That infamous laugh that Tidus does in Final Fantasy X - you know what it is, right? If not, we suggest that you watch this video, or this article won't make much sense. Consistently referred to as one of the worst voice acting performances in video games, it's about time that we learned the truth about this now legendary cutscene.
Fortunately, Tidus' English voice actor, the incredibly friendly James Arnold Taylor, recently uploaded a video to his personal YouTube channel that explains the whole story. According to Taylor, the laugh was absolutely meant to be "awkward, goofy, and dumb". He continues: "The laugh was on purpose, okay? It was written that way, it was supposed to be like that." Case closed.
Okay, so maybe the laugh does still sound awful - especially by today's standards - but you've got to take into account how far video game voice acting and writing has come since. In any case, we're just glad that Taylor's taken the time to clear it up once and for all.
Oh, and by the way, Taylor also confirms that it's pronounced "Tee-dus", not "Tie-dus". We've been saying this for years but people still like to argue.
Comments 21
to be honest ANYBODY playing that game with half a brain who listened to what the characters were saying and the situation they was in knew it was a forced laugh and meant to sound silly anyway
I laughed the same way when I read those last tweets from Hitman devs...
MGS1 was a good few years prior, and its voice acting is still up there with the best IMO. Yeah the scripts a bit hammy but it works.
Been pronouncing his name wrong this long, not goin to change now
Good gracious Tidus is a glasses nerd. jk
@FullbringIchigo Agreed. It was always/is always awkward to watch, but that was the point.
Also, for years people have been correcting me. It's TEE-dus! Not TIE-dus! Two which I reply, it's not my fault they gave him the worst name ever. I'm just trying to make it sound a little better at least.
Insert "It's lev-i-Ooooh-sa, not levi-o-SA!" reference here.
Hey, the guy was top notch as Yosuke in Persona 4 so he's definitely the real deal. I like his stuff
@FullbringIchigo Exactly. It's always bugged me when people say that it's a dreadfully forced laugh.
@glassmusic
@Cowboysfan-22 Wasn't Yosuke voiced by Yuri Lowenthal?
@ShogunRok you're right! I just looked it up. But they sound so similar. I've always made that connection and it's been completely wrong. I feel dumb. Haha
To be fair, Tidus already looks kinda silly wearing those overalls.
Is this really new? I thought everyone knew this for a while now.
@kyleforrester87 That's kinda why MGS stood out back then. By the standards even then it was pretty good. It was an exception rather than the rule.
Haha I liked this part! It's an annoying laugh but it felt appropriate for his character at the time.
I'll probably still call him "Tie-dus", even though I understand that it's wrong. It's just what has always felt right and "Tee-dus" just doesn't sound right to me.
@Cowboysfan-22 Nah, now that you mention it, I can definitely see why you thought it was the same actor. I guess Yosuke and Tidus kind of have the same hair style too...
That video reminds me of Sir Ian Mckellen teaching ricky jervais how to act in extras "I'm not really a wizard. I just thought, what would a look like, how would a wizard sound. Then I pretened to be a wizard"
@ekreig
Indeed it was... When I read this article I was already wondering if it was "Ballsack's" laugh they were talking about. That's pronounced 'ball-sack'.
He was hanging out with Auron and Khimari - anything to release the tension right?
As others have said above the laugh was meant like that. the voice acting was great in my opinion. Especially Rikku,,.
Hahahahahahaha.
Seems like a cool, down to earth guy. Good video.
Isnt this the same guy who does the speaking for Ratchet in Ratchet and clank.
@DragonSlayer1759 Ever since Going Commando, yeah. He's also the titular character in Johnny Test, Spidey now and then (definitely in the first Lego Marvel game), Obi-Wan Kenobi in the cartoons...dude gets around.
In context, the reality of this laugh is blatantly obvious. The only way I understand judging it is seeing JUST the laugh without the rest of the cutscene online. To be fair, FFX10 wasn't the BEST acted game in general, but it was the first voiced FF and it was dubbed instead of re-animated so it was kind of an uphill battle.
Also, I blame the moronic decision to let you rename Tidus for people pronouncing it wrong, as they couldn't voice it in the original game. It wasn't until Dissidia that I learned how to say it correctly, but I didn't have too much trouble correcting my habits from that point.
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