Starting off March, the month of green strong with the reveal of the VA for Christian Loveland, Eli Brennan! Unfortunately, you will have to wait to hear his masterful performance until the game drops as all of Christian's lines are basically spoilers. But! That doesn't mean I can't talk up this lovely Human's work.
Eli was technically cast a long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away. But due to just the nature of the project, I had to wait to book him until just recently. Christian I think objectively speaking is a smaller role, and not because he's a weak character, or someone I didn't put any time into. In fact it's the opposite I spent a lot of time considering how to incorporate him into the game and have it feel natural given his personality. In the end this meant he wouldn't be a prominent character, however the flip side was that his interaction with the player would be very unique when compared to the rest of the cast. Additionally not only is his single event unique to the cast, it would be difficult to miss, so it's not like those who want to date him or get to interact with him will have a hard time doing so. Which means fans of Eli don't worry you'll easily be able to swoon over his performance without any hassle. Christian is a hipster, that being said I find the term "hipster" has really taken on this negative connotation thanks to mainstream media; that just isn't necessary. People act like if someone is a hipster they're completely insufferable, and basically a garbage person. But it's just not the case, I think why people seem to hate hipsters so much is maybe because we hate thinking we're not doing enough, not being woke enough. Because that's the whole gag isn't it in every show? The reason I'm saying all this is to illuminate the depth of the character and what was required of Eli. And how incredible it is that Eli accomplished this with what limited dialogue he had to work with. It would be very easy for a VA to fall into that stereotypical hipster trope when playing this character; because of the context of the player's interaction with him. But if you read Christian's bio it is apparent they're not a bad person they're just a hipster. And maybe because I've been friends with people sort of like Christian that I have a softer criticism of the- community? But I think even more than that, there's something really fun about a character like Christian; and Eli's performance really hammers that in I think. Eli makes Christian feel well-rounded with just the use of his voice and how he delivers lines; there's nuance. Which again it would be very easy just to play Christian as this insufferable asshole heck his yearbook entry makes him out to be that way. But Eli layers in this level of charm that balances out Christian's ego and just makes him more fun to be around and I think really makes his event shine, and really makes it a fun interaction, like even the bad answers are still fun answers. So ultimately whether you walk away from the interaction having made all the right decisions or all the wrong ones, it will have been a fun experience regardless. Eli's performance is not only a testament to his own skills, but also a testament to how much a VA brings to a role. There were lines that he may have unintentionally changed up that after hearing I was like, "actually that's way better, I should have written it that way." Sometimes admittedly when I'm writing these characters I really only write them sort of in a broad scope because I don't always know the deeper story. So it's important that their personality really be first and foremost, but- that sometimes means my field of view is- narrow. Sometimes it's just words on a page for me ultimately. It isn't until a talented VA like Eli comes along and sees something in that character that they really come to life. And suddenly everything changes, because when I hire someone I do know the character, and they have that knowledge too. So when they say these lines they're able to really bring a depth to them that I really might not have been able to. Especially in Christian's case it was all on Eli I really can't stress that enough. I had very little input on how a thing should be said that was all him and his understanding of this character, and him saying, "this is how Christian would say this." Or "this is how that reaction would play out." A great example of this was when Christian greets the player he has a line where when I wrote it, it was very nonchalant, sort of devil may care; and Eli took it in the opposite direction. And at first I was like, "wait, that's not right, Christian wouldn't react like that." But then after listen a couple times and sitting back and thinking about it, it was like, "wait- no I guess that's not true Christian would be more likely to react like that than nonchalantly." "So what I'm trying to say if I'm saying anything at all" is that Eli's work as Christian Loveland is awesome and I look forward to you all getting to experience it first hand when the game does eventually come out. Because the wealth that he brought to the character shouldn't be understated, he enriched what was there, built off of it, and made it better than it was originally. So without further adieu or delay. Welcome Eli to Pleasant Sparkle Academy may your time here pass the vibe check.
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