[Feedback] Wuk Lamat's English Voice

[Carolingian]

This thread is a pretty frustrating read because on both sides we've got people jumping in with more and more extreme takes and silly accusations to the point where it seems people are more invested in fighting an unrelated culture war than addressing the actual problem that is the bad voice acting.

There is no proof at all that the English VA for Wuk Lamat was some DEI hire or that the localisation lead is best friends with her and nepo-hired her. At the same time people criticising her performance are not automatically transphobes, and denying her mediocre at best performance and just blindly praising her because she's trans makes you look delusional and also is honestly just condescending and patronising towards the VA.

The reality is that her being trans has obviously made it more difficult for her to voice this female character. The VA was born with a masculine voice and therefore has to put in extra effort to put on a convincing feminine voice. This becomes even more difficult when she has to act out emotional scenes or has to shout and scream. It's an extra challenge she herself acknowledged in the past that she has trouble with. Which is why the voice acting for Wuk Lamat sounds so unnatural, unemotional, and amateurish. Especially compared to the stellar performances we're used to in FFXIV.

Now is this the fault of the VA? Partially, sure. After all, it's her performance and it's clearly not up to par. On the other hand, she's just doing a job she was hired to do to the best of her ability. I'm sure she herself also realised the performance wasn't all that good, but aside from stepping away and missing out on the money and experience of this job, what else could she do but her best?

In the end it's the voice director who has the final say. That's where the responsibility lies. And apparently the director thought this performance was good enough to ship. I don't know if it was the voice director who also chose and hired her in the first place, or if that was a casting director or someone else, but that's obviously also a place where mistakes were made.

I've heard people say that SE used a different VA agency for DT compared to previous expansions. I don't know if there's any truth to that, but if it is then people should be focused on telling SE that they want the old studio back instead of focusing on DEI conspiracies and "Woke Lamat" nonsense. I think that would be a way more productive way of getting SE to listen to your feedback and getting the English dub back to it's previous quality.

[Boblawblah]

This thread is a pretty frustrating read because on both sides we've got people jumping in with more and more extreme takes and silly accusations to the point where it seems people are more invested in fighting an unrelated culture war than addressing the actual problem that is the bad voice acting.

There is no proof at all that the English VA for Wuk Lamat was some DEI hire or that the localisation lead is best friends with her and nepo-hired her. At the same time people criticising her performance are not automatically transphobes, and denying her mediocre at best performance and just blindly praising her because she's trans makes you look delusional and also is honestly just condescending and patronising towards the VA.

The reality is that her being trans has obviously made it more difficult for her to voice this female character. The VA was born with a masculine voice and therefore has to put in extra effort to put on a convincing feminine voice. This becomes even more difficult when she has to act out emotional scenes or has to shout and scream. It's an extra challenge she herself acknowledged in the past that she has trouble with. Which is why the voice acting for Wuk Lamat sounds so unnatural, unemotional, and amateurish. Especially compared to the stellar performances we're used to in FFXIV.

Now is this the fault of the VA? Partially, sure. After all, it's her performance and it's clearly not up to par. On the other hand, she's just doing a job she was hired to do to the best of her ability. I'm sure she herself also realised the performance wasn't all that good, but aside from stepping away and missing out on the money and experience of this job, what else could she do but her best?

In the end it's the voice director who has the final say. That's where the responsibility lies. And apparently the director thought this performance was good enough to ship. I don't know if it was the voice director who also chose and hired her in the first place, or if that was a casting director or someone else, but that's obviously also a place where mistakes were made.

I've heard people say that SE used a different VA agency for DT compared to previous expansions. I don't know if there's any truth to that, but if it is then people should be focused on telling SE that they want the old studio back instead of focusing on DEI conspiracies and "Woke Lamat" nonsense. I think that would be a way more productive way of getting SE to listen to your feedback and getting the English dub back to it's previous quality.

This is how you communicate the realities of the situation without resorting to either hate speech, conspiracies or snark (I'm guilty of that one).

I'll bow out here, as you've said it better than I ever could and my snarkiness isn't helping the situation.

