Let's Talk About The Voice-Acting

[Forsaken Lover]

Yes yes the Laughing Scene. Get over it you negative nancies.

The voice-acting in FFX is not bad. It's maybe nto as good as it could have been but it's not bad either. Of the many complaints I can understand about this game, the voice-acting is not one of them.

James Arnold Taylor was fantastic as an obnoxious moron. His voice was annoying because Tidus was annoying. And his more mature, reflective voice was pretty cool.

Yuna...well, she got a lot better in X-2.

We can never heap enough praise on Auron and Lulu.

I liked the voices of most of the side cast. Dona, Seymour, Kinoc, Yunalesca - they were all great.

[Pete for President]

I don't get why people whine about the voice acting either. Some aren't voiced as good as others, but overall the game does a real good job.

Wakka's voice acting is amazing. It brings up so much character but is often overlooked.

Luzzu and Gatta do a good job, Tidus hits the right spot 90% of the time which is pretty amazing for a character having the most lines and as mentioned Lulu and Auron are done exceptionally well.

Even the Shoopuf guy is voiced pretty well. And the Guado's too.

[Formalhaut]

It's underrated. The laughing scene sort of masks it's decentness. I quite liked Lulu's voice, Wakka's voice was done amazingly well I think, as was Seymour's. Seymour's voice was done just right I think. Just menacing enough to be subtle.

[Roogle]

Just keep in mind that most of the voice acting in video games is not done with all of the voice actors present. The lines are recorded separately. In some cases, the voice actor won't even be able to listen to the other lines in the scene. I attribute a lot of the poor acting in video games to the small localization budget of most titles.

[Jinx]

Just keep in mind that most of the voice acting in video games is not done with all of the voice actors present. The lines are recorded separately. In some cases, the voice actor won't even be able to listen to the other lines in the scene. I attribute a lot of the poor acting in video games to the small localization budget of most titles.

I never knew that. At the very least, the actors who come second or third need to be able to hear what was recorded before!

[Elly]

that is so true, you can tell the difference between voice actors in a booth together recording their lines off of each other and when they're solo in the booth... unfortunately it sounds like for all the good tallent they got for the game, the voice actors were flying solo... as for the laughing scene its intentionally bad, even Wakka says "we kinda thaught you lost your minds back there"... take the scene as a whole not as a single soundbyte...

[Pete for President]

Just keep in mind that most of the voice acting in video games is not done with all of the voice actors present. The lines are recorded separately. In some cases, the voice actor won't even be able to listen to the other lines in the scene. I attribute a lot of the poor acting in video games to the small localization budget of most titles.

Very true. Not to mention dialogues can sometimes get cut and rearranged and the programming team will just have to make do with the recorded material. It's hard stuff.

[Formalhaut]

Just keep in mind that most of the voice acting in video games is not done with all of the voice actors present. The lines are recorded separately. In some cases, the voice actor won't even be able to listen to the other lines in the scene. I attribute a lot of the poor acting in video games to the small localization budget of most titles.

I never knew that. At the very least, the actors who come second or third need to be able to hear what was recorded before!

I concur. I never knew that as well! Interesting. Can it really be that difficult to get all the necessary VAs to be present?

[Skyblade]

It's underrated. The laughing scene sort of masks it's decentness. I quite liked Lulu's voice, Wakka's voice was done amazingly well I think, as was Seymour's. Seymour's voice was done just right I think. Just menacing enough to be subtle.

The laughing scene is voice acted PERFECTLY. The entire point of the scene is that it's awkward and uncomfortable. It's unnatural, and forced, because it's being used as a mask for the way deeper issues that both characters are feeling. It's also a release valve for stress and pressure, the characters basically forgetting about how others would see them and just doing something wacky to get their minds off things. It is a horribly, horribly awkward scene, yes. But there is almost nothing wrong with it. Everything about it fits perfectly. The writing fits the situation and characters brilliantly, the scene itself makes perfect sense (especially when you know what's really going on with Yuna), and the voice acting fits exactly with what's happening. Oh, and lest we forget, the reaction of the other characters to it was also spot on "We just thought you'd gone nuts, yah?"

People don't like it because it's weird. But weird isn't the same as wrong.



Seymour's voice did fit the character perfectly, which is a shame, because the character is a complete non-entity. They could have at least given him a voice with personality, but noooooo...

[Forsaken Lover]

That's mean.

Seymour had some amazingly-delivered lines.

