Thoughts on the English Voice Cast?

[The DanMan]

The title basically says it all; I want people's thoughts on the English voice cast and too express my own. The cast caught a lot of flack pre-release, but now that it's been out for several months in NA and a few weeks in EU territories, I'd like to see people's opinions now.

Before I get into detail with my own, I'll be up front and say that there isn't really anything extremely stand-out on either end of the spectrum, and that I slightly prefer Awakening's.

My Detailed Thoughts (spoilered for length)

Anyways, there are several voices that I'd say are definitely a cut below the rest.

Male Kana ranking this low is pretty obvious; it's clearly a women voicing a young male character, with the voice being too high pitched and "cutesy" with some obvious voice crack.

Selkie and Peri are both done by the same VA (Elizabeth Daily), and they're honestly grating on my ears; what's keeping them from being lower is that the voices fit the characters (though I dislike those characters).

Siegbert's VA is inconsistent and doesn't really put much intonation behind anything he says; thus, low down on the list for you.

Then there are those that, while better than the above, still could be even better.

For instance, Kagero has an unfortunate lisp and her VA seems to have trouble emoting (though the reasoning of "cold, distant ninjas" could be used as an excuse).

Another ninja, Kaze, has a voice that I'd say is the definition of average (fitting for the character, being pretty straightforward and bland); at least his crit quotes sound suitably badass.

Hinoka, while not as awful as so many people make her out to be, has a few rough edges. And I mean rough, unnecessarily husky-sounding rough edges. The one scene where she's reunited with Corrin stands out because the VA (who is also Elizabeth Daily, a fifty-something year old who's more acquainted with physical acting) is trying to keep up a voice and cry... and failing. Besides that, it's nothing terrible; just pretty average.

Orochi also has trouble emoting, bringing about an unfortunate similarity to another role her Voice Actress did (Fuuka in Persona 3, FYI).

It kinda pains me to put this here, but I'd say Azura isn't exactly amazing. Partial excuse because Rena Strober is a Broadway actress and singing<-acting in Broadway, but that doesn't change that certain lines just feel really stiff. Then again, that's consistent with how the character's written (a topic that I'm not going to go into), so what have you.

Keaton has a similiar issue; it feels like Gideon Emery wasn't told that certain lines were meant to be said like they're in the heat of battle. "Fresh meat's the best" is supposed to be "Freash meat's the best!", but falls flat and sounds more like a simple statement than something a werewolf would say after killing an opponent and getting ready to dig in.

The good really encompasses most of the voice cast from here on out for me. Ryoma, Leo, Shigure, Beruka, Hayato, Selena... the voices fit the characters and are overall pretty good.

I'd say there are two voices that are a cut above "pretty good" and push into the "great" territory. They're Elise (Laura Bailey) and Takumi (Roger Rose, not Ben Diskin as I hypothesized and was rumored).

Elise sounds markedly different from a lot of Laura Bailey's more recent roles (see: Lucina in Awakening); Elise actually sounds like a young teen who's a little naive and a lot of an optimist. Major props to the voice-work in the cutscene were she dies; easily the most emotional of the royal deaths in the story (at least, until Xander ruins it and you wonder what the writers were smoking).

Takumi sounds brash and cocky, but still has moments of vulnerability. Roger Rose portrays all the facets of the character in his different roles; Shadow Takumi actually sounds menacing without the voice distortion that eventually kicks in. And then in My Castle, he's kind and straightforward, with the arrogance shown in combat completely gone from his voice. A multifaceted voice for a multifaceted character.

So, while there's a couple VA's who I think nailed it, I find it to be pretty average overall. In Awakening, there wasn't a single voice that I didn't like or I didn't think fit a character. Here, there's about a dozen; still a definite minority in a game of sixty characters, but the overall quality dropped off a bit.

To sum it up in one quote... "Eh, I've had better."

Edited June 19, 2016 by The DanMan

[Pretty Cool Guy]

It's a bit average but out of 70 characters there's honestly only a handful that are really terrible. The only ones I can't stand are Siegbert, Selkie, Male Kana, Ophelia, and Peri. Despite some mediocrity, there are some I really like which are Arthur, Saizo, Azama, Gunter, Laslow,and a few more.

