[Feedback] Wuk Lamat's English Voice

[lolnotacat]

All VA should just be real time generated by AI in games. Recorded lines are so restrictive its immersion breaking, given that they cannot refer to your character by name, refer to your race, job, what you have done or are wearing.

We're definitely gonna get there relatively soon, though probably not in XIV. Have you seen the Skyrim Chat GPT mod?

[Papayatar]

Apparently, according to some people here

"spEeEeEn liStEN tU MiiiIi"

is totally acceptable and peak voice acting. Huh.

I'm just wondering, do you actually enjoy deceiving yourselves?

I was curious about the VAs other work and visited her website (I know, visiting a Voiceactors official website, how dare I? Almost as bad as looking up her official Twitter...Stalker much? ._.). She posted some examples of her work, I listened to some and I was surprised. In one of them she yelled, got loud, very emotional and angry. It was...good. Almost very good. I couldn't believe this was the same person who delivered the "speeen"-line. Totally blew me away.
The difference to her role in FFXIV though? She was acting as a man. With a much deeper voice.



In response to my surprise, I can only quote this. Their voice is what they (voice actors in general) WORK with. What they get paid for. Biological facts do impair Senas voice work, it is how it is. As sad as it might be for her. That's just reality. And of course, I could act like it's not true and be fine with what we were presented with, but I also paid money for the product and tbf, I'm annoyed to pay a lot of money for stuff that is mediocre at best and terrible at worst. Is it bad to want the 'professionals' to actually deliver good work? Does that already count as being entitled? I doubt it.

Now, excuse me. I have to get ready to be called a xyzphobe, bigot, or some other label. Maybe even dodge some tomatoes or stones. Who knows.

I was wondering about this. Cuz I too looked at some of what Sena’s done and overall she’s actually a NBD VA.

So I’m wondering if we got a flat performance because of, poor Voice Director, like many others have said, and that outside her comfortable range (and having to lay an accent on it too) she unfortunately sounds Amateur-ish. And combine those things and we get the overall odd performance from a lot of recurring characters this expansion and a so-so bland performance the new main character.

So like maybe she better direction, in addition too needing more practice and vocal training to be comfortable with the range of Wuk Lamat’s so if she has to do something extra like add an accent it won’t hurt the performance?

Cuz somewhere in here someone mentioned Ayumu Murase and he’s got good range but he probably didn’t become good at it overnight. Off the top of my head, it’s the same for female English VAs who often voice young or teen boys but also do adult women and the ranges aren’t close either.

But also assuming when other successful VAs were still working on having range variation they weren’t cast in any large franchises as a main character who speaks a lot. Like they got to be NPC/Mob or minor character instead.

[Aniise]

So I’m wondering if we got a flat performance because of, poor Voice Director, like many others have said, and that outside her comfortable range (and having to lay an accent on it too) she unfortunately sounds Amateur-ish. And combine those things and we get the overall odd performance from a lot of recurring characters this expansion and a so-so bland performance the new main character.

Yes and no.

Sure, more training will probably benefit her and her range in the long run. That is true for any job out there. But if someone would offer me a job that I knew I couldn't do with my current level of experience and training...why would I just say 'whatever' and take it anyways? For the money? Oh please.
Also, like the poster I quoted wrote, there simply is a difference between female and male voices that will make the whole thing much harder for her, if not impossible to overcome.

Both parties are almost equally at fault in my opinion. The English Localizers are at fault to offer someone who had no business to get the job with her current voice range a big role like this. The VA herself is at fault for taking the offer without a care in the world how the end product would sound (or simply because she thought she could do it or was too overconfident for her own good).

The fact that she will have none of the criticism whatsoever is also a statement that she can't really assess her own lack of skills in any shape or form.

We have to wait and see what or if there will be a response to the criticism. Maybe the VA will get replaced, maybe the character will get near to none spoken lines in future content or maybe, the criticism will be fully ignored. But that would be the worst outcome of all in my opinion.

[AddictedToWitches]

So VA's shouldn't be paid a fair wage?

Irrelevant, the British VAs (read: most every other VA in XIV) are not a part of SAG-AFTRA so there is no reason for them to be striking as well
Also REMINDER TO EVERYONE. Sena herself said that telling VAs to step down is not harassment, which means she would be contradicting herself if she claims people asking her to step down is harassment as well. Food for thought!

All VA should just be real time generated by AI in games. Recorded lines are so restrictive its immersion breaking, given that they cannot refer to your character by name, refer to your race, job, what you have done or are wearing.

absolutely braindead take. Don't push your AIslop just because you don't like a VA's performance. I don't like Sena or her performance either but AI voices are fucking cringe, always will be, and taking jobs away from REAL HUMAN BEINGS is insane, regardless of how you feel about the VA's personal opinions, stances, or talent. Don't you dare fucking muddy the waters with this disgusting trite.

[NiceNox]

We have to wait and see what or if there will be a response to the criticism. Maybe the VA will get replaced, maybe the character will get near to none spoken lines in future content or maybe, the criticism will be fully ignored. But that would be the worst outcome of all in my opinion.

I feel like everything has already been set in stone, we will see and learn more about Wuk Lamat until the next expansion and maybe more. I predict that in the upcoming patch, Wuk Lamat will ask us to accept her as an official-ish member of the Scions and go on adventures with us, leaving Koana to rule the nation in her stead when needs arise. Either way, I believe they will try to make us love Wuk Lamat again. After all, the second time the charm, am I right?

