Recompilation of Ray Chase (Noctis, Edgar) AMA on /r/FinalFantasy (Dec 14th 2016)

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Lulcielid

Warrior of Light
Oct 9, 2014
3,826
2,826
29
Argentina
#1
Link to the AMA in question. From FF related questions to personal life, voice acting roles and random ones. This recompilation will have most of his replies but not all since some of them are just simple comments and greetings for his VA role and career.

Q:
1) What was your favorite scene/line to voice?
2) What summon from another FF game would you want in FFXV
RC:
1) My favorite voice lines I think have been supplanted by what we recorded for the Holiday DLC - there are some in there that are GOLD. PURE GOLD. Get excited.
2) I would like to see Alexander done up all realistic style, like a skyscraper from Insomnia...

Q: My question is was how hard was breaking into the voice acting scene for you, and were there any moments that you felt like giving up?
RC: Breaking in is a really gradual process and you're constantly beset by failure - there's no time that you've actually 'made it' until the day you can quit your part time job, and even then you still have to apply for work every single day.
Giving up was not an option for me!

Q: So, Noct, I've been takin' pics of whatever catches my eye, but what do you wanna see?
RC: I think it's interesting that there's no Prompto option there - i guess because you have to wait for him to achieve 'selfie' level but still...

Q:
1) Do you have a favourite line from Noct?
2) What's your favourite thing about him?
3) Favourite FFXV character? (Apart of Noctis, duh)
4) Tell us a secret
RC:
1)So far, I gotta say beeeeeeeeeeeeans.
2)I truly love how three-dimensional he is. You get to see him at all points - quiet intimacy, brazen action, and extreme emotional distress. An actor's dream!
3)Ardyn is just soo cool...
4)I'm just crap at Overwatch. I always let my team down!

Q: Wait you did voice work for Xenoblade? What character were you?
RC: Why I was L'Cirufe of course! Pleasure for you to meet at you!

Q: How much do you love the taste of delicious, healthy Cup Noodles?
RC: We recorded two versions of the really over-selly lines - one sincere, one eye-rolling ironic. I'm quite pleased that they went with the latter! "I know I sure do."
Obligatory

Q: How does it feel to be the voice actor of a character that's in one of my top 5 games of all time ?
RC: To be honest, it still hasn't sunk in that people have really played this game. My life hasn't changed in any way, nor do I see people playing this other than youtubers.
Video games take place in people's living rooms, at home... something people who work on them never see. So when I see comments like this it really gives me pause. So yeah, thank you. I believe you, but it still seems unreal...

Q: When exactly did you acquire the role of Noctis (Like, what year?) and did they let you play an early version of FFXV around that time to help you get a feel of the world and what to expect?
RC: Auditions went out in September of 2014 - and we recorded Duscae starting the following month in October. It's been a long ride, but not as long as Suziki-san's six and a half years!
I traveled out to Square Enix JP and TBT and friends gave me a hero's welcome. It was really heartwarming. That was January of this year and they had a playable version of Leide that I got to mess around in for a bit. But there was so much other exciting stuff that I didn't play too long!

Q: were there any moments that made you cry during FFXV recordings?
RC: Well, that campfire scene I cried throughout. Real tears, real emotion, real catharsis at having come that far.

Q: I have a question specifically about Chapter 13. The conversation between Noctis and Ardyn was incredible; easily some of my favorite dialogue in the game (that isn't the comedic stuff). How intense was the recording session(s) for that? You absolutely nailed that entire performance, it was really like you experienced it yourself.
RC: We were very fortunate to do most of the 2-year recording chronologically. Chapter by chapter we got the story scripts over the months, with pick-ups as needed. So by the time it was time for the final showdown with Ardyn - I was ready. I had been prepared emotionally - learning just how twisted and evil he was throughout the storyline as each twist of the knife went through Noct's stomach.
Yeah, that hatred was major.

Q:
1) Just wondering other than the FF games that you're in which was your favorite?
2) Oh and one more. Which Noctis voice did you prefer, the super manly man voice from The original Duscae demo, or the one in the final product?
RC:
1) I love Tactics, V, VIII, X, and even X-2 was a favorite.
2) While the super manly voice was really cool and would have been a very original idea for a JRPG hero - it's good that we didn't go with it because of the 10 year timeline through the game. He would have been very deep coming out of the crystal!

Q: Did you record anything that didn't make it into the final game?
RC: I'll have a better understanding in a few months when I've 100%ed this game!

Q: What do you consider to be the funniest scene you recorded in FFXV?
RC: There's so much funny stuff in this game... One of my favorites is something like "You think this is a game?" "Uh, yeah?"
But I keep harping on it because it's fresh on my mind...but the Holiday DLC... is sooo frkn funny

Q: Do you have any fun or interesting stories from your time recording your lines for the game?
RC:
Well my dog Milo attended almost every session. He's an incredible studio dog and just sleeps by my feet during recording. But he was the life of the party during break-times, constantly trying to steal everyone's food!
I hope that deeply buried in one of my lines is a small Milo snore...

