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

[Midare]

We have to look at the incongruous scenes, underdeveloped conflicts, Galool Ja Ja being a man-child instead of a reptiloid version of uebermensch....

I agree with some of the things you've said but this confused me.

How was he a man-child? Because he enjoyed measuring his strength against strong opponents? I mean, I get the trope they were going for, and admittedly, it's very much in line with the stereotypical cheap shonen feeling of DT, but I personally didn't think it was that bad. They played his diminished strength due to the head of reason's death well enough and he still seemed rather intimidating (and no, I'm not saying this because he's more than several feet taller than my WoL). Yet he also came off as rather level headed to me when admitting that Poochie wasn't ready for the position. What ruined it for me it's that he somehow thought that by the time we found the gate she was ready for the position when she was just as immature and that, somehow, he was not a good father to Zoraal Ja and we only learn about it when he says it, which was particularly jarring since up until then, he had always seemed like a doting father... but then again, that was also aimed at Ms. Black Hole sue so...

[Althalan]

When you are excited about the Live Letter from the Producer.... but you know you will see Wuk Lamat on MSQ again..................

[Godzillaxpowerrangers]

When you are excited about the Live Letter from the Producer.... but you know you will see Wuk Lamat on MSQ again..................

First quest of 7.1. Talk to Wuk Lamat.

[Carin-Eri]

First quest of 7.1. Talk to Wuk Lamat.

Probably not, if the way 7.0 ended is anything to go by. Far more likely it'll start with some discovery pertaining to the 'key', which is currently with the Scions.

[Nebelheim]

Probably not, if the way 7.0 ended is anything to go by. Far more likely it'll start with some discovery pertaining to the 'key', which is currently with the Scions.

The live letter already showed a screenshot that shows msq for 7.1 will involve wuk lamat in some way. We just don't know how much wuk lamat will be shoved onto us or how long she will be in the patch.

[Daralii]

The live letter already showed a screenshot that shows msq for 7.1 will involve wuk lamat in some way. We just don't know how much wuk lamat will be shoved onto us or how long she will be in the patch.

I'm assuming it'll be like 5.1-5.3 and every patch starts with a group meeting with Wuk and the Scions, even though she isn't relevant to figuring out the hourglass like G'raha was to getting the Scions' souls back to the Source.

[Nebelheim]

I'm assuming it'll be like 5.1-5.3 and every patch starts with a group meeting with Wuk and the Scions, even though she isn't relevant to figuring out the hourglass like G'raha was to getting the Scions' souls back to the Source.

I hope she only appears for the opening scene and not take up the entire patch.

[Sheldinn]

(DT MSQ spoiler warning)

I didn't mind her during the first half of the MSQ story when helping her with the competition. She wasn't my favorite but she was a very neutral "fine". While a little more action would've been nice in the first half, I did enjoy how, lagging behind other competitors in both strength and intelligence, she found other ways to succeed. I did also enjoy the "twist" of having the dawnservant position consist of a vow of resolve and reason.

However, it's after her ascension that I really took issue with her. While the story being split into two halves felt weird, I was happy to no longer be saddled with Wuk Lamat's "growing up" arc. I was excited to explore some of the deeper mysteries of Tural without the baggage. Of course I knew she'd still be involved in the story but I expected her to take a little bit more of a back seat, kind of like Kirle's story had in the first half. Sadly it wasn't meant to be. Almost immediately she's back in the party and back in the limelight.

This time, however, she didn't have any flaws, which were the only thing that made her character in the first half interesting. Now she's the 110% embodiment of stereotypical "power of friendship and understanding" mary sue anime character. I felt like I was watching Naruto Talk no jutsu style storytelling, but without all the big ninja spectacle to compensate. She gave very bland "fence-sitter" vibes with the people from solution 9. Going on about how important it is to understand them, while also being fully devoted towards destroying their way of life. This culminated in the cringe inducing cutscene during the final trial. While I did enjoy the sort of "inevitable" conflict created from two completely incompatible ideas, it didn't have near the impact it could have because it felt like the wuk lamat and the story in general had to make super duper sure we knew how important friendship is and how wuk lamat definitely always gets along with everyone.

The story would've felt much more emotional and impactful if the characters in general had been angrier and more at odds. The moral ambiguity of "it's either them or us" type of survival falls flat when the people we're wiping out essentially give us permission to erase them. Some character being understanding (like Krile's parents for example) would be fine, but it felt weird that there wasn't anyone trying to stop us. While some of that is the fault of the storytelling direction in general, I do think a lot of it is also because there seemed to be this need to hammer home for the hundredth time that Wuk Lamat knows how important it is to understand people.

I feel the same moral lesson couldve been conveyed in a much more engaging way if instead of it being beacon-of-friendship Wuk Lamat's idea, it was instead the denizens of Everkeep and Living Memory forcing us to see their "humanity" and their way of life as a means of trying to convince us or guilt us into not stopping them.

[CuteBucket]

This time, however, she didn't have any flaws, which were the only thing that made her character in the first half interesting. Now she's the 110% embodiment of stereotypical "power of friendship and understanding" mary sue anime character. I felt like I was watching Naruto Talk no jutsu style storytelling, but without all the big ninja spectacle to compensate. She gave very bland "fence-sitter" vibes with the people from solution 9. Going on about how important it is to understand them, while also being fully devoted towards destroying their way of life. This culminated in the cringe inducing cutscene during the final trial. While I did enjoy the sort of "inevitable" conflict created from two completely incompatible ideas, it didn't have near the impact it could have because it felt like the wuk lamat and the story in general had to make super duper sure we knew how important friendship is and how wuk lamat definitely always gets along with everyone.

This is also why I found the last 3rd of the story the most insufferable of it all. Yeah, sure, the first Dawnservant competition bits didn't have the best worldbuilding and storytelling, but they were in that kind of... bland but inoffensive level to me. I thought it was building to something greater, so I was willing to overlook some of the weird dropped/easily solved plot lines, (though in retrospect they annoy me quite a lot).

But whatever good will I had for Wuk Lamat (which wasn't a lot, but I didn't hate her by any means) was dead and gone by the time we were in Heritage Found. Her obsession with befriending the World's Most Suspicious Kawaii Teenage Queen at the cost of all common sense and reason was just painful to witness, and not in a "good, angsty" way, in a "oh no, the writers have completely lost the plot," kind of way. It would be one thing if Sphene was at all cunning or intelligent about her plan, and actually set up an interesting trap for the party, but she didn't. She's obviously untrustworthy and unhelpful from the get-go, but the narrative tries to drill into us "Look, she's so cute and everyone loves her!" and WL turns into an insufferable idiot trying to befriend the leader of an enemy nation that actively slaughtered her own people. I hated both her and Sphene by the end and never want to see or hear them again. And it's such a shame, because the concept of what Sphene is quite interesting (a rogue AI that has warped its core directive to the point that wanting to "protect the people" is creating harm), but the execution of that idea fell so flat that it makes me want to pull my hair out.

[DonutSteel]

Her obsession with befriending the World's Most Suspicious Kawaii Teenage Queen at the cost of all common sense and reason was just painful to witness

Well obviously it's because she's the Vow of Resolve, not Reason.

/s