The Sephiroth boss fight in the first Kingdom Hearts is still one of the series’ toughest, and it turns out his voice actor hasn’t managed to beat it.
We’ve all been there: you’re rocking your way up through the ranks in Olympus Coliseum, not a care in a world. You’re knocking down titans, you’re facing off against Final Fantasy friends, you’ve got this! Then, those damn strings start playing, and the one and only Sephiroth turns up. And of course, you get your ass thoroughly whooped, because he is tough as nails. He’s still tough to this day, arguably even harder than the second game’s Sephiroth fight if only because your toolset is wider in the sequel. So I can’t exactly blame Lance Bass, the character’s voice actor in the first Kingdom Hearts game (and a member of some boy band called NSYNC or whatever) for not having managed to beat him.
As spotted by GamesRadar, Bass recently held a Reddit Ask Me Anything to promote an upcoming TV special of his, where one fan asked him how he can to be the voice of Sephiroth, and whether he’s even played it and in turn beaten the Final Fantasy 7 villain. In response, Bass said “Yeah, I’m kinda badass as Sephiroth. No, I’ve never been able to kill my own character. He is so hard! But definitely one of the biggest surprises, when I tell people I voiced Sephiroth. In fact, I think a lot of people get upset, they get taken aback that I voiced Sephiroth. But God gives you a booming bass voice, and you gotta use it!”
He definitely is a surprising casting choice, but the first Kingdom Hearts game is full of them. They’re all very of their time too – David Boreanaz, star of Buffy and his own spin-off show Angel, voiced Leon, Even Stevens’ Christy Carlson Romano voice Yuffie, singer and Tangled star Mandy Moore voiced Aerith, and everyone’s least favourite Titanic antagonist Billy Zane starred as Kingdom Hearts’ big bad Ansem. And who could forget The Sixth Sense’s Hayley Joel Osment as Sora, the only one of the aforementioned lot who still voices his character.
Point is Bass, you’re not alone in struggling with Sephiroth. With a little training, and a lot of level grinding, I’m sure you can do it!