Q:
1) My question to you is- what helped you immerse yourself as Noctis?
2) Are there any attributes of his character that you relate to in real life? Do you like fishing? Ha!
RC:
1) Music is a huge thing for me to help with immersion - every day I drove in listening to music from XV, which at the time was not very much!
2) And while I relate to his not liking vegetables and being nervous around girls, I can't stand fishing in real life. I'd relate to the chocobros in that sense, cat-calling from the peanut gallery!

Q: Have you been asked by square to voice act Noct in anything else? COUGH Kingdom Hearts 3 COUGH and if you haven't, how would you feel about playing Noctis in Kingdom Hearts 3? I just... Really want him in there man... I've grown so attached...
RC: Whoever put us down on imdb for that either is a liar or has more insight than we have! No plans as far as I know of, but of course I'd be happy to be in such a stellar series.

Q: Greetings Ray! In another interview, you mentioned that your favorite games were FFV and FFVIII. Why do you like those two so much?
RC: FFV captures perfectly my conception of "fantasy" perfectly. It's a joy to play - from the puzzle dungeons to the class system, and the funny characters and dialogue.
FFVIII has a lot of great stuff too - I especially loved the draw system once I figured it out. The story and characters were really unique as well - and I found myself really WANTING to play more as I went along, something that other games in the series lack.

Q:
1) Who is your favorite character and why?
2) Can you tell us anything about the DLCs? :p
RC:
1) Favorite character - gotta be Noctis. He goes through so much and totally transforms as a character in voice, appearance, and outlook.
2) DLCs are looking amazing! We recorded for the Holiday DLC and there are some lines in there that are maybe the funniest things I've ever had the chance to say.

Q:
1) Did you and the voice actors for the other Chocobros do a lot of "team building" things together before you started recording lines?
2) Would you please share a fun or funny moment that happened when you four were hanging out together?
RC:
1) Oh honey...I'm sorry to say that the four of us have never all been in one place! Such is the nature of video games. Robbie and I see each other all the time though because we work on so much stuff together!
2) Keythe Farley deserves all the credit for keeping us all sounding like we knew each other! I think he did a fantastic job.

Q:
1) Of all the lovely recipes Ignis comes up with, which of them would you be most inclined to eat?
2) Of all the Final Fantasies in the series, which is your favourite? (Can be any, be it mainline or spin-off)
RC:
1) Good question! The Golden Egg Galette looks sooo refreshingly delicious... That or the french fries!
2) Ah - well then everyone knows the correct answer is Tactics so I'll say it here! Although honestly FFXV is looking pretty damn good so far...

Q:
1) How are you liking FFXV so far?
2) The post-credit campfire scene where Noctis tells his buddies "You guys are the best" is one of the most touching and emotional moments I've ever witnessed in a game and your voice work for that scene is half the reason why it was so moving. How did you prepare for that scene? What do you think of this scene?
RC:
1) I'm so excited to play this game. I think it exemplifies actual pure fun that I haven't felt in a game in a long time. Overwatch is the only other thing this year that comes to mind as being fun to play.
2) I'm so happy this scene made it into the game. It really puts a button on the main thrust of the game, that despite all the politics, warfare, destruction - the thing that mattered the most was brotherhood. And it stayed strong through those ten years. I'm getting choked up just writing this!

Q: Have you had a chance to beat the game? Also, how many lines that you recorded ended up being unused?
RC:
Unfortunately I haven't had enough time these past couple weeks. Things are insane at the end of the year with projects having deadlines.
I'm on Chapter 7 right now and I plan on doing all the side-quests no matter what.

Q:
1) What part of the character Noctis do you relate to most? What personal experiences did you channel to gain motivation for this character?
2) Do you plan on doing the English dub for the Brotherhood anime? The ffXV universe is filled with extras like Brotherhood and Kingsglaive that compliment the main story and it would be great if they kept a cohesiveness by adding the OG english actors for the dub.
RC:
1) One thing that I really connected me to Noct's journey was also my journey as an actor working on this. It was my very first time in a professional video game setting and I was really green - still finding my way about how to act both as an actor and as a person! Noct is also a pretty awkward guy who has to really find himself on his journey, too.
2) Unfortunately no plans to dub anything yet... I think maybe we'll try to do a kickstarter or something in the future to do a fan-dub?

Q:
1) Forgive me for a storyline related question, but you seem to be the best person to ask. In the ending, what happened the rest of the Chocobros? It’s pretty darn clear to me that they survived (otherwise it would cheapen the “Walk tall, my friends” statement, plus they would have attended the wedding. The scene in the crystal is their metaphorical spirit.) I see that everyone is debating on this though, so was hoping you could shed some light.
2) If you can’t answer the above question, could you tell us how you got the role, and at that time did you know you would be voicing the main character of the next FF series? How did you react?
RC:
1) In my personal interpretation... yeah. It makes for a better story, doesn't it?
2) For your second question - yes, I was aware of the gravity of the audition. And when I found out I immediately called Max Mittelman (Saitama from OPM) so we could freak out together! Then I called my mom and explained what Final Fantasy was. :)

Q:
1)What's your personal interpretation for the ending (both scenes)?
2) would you marry Luna in real life??
RC: When we talked about the ending during recording, we talked of it as 'the afterlife'. I'm happy with that.

