Wow, Wuk Lamat is really single-handedly ruining the DT story...

[Raven2014]

Endsinger was good for what it was like you said. I don‘t see the need to try to replicate that again.

And that's hardly the only instance, just the most offensive one. For an expansion that's supposed to be the start of a new story, DT feels less of an original and more like a collection of copy-cat elements, especially the second half. If I were to write my first story as a teenage, I know I would pieced together my favorites story elements from 3-4 different manga instead of coming up with my own. That's pretty much what I think DT's writers did.

[jameseoakes]

And that's hardly the only instance, just the most offensive one. For an expansion that's supposed to be the start of a new story, DT feels less of an original and more like a collection of copy-cat elements, especially the second half. If I were to write my first story as a teenage, I know I would pieced together my favorites story elements from 3-4 different manga instead of coming up with my own. That's pretty much what I think DT's writers did.

Dawntrail really feels like it's just been picking elements that seemed to go down well and just copied them with no idea why they either worked or got away with it the first time round

[Isala]

Dawntrail really feels like it's just been picking elements that seemed to go down well and just copied them with no idea why they either worked or got away with it the first time round

I mean, SE did say they were looking into implementing more AI into their projects. Dawntrail makes you wonder...

[Midare]

I was just about to point out everything wrong with that post but you beat me to it. I am not the biggest Naruto fan but hell even I know that the Wuk Lamat and Naruto comparison are just stupid and make no sense if you watched the anime or read the manga. I will also add that Naruto wasn't hated by EVERYONE. He did have some people on his side early on who understood him at the very least.

Perhaps the comparison comes from the fact that Poochie and Naruto share the "shonen protagonist" archetype, as in: "Dumb, loud and OP when needed".

[Striker44]

Wuk never grew, she was just rewarded for being that annoying little shit kid.

I honestly have trouble seeing how the generic "reasonable person" would conclude that Wuk Lumat didn't grow. Compare the Wuk Lumat you meet at the start with the one who becomes Dawnservant, and it's night and day. The Wuk Lumat you first meet has no self-confidence and constantly tries to cover up her weaknesses with utterly unconvincing bravado; she has empathy that the other contestants lack, but doesn't see it as a useful trait compared to Zoraal Ja's strength and Koana's cunning. By the time she becomes the Dawnservant, she's confident, she recognizes her empathy as a positive, powerful trait essential to being a leader, she's more willing to openly admit her weaknesses, she even sees the benefit of partnering with Koana as Dawnservants to reflect the Heads of Reason and Resolve.

There's a lot about Wuk Lumat we can debate. Did she receive too much screen time? Should she have had less of a role in the second half of the MSQ? Was her appearance in the final Trial fight really worth it? And so on. But her growth over the story seems like one of the few things that's undeniable. If someone doesn't like the character, it might be annoying to acknowledge that she grew, but that doesn't change the reality.

[RezPls]

Hope they make a hard heel turn on the current story direction and hire a better director for the English voice actors. Anyone playing the lvl 100 trial on English VA has experienced the aptly-put "yelling in lowercase" low energy performance that Wuk gives. Did we only have time and money for 1 take?

I get Final Fantasy is supposed to be about the power of friendship and that stuff, but we get to High School Musical levels of embarrassment with the cutscenes (specifically when Wuk becomes the dawnservant and the train cs...and I'm someone who loves stage musicals) was just painful to watch and even more abysmal to play outside of battle content. Disappointing to see that the 6.1-6.5 cringeworthy Zero was just the prototype for the single note drone that is Wuk Lamat.

[Nothv13]

I honestly have trouble seeing how the generic "reasonable person" would conclude that Wuk Lumat didn't grow. Compare the Wuk Lumat you meet at the start with the one who becomes Dawnservant, and it's night and day. The Wuk Lumat you first meet has no self-confidence and constantly tries to cover up her weaknesses with utterly unconvincing bravado; she has empathy that the other contestants lack, but doesn't see it as a useful trait compared to Zoraal Ja's strength and Koana's cunning. By the time she becomes the Dawnservant, she's confident, she recognizes her empathy as a positive, powerful trait essential to being a leader, she's more willing to openly admit her weaknesses, she even sees the benefit of partnering with Koana as Dawnservants to reflect the Heads of Reason and Resolve.

