7.3 Hopefully the end of talking to Wuk Lamat

[RedLolly]

Wuk Lamat is a world leader. She's been set up since 7.0 to go the same direction as characters like Aymeric or Hien or Fourchenault. She's going to be around a bit longer as she's a primary character in 7.x then set aside to pop up once in a while as needed in future stories.

[TheMightyMollusk]

After 7.3, once the Tural arc is over, she'll show up in the "attends Eorzean Alliance meetings despite not actually being Eorzean" corner with Hien, likely also getting no actual voiced lines, unless the story or side quests ever actually go back to Tural. And if it does, she'll probably just get a quick "Hey, remember these people?" scene, like our brief meet-up with Ryne in Endwalker.

[Astronis]

Again, the quality of the voice acting in XIV was mixed , all around. Not just with Wuk. G'raha's lines sounded like he was phoning it in... Literally, as if was recorded through a telephone.

It was indeed all quite mediocre, though if I'd had to listen to as much of G'raha phoning it in as I did Wuk Lamat's viscerally unpleasant voice, the VA work would probably have affected my opinion of G'raha as a character as well. It's hard to like a character who's voice is hard to listen to. It is also hard to like a character who creepily insists she is a member of the WoL's family without a shred of consideration for how the WoL feels about that, but to be fair I also disliked G'raha creeping on my WoL.

[All_Nonsense]

snipperino

2nd most played MMO: Old School Runescape

Guys, it's not *that* bad being 3rd place. We're still ahead of ESO (predatory design collapsed the pop forever ago), Destiny 2 (Literally deleted half their game and fired everyone. Like, everyone), and PSO2:NGS (Literally nuked their entire game and then turned around and made the most horrid shit it's insane)

FF14 is #3 because there is no other actual competition in the MMO market anymore. MMO's are a dying breed of game but that doesn't mean we can't advocate for the one we play to actually be....ya know, good?

[Kaurhz]

Again, the quality of the voice acting in XIV was mixed , all around. Not just with Wuk. G'raha's lines sounded like he was phoning it in... Literally, as if was recorded through a telephone.

And the VA absolutely said something stupid, but that's because she's been dealing with people deliberately misgendering her or calling her 'it', I think she gets a pass or two.

I am not saying the VAs in general through DT were good, it was a drab experience all around, but none of their characters really have a suffocating experience.

But if you are voice acting a character that has as much omnipresence as she did in the MSQ, then generally I would expected much higher standards, really.

You can't really excuse bad behavior on that basis, really. But I guess you do you with that rationalization. How other people are treating her does not really justify blanketing racism accusations across multiple 'groups' of players, especially when there were perfectly reasonable concerns with the use of the song in reference.

So no, there is no "Pass or two" at generalizing players as being racist because they dislike a song.

[SkankyRoe]

And while I actually really like Real Sphene... and as much as I wish she would say, "Sphene, the Queen of Alexandria is dead. Its people no longer need a Queen. You may simply call me Dagger" and come with us as a new Scion... I have the sinking feeling she's either not going to make it, or she's going to actually become co-ruler of a unified Turalexandria with Wuk Lamat. Because if there's one thing CS III does well, it's taking a fan-favorite character and ruining them.

That one moment in the trailer with Gulool Ja has me wondering if the kid is gonna take up his father's swords and become a VPR. With that thought in mind, I now feel it could also go that Real Sphene takes up the throne and Gulool Ja ends up joining us as the newest, youngest scion.

[Mawlzy]

...the game's numbers aren't nearly as bad as people make them out to be. Like, they are at about the level of Shadowbringer's launch. Which is worse than it should be, but not enough to dethrone it from it's slot of "second or third most played MMO".

And if you think one mediocre expansion will kill any possibility of quality in the future... You're either being hyperbolic for clout on the internet or Final Fantasy XIV is literally the only media you interact with. There have been TV shows that recovered from a bad season, comic books that recovered form a bad run. and even MMOs that recovered from multiple bad expansions.

If the only issue was a weak MSQ storyline in 7.X, I'd agree with you. My take is the problems run much deeper than that.

[Carin-Eri]

Wuk Lamat is a world leader. She's been set up since 7.0 to go the same direction as characters like Aymeric or Hien or Fourchenault. She's going to be around a bit longer as she's a primary character in 7.x then set aside to pop up once in a while as needed in future stories.

Agreed - I really can't see the story having her do anything other than remain in Tural.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

Or you could discuss the on-going issues. Like, I can tell you, easily, the issue that I think most people really have with Dawntrail; it's after two expansion that are largely focused on the Warrior of Light, returning to the older method where we're just along for the ride feels a bit jarring[...]

And who are we focusing at instead of WoL? That's right, it's Wuk, at least the first half of 7.0.