[RabendaShin]

This thread is a pretty frustrating read because on both sides we've got people jumping in with more and more extreme takes and silly accusations to the point where it seems people are more invested in fighting an unrelated culture war than addressing the actual problem that is the bad voice acting.

I've heard people say that SE used a different VA agency for DT compared to previous expansions. I don't know if there's any truth to that, but if it is then people should be focused on telling SE that they want the old studio back instead of focusing on DEI conspiracies and "Woke Lamat" nonsense. I think that would be a way more productive way of getting SE to listen to your feedback and getting the English dub back to it's previous quality.

Well put, and honestly this is what I attempted to convey earlier: if there are complaints about the quality of the product we paid for, we should address it concentrated, coherently and voice the criticism in a respectful manner - without resorting to memes and farfetched hypothetical situations, or worse, insults and mudthrowing.

To instead respectfully request that the devs take action and recast/replace one problematic voice actor to improve the quality should not be that offensive of a step to take, no? Or should it be lumped in with a big "we don't like the quality of Dawntrail"-thread where the actual issue won't be addressed?

I do believe the disappointing quality of Dawntrail's MSQ/localisation is directly related to changes in the usual development cycle. To assume the cause to be the change in hiring practices or having the wrong people in charge is a rational take, certainly if the involved parties are publicly speaking about these changes on their social media, and loudly so. Even moreso when the end product is visibly (negatively) affected.

One and one still add up to two: someone else got in charge, and the wrong people got hired. What we got was a lackluster expansion that does not live up to standards set before, with a few clear examples such as Sena Bryer's dismal performance. I personally don't care how it got to this point, or why, but I'd like Square Enix to address the complaints and take action.

[AddictedToWitches]

Snip.

Well said.
But I will point out that the reason people are accusing Sena of being a nepo-hire is that she has been friends with Kate, who is now the localization lead, since before the casting, as evidenced by being mutuals on twitter and frequently interacting.
VDs and localization leads hiring people they know is not an uncommon thing, but when they get hired over people more fitting/deserving of the role (like an actual latina) then obviously people are going to shed more light on it.
I will agree that the primary fault lies in the voice direction.

[AkaeiNox]

Hmmm does Sena have some white hispanic heritage? Isn't "latino/latina" usually more of a cultural demonym? (According to the US definition it is)

[Mura128]

She was born in the US but her parents, or at the very least one parent IIRC are Puerto Rican

[Petroglyph]

Hmmm does Sena have some white hispanic heritage? Isn't "latino/latina" usually more of a cultural demonym? (According to the US definition it is)

She describes herself as being from "an old kentucky home", that she's "PR on her dad's side", and she's described herself as white in the past. She doesn't speak spanish, either. Her identity doesn't matter with regards to her performance except that she's absolutely just not faking the accent well, but I think it is worthwhile mentioning that people are trying to give her points for being puerto rican (as in some people think she's FROM puerto rico), but she's really just an american with a parent or grandparent from the old country. I really don't want to imply callous or cruel intent, just clarify, since others have brought it up.. ^^;;

[RabendaShin]

She describes herself as being from "an old kentucky home", that she's "PR on her dad's side", and she's described herself as white in the past. She doesn't speak spanish, either. Her identity doesn't matter with regards to her performance except that she's absolutely just not faking the accent well, but I think it is worthwhile mentioning that people are trying to give her points for being puerto rican (as in some people think she's FROM puerto rico), but she's really just an american with a parent or grandparent from the old country. I really don't want to imply callous or cruel intent, just clarify, since others have brought it up.. ^^;;

That's the disingenuous part for me, in light of recent "all of Dawntrail characters have Latino/Indigenous voice actors" posts. Certainly when she is the one voicing what is objectively the main character of Dawntrail. Pair that with past tweets claiming other identities, it gives pause to think about the professionalism and intents of this person.

I'm from Europe and have very mixed heritage, but I'm not going to claim to be Chinese because my great grandmother was born and raised there. I have no ties to Chinese culture or identity other than by distant blood and appreciation of rice, so why would I get to claim I do and parade it as some kind of victory?

[AkaeiNox]

-Snip-

I assume her being unable to speak Spanish might be an issue for a lot of people from a representation perspective. (Too being from Québec we are also very attached to the french language so I can relate in a way)