Q: Alright I have an important question....Kill, kiss, or marry -- Gladio, Ignis, and Prompto :p
RC: I thought this would be a tough question, but it's really not! There's actually only one right answer.
Kill Glady, kiss Prompto, marry the amazing cook Ignis.

To be continued below--->
 

Lulcielid

Warrior of Light
Oct 9, 2014
3,826
2,826
29
Argentina
#2
---> Continued

Q: If you could voice any video game character, whether from a past game, an upcoming game, or a potential future game, who would you pick and why?
RC: Man oh man this question comes up a lot and it's really tough!
I think once the master Charles Martinet steps down, I'd love to give Mario/Luigi/Wario/Waluigi a shot. I was forever repeating his lines back when playing those games!

Q: Hey Ray! Can you go into detail about the transition from the Duscae demo "Batman" like voice to what it is now? Did Tabby yell at you :D
RC: TBT did not yell at me! At least, I hope not. :)
The transition was quite a long process of making sure I could do a higher pitched voice and then ACT in that voice. It took a nail-biting month of re-auditioning with the director and production company giving their time so graciously for this unpaid process. I am forever grateful that the director, Keythe, and Rocket Sound stood up for me and allowed me to give it another shot.
After the voice was set and acting ability confirmed, we re-recorded all the stuff we did for Duscae, including efforts and call-outs. We listened to each line as we re-did it and it felt like we were 'cleaning Noct up' each time!

Q:
1)Do you feel you and Noctis have any similarities? If so, what are they?
2) Somewhat related: how do you feel about beans?
RC:
1) Noct and I are both pretty shy around girls. And vegetables? Yeah. No.
2) However I do really like beans. They're not really all that...vegetal.

Q:
1) Did you have a blast when recording?
2) What was the most difficult aspect of Noctis' character you had to voice?
RC:
1) I had a ton of fun recording! Having a semi-steady job as a voice actor is the best thing you could ask for. Routinely seeing the same faces was a real treat.
2) The hardest thing for Noctis is my weakness as an actor - 'throwing it away'. Lines that are meant to be said offhand like 'sure seems like it' or 'we'll see about that' I can't help but imbue with drama. We had to do lots of retakes of those 'empty' lines.
But later on the localization director said that it actually fits the character, because Noct does have trouble just being a normal dude, so my weakness ended up being a strength!

Q: Did either of them inspire you to apply for a role in FFXV? Or did you even know it was gonna be FFXV beforehand?
RC: The auditions for this game were under a codename and I hadn't followed the XIII Versus story so I didn't recognize the characters at all. They were just a cattle call sent through my agency. I also got sent Ignis and Gladio and did terrible jobs with both. :)

Q:
1) Would you voice act on future entries in the Final Fantasy franchise?
2) Which bro is your faverouiteasdeaskhsdjf bro?
RC:
1) Absolutely! Although after giving me two characters, it's probably someone else's turn. :)
2) In terms of gameplay I rely on Ignis the most, but Prompto's got so much heart.

Q: Did the you know what the fate of Noctis was going to be in the very very last scene (with Luna)? You only had one line, so I was wondering if you got to see the rest of scene during recording or at least told what happened? I am, personally, really happy that they finally get to be together (even though they are dead) after all the crap that they've gone through :) What are your thoughts on his fate?
RC: I did know about the overall plotline with Luna, and I was really impressed they went with a heartbreaking story. There's a lot of people that wish for more interaction between them, but I'm of the camp that it's all the more tragic that she dies right when they finally meet again. Incredible.
But yes, it's absolutely necessary that we get that last scene. That way you've earned the happy ending because you sacrificed so much

Q: When you unlock the Regalia Type-F, the line Where we're going we don't need roads, was that seriously in the script? or was that made up on the spot? Either way this awesome
RC: The localization team had a ton of fun and creative freedom in the script. All the fun references you see there are a result of their creative genius!

Q: How did you get into VA? What advice would you give to a beginner or someone looking to get into the business? How long were you a VA before you landed a gaming gig?
RC: I think a really important piece of advice is to realize that you can't have much of a career if you can't do commercial or narration work. It's the thing that will get you an agent because it's the lion's share of jobs that come in. It's not the most fun, but it's necessary to get started!

Q: Hiya Ray. Quick question, do you play pokemon?
RC: Hell yeah Pokemon is great! But I've been on the series since the beginning with Red/Blue/Yellow, Snap, and Colisseum days and haven't kept up with the new releases unfortunately. :(

Q: Hey Ray, thanks for doing this my question(s) is about Noctis' personality. Noct is a character people have known about for ten years now, but it's only been over the last several weeks that the majority of the fanbase has gotten to know his personality well and the awkward, kind dork prince that we have all come to appreciate is seemingly very different then the sad brooding murder machine we first met in 2006.
So my question is, were you surprised by Noctis' actual personality when you got the part? Was he always like this during your time with him or was he tweaked over the years? Thanks for any answers man, you were awesome.
RC: When the audition copy was first sent out, they were pretty clear that our prince was not going to be a one-dimensional Duke Nukem type. But even so, I was consistently surprised at how goofy he ended up being as new scripts came in during recording. I think it came off really well in the end. I hear fewer 'emo' comments these days now that it's out!

