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Favorite Voice Actors in Games ?


Cloudbahamut

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I am a big fan of voice acting in video games and it's just amazing how VA has evolved in games from the often cringeworthy cheesiness in the 90s to the serious, emotional and powerful performances that IMO are on par with movie actors performances. I also love how many VA's get to actually play their characters with mocap technology and not just voice them. Voice actors get more respect, praise and credit nowadays and I thinks it's very much deserved. Especially cinematic story-driven games really have delivered some of the greatest VA performances to date and they are so crucial to the portrayal of the characters and story.

Picking favorite voice actors therefore is tough for me. Kevin Conroy is the ultimate Batman and I could never imagine another Spider-Man (in games) but Yuri Lowenthal. I also absolutely love Camilla Luddington as Lara Croft or Reuben Langdon as Devil May Cry's Dante. The later Resident Evil games also have some of the best VA's most notably Roger Craig-Smith as Chris Redfield or Matthew Mercer as Leon Kennedy. Nolan North is one of the greatest VA veterans who has played almost anything from Nathan Drake to Deadpool and Britt Baron and Brianna White were so pitch perfect as Tifa and Aerith in FF VIIR.

One Voice actress that I have been noticing lately is Erica Lindbeck who just has such a fantastic, smooth, beautiful voice. She was the perfect Felicia Hardy in Spider-Man (even better then Grey deLisle's iconic Catwoman in Batman Arkham) and made a lot of people fall in love with Jessie in FF VII. Or of course could anyone ever imagine anyone but Ashley Johnson as Ellie from Last of Us ?

But ultimately if I have to choose a male and a female Voice Actor, there is just no other choice for me but Troy Baker and Laura Bailey, arguably the two biggest stars of the industry - and for good reason.

I first encountered them exactly 10 years ago in Final Fantasy XIII (as Snow and Serah) and although I loved their performances I had no idea how big these two would become. Over the last 10 years they were in almost every major game that I have been playing (as I am playing mostly AAA games) or at least that's how it feels. They appeared in almost all of my favorite games and franchises in the last decade, often playing major characters and by now it feels almost like coming home when I hear them in a new game. It has been really awesome to witness their meteoric rise in the industry and deliver so many amazing performances. And they often seem to work together in most games they appear in.

A list of some of their most prolific roles in the last 10 years:

TROY BAKER

Snow Villiers (Final Fantasy XIII)
Robin, Two-Face, Jason Todd, Joker (Batman Arkham)
Batman (Telltale Batman)
Theron Shan (Star Wars: The Old Republic)
Ryu Hayabusa (Ninja Gaiden)
Jake Muller (Resident Evil 6)
Booker DeWitt (Bioshock Infinite)
Joel Miller (The Last of Us)
Delsin Rowe (Infamous 2nd Son)
Talion (Middle-Earth)
Jack Mitchell (Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare)
Erron Black, Shinnok (Mortal Kombat)
Ocelot (Metal Gear Solid 5)
Sam Drake (Uncharted 4)
Magni (God of War)
Higgs (Death Stranding)
Bruce Banner (The Avengers)


LAURA BAILEY

Serah Farron (Final Fantasy XIII)
Chun-Li (Street Fighter IV)
Cloud of Darkness (Final Fantasy Dissidia)
Helena Harper (Resident Evil 6)
Rivera (Halo 4)
Rise Kujikawa (Persona 4)
Alex Brand, Kait Diaz (Gears of War)
Lady Comstock (Bioshock Infinite)
Abigail Walker (Infamous 2nd son)
Ioreth, Eltariel (Middle-Earth)
Nadine Ross (Uncharted)
Catwoman (Batman Telltale)
Supergirl (Injustice 2)
Mary-Jane Watson (Spider-Man)
Abby Anderson (The Last of Us Part 2)
Black Widow (various Marvel games)


 

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Those two are so well known as they're omnipresent, usually cast in the big roles, and you largely instantly know it's them. Beyond them... I'm sure I could think of some if I thought about it but the one that instantly comes to mind would be Liam O'Brien as I've always liked his work. His voicework for Lezard Valeth in Valkyrie Profile 2 was great, that laugh too

 

Edited by Rozalia1
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I'm going to go off he board on this one. While I love a good Joker performance by Mark Hamill - or those as you mentioned by Troy Baker and Laura Bailey, I'm gonna name three people who are relatively unknown but really impressed me with their work.