Like when you finally confront him in Macalania:
Final Fantasy X Walkthrough Part 58 Macarena Temple - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZTE1l0qef0&t=10m11s)

I love that "if you're offering your lives" line. It's so smug and matter-of-fact. Reminds me later when Kimahri spears him right through the frickin' heart and all he does is say "Unpleasant."

[Freya]

You have to remember too that FFX was one of the first fully voice acted games.Well of course not full but very heavily voice acted. I'm sure there were ones before that but it wasn't like it was really known territory before hand. Voice acting in game sin general has vastly improved over the years.

I also second the point about wakka having a great voice actor.

[Elly]

Agreed John DiMagio is one of the greats, as is Tara Strong... it's awesome they got them to do voice work for FFX...
the fact it was SEs first real fully voiced game is why it deserves a little slack in that department, they were kinda new at it... it falls as much on the guys in the recording studio as much as those in the booth... the best voice talent can't fix a newbie at the recording console...

[Jinx]

I'm having a hard time jumping on the "Wakka's voice was great" bandwagon.

I think my opinion is slightly clouded by Wakka as a character. :p

[Freya]

I love wakka as a character. He was the one who had the most development I think in the game. He goes from vehemently hating Al bhed to saving the world on top of an al bhed airship.

[Jinx]

I think I relate to his story a lot. I just think he's kind of annoying.

And FFX is my second favourite FF, and probably the one I've logged the most hours into. I think it's a brilliant game, and I love the characters.

[Laddy]

The actors were all very talented. Lulu, Rikku, Auron, and Kimhari were very well-voiced. The actors and actresses for Tidus, Yuna, and Wakka are talented, but suffered from a supbar script, weak casting for their respective parts, and/or misguided direction.

Tidus's actor has too old of a voice for such a young, chipper character. If he was acted with a more subdued style the actor would suit him better. Yuna's VA is too "delicate" for the character. She was no Lightning, mind you, but her independence and personal strength were lessened with such a light and overly meek voice. Wakka was just a bit over-the-top with his verbal quirks. The accent didn't bother me, though.

Semyour speaks like Hans Gruber minus the accent and with added flamboyancy. The difference is Hans Gruber was supposed to somewhat humorous, Seymour is supposed to be taken seriously. His design doesn't help either.

It's not bad voice-acting, but for such a narrative-focused game there are some moments that have their emotional weight undermined by spotty acting, and that's why people are critical of it sometimes. The characters feel gimmicky and one-dimensional at times because said voice direction. The voices focused far too much on bringing one element of the characters' personalities with the trade-off of having their deeper traits be upstaged.

An actor or actress needs to be cast by their ability to suit the entire character, and if they fulfill one element of the character but fail to be appropriate for the character during other moments, such as in times of despair or anger, then they come off as either grating or one-dimensional.

ACTOR'D. :smug:

[Shiny]

I HATED Rin's voice. It was just oddly nasally. Was he Canadian? WHY DOES IT SOUND LIKE THAT? Tidus' voice was also horrible. Even when he was doing his more mature sounding narration, it just didn't seem fitting to the character. Then again it's hard to imagine him with a man's voice when he looks like Meg Ryan. Everyone else that I can recall were good though.

[Loony BoB]

I didn't like Tidus, I didn't like Yuna, I detested Seymour's voice in particular though. As for "Then they succeeded! They were supposed to be annoying!" - Sure, and if I wanted to put a turd on your law, I could take a crap on it, but that doesn't mean it's suddenly a great example of good lawn management. What they intended is irrelevant - I found the voice acting to be subpar at best.

[Skyblade]

That's mean.

Seymour had some amazingly-delivered lines.

Like when you finally confront him in Macalania:
Final Fantasy X Walkthrough Part 58 Macarena Temple - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZTE1l0qef0&t=10m11s)

I love that "if you're offering your lives" line. It's so smug and matter-of-fact. Reminds me later when Kimahri spears him right through the frickin' heart and all he does is say "Unpleasant."

That's kind of my point, actually. Everything he says is so "matter-of-fact". He has no inflection, no emotions, no responses, nothing. He sounds bored and disinterested the entire game. He has no personality traits or character depth. You could replace him with a robot and not notice.

[Roogle]

Agreed John DiMagio is one of the greats, as is Tara Strong... it's awesome they got them to do voice work for FFX...