Edited June 19, 2016 by Pretty Cool Guy

[interconnecteddream]

Hm, honestly, I think my general consensus on Fates's voice acting is "It's hit-or-miss." Oh, but before we get into it, here's the list of confirmed voice actors so far: http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/video-games/Fire-Emblem-Fates/ and here's a playlist of all the voices for reference if anyone needs a reminder: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQmLro5ntw0iqBOeMPiHShXzVfStY_ltD
I'll also be putting my thoughts in a spoiler box for length!

• In terms of voices I didn't like, I also think Selkie and Peri's voices were... unnecessarily recycled, if that can be a term? I just feel like there were better options that just. didn't happen.
• All the royal siblings have pretty splendid voices, but I think Camilla's grandma tone will still throw me for a loop now and then... i really should be getting used to that by now?? BUT WE GAVE UP MIYUKI SAWASHIRO FOR THIS DAMMIT
• I like Jakob's voice and accent, but some of his lines just make me cringe (it's not his fault though, i blame the writers). my lips are ready to serve
• why did effie turn out Like That............
• I think I'm the only person who might think Tsubaki's voice didn't turn out... princely enough for his nature? I mean, it's not bad, but maybe it's just my bias because I listened to the Japanese voice first and he just came off as so much more dignified and very light. So EN!Tsubaki might just be a bad fit for me because they chose to go with a deeper, older voice.
• I didn't feel as though there was a lot of character or emotion behind Kagero's voice. It feels more like a last-minute decision to throw her in there and she doesn't quite sound mature enough.
• Dwyer sounds like a male Tharja / zombie and i'm not sure whether I like it or not
• Kiragi's voice bugs me a little bit for unknown reasons..........
• UGH ASUGI WHY

As for the rest of the cast, I think they were pretty well done, but here are some that exceeded my expectations:

• I also agree with Elise! Laura Bailey did a great job of really making her feel like a little sister in the way she delivered her lines and it made me like her so much more.
• holy hell liam o'brian returning as laslow/inigo im a dead woman
• Roger Rose as both Takumi and Niles! I was so shocked to learn they had the same voice actor, so that's when you know they did a great job! He really captured both their personalities perfectly and differentiated them accordingly. Props to him!
• Brianna Knickerbocker as Sakura was a great choice. She makes her sound mature, but also gives that nice hint of shyness that fits her just right.
• Kaiji Tang's performance as Owain was incredible as always i dont even know why i have to say this. but i also was surprised to hear him as Ignatius and have him fit the role well!
• I'm weak for Matthew Mercer what can i say,, His Ryoma and Shigure were such welcome additions! He does strict commander and disney prince surprisingly well, actually...
• Kaden's bubbly personality was perfectly captured in his voice. One of my favorite voices! The same can be said for Leo, since I think he and Kaden also have the same voice actor and I never even realized.
• I actually really like Felicia's voice, it fits her so perfectly. I actually prefer this clumsy, awkward voice over her moe Japanese one.
• The delivery of Saizo's lines is incredible. The voice in general fits him so well.
• Even if I'm not the biggest fan of his character, Anthony Del Rio's voice for Silas gives him a very friendly, warm vibe. I like it a lot!
• Arthur's voice makes me laugh IT'S SO LIKEABLE the same for Benny's.
• And Rena Strober as Azura, of course! It's rare to find a voice actor who can nail both singing and dialogue so well. Extra props to her!

Phew, that ended up a lot longer than I initially thought. I also think Awakening, overall, had better voices, since there wasn't a voice I remember distinctly disliking. Still, I can say that Fates did nail some voices and kind of butchered others. A valiant attempt, I guess?

[Sentinel07]

By the way, Laura Bailey didn't voice Elise.

