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

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.

[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.