'I had no idea what had happened': Final Fantasy 16's Ben Starr on becoming a meme, playing angsty roles, and which series summon he'd take on a date

Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy 16
(Image credit: Square Enix)

There's nary a thing to fault Ben Starr for, least of all his commitment to the bit. Since lending his voice to Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy 16—which finally launched on PC this week—Starr has cemented himself as a fan-favourite voice actor. A lot of that is thanks to the fact he doesn't take himself too seriously: From shitposting on Twitter, to cosplaying as Tifa, to becoming a whole-ass meme thanks to a particularly bright light at The Game Awards.

I was able to sit down and chat with Starr in anticipation of Final Fantasy 16's PC release, and I couldn't help but ask what he made of all his antics over the last year, especially seeing his flashbanged face become a top-tier meme. 

"I didn't know what was going on because I was like 'I'm gonna put my phone away, I'm just gonna enjoy the night. This is so cool, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be at such a huge event.' And yeah, this guy tapped me on the shoulder, and went 'Excuse me, you're a meme.' Then I looked at my phone and it had just blown up and I went 'Oh my God.'"

Starr tells me he enjoyed "how inventive people were" with the image, from turning him into a Kingdom Hearts character to the all-too-real moment where the Bandai Namco splash screen burns your retinas at 2 am. "People were using it everywhere, and I think that's so lovely because I try not to take myself very seriously," Starr said. "And if I can be a vector of joy for people, that's all I care about. I do this stuff because I want people to see that I'm happy to be silly and happy to take the piss out of myself—I'm always going to take the work incredibly seriously, but I'm never going to take myself seriously because being a clown is fun and I love it."

Ifrit ain't broke

It's a welcome contrast to the more serious role he takes on as Clive, as well as some of the future projects he's currently locked in for: He's billed to appear in Clair Obscura, though he still can't quite reveal the capacity in which he's involved, as well as taking on the titular role in The First Berserker: Khazan. I asked Starr about the juxtaposition between his real-life/online persona and the roles he's been taking on, especially for The First Berserker.

"With Khazan, it's like, I love a painful, angsty boy, you know? It's great. There are also other roles that I'll get to talk about later down the line where I don't have to take myself as seriously. But I think that's the great thing about acting, it's just pretending, and I love to pretend. I used to joke whenever I do TV shows that it's just dressing up in silly hats, doing silly voices, as long as we don't take ourselves seriously but take the quality of the work very seriously then you're going to have a great time "

When it comes to Final Fantasy 16's Clive, Starr says he was "very fortunate" to be handed a character who was written so well. "Hopefully, going forward, I can kind of continue to embrace those roles that feel authentic, because it starts with the quality of the writing that kind of just needs me to say a couple of lines to make it work," he tells me.

Ralph Ineson (L) and Ben Starr (R) attend Final Fantasy XVI PC Launch event, London. Picture date: Monday September 16 2024. PA Photo. Final Fantasy XVI comes to PC platforms, including Steam and Epic Games Store, on September 17. Photo credit should read: Belinda Jiao/PA Media Assignments

(Image credit: Belinda Jiao/PA Media Assignments;)

Starr's been a long-time fan of Final Fantasy even before landing his role as Clive, and with Final Fantasy 16 being so summon-centric I wanted to know which one was his favourite…to take out on a date, of course. "I'm going rock climbing with Titan," Starr tells me with almost zero hesitation. After mulling over the question for a few moments and expanding the pool of eligible bachelors to the entire series though, he has something a little different in mind.

"I'd love to just ride through the Alps with Ixion, just like wind in the hair. You know, nothing but a horse and a dream, just having a lovely time," Starr says. "Can you imagine if I was Clive? Clive's luscious hair just like, blowing in the wind, riding Ixion. The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music, Clive riding Ixion. Fan art, please." Someone make it happen already, will ya?

TOPICS
Mollie Taylor
Features Producer

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.  

Read more
The jester from Balatro, portrayed in unsettling detail in real life, wears an uncanny smile and stares at the viewer.
The outtakes from that live-action Balatro trailer are unhinged
Clive in Tekken 8 gameplay trailer screenshot
'Fight me': Ben Starr humorously responds to disappointment about Clive Rosfield in Tekken 8 by showing off his cosplay of the Final Fantasy character everyone thought it would be
An edited screenshot of a cheering lalafell in front of Netflix's Arcane series, based on Riot Games' League of Legends.
Final Fantasy 14's battle design lead says it would 'be a dream come true' to do a League of Legends crossover
The boss of Dawntrail's 4th raid, Wicked Thunder, holds an Electrope cube to the air and floods it with levin.
'It's simply impossible to make a difficulty level that's just right for all players': How Final Fantasy 14's lead battle designer has been playing a precarious balancing game for Dawntrail's dungeons and raids
An image of Alphinaud and Alisaie sitting together at a table. Alphinaud, a studious young elezen, takes a sip of his tea while Alisaie sulks into her chair.
Final Fantasy 14 data sleuth gathers more info on the game's script, finds Alphinaud is the king of yappers—though Wuk Lamat's in the top 3 after just 1 expansion
Dragon Age Dreadwolf antogonist, Solas the elf, with a huge wolf walking next to him through smoke
Dragon Age voice actor says his favourite way to play Inquisition is as a woman who romances himself, which is apparently 'the best'
Latest in RPG
Henry from KCD2 wearing nice outfits
'Diversify your fashion endgame' with this Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 mod that gives Henry fly new gambesons, pourpoints, and caftans
Mark Darrah
BioWare veteran says a big delay is better than lots of little ones, because sometimes you just gotta 'burn it down and take the other fork in the road'
Honey B Lovely
The state of Final Fantasy 14 in 2025: It's in a weird spot, huh?
Alma, the handler from Monster Hunter Wilds, closes her eyes and looks a little disappointed.
This impractical method of getting a 1-second capture time in Monster Hunter Wilds can make you the fastest hunter alive—on paper
Monster Hunter Wilds Artian weapon crafting - Gemma holding hot metal
Gemma's English VA is right with us on Monster Hunter Wild's confusing menus, which makes me feel a little better for having to Google symbols all the time
No Rest for the Wicked Steam early access screenshots
No Rest for the Wicked developer Moon Studios is now 'fully independent' after acquiring the rights to the game from Take-Two
Latest in Features
Honey B Lovely
The state of Final Fantasy 14 in 2025: It's in a weird spot, huh?
Monster Hunter Wilds palico
One of the biggest victories of Monster Hunter Wilds' streamlining is I don't have to deal with those awful gimmick fights anymore
A vampire with a dark castle and swarms of bats in the background.
We need to decide on a genre name for Vampire Survivors-like games before a really terrible one sticks
Olivia, Alma and a palico
I wish Monster Hunter Wilds wasn't so afraid of letting me play Monster Hunter
SteelSeries QcK Performance mouse pads overlapping on a desk
The SteelSeries QcK Performance series has reignited my excitement over the simple pleasure of a quality mouse pad… and trying to click skulls with pinpoint accuracy
OneXPlayer 2 pro on a table
I never thought a handheld PC bloated with Windows could replace my Steam Deck, but after gaming on an old OneXPlayer 2 Pro I can see now I judged it too harshly