Voice acting is a very underappreciated art form, as many simply “hear the voices” and don’t appreciate the effort that goes into delivering big performances for key characters. For some, they take their roles so seriously that they don’t simply want to be cast again in another part if it’s too similar to what came before. One such actor was Ben Starr, who may be recognized as Clive Rosfield from Final Fantasy XVI or Verso from Clair Obscur Expedition 33. Now, he’s back with Square Enix for Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles, but he admitted in a special video that there was a key reason he came back to this franchise so quickly.
He and others in the cast and dev team did a “Behind The Voice” special on the Square Enix YouTube channel, and there, Ben Starr admitted that his going from a hero in Clive to a rather villainous “piece of sh*t” in Dycedarg Beoulve was a necessary move:
“You’ve been able to be a part of creating something that’s very iconic in a lot of people’s eyes, and certainly coming off Clive Rosfield, which a lot of people have this very intense relationship with because they’ve been with him for a long period of time, and they’ve been with my voice – or my performance – for a long time, it was a very difficult decision to come back to this franchise because I thought, ‘I don’t know, do you want to come back? Is it going to be as good?’ I think we managed to have a conversation about how in which we can do a character who’s very different, there’s a beauty in it, and there’s a playfulness, and there’s all this plotting and scheming, Obviously you don’t want to play him as a piece of sh*t, but he has to have his own reasons.”
Hearing his words, it’s clear that Starr cares about each performance he gives and wants to give his all for each one.
You can check out his remarks at the 28:00 minute mark. But do listen to the whole chat about Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles, as it’s worth a listen, before you get the game when it releases on console and PC tomorrow.
Source: YouTube
