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

[ReynTime]

I think I remember hearing Koji, like Ishikawa, was in more of a supervisory role now and Kate took over as the localisation lead? Can't give you the source on that though unfortunately, maybe it was a fanfest panel? Kate was definitely in the credits for it, and I'm pretty sure I remember seeing Koji's name there too

Obviously there's been some oversights- I mean the "??!?" face I pulled when my friend told me Cahcuia is American lmao, but I don't know how much of the issue is just the poor overall writing and how much is how it was localised. I've definitely seen lines that were only in the Japanese text (Ketenramm saying Cahcuia seemed like a difficult/harsh mentor) or many cases of small things being left out that make the meaning of a line seem more ambiguous when it was clear cut in Japanese (Iyate saying Erenville would cry & beg to go with his mother on adventures, which could be read as he was throwing tantrums, when in the Japanese it specifies he was lonely/missed her so much he would cry and he was frantically/desperately begging her to take him with her).

But it's very likely this is something that happens in all previous expansions too- I know I've heard Haurchefant was characterised differently between EN and JP dialogues, so I'm not gonna sit here and act like this is some new issue that only DT is suffering with. It's probably only more of an issue because the base materials they had to work with weren't up to standard. I'd rather it felt empty than find they added in a bunch of plot stuff that wasn't in the original tbh.

A year ago there was an entire thread pointing out how much of Endwalker's EN dialog changed compared to the japanese, french and german scripts.

[SummerAnt]

I had to gather my thoughts about Wookie Lamat. I fully agree that she ruined DT's story.

They gave us a whole new continent to explore but the world felt so small for me because I was tied to WL all the damn time (except maybe Shaaloani). As a hobby writer, I find this really weird. Even Middy (the father of dragons observing me) or Ardbert (a literal ghost bound to me) gave me more privacy than her. I didn't feel like having a nice laidback adventure but having a summer school trip led by Wookie. Like why couldn't I wander around a bit? It should've been more interesting if they're introduced to the Promises by each zone (before/during the zone-branching) THEN decide who to choose to support. I know I was forced to choose her (worst mistake ever) but at least, it could've given me the illusion to think: why shouldn't I support Koana or heck Zoraal'ja?

I hate the cope about "we're mentoring her" or "we already had our spotlight" or "it's a new arc so ofc it's a slow start". Even as a silent MC, we have NO other choice but to agree with her. If we were her mentor, we would've challenged her ideals based on OUR experiences about the world. How peace and understanding is very hard to earn? How one's ambition could potentially ruin the lives of others? How is keeping one's legacy in respect while moving forward is difficult? It's like the writers couldn't implement those ideas into the story. If we were a mentor for Wookie by nodding and clapping for every small thing she did, I think we failed miserably. We could've been an Auron-like mentor for 'her' Tidus (except he's been a more compelling character overall).
We already had several instances where the focus was shifted to others. HW was mostly about Alphinaud's development yet we had an overall presence within the plot. Yoshi P literally said: 'Alphinaud can be considered to be one of the protagonist's of Final Fantasy XIV'. Yet I don't think he choked us with his presence.

And it's a minor nitpick but I'm not very fond of her design. It's Aloy's hair with Naruto colors plus a cat. It's probably a unique model but the small muzzle looks so uncanny. She reminds me of those toothpaste ads. The more you look at it, the more creepy it becomes. ;-;

[ChouetteChouette]

I had to gather my thoughts about Wookie Lamat. I fully agree that she ruined DT's story.

They gave us a whole new continent to explore but the world felt so small for me because I was tied to WL all the damn time (except maybe Shaaloani). As a hobby writer, I find this really weird. Even Middy (the father of dragons observing me) or Ardbert (a literal ghost bound to me) gave me more privacy than her. I didn't feel like having a nice laidback adventure but having a summer school trip led by Wookie. Like why couldn't I wander around a bit? It should've been more interesting if they're introduced to the Promises by each zone (before/during the zone-branching) THEN decide who to choose to support. I know I was forced to choose her (worst mistake ever) but at least, it could've given me the illusion to think: why shouldn't I support Koana or heck Zoraal'ja?

