Matthew Mercer, the prolific voice actor who played Vincent Valentine in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, recently discussed how he first found out who he would be voicing and how much it took him by surprise. While Vincent Valentine was an optional, missable party member in the original Final Fantasy 7, he played a major role in the backstory and larger expanded universe of the original game, quickly becoming a fan favorite that gamers couldn’t wait to see again in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Sure enough, it was confirmed that Vincent Valentine would return in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in a pre-launch trailer back in September, and fans had already suspected that Matthew Mercer was the voice of the former Turk agent-turned-tragic Shinra experiment even before his casting was officially revealed. Mercer was already a well-known name thanks to his work as the DM for the popular Critical Role web series alongside a host of video game voice roles like Yusuke Kitagawa in Persona 5 and Ganondorf in Zelda:Tears of the Kingdom. At the time, many players agreed that his deep tone was a great fit for the troubled-yet-stoic Vincent.
Several members of the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth English voice cast recently sat down to discuss their roles during Square Enix’s «Inside Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth» video series, including Matthew Mercer. As he tells it, Mercer was initially unaware that he was going to be playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Vincent Valentine, as he was originally called on to voice random NPCs. Footage of when he found out his actual role is included in the video, showing him laughing in shocked amazement as Vincent’s image appears on the screen.
In the same video, Matthew Mercer describes how he was a longtime fan of Final Fantasy 7, and that he had dreams of lending his talents to a potential remake ever since he first started voice acting. He also noted Vincent’s role in the larger Final Fantasy 7 universe, serving as a prime example of Shinra’s ruthlessness in experimenting with
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