Q: Are you friends with any of the other voice actors that are in FFXV?
RC: All varying degrees - yes! Robbie I see all the time because we're on so many projects together, plus all the conventions. Adam is hard to track down because he's off being handsome and charming filming in places unknown. Chris is really nice but I've only met him twice and he's really not into gaming as much...

Q:
1) How did you get into VA work? Is it something you've always wanted to do or did you have other plans at any point?
2) If you had to play one game for the rest of your life, which would it be?
RC:
1) It's a long and winding path of commercial work, promos, and toooooons of audiobooks. It's something I've always wanted to do. I made a demo tape on my cassette player in middle school!
2) I'm gonna cheat and say Fallout with Tale of Two Wastelands mod. :)

Q: Hey Ray, when you voice act your scenes, do you typically get to watch the scene before or during your recording? For example at the end when Noctis says, "You guys are the best!" or "Kings of Lucis, come to me!" , did you get to see exactly how the emotion was being physically portrayed so that you could match it with your voice?
RC: Pretty much anything that is rendered in-game we did not get to see. It's always really interesting seeing how scenes turned out that I had to imagine in my head while recording. Fortunately for this game we had the luxury of re-takes once the game was complete - we could fix any obvious mistakes due to character movement that we didn't know about.
For the big cutscenes like the ending and the throne room - yes. Those we did to picture so we could get everything exactly right!


Q: I just wanna know if any of you Voice Actors looked at the script for the Cup of Noodle's quest and talked smack about it.
RC: Oh believe me, for every eye-rolling bit of dialogue we had many a comment to make. I'm really happy they ended up with the 'over-zealous Gladio' takes coupled with our 'we are now on commercial break' takes!

Q: did you feel any pressure at playing Noct after all the build up Versus XIII/XV had for the past decade? Many fans were practically frothing at the mouth for this game when it was still Versus XIII (myself included obviously) and when it came time to do the voice work were you nervous at all at messing things up for something like this that was long in the making? Or were you just hoping to give as great a performance as you could hand hoping that the rest of FFXV would hold up regardless? Please be as detailed as you want/need.
RC: Hm...well I honestly couldn't screw it up because I had the team behind me to guide me! The most nervous I ever got was at the callback auditions when freaking Thane Krios was the casting director and I was starstruck!

Q: Anyways, who is best girl? Luna? Iris? Aranea?
RC: ......Aranea. :)

Q: if Noctis and the gang were to team up with any other final fantasy characters, which would make the most compelling storyline?
RC: I mean they gotta join the Gullwings, right? That would be so cool - now how would the shipping work...?

Q:
1) What is your favorite FF job class?
2) What are some of your favorite FF scenes? This of course includes FFXV
3) Are you single? Gotta ask cause you said you were shy around girls :p
RC:
1) Favorite job class changes with each game - I like variety and keeping it creative. So in that respect I do enjoy Red Mages - a little bit of everything!
2) Obviously the campfire scene from XV is awesome, but I also love both the very beginning and very last cutscenes of VIII. Trippy stuff.
3) I'm taken. :)

Q: Who is your favourite villain in the FF series? Personally Ardyn has taken the top spot for me. Also what were your thoughts on Chapter 13? It seems hit and miss but I really liked it.
RC: I'm only on Chapter 7 myself right now - but I'm all for the survival horror kind of gameplay Chapter 13 seems to be.
Ardyn and Kefka are right now at the top for me! I'll see how it all goes down in the end.

Q: Who do you think has a more realistic sense of Love, Prince Noctis or Puri Puri Prisoner?
RC: They both have different, and not entirely wrong, viewpoints.
Noct sees Love as a romantic relationship between two individuals.
Puri Puri Prisoner sees it a Darwinian struggle of the strong protecting the weak.

Q: what's the one thing you think you could learn from Noctis, and one thing you could perhaps teach him?
RC: Noct teaches me how to struggle with loss - and I could teach him how to drive with a seatbelt on.

Q: How much creative control do you have over how a voice should sound? I imagine they show you the character you're to play, and you get a feel for them; did you get to interject how you felt Noctis should be voiced at all? Or is it 100% Square's say?
RC: It's 100% a collaboration between the two! There was a lot of back and forth and trying out new voices and styles until we at last nailed the voice down. My audition voice doesn't even sound anything like Noct at this point - it's super weird!

Q: When you were acting did you start to feel the role? As the plot thickened, did you start feeling for your character?
RC: Absolutely. Especially whenever Luna's name came up my throat tightened when I realized what was at stake.

Q:
1) Anyhow, there was alot of banter through out the game, and it seemed very natural, was there a heavy director influence on this, or was it largely free voiced? And how much of it would you say was done with the other VO's?
2) Also do you have a favorite song from the game?
RC:
1) I think Sun Smiling Down on Me is an incredible song for driving IRL!
2) But as far as the Florence Songs - I adore "I Will Be". So. Damn. Beautiful.

