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

[Midare]

Koji learnt a lot after the hot-mess EN localisation of Haurchefant, whom he'd tried to neuter into US sensibilities.

As far as I remember, that was not Koji, but the guy who also sings that deep voice part in the theme for Thok ast Thok.

[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?

[Shibi]

As far as I remember, that was not Koji, but the guy who also sings that deep voice part in the theme for Thok ast Thok.

Hmmm yes no excuse for that wirecross, John Crow, not Michael Christopher. Sorry. https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...sions-of-FFXIV

And as said in theat thread

Haurchefant is intended to be received as a good and true ally, but some of his comments directed at the player could, if rendered in EN as it was written in JP, provoke a strong negative reaction for some players

I think the way Poochie ended up has garnered a much stronger dislike than Haurchefant could have ever been in his true form. They killed him as a result. I do have strong hopes that a future event has a poochie fur rug to wipe our feet on.

[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)

[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.

[Kozh]

I'm not surprised honestly. Part of me thinks its a shame, but also up until this point I've felt FF14's story and characters are really engaging so I haven't had the need to even look into localisation differences. I'm sure if I went back and checked everything I'd be more disappointed. Obviously I didn't join up here until DT, so I didn't see that thread, but do you remember if the changes to the dialogue felt jarring/particularly bad? I might try and dig that thread up myself so I can see what people were saying.

I won't say EN localization make it like super bad or anything, but it feels like trying too hard to be "different". They don't 100% change the meaning, but the interpretation of a dialogue can be different compared to JP (while DE/FR most of the time tries to stick as close to JP interpretation). It's been very long time for me, so I don't remember much and in detail, but some examples I can recall is:

1. Patronizing Amaurotine in ShB is named Charitable/Helpful Amaurotine in JP

2. Y'sthola dialogue in 5.4 (or 5.5, I don't remember) which says something like "we have seen firsthand what destruction zodiark power can cause. We should not let that happen to our star" -> in JP she said "emet selch has entrusted the planet to us, we should stop fandaniel from harming it" (paraphrasing). EN has more negative connotation about zodiark, while also doesn't make any sense because before Zodiark trial in 6.0, we have never see his power. Even when fighting Hades and Wolidibus, their strength is not Zodiark's

3. In labyrinthos when we're waiting for Ragnarok to finish, G'raha muse about the Ancients. This one I don't remember what he said (so you're free to not believe me), but in EN his tone is more judgmental about the Ancients while in JP he's more neutral and actually pitying them.

4. Old examples, but DRK HW quest. JP DRK makes it really clear that "Fray" is Fray's corpse coming "alive" due to our aether (basically meat puppet) and other people can see and interact with him. The merchant who tasked us with retrieving his products directly refer to Fray who accompany us. Meanwhile EN makes it that "Fray" isn't real and it's all in our head.

[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.

[Midare]

I think the way Poochie ended up has garnered a much stronger dislike than Haurchefant could have ever been in his true form. They killed him as a result. I do have strong hopes that a future event has a poochie fur rug to wipe our feet on.

Still, I feel something like that might backfire, since we'd get reminders of our "good friend" Poochie and that would be worse than her simply being forgotten.