Final Fantasy XIII VO Criticism WIP

The time has come. I've experienced enough of this game to hear a decent range of the voices in FFXIII, and now it's time to judge. Like all other topics, this is an opinion based thread and does not have any professional credibility in any way.

Lightning - Ali Hillis
Much like Doug Erholtz with his performance with Squall, the tones they chose for the depressed personality is exhausting to listen to for the entire duration of the game. That aside, I failed to find a problem with the acting itself, with a few minor exceptions considering how much experience Hillis has in the professional field. Inflections were pretty accurate throughout the game and in battle, and I haven't found a complete ham line like her THUNDAGAAAA from Duodecim. Still, if it weren't for the breathy acting that would otherwise be completely unfitting, this role isn't bad.

Snow Villiers - Troy Baker
How ironic that Baker is yet again playing a complete moron. Had to get that out of the way, but the voice is incredible for such an idiot character. The inflections were nothing short of perfect for an overconfident hero type, his tone is strangely hypnotic for a character I care so little about, and his battle cries are awesome, though not heard much due to total lack of usage for Snow. To sum it up, I would say that as little as I care for Snow, I'd listen to Troy boast his confidence any day.

Oerba Dia Vanille - Georgia Van Cuylenburg
Of all voices to have narrate the story...why this one? I believe the developers had a miscommunication between telling Fang's actress and Cuylenburg the accent they needed for these two characters. Because Cuylenburg had a real problem picking an accent and sticking to it. And I never once heard an Australian accent, which is what Fang had, meanwhile Vanille would be 'on again, off again' British or American at the most random times. That aside, she wasn't very impressive, and sometimes just annoying. Mostly in battle where most of her grunts or groans sound like bedroom noises. In dialogue, her constantly changing accent messes with her ability to hit an inflection correctly, and once again, I'm left wondering why they decided Vanille should be the one telling us what the hell's going on in her head. How appropriate that she ends up as one of the best characters, just like Peppita from Star Ocean 3. The best characters are always the ones you can't stand.

Hope Estheim - Vincent Martella
Contrary to everyone else in the world, I actually liked Hope, and I thought his voice isn't deserving of the lack of credit. I can't see how anyone can like Cloud and hate Hope, they're both incredibly similar, except Hope has a bigger spine than Cloud...WAY bigger. Anyway, the voice was perfect for a conflicted young man with an enormous amount of issues. Hope was confused, and Martella knew how to portray the rage and hesitance to carry out that rage very well. His inflections were precise, though there wasn't much range offered to him, since Hope is either down in the dumps or angry at Snow for the beginning of the game, then he gets confident, and Martella still kept him somewhat hesitant, which is actually understandable, and I enjoyed that aspect, because no one could be truly calm in that situation, let alone a little boy. Underrated voice for an unreasonably underrated character.

Rachel Robinson - Oerba Yun Fang
When I first played the game, I had never heard an Aussie accent before and it irked me for a while. Now that I've heard the accent and paid more attention to the voice itself, I actually thought it was pretty perfect, though I couldn't say for sure whether Robinson is used to doing this accent or not, since I've heard so little of it and her inflections were pretty accurate most of the time. She played the cocky side of Fang incredibly, and in battle, her taunts were confident enough to laugh at. I still don't understand how two characters from the same place could have different accents without the developers catching it. though.

Rest coming soon, stay tuned!

I the only ones I can't stand are Hope and Vanille, the rest were solid for the most part, Lightning was glum, but it didn't bug me all that much. Vanille is for sure the worst VA in the game.