Q: So how did you know you were chasing you know who in the train in chapter 11?
RC: I was told major plot points from the beginning of our recording process, but some of the minor scenes were surprises. When the train scene ended and the twist was set - it totally blew my mind, and the lines that Ardyn/Prompto were saying suddenly made perfect sense. That's some really cool writing.

Q: Hey Ray! So I am curious, what is it like to play a game that you have done voice work in yourself? With FFXV being such a story driven game does it dampen your enjoyment of the game in any way being the voice of the main character? Does it throw you off hearing your own voice come out of Noct as you play the game yourself?
RC: Noct's voice isn't 100% my own - it's slightly different. So I actually forget at times that it's me and get really into the gameplay!

---> To be continued below
 

Lulcielid

Warrior of Light
Oct 9, 2014
3,826
2,826
29
Argentina
#3
---> Continued

Q:

1) If you could befriend one of the four main characters, who would it be and why?
2) Your fav track from any of the soundtracks in the series?
3) What kind of music do you like? Any band recommendations?
RC:
1)I need a friend like Gladio who would force me to go to the gym more...
2) Jeez no way I could pick just one! No way I could pick five! "Fisherman's Horizon", "J-E-N-O-V-A", and the Ifrit battle music are tops but I feel terribly unfinished saying that.
3) Music history is a huge hobby of mine and I love everything. My favorites are Tchaikovsky, Scott Joplin, Yes, and this new Japanese band called Sports in Vasque.



Q: You did the voice of Colin Kaepernick on "The Madden 16". How do you feel about his stance and not standing during the national anthem, and do you regret doing his voice because of it?
RC: Hahaha the full name of the role was "Colin Kaepernick as Al Pacino from Scent of a Woman" - so all he says is "HOO-AH". No ragrets



Q: Do you know to what extent square intends to pad out the second half of the game? Do you think Noctis will make it into the new Dissidia game Square is working on?
RC: I think by virtue of the rules of Dissidia Noct has to be in the next one by default! Here's hoping I get to voice it!
I don't know what they plan on doing for the padding process - you guys will be the last to know, the english VAs will be second to last. :)

Q: How did you feel about doing Noctis' voice during the time-skip? Was it weird playing the same character, but older and feeling the stress of trying to create a variant for the two and sticking with it?
RC: Actually the older Noct fit in really well with the voice I gave him for Duscae, so it wasn't too hard to play him older! And after all Noct has been through at that point, his more serious and direct outlook on the world fit in well with his mission at that point.

Q:
Was there a point in the story where you had to think especially hard about how Noctis would sound for any dialogue in particular? I'm curious about the biggest challenges you faced.
RC: I always felt very at ease with the director and loc team - I knew that they were always choosing the best takes and made this game sound incredible. That was a huge help in working on this - being surrounded by an awesome studio (Rocket Sound) and a great director (Keythe Farley)!

Q: What was your first FF game and how did it impact your view of the series? Has it ever occured to you that you'd be someday voicing a main character in a Final Fantasy game?
RC: My first games were the FF Legends and Adventure series for gameboy - which were soon redacted as official titles. I recently found an old notebook of mine where I kept track of the plots of these games before having an internet connection! I couldn't imagine telling my younger self that I'd be working on a game in the series - he'd never believe it.

Q: I know VA is traditional done alone in a booth, but the bro-mance is so real among the main cast. Was there anything involved to reach that? Some games have it very forced and all 4 of you have done a great job at selling it. Did you every have joined recording sessions? or meetups to discuss notes on the characters? or was it just excellent directing and editing to really sell that performance.
RC: I've answered most of your questions below, but I'd like to add here that one luxury we had that a lot of other games don't is that we were able to do retakes on lines that needed touch-ups after playtesting. Normally you don't get a chance to do that because it's cost-prohibitive, but Square wanted to make sure that every scene worked well. I'm very grateful for those! It ensured that each of our bro-nversations sounded perfectly natural.

Q: Who would you say is your favorite voice(aside from your own) in Final Fantasy XV?
RC: Honestly it's been really fun to hear all the NPCs during my playthrough. I never got to hear anyone because I always recorded first - really impressed with how Dino, Dave, Coctura, Sania, and Vyv turned out so far!

Q: Now for the question i don't really have anything great, i just didn't want to let the opportunity go, so what's the hardest FF boss/game for you?
RC: Hardest FF boss...I had to give up on III pretty early because the whole thing was so difficult. But man I had a hell of a time on Lightning Returns on those first few days. Normal difficulty is actually Hard difficulty - I wish I had known that! Noel and Snow were so tough..