There's a lot about Wuk Lumat we can debate. Did she receive too much screen time? Should she have had less of a role in the second half of the MSQ? Was her appearance in the final Trial fight really worth it? And so on. But her growth over the story seems like one of the few things that's undeniable. If someone doesn't like the character, it might be annoying to acknowledge that she grew, but that doesn't change the reality.

The reason people don't see the growth is because she does nothing to earn it. She walks around talking to people and having things go her way no matter how dumb her decisions. Her weaknesses never actually hold her back to failure, so they are meaningless. Kidnapped and lose a keystone to a character that is obviously well above her level? No problem, next time I'll just beat him and his entire retinue without breaking a sweat. What will I do to earn it? Just talk to more people. I guess you could count the dungeon and trial as something more, but no where near what would be needed to earn such a huge powerup. Repeat this for her little scuffle with the soul powered Zaruul.

Oh, that tribe that is a cult with decades of ingrained xenophobic culture? Nah, one little talk will make the head of it completely change his ways and trust the outsiders that they know nothing about.

None of it, none of it is earned.

[aiqa]

I honestly have trouble seeing how the generic "reasonable person" would conclude that Wuk Lumat didn't grow. Compare the Wuk Lumat you meet at the start with the one who becomes Dawnservant, and it's night and day. The Wuk Lumat you first meet has no self-confidence and constantly tries to cover up her weaknesses with utterly unconvincing bravado; she has empathy that the other contestants lack, but doesn't see it as a useful trait compared to Zoraal Ja's strength and Koana's cunning. By the time she becomes the Dawnservant, she's confident, she recognizes her empathy as a positive, powerful trait essential to being a leader, she's more willing to openly admit her weaknesses, she even sees the benefit of partnering with Koana as Dawnservants to reflect the Heads of Reason and Resolve.

There's a lot about Wuk Lumat we can debate. Did she receive too much screen time? Should she have had less of a role in the second half of the MSQ? Was her appearance in the final Trial fight really worth it? And so on. But her growth over the story seems like one of the few things that's undeniable. If someone doesn't like the character, it might be annoying to acknowledge that she grew, but that doesn't change the reality.

Her growth is very open to interpretation. The only real growth she shows is combat ability, and that is largely undeserved from start to finish. Lower her ability to enforce her ideals with violence, and suddenly it's not obvious she had much character growth. At the end of the game she is just as impulsive, just as emotional, just as childish, just as naive, just as selfcentered, just as irresponsible, just as intrusive, etc.

[PaleYonder]

There's also the factor that "low self-confidence" is often used in bad writing as a cop-out flaw "since there has to be one", one of those Mary Sue classics, and overcoming it as a main thing feels intrinsically unearned. It's the game/story/medium telling us "she's actually already awesome, she just has to realise how awesome she is". That's nothing, and doesn't feel like real development.
And then if one pairs that with the character having real tangible flaws that the player/reader/audience perceives but the story brushes over because the character needs to be praised instead, it becomes doubly frustrating.
People have been listing actual flaws they found with Wuk Lamat in various places, for example the fact that until the game she didn't bother to learn about the country she wants to rule over and yet feels entitled to the throne, her stubborn naivety born from a spoiled lifestyle while refusing to look complex realities in the eye, her lack of empathy for her closest family members, her superficial solution attempts to everything, her addiction to the spotlight and what have you. Had they been treated as the serious flaws they are and made a point of causing her trouble, and her seriously reflecting and changing her ways, backsliding here and there, getting frustrated herself at the tangible flaws, and then grown into a more mature person gradually within her own limits, it would have done wonders. Instead, the game taught us that she just had to get more confident, because she's already great and everyone will grow to love her. That's simply poor writing and will sour large parts of the audience on the character.

[Looma]

I think it is mainly the VA for the character... it was a really bad choice in my opinion that made an already unlikeable character into a complete annoyance.