It’s pretty small to be honest but it’s just so confusing to me. Why did they not bother voicing the conversations you have with NPCs by interacting with them? Everything else is voiced, even random NPC chatter in field areas. But this seemingly more “important” dialog isn’t. They actually even went to the trouble of voicing partial lines even! It’s just so weird.
Do you guys think it’s an artistic choice? Seems strange that it would be a budget constraint? Why not cut NPC chatter first in that case? Did they ever talk about this in their interviews?
I don’t think they’ve discussed it because it’s not usual for RPGs from Japanese developers to do this, and is very much seen as the norm these days. I think it’s such a norm it doesn’t register as anything particularly noticeable until pointed out. I imagine it’s partially to do with budget and time though, and the sheer scope of the script in XVI - have you seen the photo of Clive’s JP VA with the script ?