Final fantasy 14 fans are concerned that Jonathan Bailey, People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive this year, may have been recast as Enix SquareMMORPG – or at least recorded under adverse conditions.
Bailey has voiced fan-favorite catboy G'raha Tia since the Stormblood expansion released in 2017. But that was before he starred in films like The Bridgertons, Wicked and Jurassic World Rebirth, which skyrocketed his fame.
Final Fantasy 14 released Update 7.4 this week, expanding the story and new song by Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine. However, fans have noticed that G'rah Tia's voice sounds a little strange.
One Reddit thread positions either the character is no longer voiced by Bailey, or he was recording outside the studio – likely between other major projects he was working on.
“It feels like they're minimizing his speech – in the first two quests he only had two lines, and at one point he just gave a thumbs up,” the report said. “He felt noticeably silent on behalf of G'raha, a man who is too sentimental to barely say anything goodbye.”
The poster later added that they think it's still Bailey, but the combination of a hoarse throat and a poor microphone “adds a rough edge to his voice.”
Fans have also been sharing comparison videos on social media to highlight the differences in the voice acting.
Manage your cookie settings
Manage your cookie settings
In an interview with BAFTA last year, Bailey highlighted Final Fantasy 14, along with his other voice roles, and how important the character is to fans.
“I realize how important this character is to a lot of people,” he said. “I was so determined to stay with this character that when I did Company, [in the West End in 2018] I had to record it during the day for about a week, doing eight shows a night, and my tongue got inflamed. So I think the die-hard fans have a few hours of play where I sound a little lispy because of that. So I apologize.”
Thus, fans are hoping that he is still working on the game despite the obvious changes in quality.
A spokesman for Bailey said: My city he “will not be commenting on or participating in any interviews regarding Final Fantasy 14 at this time.” Square Enix did not respond to Eurogamer's request for comment.
What is clear is that the size of G'rah Tia's role has definitely shrunk since the success of Shadowbringers, although whether this is due to Bailey or simply storytelling is unknown. Indeed, one of the criticisms of the latest Dawntrail expansion is that many popular characters don't get enough screen time.
“In terms of the Heirs not playing a more active role until later in the story, to be honest, that's something I intentionally wanted to try,” director and producer. Naoki Yoshida told me last year.
“I understand that there are people who always want the Descendants to be at the center of the story, but at the same time there are people who demand something new instead. So it was a conscious attempt on my part to experiment and see how the balance worked out.”
As such, it remains to be seen whether G'raha Tia or other popular characters could be removed from the game in the future. No doubt we will get answers to Fan Fest events next year.