Q: Do you play FFXV in English or Japanese? I typically play in japanese but after hearing your voice for Noctis, I stuck with the English. Thank you for taking the time to do this for the fans!
RC: English of course! I gotta see how it turned out and what all the other characters sound like! I'm happy that you were able to appreciate the dub. :D

Q:
1) The music. Sorry if this has been asked before, but do you have a favorite track from FFXV? For me, I really loved the Prelude remix in the menu screen. :D
2) Okay, here's the...tough one? What do you make of Ardyn as a character? (I know Noct pretty much summed up his thoughts succinctly: a creepy old dude.) But I'd love to know what your interpretation is and his role in the story. There's been some debate about Ardyn...like, is he a veryyyyy distant relative of Noctis? You don't have to confirm or deny anything, I'd just love to get your thoughts on him, since Ardyn and his interactions with Noct and Co. were really intriguing to me.
RC:
1)From the soundtrack, I absolutely adore the haven theme (the piano one) and Hellfire. But the whole soundtrack is chock full of awesome.
2) He is a distant relative, and his story is pretty tragic! But that doesn't mean he should be forgiven for twisting the knife in every way he could...

Q: aside from DLC, has there been any talk of a sequel that you're aware of?
RC: I don't think there will be a sequel to this game - in fact, I really hope not. I think it's a fully closed story that shouldn't be 'revived' in any way. Unless it focuses on entirely different characters, a la X-2, I think the chocobros' story is final.

Q: if you could voice any other character in the game, who would you be?
RC: I'll take the opportunity here to reveal that I did voice another character in the game - I played Wiz in Duscae! I don't know who ended up with the part for the game but he did a great job too. :D

Q: We know that big parts of the game and its story have changed throughout the development cycle. How did this affect your and the other voice actors work? Were there huge portions that you had to redo or were you more or less unaffected by the changes?
RC: The only portions of the game we ever re-did were from rewrites or tone purposes. For example, when we did the last scene on the throne, we at first did it with Noct feeling very vulnerable and teary, but that tone didn't sit right, so we did it again later on with a different, more resolved take on it that I think works much better.

Q:
Who is your personal Final Fantasy XV Waifu, out of curiosity?
RC: Aranea is great, but Coctura is pretty dope too...

Q: Congratulations on everything you have achieved. My question is a simple one. Whats next?

RC: What's next? I suppose it's convention appearances with Robbie and trying to get more work like always!



Q: Hey Ray! Thank you for doing this AMA, really appreciate it. Question: Were there ever plans to visit Lestallum during the World of Ruin? Also why who is your favorite character from Overwatch?
RC: If there was anything for Lestallum at that point, it had not reached the VAs.
I'm pretty good with the non-aiming overwatch characters. I like Reinhardt and Symmetra!

Q: Any idea on when the Holiday pack is supposed to be released?
RC: Between now and soon!

Q: is there anything special done for when you get hit on combat etc, noct sounds quite real.
RC: Thank you! We recorded lots of combat grunts during the entire process - just part of the job! Glad it turned out well.

Q: curveball, but is IMDB lying or did you really voice L in Xenoblade Chronicles X?
RC: IMDB never lies! Glad you enjoyed the game. :)

Q: are there any scenes you performed alongside any of the other voice actors?
RC: The only scene we worked on in pairs was the opening leaving Insomnia CG scene. I did my dialogue with Jim Pirri (Regis), and Robbie and Chris did theirs together.

Q: Hey Ray, I might be late, but this is something I've been wondering since I started game. Whose idea was the teeth sucking that Noctis does? Examples are when you refuel somewhere other than Hammerhead (I know, why would you ever?), or when you encounter a sealed door in a dungeon. It ended up becoming such a definable trait of Noctis, to me. I love those kinds of little quirks that flesh out a character just a little more, but I'm always curious how they even make their way into being.
RC: Wow I can't believe someone noticed that! It's a trademark of mine (and our director loved it too) to extend lines to fit Japanese in a natural way. There's only so many times you can start a sentence with "Yeah..." and it makes it sound natural I think. Great comment.

Q: Were there any lines/parts that were nearly impossible to get a good read of? Like, too awkward or anythign?
RC: I think the localization team did a great job of making sure that we had no spoony bards or anything like that. If something ended up sounding to rushed we'd work on making it work in booth - rewriting with our writer on set.

Q: What is it like hearing yourself when playing a game? Is it weird or have you gotten used to it?
RC: Oddly I've only ever voiced one character in my actual voice - so it's really easy to get lost in the game and forget it's me!

Q: You did a great job with the voice acting overall. Nailed the important moments well. Curious though, there was a lot of "Grunting". Why so much grunting?
RC: You try to swing a battleaxe and not grunt!

Q: Hey what was your favorite part of working on this? Thank you so much by the way!
RC: The best part was working on a character from start to finish with such a rich story. That's really rare, especially in video games.

Q:
1) How would you have felt if the writers of FFXV decided to write in iris as a love interest for Noctis after the death of Lunafreya?
2) If approached by someone representing the likes of Funimation or any of the sort to do a VA for an anime, would you do it? And what series would you wish to be a part of?

RC:
1) I would hate for them to turn their back on canon and introduce a love story that Noct himself doesn't want! :p
2) I work on a lot of anime - check out One Punch Man, Charlotte, Seven Deadly Sins...



Q: what moment from your time working on the game would you say you’ll remember the most?

RC: I'll never forget recording the campfire scene for the first time - that was pure emotion that I had to hold for a couple hours straight while we went through each line individually.



Q: is Noctis really dead?