[Sequitur]

The only voice in this game I actually think is bad is Male Kana and maybe Peri

Most voices have grown on me (Nyx, and Selkie specifically)

I actually think the dub is pretty good for the most part

I honestly think most of the problems with the voice acting is the writing of the lines themselves

This isn't a problem for many characters but then you have characters like Velouria, who has a great voice, but horrible crit quotes

[The DanMan]

By the way, Laura Bailey didn't voice Elise.

*sigh* This is what I get for using tvtropes. It was Cassandra Lee, wasn't it?

Edited June 19, 2016 by The DanMan

[Sentinel07]

*sigh* This is what I get for using tvtropes. It was Cassandra Lee, wasn't it?

Among the folks at Behind the Voice Actors, it's a common belief that it's Natalie Lander.

They're just waiting for another opinion before officially adding it to their list.

[Avalanche]

The only voice in this game I actually think is bad is Male Kana and maybe Peri

Most voices have grown on me (Nyx, and Selkie specifically)

I actually think the dub is pretty good for the most part

I honestly think most of the problems with the voice acting is the writing of the lines themselves

This isn't a problem for many characters but then you have characters like Velouria, who has a great voice, but horrible crit quotes

Pretty much this. Male Kana is my only real complaint. This may sound a bit weird, but I think this may have been s bit of a mis cast voice director. Kris Zimmerman is mostly known for the Metal Gear series, which is distinctly different from Patrick Seitz"s more "anime/jrpg" background that he brought to Awakenings voice direction. All of the voices sound fine on their own, they just don't particularly for the character designs super well. Still, when the game lets me listen to Matt Mercers beautiful singing voice, who am I to complain? Edited June 19, 2016 by Avalanche

[The DanMan]

Among the folks at Behind the Voice Actors, it's a common belief that it's Natalie Lander.

They're just waiting for another opinion before officially adding it to their list.

A no-name that gave an extremely good performance?

It's always good when that happens.

(Also, LOL at Lucina being 2nd place in the character poll on the games' BVA page).

[LeDom]

Of all the voice cast, Male Kanna and Siegbert are the only ones I'd call outright bad. I'd add Ike as well, but seeing as I don't have his amiibo and a N3DS, I can't count him.

Like Avalanche said, the directing was a clear step down from Awakening. Fire Emblem Fates is an anime game, so having a director who's used to those types of games would have helped. That explains why the actors from the cast who were more well versed in anime (Matt Mercer, Kaiji Tang, Ben Diskin just to tell a few) had their performance generally much better received.

A little nitpick of mine is how every single actor voices got 2-3 parts but that's just because double casting throw me off in general as I'd prefer a varied cast. Some actors did a great job at sounding different (another shout-out to Ben Diskin as I would've never guessed he's both Hayato and Saizo) but Selkie and Peri sound practically identical.

Now to talk about the ones who stood out the most for me

I'd say Roger Rose surprised me the most and I was surprised I never heard of him seeing how he has a pretty decent resume. All three of his characters had a fitting voice and delivered their emotions with sincerity.

Stephanie Sheh's Rhajat really took me off guard, in a good way. It was the first time I heard her going that deep as I'm used to her cutesy/shy girls. In the same vein, Liam O'Brien voicing someone as goofy as Izana was refreshing too.

Felicia grew on me, and Setsuna even more so. It's a shame their voice actress is one of the few left that nothing is known of. I hope that the initial reception to english Felicia (WE'VE GOT TROUBLE) didn't scare her from coming out and announcing she was in the game.

Brianna Knickerbocker and Max Mittelman are both rising talents in the industry and both did rather well here. Hearing the former go from the quiet Sakura to the utterly vicious Charlotte is such a treat. Speaking of newcomers, Angela Marie Volpe did a fine job with Ophelia, hope to see her get more gigs in the future.

I couldn't ask for a better Arthur than the one we had.

Rena Strober and Matt Mercer have impressive singing voices (and our favorite troll monk sounds much more endearing thanks to his VA)

Percy is literally Pit and Silas sounds like a real bro.

The rest of the cast is pretty much passable or good but no great.