Yes, John DiMaggio is a seasoned voice actor. You might know him as Bender from Futurama. I can tell a difference between the performance of the more experienced voice actors and the lesser experienced voice actors from the line delivery. Of course, that's not a 100% thing -- a lot of it depends on the dialogue that you're given to work with, too. I feel bad for the two voice actors that got the laughing scene because there really isn't a way to pull that off well without being in the same room as the person. In fact, if they had recorded that together, it might have sounded a lot more endearing and not cringeworthy.

[Elly]

ikr, the entire game i was wishing he'd say "Bite my shiny metal ass, ya", but alas Wakka's not Machina, lol...
yes if Hedy and James got in the booth together and did a couple takes for the laughing scene, they could have found that awkward feel without it feeling so isolated from the rest of the mood in that scene...

[Jinx]

ikr, the entire game i was wishing he'd say "Bite my shiny metal ass, ya", but alas Wakka's not Machina, lol...


Haha, it would've been so brilliant if they had've found a way to make this in. They found a way to get the Macarena in!


Also, just noting for the people who are talking about experienced voice actors, I'm pretty sure James Arnold Taylor had voiced several things at that point.

[Rocket Edge]

I didn't find the voice acting bad at all. In fact, I really liked it. Never once did the thought come into my mind about "God s/he annoys me". Even Vanille out of FFXIII wasn't that bad. Unless it's painstakingly obvious these things don't bother me.

[Roogle]

Also, just noting for the people who are talking about experienced voice actors, I'm pretty sure James Arnold Taylor had voiced several things at that point.

I think that Final Fantasy X was the first video game that James Arnold Taylor had voice acted for. Unfortunately, due to the lower budgets, it's harder to work with then say a Western cartoon where all of the voice actors record together, like in Adventure Time.

[Braska]

Hope this doesn't count as spam, but it has to be done.

Ride ze shoopuf?

[Nebulance]

I didn't find the voice acting bad at all. In fact, I really liked it. Never once did the thought come into my mind about "God s/he annoys me". Even Vanille out of FFXIII wasn't that bad. Unless it's painstakingly obvious these things don't bother me.

I agree -- I thought they did a nice job on the voice acting, especially for Yuna. You could feel the emotions with these characters.

FFXIII, on the other hand, felt 'phoned-in,' except for Vanille and Fang. Those two came out pretty good. I detested Snow and Hope, however...

[Roogle]

Incidentally, I recall hearing in an interview from Hedy Burress that she had trouble delivering her lines because it was hard to speak as succinctly as her Japanese counterpart. I think I remember her having a specific problem with parts in which Yuna, in the Japanese version, would say something simple like "hai" very quickly, leaving problem areas in which Yuna, in the English version, would have to say "OK" or "yes" very quickly in ways that most English speakers don't use. Her pauses, to me, make her sound a bit strange in English. This is a result mostly of the localization of the game rather than voice actor performance.

[Jinx]

Incidentally, I recall hearing in an interview from Hedy Burress that she had trouble delivering her lines because it was hard to speak as succinctly as her Japanese counterpart. I think I remember her having a specific problem with parts in which Yuna, in the Japanese version, would say something simple like "hai" very quickly, leaving problem areas in which Yuna, in the English version, would have to say "OK" or "yes" very quickly in ways that most English speakers don't use. Her pauses, to me, make her sound a bit strange in English. This is a result mostly of the localization of the game rather than voice actor performance.

Why would they have her act exactly like her Japanese counterpart? Especially if it doesn't translate well to the way English speakers talk?

[Karifean]

Incidentally, I recall hearing in an interview from Hedy Burress that she had trouble delivering her lines because it was hard to speak as succinctly as her Japanese counterpart. I think I remember her having a specific problem with parts in which Yuna, in the Japanese version, would say something simple like "hai" very quickly, leaving problem areas in which Yuna, in the English version, would have to say "OK" or "yes" very quickly in ways that most English speakers don't use. Her pauses, to me, make her sound a bit strange in English. This is a result mostly of the localization of the game rather than voice actor performance.

Why would they have her act exactly like her Japanese counterpart? Especially if it doesn't translate well to the way English speakers talk?

Because otherwise the lip sync would be off.

[Renmiri]

People crucify Tidus VA but the japanese VA for Tidus was 10 times more whiny. And he was TOLD to make Tidus voice evolve from young & bratty to mature. To me he did a good job. The laughing scene was supposed to be awkward. So were his initial convos with Auron and on Luca / Besaid, etc.. he was just out of Auron's mentoring and had been thrown - he thought - 1,000 years in the future. My voice would be a high pitch squeal of EEEEEK if that had happened to me.