World of Final Fantasy

@RykoMD Same one as Kingdom Hearts, according to imDB & Ben Diskin.

@huzaifa_ahmed They have a Facebook Fanpage too! It seems that they did records Kingdom Hearts 2.8 ttps://www.facebook.com/skylarksoundstudios/photos/pb.176127862426562.-2207520000.1481157614./1189913731047965/?type=3&theater

@RykoMD The voice acting is indeed excellent. My only criticism, and this isn't really about the voice acting itself, is that the developers didn't sync the mouth movements to the characters when they were speaking English. You only really notice it with the "Jiant" characters though, and there are only about half a dozen of them, so it's not a massive deal really.

@SNaG

My copy came in the mail so I'll be sure to post my impressions on the cast and the game itself later. On paper, this cast looks fantastic.

@NCZ Hopefully it sounds as good as it looks. Though not always, I feel that the dialogue delivery of Buchholz directed stuff can be a bit stilted. Never truly terrible, but not as good as it could be.

Generally, though, the battle related voice acting in his games are on point, so I'm sure that will be good.

@SNaG Bob Buchholz and Kirk Thronton seem like a pretty awesome voice directing duo tbh. I'm looking forward to hearing this dub myself.

@HylianBelmont (Disclaimer, friendly discourse)

They're definitely not *bad* and if anything, they can have really good casting, bringing in a wider variety of VAs and finding new talent. I feel they're very good in that.

But at the same time, in every Bob Buchholz directed game I have ever played, the dialogue quality seems hit or miss. There are times when this is not the fault of the VAs but the script writing, like in Dissidia Duodecim which had FANTASTIC VO but god-awful dialogue.

And then there are games like Birth By Sleep, where I feel the only good VAs were the ones that were extremely good actors. Aqua and Terra had very inconsistent quality - sometimes they were great and other times they fell flat, and the flash of greatness leads me to reason it was the director.

I'll take back my comments on Kirk somewhat, though, because I must confess I forgot everything he directed. The first season of Durararax2 was flatter VO wise, but Bravely Second and Expelled from Paradise were solid.

Not saying that it's going to be a terrible dub or something. It's just that I've seen Buchholz directed dubs not reach their full potential, IMO.

@SNaG

Okay, I've had the chance to play for a few hours. While I'll probably go more in-depth tomorrow (on the game AND its voices) once I've had more time to sink in and play a bit more, I have to say for my first impression strictly for the VO:

I've had the same concerns about Buchholz being one of the weaker links among FF's voice direction, but so far... Yeah, this voice acting is actually pretty dang good.

I think a lot of it comes down to this game's jovial tone. The actors genuinely sound like they're having fun in their roles. This really lets them loosen up and feel a lot more natural in the parts. And just for the record - The humour in this game, at least to me, actually is pretty funny. There's a couple spots that really blindsided me.

The tone of this game really works wonders. So far, I'm just really impressed by the game. Just... Ahhhh! Everything about it puts such a smile on my face. This game does an incredible job at capturing that whimsical, dream-like tone from the SNES and PS1 era, and the VAs all sound unique and really fitting for their parts. Of course I've only heard a few of the characters but so far, this VO isn't disappointing me. Well done Buchholz (and Kirk).

@SNaG I do understand why you'd be concerned about it. I mean the first Dissdia game wasn't really ideal in some ways when it came to VA, and I've heard that FF7 movie had mixed receptions as well. However! Kingdom Hearts, Crisis Core and Dissidia 012 were all pretty good efforts from Bob IMO. So the good outweighs the bad in my eyes!

And Kirk Thornton is pretty good at voice directing too (if the examples you mentioned are any indication) so I'm glad to hear that NCZ had positive impressions about everyone's work on the game!

@SNaG I was specifically referring to the second Kingdom Hearts game BTW. Just to avoid any confusion...

@NCZ Yeah, honestly, I was pleasantly surprised as well. There's some issues, but overall a pretty decent effort from them.

@NCZ That's a pretty glowing endorsement of the VO, which is good. The game looks like a fun love letter and not an insipid cash grab like the mobile games, so it's good that they went all out on the VO too.

@HylianBelmont Yeah, I was trying to be measured about it. It's not that I recoil if I see Bob Buchholz or something, it's just that sometimes I feel the VO could be better as a whole.

I've listened to some clips though, and it sounds like it might be one of his best efforts. As NCZ said, the lighter tone helps, but this voice acting is pretty superb. Josh Keaton is doing great (Lann seems like a pretty standard anime-game protagonist but Josh Keaton playing one is super welcome), I'm pleasantly surprised at the baritone Ray Chase is using for Edgar, and Christina Rose is really good as Celes.

