FF7 Rebirth: Aerith actress talks about being ‘stupid’ and this ending

A response from a job application. A message from yesterday’s meeting. Bus.

So how is the world’s reaction to starring in a recreation of “one of the game’s most iconic moments”?

Final Fantasy 7 (FF7) Rebirth cast member Briana White expects it when BBC Newsbeat caught up with her via Zoom.

The game is the second part of a trilogy that recreates the legendary, influential Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) from 1997.

Briana provides an English voiceover for Aerith Gainsborough, a flower seller with ties to a mystical race that could save the planet.

It’s probably not a spoiler to say – but if you want to avoid them, walk away now – his fate in the original FF7 is one of the most famous twists in gaming history.

“This is what players think of as their greatest game moments,” says Briana.

“It was a shock, it was a surprise, it was incredibly provocative.”

It’s no secret that the new game revisits that moment, but its prequel, 2020’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake, teased the possibility that Aerith’s fate might change.

Ever since Rebirth’s release last week, players have been racing to reach the end of the game to see if this departure from the original storyline has happened.

The problem is, most of them haven’t gotten there yet.

“It’s been six days,” Briana said. “And most of the people I know are still in chapter three.

“So they still have a whole game to go through.”

Rebirth is massive. There is a main quest that can be completed in about 50 hours. But it’s also packed with side-activities and mini-games that can push the playtime closer to 100 hours.

So while fans are trying to get to the end, Briana is waiting for their answer to the finale.

“I’m definitely nervous, waiting to see how people react,” she says.

“But at the same time, it’s kind of cool,” Briana said, speaking after a “crazy” start week.

“It’s quiet now because everyone’s playing games,” he says. “And I just need to rest and breathe a little.”

That gave him time to think about how he got here.

Unlike many video game voice actors, Briana is an avid gamer and remembers sitting on her mother’s knee playing PC adventure games as a child. Before being cast as Aerith, she had built a strong following on the streaming platform Twitch on her channel The Strange Rebel.

She is also a trained actress and has appeared in traditional theater, television and film roles earlier in her career.

But Final Fantasy was her first voice acting role, a role she never expected to get and one she didn’t appreciate at first.

Briana says she “jumped” into the recording booth the first day, but as reality set in, “the glow slowly started to melt away.”

Marking and rewriting lines to iron out minor speech quirks, altering his delivery, “these incredibly detailed technical challenges really got to me,” he says.

Briana says she was “full of self-doubt” during the Remake project and remembers sitting on her bed at home and breaking down in tears after a particularly difficult week of filming.

“I just didn’t think they found the right person,” he says. “My inner critic was saying, ‘You don’t belong here.'”

He was finally able to cut that sound, and when the Remake came out, all the performances were praised.

So, Briana says, she returned to Rebirth feeling more confident, “more playful and more open in the recording booth.”

Despite the size of the latest game, it generally doesn’t feel like it has more work to do as the game expands the main characters to reflect larger allies and party members.

But the side content in Rebirth, the distractions and distractions that increase playtime, can be weird. It’s really weird.

While the main story touches on important themes and epic quests to save the planet, players can also spend time completing obstacle courses as frogs, competing in dolphin riding competitions and riding chocobos – the yellow bird-like creatures of Final Fantasy.

This is perfectly normal for a JRPG like this, but Briana admits that the tonal changes kept her on her toes.

Actors don’t get scripts in advance, so they have no idea if they’re going to be in serious mode or if they’re going to “do something stupid today.”

“But when I do, I have a lot of fun,” says Briana.

Briana admits that it hasn’t stopped people from asking her.

“Of course I want to tell them, but I don’t. I want to give them the gift of being able to go in with fresh eyes, not knowing what happened.”

There’s a good chance that the finale will stir up strong feelings, which could put the actors in the firing line of abuse on social media.

Briana says the Final Fantasy fandom “tends to be pretty respectful” and realizes she didn’t write the game.

“I’m not preparing for a huge wave of hate because I don’t think it’s going to come my way,” he says.

“Is it naive? Is it too optimistic? I think it’s going to be really fun.”

Rape is a risk for video game actors. Earlier this year, Last of Us developer Naughty Dog released a documentary about the making of the second game in the critically acclaimed series.

In one of the widely shared clips, Laura Bailey, who voices Abby in the game, tearfully recalled the threats she received over her role.

But Briana, who says she’s a “dumb and block-button liberal,” has some harsh words for those who take their anger out on actors.

“People who insult or belittle anyone involved in making a game because it didn’t go the way you wanted – find a better outlet,” he said.

“Go outside and scream, go chop down a tree, punch a pillow, go to therapy. I mean, there are very good outlets for anger and sadness.”

Briana considers herself lucky not to have faced negative waves and says being a part of Final Fantasy “never crossed my mind.”

But the big question is, will he return for the third installment?

“I don’t know,” he says, laughing. “They don’t tell me anything.”

“They call me, ‘when?’ I say, I’m coming.

“So if they don’t call, I won’t either. But if they do, I will.”