RC: He'd better be! If not, then that means Ardyn can come back oh no



Q:

1) Aside from XV, have you ever played any other FF title? If so, what was the very first FF installment you played?
2) I can understand if you can't answer this but...TBT mentioned we will be receiving more cutscenes to expand the story. Including DLC - will we be hearing more of your voice in all future improvements that are incoming? Another voice actor for Noctis just seems like heresy?
RC:

1) I've played them all except XII (waitiIng on the remaster). First mainline I played was VII.
2) I plan on coming in any time Square asks me to! I love this character. But of course, it's not up to me!



Q: So not FF related but how have you been on reddit 6 years without having more karma??

RC: I'm a better lurker. Usually by the time I come upon a post eveything I wanted to say has been said already. Link karma though... I dunno. Guess I have bad taste in stuff.


Q: Only questions I have is if you guys have watched Kingsglaive? If so what is your opinion of it and did you wish you could work with Aaron Paul?

RC: I watched the LA premiere of Kingsglaive with Mr DePaul himself and the dubbing team from Bang Zoom.
I'm actually happy Noct didn't have a larger part in that movie, otherwise it probably would have gone to a celeb like Regis and Luna...

Q: Who, if anyone, would you say is your favorite character from the franchise who does NOT appear in FFXV?
RC: I love me some Gilgamesh!
Although, maybe he's in DLC as from some news today? I dunno!

Q:
1) So, my question is, how do you feel hearing your lines read back to you in the actual game? Anything you love hearing as the characters just get their bromance on, or have some made you wish you could go back and do them? Because as far as I'm concerned, almost all of Noctis' lines are near perfect, especially some of the lines you get to hear after you accept a side-quest.
2) Smaller question, but what, if any, gripes do you have with the game so far?
RC:
1)I'm really impressed and happy with every take they've chosen. The directors went through every conversation with a fine-toothed comb so awkward FFX-style line deliveries.
2) One gripe I have is that the default controller setting is terrible - I wonder how many people play through the whole game on that one while missing out on the other two that are clearly better...

Q: Hey Ray, what did you think about the ending?
RC: I think it was a risky move that paid off in spades.

Q:
1) What did you name your Chocobo, and what colors would you use on each of your team's chocobos?
2) Wait, you're in Xenoblade? ::checks imdb:: ...L!?!? You're friggin L? How the hell did you approach that?
3)So you've already done a livestream for FFXV, but have you done a livestream with your other 3 mates in character, commenting on everything that happens in-game as you're playing it? Could you do it for Chapters 10 - 14? I think that would be super cool
RC:
19 I'm all about stream-of-conscious naming in RPGS - naming just from the first letters I see. His name ended up as "Fripp". I ride an all-black chocobo squad.
2) L was really fun to do because it was written in such a funny way. There was no wrong way to say the lines because they had to be wrong by nature!
3) That would be a dream come true, but sadly we're all hard to track down. Maybe if we plan like a year in advance or something...




Q: Around how long did all the voice acting take in total? Is it like any other acting job with long days for months on end?

RC: Personally I had around 40 4-6 hour sessions over the course of two years. Sometimes I worked every day for a week, sometimes I went months between sessions.



Q: My favorite Noct line is, when Ignis asks if anyone's dead, Prompto chimes in with "not me!" and Noct says "Does being tired count?"
What's yours?
RC: I'm a fan of the wrong commands ones like "Prompto, er wait Gladio!"

Q:
1) How did you prepare to do all the "battle grunts"? is it something where you practice or do you just kinda wing it?
2) Also, since I'm thinking about it - in Chapter 13 when the crystal gets the munchies and eats Noct, Ardyn arrives to give some exposition. Did you know about Ardyn's true name before recording? What was your reaction?
RC:
1) Doing battle grunts just requires imagination and a lot of physical work. You just have to imagine you're getting hit or hitting all these things, and making sure you always face the microphone precisely while doing it!
2) The reveal of Ardyn's name was news to me the day we recorded. It was cool to have the surprise, but all Noct says is pretty much "ARGHGGHAGKKKGKGINGINGARARIGAHAGHA" so I don't think there was too much subtext.

Q: If you could voice any of the characters from the 2D games (other than Edgar), Who would it be?
RC: Not to stay too close to VI but Setzer is pretty awesome too...

Q: My question is if you were at all surprised to hear BACK from Square Enix to record lines for the story? I genuinely believe that you and your friends have done justice to the final fantasy name.
RC: Waiting those months to hear back from Square were nail-biters for sure - especially because during that time I had been recast in a major game which was a huge disappointment. Thankfully it was all worth it, but man was there a lot of anxiety.

Q: You said before that tactics was your favorite (or something like that) If tactics would ever get some kind of remake with voice acting, who would you like to voice?
RC: War of the Lions had voice acting and it was really quite exemplary! Phil Lamarr and Robin Atkin Downes... two phenomenal actors.

Q:
1) So seeing as you're a fan of FFVIII, I was wondering what your opinion was on Triple Triad?
2) Also since you've mentioned Overwatch, I have to ask. Who do you main?
RC:
1) Triple Triad is bar none the best FF minigame.
2) I main Reinhardt and Symmetra but I'm pretty bad - ranked in the 1700s or so.