I hate the cope about "we're mentoring her" or "we already had our spotlight" or "it's a new arc so ofc it's a slow start". Even as a silent MC, we have NO other choice but to agree with her. If we were her mentor, we would've challenged her ideals based on OUR experiences about the world. How peace and understanding is very hard to earn? How one's ambition could potentially ruin the lives of others? How is keeping one's legacy in respect while moving forward is difficult? It's like the writers couldn't implement those ideas into the story. If we were a mentor for Wookie by nodding and clapping for every small thing she did, I think we failed miserably. We could've been an Auron-like mentor for 'her' Tidus (except he's been a more compelling character overall).
We already had several instances where the focus was shifted to others. HW was mostly about Alphinaud's development yet we had an overall presence within the plot. Yoshi P literally said: 'Alphinaud can be considered to be one of the protagonist's of Final Fantasy XIV'. Yet I don't think he choked us with his presence.

And it's a minor nitpick but I'm not very fond of her design. It's Aloy's hair with Naruto colors plus a cat. It's probably a unique model but the small muzzle looks so uncanny. She reminds me of those toothpaste ads. The more you look at it, the more creepy it becomes. ;-;

I've been comparing their use of Ardbert to Wuk Lamat as well. The guy had literally nothing better to do then follow us around and talk to us yet we don't always see him in every scene. We don't have him literally following us 24/7 like a minion, we don't see his reaction to everything, he doesn't have something to say in every scene. He's not the only character Shadowbringers revolves around. Instead we have key moments with him, spaced out over the expansion. Did they realize how suffocating his character would feel otherwise? So what in the world happened in DT?

[SummerAnt]

I've been comparing their use of Ardbert to Wuk Lamat as well. The guy had literally nothing better to do then follow us around and talk to us yet we don't always see him in every scene. We don't have him literally following us 24/7 like a minion, we don't see his reaction to everything, he doesn't have something to say in every scene. He's not the only character Shadowbringers revolves around. Instead we have key moments with him, spaced out over the expansion. Did they realize how suffocating his character would feel otherwise? So what in the world happened in DT?

Exactly this! The guy literally had a part of our soul yet he didn't force himself into every scene. And he had 0 contact with people besides us. His presence felt organic because he appeared in the right scenes. He introduced some of the First's lore while developing a bond with us. That's why giving his soul to us felt well-earned and special imo.

And here's Wookie who followed us everywhere. Even after she became dawnservant, she HAD to go with us to Heritage Found. Why not Koana? If they're quote to quote "making a whole Dawnservant together", why couldn't they let us spend time with him? SE made him dirty with the Wookie simping ngl.

And let's not even talk about Living Memory where Erenville had an emotional moment with his mom. It should've been a very heart wrenching moment but the second Wookie says 'well this is the last of 'em', I felt... disconnected and empty inside. If this cat thinks they only need peace, love and understanding, she should've tried to understand how painful it was to Erenville (she also lost his 'Papa' not too long ago). Why was she even there if she can't contribute to their character development?

[Plumerian_Ariadust]

(she also lost his 'Papa' not too long ago).

Would be great if the writers bench her from 7.1 to 7.3 under the guise of mourning or suffering through grief.

[Reimmi]

Would be great if the writers bench her from 7.1 to 7.3 under the guise of mourning or suffering through grief.

Benched permanently then we leave the new world unceremoniously for a new *actual* adventure and never see her again

Wonder if anyones compared her lines to any other character, i wouldnt be too shocked if she has more to say than even some of the scions despite being in 1 single expansion (+1 patch in ew)

[Daralii]

Benched permanently then we leave the new world unceremoniously for a new *actual* adventure and never see her again

Wonder if anyones compared her lines to any other character, i wouldnt be too shocked if she has more to say than even some of the scions despite being in 1 single expansion (+1 patch in ew)

They've done it for DT, but I don't know if there's a tally for the game as a whole.

[Zaniel]

Would be great if the writers bench her from 7.1 to 7.3 under the guise of mourning or suffering through grief.

The same writers who had a love affair with this character? We should be so lucky. To be blunt, the writers also need to be sitting on that same bench or we're going to be right back here in 8.0.

The writing problems are so egregious and numerous that this isn't just "teething issues" with the new team that can be addressed by them stretching their literary legs.

[SummerAnt]

Would be great if the writers bench her from 7.1 to 7.3 under the guise of mourning or suffering through grief.

Now that you mention it, I didn't see her crying too much over her Papa's death. After the credits, she mentioned that they already had his funeral in a cheerful tone. Her main problem was... she was too busy so we didn't have the chance to talk? Girl, we spent the whole msq talking to you and you want MORE? xD
I get it, people grieve differently. But it's really weird when she cried over getting onto a ship (or something similar, it was around lvl 92 quest) than her father's death. She has an emotional level of a teaspoon. Happiness, peace, love, nothing else.