On the anniversary of Metaphor: ReFantazio, the English Voice Cast Reminisce on the Journey to the Throne

RPG Site: I guess to start with, how about you guys introduce yourselves, and who you voiced in Metaphor?

Greg Chun: Hello, I'm Greg Chun, and I voice More.

Caleb Yen: Hi, I'm Caleb Yen, and I voiced the protagonist!

Alejandra Reynoso: Hi, I'm Alejandra Reynoso, and I voiced Gallica.

RPG Site: The first question I wanted to ask, is that obviously Atlus RPGs are massive undertaking - especially in the voice acting front. Yet, Metaphor in particular was pretty interesting for being the first worldwide, simultaneous and mainline RPG release from Atlus. I'm just curious, what was the experience like on the voice actor side of things? Any major RPG that's voice acted is going to be an undertaking, but I imagine when it's something day-and-date there must be some extra considerations, even on the voice actor's end.

Caleb: It was crazy - and I don't mean crazy, like, bad. I just mean there was... just a lot of stuff to do. I don't know what it was like on the production side in order to make everything be simultaneous, but, you get scheduld and sometimes you're going "today, things are happening, and then this is happening, and next you're like "there's a worm?!"

It's kind of like, you know, it's everything happening all at once, and yet it's always something different every day because the game is just so big, you know. I think the visual I have for it all is a heart rate monitor, where it's just up and down in a rhythm. Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop - it's like that until you're done.

Alejandra: I mean, it was a massive undertaking - it was hours and hours.

RPG Site: I must assume that was especially true for you - I don't have a line list in from of me, but I must imagine you had, if not the most lines in the game, you were high up there.

Atlus Representative: I can confirm, Gallica has the most voiced lines.

Alejandra: Gallica has a lot to say! It was just so much fun, because it was such an immersive experience. I remember coming into it, I knew that's what it was going to be - because they gave me a heads up. Like, 'Hey, you know, she's gonna have a certain number of hours', and I'd not had that experience with a character in a game before, where she was such a major part of it. So I was excited to dig into something for that long. Especially because with games, a lot of that information is siloed.

They're such massive undertakings. As an actor, you get bits and pieces of it, but just to be able to sit with it for so long was really exciting. Even still, you don't get all of the pieces, but it was such beautiful writing, and it was such a fun and immersive world to be in, and as someone who grew up really loving fantasy and world building - it was like a dream come true to me, or something that felt like that.

[...]

It was so much fun to come in and have that happen every time, and to just have all of these hours with a character. And so it was, at the end of it all, we talk about - what is it like to then say goodbye to that character? It was a really emotional experience to then not have those sessions with Gallica every week, every few weeks. Then once you start getting into production more [chuckles], and to have more - you start hearing some of these other actors, because there's these cutscenes that would happen, and some of the UK cast already went in to record, or Caleb, or Greg.

I would get to hear them, and all of a sudden it's real, and I felt probably the way that players felt when they were watching it, and I get to see all the work that we've done and get to be an audience member. I get to hear Heismay for the first time, and I'm such a sucker for that dichotomy, but now knowing the character it's just perfect for who he is. But the first time I heard him it was like "Wait, hold on".

It was such an amazing experience. The writing is so great; the world, once we were able to see it, was just fantastic. It was a total dream project.

Greg: I honestly think the coolest thing for me that gave me that sense of the sort of grandess with this project ended up becoming hearing the cast from the UK. Because, we're so used to working on games where we know everybody else who's in the game, right? You hear the same voices, and it's just like "oh, that's so and so--that's so and so".

We didn't know all the oher folks from over there, and just having them telling the story and being able to experience those moments, it made... I can't speak for them of course, but for me it really made me feel like part of something really sort of unique, and new, and expansive. Because it just adds that kind of worldliness to it, to have a totally different culture, a totally different way of speaking, and many different flavors of that from the UK. That was incredibly profound, I think, to be a part of that. And it made me want to do my part as best as I possibly could.

RPG Site: Without going into any specifics, because we don't want to spoil anyone even though it has been a year now - I am curious about what the process was when recording. Did you guys know of the main twist in advance, and how that inform some of your delivery, if so?

Greg: Speaking in generalities - typically the way the gig goes is that we are on a need to know basis, and we're not necessarily told anything unless it's necessary for the work at hand that day. So, it's not like I came in and I was given an entire brain dump of the whole story of Metaphor, and everything that's gonna happen.

