huge budget and the company/industry pull they do now, so even if you've got Sam Riegel and JCMiller and Jean Gilpin and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in the studio, if you don't let them get comfortable with the characters then of course the lines will be stunted and awkward. I honestly kinda dislike everything in the world being Burtish, rather than having different regions sport different dialects and accents. That is one thing ARR did better than the rest, I'll be honest.
@@snaffu1 That's the thing. While ARR came out 3 years after 1.0, much of that time was spent trying to fix and salvage the original game. It wasn't until much later that Yoshi-P was given the go-ahead for his plan to reset the game. This means all the new content, including the entire MSQ line was probably rushed out in 12-18 months. Guess that's why the voiced scenes are so sparse. BTW, I'm still working through late ARR content, can someone confirm for me whether they increased the amount of voiced lines in the expansions?
For those who don't know spanish Alisaie says: "What's up? C'mon speak to me, what do you want? Hey! If you're going to call me at least-" hope it helps xD
I just got flashbacks to the year 2005 when you would download DBZ episodes illegally from the internet and everyone would be speaking spanish in the episode :S
The voice acting for ARR did gradually improve during the patch quests, but after they introduced Aymeric you could tell they weren't going to stick with the old cast forever and that they'd need to make changes.
I had gotten so used to the voices after hw that it completely freaked me out last week when I finally tried to go through the coils of bahamut unsynced since those things are impossible to do through the duty finder. I swear, the twins voices in the final coil blindsided me and made me feel like my ears were about to start bleeding because they were suddenly so high pitched.
I genuinely laughed for ten minutes when the voices changed because it was so wildly different, even though I knew it was coming. Every time I progressed the voicelines I just kept breaking up, it was way too funny.
I play in Japanese and the voices never changed there, but the voice changes are talked about by the EN community so much that sometimes I feel like I missed an in-game event 7 years ago.
For everyone in the comments saying 'I dunno why the voices changed' Agencies. All the voice actors for Realm Reborn were under one acting agency, Heavens ward onwards were part of a different acting agency, So most likely the contract they were under expired and they didn't want to renew the contract because multiple different reasons (One possibly being money) Meaning they effectively had to get new voice actors for everyone.
They didn't know if realm reborn would actually save the game as they intended so they only gave everyone short term contracts, when it got renewed most actors, despite being heavily affiliated with other Square games, weren't available, so they hired a new cast under long term contracts. The only character who was recast more than once was yugiri, and that's because her heavensward actress was murdered.
I absolutely despised alphinaud in ARR i thought his voice was nails on chalkboard and he sounded like a pompous rich asshole, but the voice change made me want to get to know him better as he didn’t sound snobby. By shadowbringers Alisae and Alphinaud were my babies!!!
Instead I miss his old voice (started HW 2 days ago). I initially found him a bit annoying but then I liked his development and determination. His old voice really fits him in my opinion, at least in arr. The moment I started to like him was where he found Cid in the church
The point is that Alphinaud is a stuck-up upper class person who does think he knows everything as opposed to just a person with a very detailed grasp of politics since he studied it. Now he is somehow a very good leader and as dedicated as the Warrior of Light
I liked his old voice. He always sounded smart, confident, and refined, which makes sense from his background. I'm used to his new voice now, but I was confused and disappointed when his voice changed.
I think Sam Riegal worked when Al was a bit of a prick who was full of himself and his abilities. Colin Ryan works better for Al going through a journey of personal discovery and growing from it. As great of an actor as Sam is, I couldn't imagine him making any of Al's speeches in ShB and EW.
Since I had a 6 months wait between ARR and HW I barely noticed the Scions voice changes. I can only immagine how weird must be for new players that just finished ARR and are starting HW.
I can't believe you didn't mention Raubahn and his "I've been eating glass since I tore my way out of a Bull's womb!" (yes, a bull's womb) suddenly being Irish and understandable.
@@Jeezes718 He also sings Close in the Distance in Endwalker. Dude evolved from voice actor to lead singer of some of the game's best songs. I'd call that a win.
I miss a lot of VAs from ARR, Raubahn's, Alphinaud's, Merlwyb's, LOR'THEMAR, and of course Alisae's to the shock of most. I liked the 'For the future of Eorzea' part in Coils.
What about Yda, originally she sounded really airheaded in ARR. Like she barely knew which way the sky was, and not just because the voice was different. In patch 3.5 it seemed like she suddenly gained 50 IQ points
ARR Yda isn't my favorite, but she's better than ARR Papalymo VA-wise. The difference in characterization between the two Ydas are quite big, though, yes.
Given the fancier language written in the FFXIV script, it's more fitting to have British VOs over it. The ARR versions makes it sound like they have trouble and ended up reading a speech, therefore making things sound awkward.
*cough cough* Ga Bu.... if any character DIDNOT need a fancy voice actor it was kobold. Unless SQ is implying that leaving a small easily brainwashed child in the care of pirates / city guards will result in that.
It's because the old voices are american VAs used to games and anime trying to sound british and the new ones are all British voice actors that work on live acted TV dramas and theatre so they sound way more like actual real people
@@sharpsCASF I remember in ARR Minfilia was kidnapped and was being interrogated by an Imperial, and she said 'Nooo!' in what I'm sure was supposed to be a tense scene, but she just sounded like a high school drama student (a not particularly good one, not to say she didn't have her moments) with no understanding of the word 'direction' But I'll give Alphinaud's old actor a pass, he sounds close enough to his new voice that I can pass the change off as puberty His old VA was able to play his early arrogant and naive and believes-himself-to-be-the-smartest-person-in-the-universe (except for grandpa) personality off pretty well
Oh yeah, the infamous “Thancred! NOOOOOO!!” scene at the end of the escape from Castri Centrum. The scream was so much like a novice voice actor screaming quietly-yet-intensely, that the phrase might as well have been “Thancred! no!”
The sudden voice changes were a bit jarring at first, but having now played my way all the way to about mid Endwalker, I wouldn't change any of the voices back to their ARR versions. Yes not even Merlwyb. I wasn't really attached to many of the characters in ARR, it was only when I played my way through Heavensward that I really started getting attached to a lot of the main cast, and side characters too. It was those versions of the characters that i fell in love with, and if they changed back now it would just feel weird and unnecessary.
I laughed too hard I was screaming at my bf saying the voice actors changed. Im glad they didnt change too much from SHB to EW I dont remember SB much though...
I play in german so the voices never changed for me... until 6.1 where Y'shtola suddenly got a new voice.. then old one WAS controversial however mhh..
Alphinaud was the most jarring by far, but everyone does a better job, except as other people have said, Merlwyb. Badass hard as nails pirate got all the edges softened out of her.
i play with JP dubs, i did noticed in ARR he was generally a bit more arrogant untill the end of it, also over the years all the voice actors had a slight change in how they voice a character.
At first I thought you had mader alisaie polish, because I mistook whatever she said first as kielbasa. Was kinda confusing in any case. Who just enters a room randomly and says sausage?
Gonna be honest, now that all the voice actors are British and sound exactly the same I have trouble focusing on anything they say or liking any of them. I just finished Stormblood's main scenario so I'm hoping it gets less samey.
Tbh, I could put up with most of the voice acting, but Minfilia's voice is what drove me to swap languages. So I didn't know until later that the English voice actors were changed.