There are examples of other complaints, such as scions being a cardboard cutout of their former self. I.e. Alphinaud would have a lot wisdom share that can be of use to Wuk Lamat, but for some reason he didn't & just ride along?

Remember in Coils when he semi-chastises Alisaie's reasons for wanting to protect Eorzea because it sounded like she's doing it for her Grandfather? Something along the line of "-borrowed reason is never as strong as one that you come to yourself." Nevermind there's also the fact that he went through his own episodes of lofty idea and ambition that lead to Crystal Brave fiasco. The chastising is 'very Alphinaud'. And after his own hardships, he would also be the most natural member to have at least warned Wuk Lamat, but he never did.

After going through DT NG+ twice, I theorized this detail was either forgotten (bad) or purposely omitted to elevate Wuk Lamat's credibility of 'believing in peace & happiness hard enough = win' (worse).

Then we have Krile who had been sidelined excessively for 9 MSQ levels - nobody in the group has the connection to LM as close as her. And yet even her own 'mini-arc' in LM involves Wuk Lamat in some way that felt rather forced despite the latter already having so much screentime up to that point.

A cutscene when Krile's having a chitchat with her long-deceased parents, albeit simulacras. But game moves the focus briefly to Wuk Lamat for her to say "This is so excruciating..."

I wanted to learn and be shown of Krile's internal turmoil now that she found that she's also a survivor of the Milalas from Alexandrian shard, but we never get to flesh that one out, they're being 'solved' off-screen. Why? Not enough time? Where has all those time gone to mostly? Wuk. Heck we didn't given time to see how Krile interact with -the nerd- that is Koana in the group or even, teasing Alphinaud like she would do usually.

This is what I meant by being omnipresent. She's being used excessively by the writer to push the story progression, it is no wonder her character attracts so much vitriol. Mind you, even if you remove her from the picture, it still won't alleviate other existing narrative issues like inconsistent stakes being presented in the story.

[Shistar]

Judging by how angry Wuk got in the trailer, and the blood on her hands/axe, I'm pretty sure she'll have to kill the real Sphene who gets possessed by the Tiara and becomes evil.

I sure hope not. I adore Sphene. She's the last character I want to see dead right now...

[Wuk Lamat]'s just sort of annoying but largely inoffensive.

... And that's basically the worst sin she could have committed in a game meant to entertain people. People love villains, dramatic characters, comedic characters, but no one wants to be annoyed or feel like they're being pushed aside/overshadowed, or mansplained (not literally, she is a girl of course, but it is the closest word I can find for what I'm trying to say. It makes players feel like either she's not very bright if she thinks no one except her came to that basic conclusion, or it makes it look like she thinks we need her help to come to said basic conclusion) by a character who was not even supposed to be considered particularly knowledgeable by the story? No one needs Wuk Lamat to voice out everyone's thoughts as we put 2 and 2 together when someone hints at something in a fairly obvious fashion.


I don't hate the character, but she has a combination of traits that make her particularly annoying to be around for extended periods of time, and she's been around for the entire expansion so far so it's fair to say she's had plenty of time to annoy even the most patient players. She'll be alright once she gets Lyse'd out of the story, like every other guest character. I just hope she's not the next G'raha.


I think she would have been alright as an ARR companion type of character, back when we didn't really know anything and someone explaining extra context and bonding with us would have been helpful, but in DT we've saved the world multiple times. We don't wanna babysit anyone while we're on a summer vacation, and we definitely don't want to be tutorialized by the person we're babysitting. It also doesn't help that everyone seems to bond way more with her than with us, making players feel like a bystander or a hired bodyguard for Wuk Lamat to enjoy her trip. Aren't we the ones taking a break? :'D

I think the writers didn't realize how much Wuk Lamat oversteps her boundaries and goes into everyone's lanes, all the time. If she would have bonded with the WoL in more of a mentor-mentee way, and let us be the ones who lead her to those conclusions as a show of our experience as adventurers, it might have been a smoother experience overall. She is the victim and the hero, the mentee and the mentor, the fool and the scholar all at once. It's like the writers couldn't decide what to do with her, desperately wanted her to be beloved by everyone, and just ended up making an inconsistent mess.


We don't need to be the sole focus, but being a bystander at this point in our story feels a bit demeaning. The way it's framed makes us look like we're stupid for not acting when we should, when it could have totally been framed in a different way to have the same or a similar outcome while not annoying the player in the process.
I liked pre-Dawntrail Wuk Lamat enough, but the writers seriously did her dirty.


The VA work is another matter that just adds to it, I think it was not a good performance personally, but the "SPEEEEEEN" is a gem that we still quote in my FC to this day. Thanks, Wuk Lamat! LOL


I agree with Rein's most recent post.