It was, if there was something that I needed to know in order to authentically sell a particular moment, then Scott [Editor's Note: Scott Strichart, Localization Producer at SEGA] or our director would let me know, and then I could take that information and do my thing. We really are only told what we need to know; there's so much work to do, and so many lines to record.

Caleb: I knew enough to do things that needed to be done early, but I didn't know much at all or, like, the intricacies of the thing. So... I would say that I am finishing this sentence, and I forgot what I already said. [Laughing]

So in summary, I think I, at the moment I was recording things, was kind of a stupid baby, but also the protagonist can be a stupid baby, so it is okay. Does that help you at all?

Greg: Honestly, nobody translates better to the written word than Caleb. [Laughing]

Caleb: That'll be great!

Greg: I cannot wait to see this.

Caleb: I can retake that smarter. Let me take that smarter! [Laughing]

RPG Site: No, no, it's fine. [Holding back laughter]

Alejandra: I think you very much just have to trust the people that are steering the ship. So, we have a Scott on hand, and we have our directors, because we are need to know. So as things are happening, we get the bits and pieces that we need. There were moments where I was suddenly like "Oh, what?", but then you kind of adapt as you go. It is very - it's the other fun part of the job where you just have to be on your toes and you're having that kind of improv moment.

Obviously, everything is very scripted, but you're trusting that they know exactly what's coming, and they have a vision for it. So as you're going, as long as you're going along with them, and adapting to what they're giving you, that you're gonna end up in the right place, because there were - still, there were - things that we did in the studio, that it wasn't until I saw a cutscene, or even just a piece of gameplay later that I was like "Ohhhh!", and it makes sense. It looks like we're talking to each other! That's amazing. And I've been doing this for 15 years, and I was like - it works. Yeah, I - you did a good job, Scott.

RPG Site: Is there anything else you would like to say about your experiences voicing Metaphor: ReFantazio?

Caleb: I just want to say, the game is so cool. Not just like, the plot is crazy and amazing, and I like that every character has their own... ok, this is a little bit of a sidebar, and I know that writing that whole thing is gonna be hard.

...I really like to play JRPGs because specifically JRPGs, to me as a genre, I really like when every character has a specific reason for being there and their own plot development. Because, if you play a Western game, it's usually about whoever is bashing in the heads the most, the protagonist, and everybody else kind of revolves around them. Not all Western games, but, you know it's like - usually you're one guy and people come and go, right? And they have their own circumstances, but it's mainly about your thing while they aren't the focus.

I like when I have a JRPG where every character has their own mission, their own reason for being there, their own development, their own... their own side characters and entire world. That is really, really cool to me and something I think Metaphor does phenomenally well. Every character has a specific town, region, race they come from, that takes place in the world. They have their own journey that informs why they are a part of the overarching story. I just love all that little development and flavor that it brings to the game and the genre, really. Also; the artist is really, really cool.

[...]

Greg: I actually really appreciate the themes that the game touches upon, because I do think it's thought provoking in a very pragmatic way, especially given the state of the world. This isn't meant to be a political answer, or anything like that - but I just feel like it's important that we encourage ourselves to think about the things that do affect real people, in the real world. I think Metaphor is very, very relevant in the way that it approaches a lot of topics, and with a hopeful take on it. It's just very... it's complex, and it's rich, and I think it's really worthwhile to experience.

Caleb: So, you could say it's a good metaphor, huh?

Greg: Unbelievable, it's like relentless.

Alejandra: This is just building off of Caleb, but I will say it feels so incredibly satisfying. I also just don't know... for everyone involved with this, just how did any of you manage this? To have so, so many characters - primary, secondary, tertiary, that are all so fleshed out, so lovable, so easy to root for - that youu can be so invested in. Genuinely, like, again, they all have a motivation for being there. They all have stories that they could be the main characters of their own individual games. And your heart swells and breaks for them on each of their journeys. 

Like, there's so many moments where it's like "Oh my gosh, I can't believe that happened to you." Like, I wish I could help rectify some of that and to just immediately be tossed into the game, that's how invested I feel with the characters. Then, to even have your antagonist be so compelling, and even in the moments that you're so frustrated and so like, I need to do something about this, be like - I just need to keep hearing more from this character as well. And, uh, More.

RPG Site: I imagine that was a joke that happened a lot when recording.

Alejandra: Very recently, actually!

Greg: Do we know why More was named More?

Atlus Representative: Thomas Moore, based on the 14th century writer.

Caleb: Is that the guy who stabbed the pope?

Atlus Representative: ...No.