 

Forgotton Anne:

Rachel Messer - Anne

Daniel Pierce - Mr. Fig

Christopher Teller - Bulb

 

Usually for dialogue in video games I brace for cringey lines and speech that in general sounds like it wouldn't happen between real people. Hope to see more of them in bigger stuff in the future, and I think that's happening with Messer as she's been in anime like My Hero Academia and a role in Borderlands 3. 

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It would have to be Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy as Joker and Batman respectively in the Batman Arkham games (excluding Origins and Blackgate).

 

I loved these guys ever since I was a kid growing up watching Batman: The Animated Series in the mid 1990s. Mark Hamill will always be Joker to me, even though he was the original Luke Skywalker in the old Star Wars trilogy long before that. Kevin Conroy gave a splendid performance as Batman, with a calm but disciplined demeanor.

 

There are a few others I like, but these two guys have stuck with me for decades.

Edited by Spaz
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Troy and Laura are awesome.

 

Nolan North

Jennifer Hale

Paul Eiding

Liam O'Brien

Ali Hillis

Yuri Lowenthal

Ashley Burch

Tony Jay (RIP)

Keith David

Paul St. Peter

Steve Blum

Roger Craig Smith

Robin Atkin Downes

Claudia Black

Gideon Emery

Emily Rose

Tara Strong

Steve Downes

Graham MacTavish

Doug Cockle

 

I know that just reads like a list of high profile actors but I really love their work

 

 

 

Edited by Lan Stee
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STEVE BLUM I TELL YOU!!!

 

Wolverine (Marvel)

Sub-Zero (Mortal Kombat) 

Green Lantern (Injustice)

Ares (God of War)

Zoltun Kulle (Diablo 3) 

Tank Dempsey (Call of Duty)

 

and many more!!! His voice is so easily recognizable. Troy Baker and Laura Bailey are among the greatest as well. One of my new favorites is Liam O' Brien. God I loved his role as Caius in Final Fantasy 13-2, and playing For Honor's story really makes me like the Warden more as he voices him. David Lodge is pretty good, although after watching Bleach I only know him as Kenpachi now ? Karen Strassmen is amazing as well with her portrayal as Kitana in Mortal Kombat. Richard Epcar also does great as Raiden and the Joker in Injustice.

 

I love all the voice actors I mentioned above, plus more. There are so many that it would take forever to name and appreciate them all lmao

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The Legacy of Kain series has the most phenomenal voice talent I have ever had the pleasure of hearing in a video game.

 

Simon Templeman (Kain)

Michael Bell (Raziel)

Tony Jay (Elder God / Mortanius)

René Auberjonois (Janos Audron)

Paul David Luthaker (Vorador)

Earl Boen (Sarafan Lord)

Elizabeth Ward Land (Umah)

Anna Gunn (Ariel)

Richard Doyle (Moebius)

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I really like Cherami Leigh. She voiced my favorite Borderlands 2 Vault Hunter, Gaige. Her dialogue is my favorite part of the character, so a good performance really helped me enjoy the game and character more. She also voiced my favorite persona 5 party member, Makoto. (her voice is super distinct too, she did some of the voice acting for the last of us 2 WLF females, and honestly it took me out of the game a bit because her voice was too recognizable for the 1 girl voices several characters type thing). looking at her credits it seems like she does way more anime, though she is the lead for the female Cyberpunk character.

 

Ashley Johnson's portrayal of Ellie in the last of us series is undoubtedly my favorite voice acting performance ever in a video game. 

