On Dec 28, two voice actors from Baldur’s Gate 3 collaborated with one from Final Fantasy 16 to create a hilarious spoof commercial for a dating app.
It isn’t uncommon for voice actors to double as fans of the games they lend their talent to, and Baldur’s Gate 3 has been particularly blessed with “fan-made” extracurricular videos from the cast. Ben Starr (Clive—FF16), Samantha Béart (Karlach—BG3) and Amelia Tyler (The Narrator—BG3) brought this trend to new heights when Starr shared a video titled “Clive and Karlach start a dating agency” on X (formerly Twitter).
The video itself is pretty much exactly what you can expect from the title: Starr and Béart speak in character as Clive and Karlach to promote a fictional dating service created and run by the two fire-themed characters. The Narrator fits into the mix in the most genius way possible: by providing a quickly worded disclaimer of all the things that are likely to go wrong for you if you actually utilize the services of the agency. You know, standing procedure for commercials.
Ben Starr is the one who originally tweeted the video, and a retweet from Béart confirms that the parody was his idea. Apparently, he invited Béart and Tyler to participate in the collaborative passion project spoof with him. In the mock commercial, Clive and Karlach bicker and gripe with one another while trying to keep up pleasant public personas in such a way that I think is very likely to start a wave of fan-shipping between the two characters. It’s a match made in heaven (hell, really) when you think about it.
While the video isn’t meant to be taken seriously in any capacity, it does feature some truly well-done editing, as the two finish one another’s sentences seamlessly as the visual feed jumps back and forth between the actors’ respective living rooms.
My personal favorite element of the video, however, is the understanding and love for the characters on display. Most of the time, voice actors simply won’t have time to play or learn about the games they’re contributing to, and part of their job is being able to provide quality vocal work without needing a complete picture. Seeing these three voice actors (and many others) display such a deep adoration and understanding of the characters they worked on fills me with even more respect for their already well-received performances.