Edited June 19, 2016 by LeDom

[maybe]

odin's voice is so good

niles' is pretty great too

i also really love jakob's and I don't know if it's due to how obviously fake the british accent is or because of how genuinely convincing and charming the accent is somehow despite being quite clearly fake

cam clarke as arthur is fucking perfect and I love it

the only voice in the game out of those I know that I find flat-out bad are Siegbert's which is just...not good and the third(?) voice for the female avatar which is just very annoyingly high-pitched and doesn't seem like it could be a real person's voice at all

aside from that most of them are pretty decent, if a little grating at times

i do still really wish we had dual audio... but that's purely because the english version does not have dio niles whereas the Japanese version does and I find that greatly disappointing

[Avalanche]

Of all the voice cast, Male Kanna and Siegbert are the only ones I'd call outright bad. I'd add Ike as well, but seeing as I don't have his amiibo and a N3DS, I can't count him.

Like Avalanche said, the directing was a clear step down from Awakening. Fire Emblem Fates is an anime game, so having a director who's used to those types of games would have helped. That explains why the actors from the cast who were more well versed in anime (Matt Mercer, Kaiji Tang, Ben Diskin just to tell a few) had their performance generally much better received.

A little nitpick of mine is how every single actor voices got 2-3 parts but that's just because double casting throw me off in general as I'd prefer a varied cast. Some actors did a great job at sounding different (another shout-out to Ben Diskin as I would've never guessed he's both Hayato and Saizo) but Selkie and Peri sound practically identical.

Now to talk about the ones who stood out the most for me

I'd say Roger Rose surprised me the most and I was surprised I never heard of him seeing how he has a pretty decent resume. All three of his characters had a fitting voice and delivered their emotions with sincerity.

Stephanie Sheh's Rhajat really took me off guard, in a good way. It was the first time I heard her going that deep as I'm used to her cutesy/shy girls. In the same vein, Liam O'Brien voicing someone as goofy as Izana was refreshing too.

Felicia grew on me, and Setsuna even more so. It's a shame their voice actress is one of the few left that nothing is known of. I hope that the initial reception to english Felicia (WE'VE GOT TROUBLE) didn't scare her from coming out and announcing she was in the game.

Brianna Knickerbocker and Max Mittelman are both rising talents in the industry and both did rather well here. Hearing the former go from the quiet Sakura to the utterly vicious Charlotte is such a treat. Speaking of newcomers, Angela Marie Volpe did a fine job with Ophelia, hope to see her get more gigs in the future.

I couldn't ask for a better Arthur than the one we had.

Rena Strober and Matt Mercer have impressive singing voices (and our favorite troll monk sounds much more endearing thanks to his VA)

Percy is literally Pit and Silas sounds like a real bro.

The rest of the cast is pretty much passable or good but no great.

I give them a pass for multiple actors playing different parts, mainly due to how big Fates" cast is, especially compared to Awakening. While some didn't exactly sound too different (Selkie and Peri sound basically the same), people like Cam Clarke, Matt Mercer and Max Mittleman really pulled it off. Edited June 19, 2016 by Avalanche

[The Draco Knight]

I must say that the only one I don't really like is Soleil: personally, her voice just feels too young to me.

But aside from this, I like the rest, in particular Kaze, Niles, Laslow, Jakob, Xander, Leo and Azama are the ones who I liked the most.

[saisymbolic]

I must be the only person that liked Peri and Selkie's voices. Selkie had this squeaky, annoying portrayal that fit her terribly naive, oblivious, bratty yet playful personality. Peri, honestly, reminded me of Tiffany from the Chucky series; a very distinct, somewhat light voice that belies her psychopathic nature.

The only real qualm I had with the acting was some of the line deliveries, Camilla and Hana.

One line delivery that irks me the most is one of Shura's bonding lines while married (of which, I hear often because I married him). I believe the line goes like, "I'm not gonna steal a kiss. I want you to give me one." It felt too rushed, which is most likely attributed to trying to match the lips in the Live2D render; I can't help but feel the line wouldn't bother me had be actually paused for breath at the second period, though.

As for Camilla, in my mind, I keep wanting Mary Elizabeth McGlynn to be her VA but, if her current VA had sounded more sultry and less old hag, I would be fine. Some of Hana's lines sound as if they were put in a text-to-speech program to my ears for some reason. It's hard to explain.