@SNaG Fair enough. And yes Josh Keaton's voice is definitely really cool to hear on an anime-game protagonist! (It's one of the reasons why I like Cam Clarke's voice for Corrin a lot actually, although I think he's done a few in the past as well...)

@HylianBelmont Just by changing up who plays such a protagonist can have an overall positive effect on how the character is perceived. With all due respect to great VAs like Yuri, JYB, Josh Grelle, and Bryce (and heck, maybe Max Mittelman or Robbie Daymond in the near future, they're in a crapton of dubs these days), it gets tiring to hear them as JRPG/anime protagonists all the time, so variety is welcome.

(I know the variety is easier to pull of here because the game is union, and that the game is union because it's part of SE's biggest series, but I would like to think that "being non-union" and "having variety" aren't mutually exclusive.)

@SNaG I mean hey! English dubs of games like Xenoblade Chronicles X and Fire Emblem Fates pretty much show that you CAN have a pretty diverse non-union voice cast.

So yes. I'd say that they aren't mutually exclusive really!

@HylianBelmont Of course! Unfortunately, those seem to be the exceptions rather than the norm, and even then, Yuri was a vocal choice in both. May be a deeper voice than we normally hear, but still.

@SNaG Didn't mean to imply they were both the norm (I wish!) but yes.

He did at least try something a lot deeper than his usual "Yuri Lowenthal protagonist" but he still sounded kind of....indistinct in the role. If you get what I mean. Like it didn't feel like he truly became "Corrin" with the voice and performance that he used.

With all that said. I still really liked his voices for Marth and Kiragi (although you can still tell they're both him haha) and him being a voice option for the two games hardly invalidates the casting overall in my opinion!

@luigi3ds

My copy shipped so wait for me to get ahold of the credits.

Okay I've got the credits. Please give me some time to run errands and they'll be up when I'm back.

@NCZ Based NCZ, fighting the good fight.

I'mma back, and man oh MAN, this cast is a whopper.

@NCZ Yay! Tara Strong Rikku is back! :D

@NCZ You have to love Square Enix dub casts! They're always pretty impressive!

@HylianBelmont IKR! It's also great to hear Jessie Flower in another role!

@TheKrystalite I just listened to her "Legend of Korra" character, and she does seem pretty good!

@SNaG Just putting this out there, if Vivi's dub VA was only in KH because of Disney's paying double scale...I think Debi Derryberry would make a solid replacement. She's got more-or-less the same voice as Otani, has dubbed several of her characters, & excels at these characters.

As for reprisals...Keith for Gilgamesh. I'm assuming this isn't Jack Fletcher directing, unfortunately, & it's a smaller-budget production, so understandably. It may be coincidental, seeing as this hasn't deterred John reprising in the past, but Keith sounds closer to the current Japanese voice I suppose. I'm assuming it's mostly irrelevant (havent played the games) as the character is the same.

For Snow...ooh, tough call. Hoping this is big enough for Troy, considering it's a union game & all, but I can imagine he demands well over double scale, & most of MKX's VA's havent been in Final Fantasy. But well, we *do* have Josh Keaton in here, so time will tell. & Matt would be good for replacing him, if he werent to return. If it were so, I'd have him perfect Troy's "edgier" tone like he did (albeit for one line) as Hawkeye.

@huzaifa_ahmed Hit the nail on the head for Gilgamesh and Vivi, though I'm glad you kind of missed it for Troy.

I like Keith, he's a good VA, and he does a fine Gilgamesh, but I prefer John's take.

@immblueversion Unvoiced? A lot of these guys have had voices, mainly grunts, but still..That's like saying Pikachu doesn't have a voice.

@huzaifa_ahmed

FF I through IX had absolutely no voice acting at all. What are you talking about?

@NCZ As LR had a great share of Animation/VG and anime VAs, I'm all up for that.

Key words: "when", "blossom", and "lead role".

;)

On a side note, cool that Tidus, Squall, Lightning, and Yuna seem to have their English VAs back, and getting to see other characters like Faris, Quistis, and Celes voiced for the first time is awesome!

@AmericanBuizel There's a chance he could be in this. We've only seen a very small part of the game so far so I'm sure there are more characters to come. Actually I wouldn't be surprised if all (or at least most of) of the mainline FF protagonists appear in some form.

@AmericanBuizel Yuna will be in the game, so Tidus might not be far behind!

@AmericanBuizel

https://youtu.be/N4Gz7BislTw?t=1m24s

He's here!