Bristol-born actor Ben Starr is behind the voice of Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy XVI, and the latest promotional video for the upcoming RPG is all about the main character. Producer Naoki Yoshida and localisation director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox sit down with Starr to discuss the game's protagonist, while also giving us some insight into the actual role.
It's honestly a really good watch, and Starr comes across as a very genuine guy. When he first snagged the role, Starr admits he was "so scared of the responsibility".
"I knew how much it meant to me, how much these games and these stories have meant to me," he continues. "Every day, I would go into the booth, for like the first month, and I thought I was going to get fired," says Starr, as Yoshida and Fox break into laughter.
"I thought I was going to turn up, and you guys were going to be like, 'here's the entire story of Final Fantasy XVI. Read it, oh and by the way, you're fired.' And I thought, this is the worst thing, I know the whole story of Final Fantasy XVI and I don't even have the job anymore." It's safe to say that Starr was more than a bit nervous!
Funnily enough, Fox reveals that Starr wasn't the team's first choice for the voice of Clive. The first choice actor's schedule simply didn't work out, and so an auditioning process was kicked into gear. Funnier still, Starr wasn't even auditioning for Clive — he was there to claim the role of a "very minor" character, according to Fox.
However, the auditioning staff quickly pointed out that Starr could be a perfect fit for the leading man, and when Fox heard the voice, he immediately knew that Clive was sorted. "Koji came to me, all excited," Yoshida remembers. "We've found someone. I'm telling you — he's Clive!"
Again, the full video's well worth a watch. And you know, we actually met Starr at a Final Fantasy XVI preview event. He told us that he was an avid Trophy hunter, so you can bet he'll be chasing that all-important Platinum.
Comments 19
I don’t know why he was scared.
Has he never heard the awful voice acting in Final Fantasy X or XII? Even XIII and XV were rough.
Square isn’t that strict with their English voice work. In fact I’d say the only Final Fantasy game with truly good voice acting so far is Final Fantasy VII Remake.
@OrtadragoonX I can't think of any bad voice actors in FF12. I'd even go as far as saying it's some of the best in the genre.
@OrtadragoonX XII has stellar voice acting, honestly some of the best in the series.
Everytime I want to mock "Clive" I remember it's far less loopy than Cloud, Squall, Terra, Lightning, Noctis, Luneth, Bartz, Vaan, Tidus or The Warrior of Light.
As you were Clive, as you were...
@Kanji-Tatsumi Honestly, the bar isn't very high, but I personally think 12 has the best actual dialogue writing and voice acting in the entire series. If 16 can come close to that (and it looks like it will), it'll be great.
@Kanji-Tatsumi FF XII is one of the very few JRPGs that I don't reflexively set to JP voice at the first opportunity. Not super-fond of Vaan & Penelo's voicework on either track, tho'. X, I eventually grew to tolerate the EN dub (since my Japanese sucks, the alternative was using a mod which leaves subtitle & animation timings out of sync with the voice track). I initially though Yuna's part sounded phoned-in but it later becomes clear why she's talking that way.
@themightyant Clive is hardly the first FF playable character, or even main character, who had a fairly common English given name: we've had Maria, Guy, Leon, Richard, Cecil, Rosa, Edward, Tina, Edgar, Vincent, Claire* & probably some more I don't remember.
Dude was born for the role since the 1st reveal trailer. I wonder who the 1st choice couldve been but I can't not hear ben starr as Clive anymore lol. I've not heard a single line of dialogue in the hours of gameplay and trailers they've put out that sounds remotely bad
Whoever is in charge of the voice direction needs to be put in charge for every other game, especially Xenoblade!
@dancingstar93 I deliberately excluded Cecil, and had forgotten Terra was originally Tina, but most of the others weren't the main protagonists which is what my list was made up of. Regardless it was more a joke about how there is usually someone complaining about 'Clive', I was just getting in there first.
EDIT: good name BTW, Great song!
I'll take a name like Clive over any kind of faux Latin "noctic lucias" nonsense any day.
Hmm I think the best voice acting so far was probably in FF9, and everything before.
@kyleforrester87 Was that because you sat there voicing every character to enhance your immersion?
@ShogunRok exactly, though I could never quite nail Daggers lines during that section where she’s mute.
It was something like dot dot dot dot dot. Or dot dot dot dot dot dot. Or dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot.
Haha. Spank me silly.
@Judal27 Same opinion here, I've been sold on his voice ever since the very first trailer.
@OrtadragoonX voice acting in X is fine. The problem is the voice direction. XII's voice acting is probably one of the best in the franchise. The only problem with it is that the sound seem compressed, likely due to the limitations of the PS2 back then
The voice acting in A Realm Reborn was woeful but improved each time with each expansion. Admiral Merlwyb's voice was amazing though and I was gutted when they changed her VA.
@Michael2008ish Some of the IX characters are voiced (well, barks / battle shouts rather than full dialogue) in Dissidia Omnia Opera, tho' this being a gacha-based mobage with a paper-thin story I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to play it. Vivi & Eiko appear & are voiced in World of Final Fantasy (the "guests" in WoFF are alternate-universe versions with different tho' analogous backstories but the same general personality).
All this talk of bad voice acting in Final Fantasy games and not one person has mentioned Stranger of Paradise 🤔
@OrtadragoonX XII has great voice acting, so does the XIII trilogy, World of FF, VII remake, XIV. DS remake of IV has pretty good voice acting too. XV’s is good but not great. X was the start of voice acting for FF and actually is pretty good, even with the cringy laugh scene
@dancingstar93 dissidia OO is Japanese voices only. English voices for Dissida is in the other games
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