The highly anticipated Final Fantasy XVI was released last week, so many of you have undoubtedly already immersed yourselves in Square Enix’s beautifully crafted world. Not only do the environments and lore help transport you into the magical medieval world, but the emotional story is conveyed by the talented Final Fantasy XVI Voice Actors.
For the first time in the Final Fantasy series, the English voices were recorded first and then dubbed into Japanese. In previous installments, it was the other way around.
In the game, you quickly get acquainted with the main character, Clive Rosfield, and his friends. This article is here to also introduce you to the faces behind the voices, and to some facts you may not know about them. And don’t worry, it’s spoiler-free.
Ben Starr: Clive Rosfield
Ben Starr is responsible for voicing the central character, Clive Rosfield. We first meet Clive at the age of 15, but the story jumps through different time periods, allowing us to see him in his twenties and thirties as well. Many games hire different actors for the younger ages, but Ben Starr portrays all three life stages.
The 35-year-old English actor is a huge fan of Final Fantasy. He has been playing the games since he was 10 years old, with Final Fantasy VIII being his first introduction to the franchise.
Initially, Ben Starr was set to play a minor character, appearing in only a few scenes of Final Fantasy XVI. After having a bad day, he almost considered skipping the audition, unaware at the time that it was for Final Fantasy XVI. Fortunately for him and all the Clive fans, he decided to go and managed to convince the vocal director so well that he was offered the lead role.
Interestingly, Ben himself wasn’t impressed with his own audition. He even described his performance as “a bit rubbish.”
Outside of his latest job, the actor has appeared in one episode of ‘You‘ as the character Niko Leandros. Additionally, between 2017 and 2019, he played Christopher Priestley in the series Jamestown.
Susannah Fielding: Jill Warrick
Unlike Clive, Jill was voiced by different actresses. The teenage version was portrayed by Charlotte McBurney (whom you may recognize from the two A Plague Tale games).
The young adult version is played by 38-year-old Susannah Fielding. From 2019 to 2021, she portrayed Jennie Gresham in This Time with Alan Partridge. She also appeared in the episode ‘Nosedive’ of Black Mirror as Carol and had a recurring role as Esther in The Cockfields for seven episodes.
Jill is not Susannah Fielding’s first voice acting role for a major game. She also provided the voice of Shani in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Additionally, she was involved in Cyberpunk 2077.
Between 2008 and 2011, Susannah dated actor Tom Hiddleston, whom she knew from their time together on the series Wallander. Hiddleston is best known for his roles in Thor and The Night Manager.
She has collaborated multiple times with actor David Tennant. They appeared together in the comedy Much Ado About Nothing and in the TV series Don Juan in Soho.
During the filming of movies and series, actors typically receive their full script in advance. However, for the Final Fantasy project, the actors received their scripts in separate parts. As a result, the actress was unaware of the full extent of her role as Jill.
Ralph Ineson: Cid
The most recognizable and unique voice of the three belongs to 53-year-old actor Ralph Ineson. Ralph is currently enjoying a flourishing career in voice acting, as he also voiced Lorath in the recently released Diablo IV. In the gaming realm, he was also heard in Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, where he portrayed the role of Charles Vane.
The voice actor for Clive’s mentor had a role in ‘The Office’ (the UK version), appearing in 7 episodes as Chris ‘Finchy’ Finch. He was also seen in the second season of Game of Thrones for 5 episodes as Dagmer Cleftjaw. Spoiler alert for the tv-series: he was the one who abruptly interrupted Theon Greyjoy’s speech, betraying him by knocking him out cold.
In Peaky Blinders and Chernobyl, he appeared in 2 episodes as Connor Nutley and General Tarakanov.
With films like Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and the last three Harry Potter films to his name, Ralph can boast an impressive resume in both TV series and films.
Ralph Ineson recently shared on Twitter that he was unaware that the two major game titles, Final Fantasy XVI and Diablo IV, were released in the same time period.
The actor is not a gamer and, four years ago, knew no more than that he was working on “a fantasy video game.” It was only when Ben Starr told him about Final Fantasy that he realized it was much bigger than he had thought. So in this case, it was Clive who acted as Cid’s mentor instead.
He also learned that in every Final Fantasy game, there is usually a character named Cid who tends to be popular. The question “Who wants to be the shit Cid?” did bring some pressure along with it.
Whose voice in the game is your favourite? Let me know down in the comments!