[Raguna]

The only real qualm I had with the acting was some of the line deliveries, Camilla and Hana.

One line delivery that irks me the most is one of Shura's bonding lines while married (of which, I hear often because I married him). I believe the line goes like, "I'm not gonna steal a kiss. I want you to give me one." It felt too rushed, which is most likely attributed to trying to match the lips in the Live2D render; I can't help but feel the line wouldn't bother me had be actually paused for breath at the second period, though.

As for Camilla, in my mind, I keep wanting Mary Elizabeth McGlynn to be her VA but, if her current VA had sounded more sultry and less old hag, I would be fine. Some of Hana's lines sound as if they were put in a text-to-speech program to my ears for some reason. It's hard to explain.

While, I've never played as female, Hinata suffers from a real rushed voice delivery in almost all his lines as well. I personally like his voice but Cam Clarke just seems to be rushing over the lines to keep up with the 2D render of his sprite. Just felt like pointing it out.

I agree with the Hana and Camilla voices, so you're not alone in the "hard to explain why it is so" group. I think this also comes with the problem of almost all voice actors having to do three separate characters and making them sound sufficiently distinct from one another. Like Selkie and Peri are too similar so you know it's the same person, but Roger Rose had Niles, Takumi and Hisame and it took us a while for us to figure that out. Heck maybe Hinata's voice cracking was more due to the fact that Cam voiced 5 people (Well, 4 but Kamui has two options that he voices with Yuri doing the one in the middle) in the game to differentiate his voice from the other four. It kinda just feels like you're trying to spread the talent a bit thin so as to not hire more voice actors.

Not sure if amiibo's count, but Ike seriously needs to learn how to speak louder maybe he has a sore throat from all the yells he does in Smash. While his voice actor is eh at best, I think he delivered some line well at the very least.

[DeadLuckChris]

I like almost all of them

[MeddlingMage]

I like most of them. I really like Oboro though.

[Res]

I had no issues with the voice acting; can't say anyone sounds particularly bad to me. I rather like Hinoka/Peri/Selkie myself.

My favorites are Takumi (he also did a great job with Hisame and Niles, if that information is accurate), Laslow (I could listen to him all day), Odin (of course) and Arthur... Although there are many others I like almost as much.

I did Corrin/Hinata one playthrough and I think Hinata's my room lines sounded great, there.

[The DanMan]

Pretty much this. Male Kana is my only real complaint. This may sound a bit weird, but I think this may have been s bit of a mis cast voice director. Kris Zimmerman is mostly known for the Metal Gear series, which is distinctly different from Patrick Seitz"s more "anime/jrpg" background that he brought to Awakenings voice direction. All of the voices sound fine on their own, they just don't particularly for the character designs super well. Still, when the game lets me listen to Matt Mercers beautiful singing voice, who am I to complain?

Interesting theory. Now I know why Xander's speech in Conquest's ending sounded like it belonged in a Metal Gear game.

[DragonFlames]

I think the voice acting for this game is great. I didn't play the Japanese game nor do I know what their voices sounded like, so I have no background knowledge.

My favourites are in no particular order: (Spoilers because of length)

Azura - Recognizing the voice of Emma, one my favourite characters from The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel was simultanously shocking and amazing. Her voice actress does an amazing job and made me like Azura's character more immediately.

Male Avatar, Middle voice option - Stemming from my bias for Yuri Lowenthal. This dude did an amazing job with Luke and Asch from Tales of the Abyss and I always pick this voice option for my male Avatars.

Ryoma - Matthew Mercer. 'Nuff said. Same for Shigure (apparently, even though they sound NOTHING alike. Dude has amazing voice range)

Nyx - Also because of a personal bias. She sounds like Edea Lee from Bravely Default and Bravely Second and she was my favourite character from that game also because of her voice. I could be mistaken, but Nyx sounds exactly like her. It fits. "Good night, lost child!" Badassery right there.

Sakura - As someone else has pointed out, she sounds mature and shy at the same time and it fits with her character so much.