[Aniise]

I feel like everything has already been set in stone, we will see and learn more about Wuk Lamat until the next expansion and maybe more. I predict that in the upcoming patch, Wuk Lamat will ask us to accept her as an official-ish member of the Scions and go on adventures with us, leaving Koana to rule the nation in her stead when needs arise. Either way, I believe they will try to make us love Wuk Lamat again. After all, the second time the charm, am I right?

This would actually make me wish for the final days again.

[AddictedToWitches]

We have to wait and see what or if there will be a response to the criticism. Maybe the VA will get replaced, maybe the character will get near to none spoken lines in future content or maybe, the criticism will be fully ignored. But that would be the worst outcome of all in my opinion.

Outside of Sena being outed for doing something genuinely horrible (god forbid) nothing will happen. At most, the general playerbase's dislike of Wuk Lamat will just cause the character to fade into the background in the vein of Aymeric, Hien, and the GC leaders. At most she'll show up in unvoiced side/role quests in the future.
The nepotism stuff is too far ingrained. Unless Kate loses her job (doubtful) nothing will happen.

[Papayatar]

Yes and no.

Sure, more training will probably benefit her and her range in the long run. That is true for any job out there. But if someone would offer me a job that I knew I couldn\\\\\\'t do with my current level of experience and training...why would I just say \\\\\\'whatever\\\\\\' and take it anyways? For the money? Oh please.

People do that all the time, not just for VA roles either. For example a lot of people who 1000% should have declined Manager positions are guilty of this but power + money is way more attractive. And depending on other factors some people can skate by being terrible, someone supports them by getting them training for it, the trial by fire turns them into a competent person at that role, or they get fired for misrepresenting themselves and/or not performing to expectations.

Also, like the poster I quoted wrote, there simply is a difference between female and male voices that will make the whole thing much harder for her, if not impossible to overcome.

Both parties are almost equally at fault in my opinion. The English Localizers are at fault to offer someone who had no business to get the job with her current voice range a big role like this. The VA herself is at fault for taking the offer without a care in the world how the end product would sound (or simply because she thought she could do it or was too overconfident for her own good).

….character limit snip

I think in terms of voice, I don’t think it’s impossible, it just really sounds like she needs more training, specifically how to tap into the range for voice acting and not just everyday speaking. Which adds an additional hurdle to overcome as a VA that others don’t usually have to also tackle. Like for what I heard most of the female voices sound exactly like Wuk Lamat sans accent. They seemed flat not super bad but needs more practice with it specifically for voice acting. TBH Wuk Lamat sounded slightly improved compared to her other roles but still not Main Character in large franchise worthy. Where the male voice I heard (from Unicorn Overlord) I was surprised that Wuk Lamat and Gloucester were the same VA. She IMO has the skill but rn she’s only she’s great in one range and in another she’s still an amateur. She’s not pro level in either but one is def 100x better and she’s gotta figure out how to bring the same or better quality the other range.

I will agree with whoever did voice casting shouldn’t have picked her. I get trying to pick hidden gem type talent but she wasn’t it. I don’t fault Sena for taking the job because if she truly believed she could do it, and got picked for the job why would she turn it down. People usually don’t apply/audition, for jobs they think they can’t do. Even some people with imposter syndrome at minimum think they can do the job they applied for. The “knows they can’t do job but apply anyway” seem to be people who have connections (friends, family, etc) or other privileges, that shield them from getting sacked for it. Or they’re so confident in their abilities they think they’re that amazing (think ppl on American Idol who are terrible and are offended when it’s pointed out). And the second type is usually not receptive to criticism either.

[Raven2014]

Idk why people keep talking as if it's too late to change or go back. Did you all forget this is the same company that remade the entire game in one year?

While I won't say changing the script to minimize WL's presence gonna be a trivial task, but at the same time it's not like they have to create new area, redesign the combat system, creating new assets .etc. for that. And they have 2.5 years to spread out the work.

So it really just come down on big SE perceive the issue and how serious they want to fix it, but it's hardly an herculean task some are making out to be.

Personally? I do think we have a good chance of seeing some changes. No matter what said publicly, I doubt there are many people at SE think this character is a good influence to the branch atm. Even if SE thinks this will blow over and people will forget and move on in a few month ... (which to be fair probably gonna be true), the problem is if the original plans have a lot of WL in every patch cycle, it means they risk the issue flare up again and again every 3-4 months.

Meaning for the next 2.5 years, it won't go away because the players will be kept reminded of it constantly. I seriously doubt SE will want that chalice to poison the whole expansion for the entirety of its life time.

So yeah, one form or another I'm pretty confidence changes to this particular character is coming at the very least.

[Venarius]

Idk why people keep talking as if it's too late to change or go back. Did you all forget this is the same company that remade the entire game in one year?

While I won't say changing the script to minimize WL's presence gonna be a trivial task, but at the same time it's not like they have to create new area, redesign the combat system, creating new assets .etc. for that. And they have 2.5 years to spread out the work.

So it really just come down on big SE perceive the issue and how serious they want to fix it, but it's hardly an herculean task some are making out to be.

2.0 was made and pushed out this fast because Square Enix was on the brink of bankruptcy. It was literally their last straw.

Now XIV is funding other "quality" game projects like Forspoken (lol). If they pull another Dawntrail in the future they might be in trouble. Rightfully so.