 

 

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I know this is kind of out there, but I really enjoyed Bruce Campbell as the Tutorial Narrator in the three spider-man games on PS2 (especially Spider-man 2). I remember his delivery being hilarious.

 

Also, I really enjoy Sam Riegel's work, most recently in RAGE 2. 

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13 minutes ago, Lan Stee said:

I know that just reads like a list of high profile actors but I really love their work


A lot of people always seem to feel as if they need to justify themselves for liking high profile actors. I mean these people are so high profile for a reason. They wouldn't be cast as major characters if they weren't as good as they are. If anything VA's like Troy Baker, Laura Bailey, Nolan North etc. being in so many games is really a testament to the quality of their work and performances. Sometimes I feel as if people are trying to imply that I should feel embarassed for being a fan of Troy Baker for example. Because he is popular ? Because he is widely known and appears in many games ? Because he is one of the greatest VA of his generation and has become a household name ?

Of course we love the high profile actors because it is their work that made them high profile. Nothing wrong with that.

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From who hasn't been named yet and is very underrated IMO is Patrick Seitz who has done a phenomenal work Scorpion in Mortal Kombat games. 

He is also the voice of Garrosh Hellscream form Wow and Bob from Tekken series.

 

Someone else, who is also my favorite is Erin Yvette who voice pretty much in almost every Telltale game, like Boonie from the Walking Dead and Snow White from Wolf Among Us. 

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For me is James McCaffey who gave his voice to Max Payne, who is of course one of my favorite video game characters.

 

Also Rino Romano who voiced Spider-Man in Spider-Man 1 & 2 for PSone & Rikimaru in Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins also for PSone.

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Two of my favourites which haven't been mentioned are Rob Wiethoff and Roger Clark who respectively voice/mo-cap John Marston and Arthur Morgan. 

 

Have to echo kenseizenkai above too and agree that James McCaffrey's performance in all 3 games is incredibly iconic. Especially considering how the VO accompanies you and narrates your actions throughout the entire game. 

Edited by ChxpointCharlie
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For me it's Troy Baker and Matthew Mercer

 

They're actually both pretty fimiliar sometimes in terms of voice/tone

 

They're just 2 really talented actors, i also like how they can voice act pretty different characters and sometimes waaaaaaaaay younger characters than them

 

Like how Matthew voiced Yusuke from Persona 5

 

Both also are in a lot of really good games, BioShock Infinite, Persona 5, TLOU, etc

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Troy Baker is excellent at his job, that stands, but there is so much of him everywhere that he gets boring and recognized fast.

 

My favs are:

 

David Hayter

Cam Clarke

Patrick Zimmerman

Greg Eagles

Paul Eiding

Michael Gough

Robin Atkin Downs

Tara Strong

Phil LaMarr

J.S. Gilbert as Sweet Tooth

 

Edited by Ptirle
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I am going to go with Ashly Burch for her work on Tiny Tina (Borderlands), Orendi (Battleborn), Aloy(Horizon) and much more. Also her work on youtube series HAWP is so entertaining.

 

Another favourite of mine is Takuya Kuroda because of his work on Yakuza series' main protagonist Kiryu Kazama. His voice is just hnnngh.

 

It would be a purrsonal sin to not mention David Hayter because of Metal Gear series as Snake was sort of a childhood hero growing up. I am still bitter about him being replaced by Sutherland for MGS V.

 

I am going to drop some honourable mentions to Christopher Judge and Sunny Suljic for their work on God of War. Also Troy Baker and Nolan North, obviously. 

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26 minutes ago, Raveniteh said:

I am going to go with Ashly Burch for her work on Tiny Tina (Borderlands), Orendi (Battleborn), Aloy(Horizon) and much more. Also her work on youtube series HAWP is so entertaining.

 Seconding Ashley Burch. Love her as Parvati in The Outer Worlds. When I found out she was Tiny Tina I couldn't believe it. Amazing talent. 

