Final Fantasy 16Final Fantasy 16’s Clive and Cid actors discuss the importance of in-person chemistry when working on massive story-driven RPGsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Final Fantasy 16Final Fantasy 16’s Clive and Cid actors discuss the importance of in-person chemistry when working on massive story-driven RPGsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Square Enix)
The build up toFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthhas sparked some interesting conversations around voice acting and scene-setting in RPGs. In what will surely be one of the biggest (if notthebiggest) PS5 releases of the year,Square Enixis once more balancing new and nostalgia, catering to a modern audience of fast-firing role-playing game enthusiasts alongside retro gamers who long for the heady polygonal days of last millennium.
“I have to shout out to Ralph, obviously,” Starr tells GamesRadar+. “I felt like when I first started the game I was perhaps a little out of my depth. Then we did the sessions together, where it’s like: ‘Oh, there’s another human here, I know what I’m doing’, and that was great, being there together. Ralph turned up and was so fucking good, and I was like, oh shit, I need to be as good as him.”
Real-People Games
(Image credit: Square Enix)
ONTO THE NEXT(Image credit: Square Enix)Yoshi-P floats ideas for Final Fantasy 17: a real-time, turn-based hybrid or a return to pixel art
ONTO THE NEXT
(Image credit: Square Enix)Yoshi-P floats ideas for Final Fantasy 17: a real-time, turn-based hybrid or a return to pixel art
(Image credit: Square Enix)
Yoshi-P floats ideas for Final Fantasy 17: a real-time, turn-based hybrid or a return to pixel art
Starr says that he put so much of himself into Clive’s character, and as a result can still vividly remember where he was when recording specific lines, or when recording particular scenes. Ineson underscores the inherent humanistic value of recording shoulder-to-shoulder with his co-star, suggesting their relationship on and off record benefited from being in the same room at the same time.
“The good thing about [Final Fantasy 16] was that for the first time in as long as I can remember, certainly in my time working in games, we were put together,” says Ineson. “We had two actors working together in a session, which might not seem like much, but usually you’re working against nothing. You’re on your own delivering lines. Obviously, it brings everything to life if you’ve got something, and someone, to work off of. Ben and I got together, we got on very well, and we fired off one another as performers. I think that elevated our relationship, the character’s relationship in-game, and the game itself.”
(Image credit: Square Enix)
With that, Ineson expresses pride in working alongside Starr, noting his passion for games and the overarching Final Fantasy series as a whole shines through in everything he does – making him the ideal person to play such a central role in such an epic RPG. Ineson even believes that the main reason he was able to deliver such a convincing performance as Cid was down to Ben’s in-person presence and infectious enthusiasm for his work.
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Shortly after Starr won Best Actor at last year’s Golden Joystick Awards, Ineson wrote aseries of tweetsagain praising his colleague and the circumstances during which they brought the characters of Clive and Cid to life. Ineson spoke about the lengthsUbisoftwent to when bringing its cast together for 2013’s Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag – “Ubisoft invested in flying me, Mark Bonnar and lots of other actors to Montreal to rehearse like a theatre company then perform in full performance capture suits, it was brilliant” – before saying a decade on and he feels lucky to be in the sound booth with one other person.
In the case of Final Fantasy 16, that’s exactly what happened – and I don’t think it’s unfair to say the game, its storytelling, and our enjoyment of it hugely benefited as a result. Ineson adds: “Final Fantasy 16 was one of the few video game acting jobs I’ve done where we had the chance to be in the booth together as actors, and the chemistry really helped. I hope the games industry does more of this, it’s much more fun.” And I, for one, hope so too.
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
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Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”