Hana and Mozu - Apparently, Karen Strassman can do everything. From a shy country girl to a tomboyish samurai to a psychotic summoner (Mephilia from Bravely Default). Holy crap, that woman's got talent!

Elise - Her delivery in her death scene on Birthright legit made me cry.

Female Kana - As is fitting with her character, her voice sounds very cute and badass at the same time. "This ends now!" stands as one my favourite crit lines in the entire franchise/game, because of that delivery. But one thing I mean to ask is: Does she really have the same voice actress as Sumia and Nah from Awakening and also Estelle from Tales of Vesperia? Because Kana sounds nothing like the other three. (See comment on Matthew Mercer above)

Arthur - His voice actor makes him sounds like the cliché comic book hero stereotype and it's hilarious! "FOR JUSTIIIICE!"

Beruka - At first, I was taken aback by her voice, because I expected it to sound more deep, like Effie. But she grew on me, because as I read through Beruka's supports, I found just how fitting her voice really is.

Saizo - Badass ninja with badass voice. 100% perfect.

Takumi - In an interesting twist, my least favourite character in the entire game has one of my favourite voices. If only because his VA manages to take Takumi's d-baggery to the next level.

Some of my less liked voices include (I'm just listing them this time):

- Percy (the reason I can't stand his character)

- Effie (I don't dislike her voice per se, but it doesn't fit Effie.)

- Felicia (Yikes, what happened to her?)

- Hinata (even though I like his character, his voice gets annoying after a while)

- Hinoka (although I'm fine with Peri and Selkie, weirdly enough)

[singularity]

they're a bit inconsistent. For the VAs who voiced different characters, they tend to act really good in one character but not so much in another.

granted it might be because of the new voice director or because Fates uses new VA while Awakening has more well-known VAs on their game, so I could see the quality being a bit inferior to Awakening. Maybe it's also because of the cast amount; Fates has a lot of characters compared to Awakening, and they might not have enough budget to pay the senior VAs.

gotta give props to Matt Mercer singing though, for someone who doesn't sing professionally he did a pretty good job.

[Truffa]

I don't love the voice acting and I prefer the japanese one, but is better than Awakening in my opinion, with Awakening I play with japanese audio 'cause 1-the wonderful seiyuus (Miyuki Sawashiro and Daisuko Ono, for a pair of examples) and 2-The english voices suck

Also, the english voice, some of them, are pretty good; Nyx, Odin, MarXander, Shigure, Aqua (Rena Strober steal my heart) but some are... shit, like Effie and Fem!Kanna

[Truthblade]

I don't love the voice acting and I prefer the japanese one, but is better than Awakening in my opinion, with Awakening I play with japanese audio 'cause 1-the wonderful seiyuus (Miyuki Sawashiro and Daisuko Ono, for a pair of examples) and 2-The english voices suck

Also, the english voice, some of them, are pretty good; Nyx, Odin, MarXander, Shigure, Aqua (Rena Strober steal my heart) but some are... shit, like Effie and Fem!Kanna

Well that's a first. Everyone else said Male!Kana

[Mox]

I liked them and there weren't too many voices that I disliked. I did have issues with Dwyer and male Kana and still do and I eventually got used to Nyx and Effie, although I think their voices could have been adapted better to suit their characters. With some deliveries, I found them to be a little inconsistent within their character which wasn't necessarily a bad thing but surprised me when it happened, especially because sometimes I wasn't paying attention and skipping through pretty quick and I'd hear a really odd delivery from the character and think that it was somebody else. The main example I'm thinking of is Iago because I found his lines to be quite variable between either really sharp deep deliveries (i.e. Now then) and his more typical one (i.e. You are most gracious). The change caught me off guard a few times, I'm not sure if it was deliberate or just the way it happened. I know this might sound odd but I think that Zola got an excellent voice for his character and in my opinion his was the best-suited voice for character in the entire game, I just felt like it worked so well.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Im down with most of the english voice acting. The only one i really detest is Nyx. Her tone is too high and shes really mean. Other than that, everyone is fine.