 

 

I've also been a huge admirer of Troy Baker for several years but sadly the veil has been lifted a little after his playthrough of The Last of Us with Nolan on Retro Replay. He was so unbelievably condescending, snooty and stuck up about it whilst simultaneously sucking at the game and blaming it on glitches. After that my respect for the guy went right down. 

 

Nolan is a total OG though and his personality has always come off as genuine and people pleasing. What a guy. 

 

I also need to shout out Michael Ironside as Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell. Absolutely adored those games and was so upset that they replaced him for Blacklist. Although his replacement actually did a decent job so can't be too mad. 

Edited by jonesey46
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4 hours ago, Cloudbahamut said:

LAURA BAILEY

Serah Farron (Final Fantasy XIII)
Chun-Li (Street Fighter IV)
Cloud of Darkness (Final Fantasy Dissidia)
Helena Harper (Resident Evil 6)
Rivera (Halo 4)
Rise Kujikawa (Persona 4)
Alex Brand, Kait Diaz (Gears of War)
Lady Comstock (Bioshock Infinite)
Abigail Walker (Infamous 2nd son)
Ioreth, Eltariel (Middle-Earth)
Nadine Ross (Uncharted)
Catwoman (Batman Telltale)
Supergirl (Injustice 2)
Mary-Jane Watson (Spider-Man)
Abby Anderson (The Last of Us Part 2)
Black Widow (various Marvel games)


 

For real, I love Laura. She also voiced Lucina from Fire Emblem. Lucina is best girl. I do hope that she's doing fine after all the death threats because of voicing a terrible character like Abby. People can be really immature sometimes. 

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1 hour ago, jonesey46 said:

Seconding Ashley Burch. Love her as Parvati in The Outer Worlds. When I found out she was Tiny Tina I couldn't believe it. Amazing talent. 

 

Oh damn, she's in Outer Worlds? That's amazing, even more excited to play it now. Totally, her voice range is just nuts. I don't get how is she able to bend her voice in such way.

1 hour ago, jonesey46 said:

I've also been a huge admirer of Troy Baker for several years but sadly the veil has been lifted a little after his playthrough of The Last of Us with Nolan on Retro Replay. He was so unbelievably condescending, snooty and stuck up about it whilst simultaneously sucking at the game and blaming it on glitches. After that my respect for the guy went right down. 

 

While I absolutely respect his work and ability as a voice actor, the way he slams down on some people on Twitter because of game criticism is just odd and unprofessional. I think he takes it a bit too personally. But most of their Retro Replay videos are really fun.

 

Nolan is incredible tho, have you see the video where he accepts BAFTA award? Such a heartwarming experience. 

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I personally am I really big fan of Nolan North i've met him in person as well and he was great such a nice guy, I also think Laura Bailey is fantastic, Troy baker depends on the role for me I guess, Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and Joker are just iconic your probably never gonna find 2 better people to voice those roles. Roger Craig smith as Christ Redfield was also a favourite of mine I was really dissapointed when he was recast. Ashley Burch As Aloy and Chloe from LiS is also a standout for me as well and finally I can't forget Ashley Johnson as Ellie from The Last of Us.

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MGS had some exceptional voice acting for 1998. That game felt truly cinematic and pushed the industry forward, and the big reason for that was the phenomenal localisation work and talented voice actors. The obvious answer of course is David Hayter. He is the voice of Snake, he made that character feel alive. But I want to focus on the VA who played Liquid Snake - Cam Clarke. This is the ultimate villain voice. Such brilliant acting in all those mologues, I can listen to them all day. Sure, it's not 2020 level Hollywood acting like it is in modern games, but it's perfect for an 1980s action movie style game, which MGS was. I still love it all those years later.

 

 

 

Also, I want to throw in a fun fact for you. Spyro in Spyro 2 and 3 on PS1 (as well as in the Reignited trilogy) was voiced by the VA of SpongeBob in the animated show - Tom Kenny. 

Edited by Alderriz
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