oh you color of the sky right oh you color of the sky right
Final Fantasy VII remake had a daunting task to accomplish it had to recapture the charm of
its almost 30 year old predecessor while also introducing these characters ripe with 90s edge
to a generation unfamiliar with that all while making changes to better suit modern players the
more strategy focused time-based combat has been vetoed in favor of a more traditional action-based
combat Midgar where the player spends their first three to five hours in the original has been
expanded into a 30-hour adventure but a change that often gets glossed over in discussions is
the new English cast 2002's Kingdom Hearts was the first time fan favorite Final Fantasy VII
characters Cloud Yuffie Aerith and Sephiroth were given voices and even though only one of
them would keep the same voice years after by Kingdom Hearts II they'd all been ironed
out every Final Fantasy 7 rep including Cid and now Tifa had found their definitive voice actor
except for Aerith after having the same voice actors for a variety of expanded material it
came as quite a surprise to learn that those iconic voices would no longer be heard in the
remake meaning we'll never get to hear Cloud's original voice say arguably his most iconic line
fortunately however many of the new voices either sound identical or in some cases even better the
energy and charisma these characters exude has never been this high before so credit where
credit is due I love the old cast and I love the new cast well most of the new cast there was one
character that really stood out for sounding quite different than fans remembered and this
only became more apparent once he got his own game look I'm not here to criticize or complain about
the clearly talented actors hired for a million dollar franchise no I just want to talk about
one thing in particular Zack's voice today we'll be analyzing the differences similarities and
interesting decision making when it comes to the portrayal of Zack's character all through the
lens of voice acting delivery and maybe figure out why fans may not have been as receptive to
this change don't worry I'll still make my Buffy video just I really gotta talk about this because
it's very personal Zack's my favorite video game character of all time and that's saying something
because I've played The Bouncer a game with truly unforgettable heroes but seriously from
zealous hero to zombified zero let's zestfully look at the zigzag portrayal of Zack Fair
Jayniac
despite making appearances in Kingdom Hearts, Ehrgeiz and a multitude of Final Fantasy VII
related media Zack is only the protagonist of one game Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII on the
PSP because of that we will only be comparing his portrayal in the original Crisis Core and the more
recent Reunion it's only fair speaking of which it should be mentioned that at face value a lot of
these lines of dialogue are pretty um stilted if one were to just read the lines as they're written
it'd become quite noticeable how strange some of them are no way he just ate my hair SOLDIER
is like a den of monsters don't go inside Cloud finish Sephiroth off like who talks like that
most of the admittedly awkward lines in the game are remedied by their delivery and since Zack's
original voice actor Rick Gomez and his modern voice actor Caleb Pierce are different people
likely given different directions it's obvious that we're going to get different deliveries
Angeal do you fly away now to a world that abhors you and I
shut up[ shut up all that awaits you shut up I'm warning you
Angeal do you fly away now to a world that abhors you and I shut up
shut up all that awaits you shut up I'm warning you
and sometimes completely different lines
excellent uh probably awesome we're gonna fail which raises the question why were some lines left
the same if others would be changed anyway but yeah the differences are night and day not good
or bad just drastically different Gomez presents his lines with a heightened degree of energy
portraying Zack as upbeat if a bit hot-headed take this scene for instance after discovering that his
mentor figure Angeal has taken the life of his own mother Zack reacts with what the hell did
you do Angeal there's just something so raw about how that line is delivered each individual word
building up to the impact of Zack pushing Angeal so how is this scene presented in reunion huh
what the hell did you do Angeal it's like a parent scolding their child for scribbling
on the wall with erasable marker all jokes aside Pierce portrays Zack much more youthfully which
in some ways makes sense at the beginning of the game Zack is supposed to be 16 years old so giving
him a younger maybe even a bit more naïve and oblivious voice kind of works but problems arise
when Zack reaches 23 years old and he still sounds like he hasn't gotten out of his awkward teen
phase which becomes particularly egregious when Zack who at this point in his life is a hardened
military combatant finally has time to catch his breath and talks to a potential new recruit Cloud
Strife in the original game the scene plays out like this by the way do you know Tifa
sort of talk to her no I'm sensing some issues here shouldn't you do something
notice the difference between Zack and Cloud's voice Zack's voice is heavier and more confident
than Cloud's uncertain and boyish voice which again makes sense ideally you'd want
the mentor-like character to sound stronger and more confident than their inexperienced apprentice
this was even shown to the players much earlier in the game with the interactions between Zack
and his mentor Angeal I'll set the bomb inside the Fortress you'll charge the front gate and uh
and and indulge yourself you got it that's what I do best now compare that to how the
scene plays out between Zack and Cloud in Reunion by the way do you know Tifa
sort of talk to her no I'm sensing some issues here shouldn't you do something
they're both soft-spoken they're both light on each word they both sound young it just doesn't
fit and I think that's why this new voice isn't resonating with people as well as the old one did
I played Crisis Core for the first time when I was 13 years old and I hadn't quite figured myself out
yet along comes Zack an energetic, charismatic, flirtatious, and fun-loving character that despite
all the hardships he faces in life he keeps going he keeps fighting to the bitter end and he does
it with all his emotions on his sleeve all the friends he has and all the memories he's created
with them he basically weaponizes to make him more powerful than any adversary and though he's open
about how he feels in a given situation he never shows weakness to anyone but his lover at the time
I had never played a game that would challenge me every time I booted it up fighting Sephiroth was
so stressful I left teeth marks in my PSP but anytime I felt like I couldn't beat something
anytime I felt like something was too difficult
anytime I wanted to give up and call it quits I just thought of Zack
I heard his happy-go-lucky voice and I just wanted to keep going he wouldn't give up so why should I?
I usually script this segment but I actually just want to talk voice acting is a very serious thing
and it doesn't get enough appreciation in the industry and I'm thankful for every voice actor
that's ever inspired me in life in ways that you'd least expect and uh as I said Zack is actually my
favorite character uh in in video games just period there's so many ways he's inspired me
and a lot of that is carried with his voice and the vocal performance done by Rick Gomez and uh
it's funny doing this video made me realize
how much I I've always wanted to be a voice actor and I don't know why I never went
through with it I guess I just thought I'd never be good enough but I think I should be
maybe I can Inspire someone same way that Rick inspired me all the way back 13 years ago but yeah
thank you for watching this video it's very different than usual be sure to follow my
social medias but especially Twitch if you want to see me live stream I live stream every single
week please follow me there you'll see me and we can talk about everything you want also be
sure to check out the Jr. & Marcus Talk Podcast where my best friend and I talk about pretty much
anything we'll do more movies soon don't worry if you want to talk to me and everyone else in the
community be sure to join the Discord and finally be sure to check out the merchandise the link to
everything I just said is in the description down below maybe one day I'll do a video on Roxas and
the voice that Jesse McCartney used for him and how it's different in the original Kingdom Hearts
II compared to Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix maybe one day anyway until then I'll leave you with this
don't worry big guy just keeping her warm for you