[Feedback] Wuk Lamat's English Voice

[Tullius]

Well as the VA ok koana said "Sena and Kate are the beating heart of Dawntrail, and if you disagree, you can kick rocks" I'm guessing Koji Fox is either slowly leaving in replace of Kate or he's taking a back seat, weird statement though.

https://imgur.com/a/rPFGZg1

It's going to bring me no small amount of satisfaction when these smug midwits with a drastically inflated sense of self-importance get promoted to customer. I don't think they realize just how easily replaceable they are, especially when they want to take an attitude like that toward the playerbase.

[Firun]

Imo there were parts where the voice acting felt rushed, where better method acting should've been put in place (referring to the moments where she's blocking an attack etc.) But for the rest? I'm going to sound heretical to this, but I want my opinion to also be in these 130 pages, I liked it. I liked the EN VA for Wuk Lamat. It fit the character, regal but lively and kind. Nothing overly exaggerated like with some JP style voice acting. Just a character delivering her words, and well at that imo.

[IvoryHawk]

It's going to bring me no small amount of satisfaction when these smug midwits with a drastically inflated sense of self-importance get promoted to customer. I don't think they realize just how easily replaceable they are, especially when they want to take an attitude like that toward the playerbase.

From my maybe 8 years of playing FFXIV, I don't remember any VA, let alone 2 having stinky personalities on twitter.

[Tullius]

From my maybe 8 years of playing FFXIV, I don't remember any VA, let alone 2 having stinky personalities on twitter.

I can't really say I'm current with that sort of thing. This is the only time I've looked into someone associated with this game, and only because Wuk's uncanny pitch in the English dub raised my suspicions. I've never heard the English dub for Koana. From what I can gather, however, his work isn't the subject of much praise. Guys like Luis and "Sena" exhibit of path of undeserved, abrasive narcissism that will not be profitable, or otherwise beneficial, to Square Enix going forward. I also imagine the one(s) responsible for bringing them aboard will be facing a great deal of scrutiny.

[RabendaShin]

Well as the VA ok koana said "Sena and Kate are the beating heart of Dawntrail, and if you disagree, you can kick rocks" I'm guessing Koji Fox is either slowly leaving in replace of Kate or he's taking a back seat, weird statement though.

That clears things up. So it was Kate and Sena Bryer who are responsible for the negative response to Dawntrail’s MSQ. At least we don’t have to blame that poor voice director anymore.

Jokes and criticism aside, why does this VA sideline the actual developers of the game in favor of people only involved with English localization? I really don’t understand why these people think they should run their mouths on public platforms. Is it because they only get positive feedback there?

I hope Square Enix learned their lesson - If you recruit from the circus you’re likely to start employing clowns.

[ViaDesperare]

I can confirm I've heard Sena's real voice, about five minutes ago, and the accent is totally fake. As someone who thinks the performance itself is on par with most VA in XIV, I still find it a bit upsetting they hired someone to fake an accent. I understand the VA is Hispanic and were probably inspired by family or something, so it's not the absolute worst case, but it's still kinda cringe.

Didn't the team like..pledge not to do this exact thing??

I think it was Kate who said they wanted to avoid the Apu situation, but I don't know the source of that. Makes you think what's up with the lore, because the fake accent that's like Apu's and then the South American culture being about tacos... Maybe by trying not to be racist, Kate ended up being racist... Doesn't help that she hired a southern-accent white woman who is now Latina, and also once a man, to play Wuk and thus the poor accent and difficulty reaching the tones and pitch needed for the role. Kate really filling in that stereotypical Karen role...

Some quotes:

As a South American, I sure did love having my culture reduced to "MEZCAL AND TACOS". Oh, and funny very colorful clothes - literally goddamn everyone in this supposedly "diverse" city dresses in one way - that being traditional Andean wear. Really good, really inclusive. Absolutely not COMICALLY insulting at all.

As a man of hispanic origin living in the US I felt offended by Wuk's EN voice, she doesn't even sound like a ESL Spanish person trying to speak English it sounds more like an offensive stereotype! I don't like how the VA was some white lady doing the voicework out of "social justice" or whatnot if they were serious they would've hired a Latina VA with actual credentials to do the work, not some lady who had maybe a taco from a Mexican restaurant and that was her entire resume for getting the job.

[RabendaShin]

As a South American, I sure did love having my culture reduced to "MEZCAL AND TACOS". Oh, and funny very colorful clothes - literally goddamn everyone in this supposedly "diverse" city dresses in one way - that being traditional Andean wear. Really good, really inclusive. Absolutely not COMICALLY insulting at all.

As a man of hispanic origin living in the US I felt offended by Wuk's EN voice, she doesn't even sound like a ESL Spanish person trying to speak English it sounds more like an offensive stereotype! I don't like how the VA was some white lady doing the voicework out of "social justice" or whatnot if they were serious they would've hired a Latina VA with actual credentials to do the work, not some lady who had maybe a taco from a Mexican restaurant and that was her entire resume for getting the job.

I’m still (hopefully) waiting for the thread requesting SE replace Sena Bryer, a thread made by someone like those quoted whose heritage is being offended for 21 hours of game time.

I’ve repeated myself too many times in this thread already, but if the actual voice performance on its own wasn’t an issue then the disingenuousness of it would be. Alongside that there’s still the vile personality displayed on public forums, but apparently that’s a non-issue for her defenders.

[Nestama]

Ah, we've gone back to being entitled now.

[RabendaShin]

Ah, we've gone back to being entitled now.

How so ‘entitled’? What I meant is: the people who stated they felt their hispanic/latino culture/heritage insulted by the voiced performance for Wuk Lamat have more grounds to make an objective complaint to the development team than I ever would, a European with Asian roots.

Their issue with the representation is more valid than mine could ever be, even moreso when representation is a main talking point from the localisation team. I find their claims disingenous.

[NiceNox]

I still find it quite weird that many people are so attached to the concept of "representation" and so on. This is a game based on a fantasy world, nothing is real, and we should treat it as such. If there is a "representation", cool, it's like an easter egg or something, but shouldn't be forced on the devs or to be expected or something. Also, by the "representation" logic, shouldn't Japanese or German VA be from South American ancestry as well? How long should and what length that ancestry be? Should the rule "One-drop rule" be considered? In my opinion, forcing something to represent something is kinda weirdly offensive and racist to me, like, imagine if there's a location "representing" Southeast Asia and all NPCs speak in broken English with an accent those Hollywood actors used to do when playing an Asian character in 40s or 70s.