Q: Hi Ray! Do you specifically eat certain foods/liquids to enhance your voice before you record? Also, did you ever catch a cold during your work sessions?
RC: I always drank coffee which is supposed to be pretty bad for VO, but ended up being great for Noct.
I did catch a cold right at the very beginning and there are some lines in game that Noct has a very slight nasality to - my girlfriend always catches those...


Q: I was wondering how much time and effort go into the non-verbal vocalizations - things like the shivering noises around Shiva, the "chhh" sighing sounds in conversations, the grunts in combat, etc compared to actual dialogue
RC: The non-verbal stuff can get really specific - just like the shivering, we also did one for every thing that happens in the boss battles, as well as for fire damage, lightning, etc...

Q: Do you have ideas where Ardyn got the surname Izunia?
RC: Thank you! Izunia itself is a mystery to me...!

Q: This question is probably a bit too late, but players are a bit confused as to what Prompto's "reveal" means. Some people think he was just born in Nifleheim and experimented on, others think he is literally an MT made from daemons. Do you have any insight into that? I don't think the developers meant this reveal to be so vague, so any clearing up you can do for us would be great. XD


RC: As far as I know, it's the latter. But I'm no expert on lore and it's not my character so take what I say with a grain of salt!





Q: Who do you look up to as a voice actor?
RC: Peter Serafinowicz...he's so dreamy.

Q: My question is a little strange, but I was wondering what tricks you use to change your voice when playing as Noctis (or just generally any character). I'm interested in voice acting myself!
RC: Well one thing you can do by yourself is think about speaking from different parts of your body. What would a character sound like speaking from their ears? Their nose? Their armpits? I bet you can come up with some cool stuff!


EDIT: This should have covered most of his replies, it took me a while to format this.
 
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Tornak

Keyblade Master
May 18, 2014
718
421
31
Madrid, Spain
#6
Great job Lulcielid! I'll read it as soon as I can (already read some of the questions).

He seems like a nice dude and I really like what I've heard of his voicework. I'm playing in Japanese, but I'll probably switch to English after I beat the game. I have my grips with many things (namely, how apparent some of the "voice recording in isolation" is and some of its directing), but most seem like good voices.
 
Likes: Lulcielid

wmlk

PSICOM Soldier
Sep 5, 2014
74
62
29
#7
Playing it in English. Ardyn and Noctis are very impressive so far. I'm probably going to play in Japanese when it gets the added scenes a year later.
 

Ikkin

Warrior of Light
Oct 30, 2016
1,099
1,705
#8
My understanding is in the UK he might end up being up for a fairly prestigious award. Or at least, he's on the long-list...
It'd be well deserved. He really nailed the most emotional parts, and the more light-hearted stuff was a ton of fun, too.

It made so much sense when he said he was legit crying during the campfire scene, because that delivery was perfect.
 
Likes: DrBretto

DrBretto

Warrior of Light
Mar 18, 2016
1,605
1,436
42
#9
My favorite was his favorite. That delivery for "beeeaaaaaaannns" just struck me, lol. I have decent speakers hooked up for this game and that line was like 100 decibles louder than the rest, it just hit me like "That's a lotta nuts!" from Kung Pow.

Robbie Daymond, Ray Chase and Darrin De Paul all absolutely nailed it. And all come off a really genuine, decent guys to boot.
 
Likes: Nova

ChingleeTribal

SOLDIER, First Class
Mar 27, 2016
955
815
#12
Great job Lulcielid! I'll read it as soon as I can (already read some of the questions).

He seems like a nice dude and I really like what I've heard of his voicework. I'm playing in Japanese, but I'll probably switch to English after I beat the game. I have my grips with many things (namely, how apparent some of the "voice recording in isolation" is and some of its directing), but most seem like good voices.
There are some really annoying moments during gameplay where the dialogue between characters is too fast and they talk over eachother.

I wonder if it's the same in Japanese version?
 
Likes: Tornak

Tornak

Keyblade Master
May 18, 2014
718
421
31
Madrid, Spain
#13
There are some really annoying moments during gameplay where the dialogue between characters is too fast and they talk over eachother.

I wonder if it's the same in Japanese version?
This is exactly how I feel about the English version and why I'm not so into it, despite really liking some of the voices and actors (namely Noctis, Ardyn and Regis. I guess it's because of how scarce his scenes are in the game, but Jim Pirri is so underrated/not talked about: his voice and tone are fucking great).

The talking over each other thing is especially apparent anytime Ignis or Prompto talk (I've grown to love Prompto's English voice, though. Ignis' is still so fucking forced and snobbish :/). The Japanese version is very smooth, as I can't really think of any instance where this kind of gabble (not in that it's unintelligible, but in how they kinda "step" into other's phrases). Maybe it's not as smooth as I'm remembering, but it haven't even considered that problem in my 28 hours, so :hahaha:.

Also, even though that's obviously something you're going to eventually catch on even in Japanese, the repetition of phrases (especially during battles, but also the "I'VE COME UP WITH A NEW RECIPE" et al) is not as annoying as in English, as... well, I don't understand Japanese, so it's less apparent (still noticeable after a bit).