[Feedback] Wuk Lamat's English Voice

[Ayer2015]

I thought the VA did a good job.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion though

[Mapleine]

Yeah, I really disliked Wuk's English acting too, it may have amplified how much I dislike the character.

Between the frequent talk-yelling, extremely awkward emoting sounds and the fact that lines roll about half as smoothly as those around her it was irking me a lot.

I didn't think it was a cause of any issues until I switched it to Japanese and the actress there is amazing, I still dislike the direction of the character but it's made to be more tolorable and the direction much more clear.

...Problem is I prefer the 3.0 English voices for most of the rest of the cast. If they lean more into a North American based dub going forward I'll probably fully swap to JP or quit.

[Exack]

I completely disagree. I really loved her voice and thought she was well-cast. Really brought the character to life for me.

[AddictedToWitches]

People can like the voice acting for Wuk, and people can hate it too. I do think the VA is a bit too inexperienced for an MC role considering their lack ability to scream. Considering that Kate, from Luis' Twitter post, had involvement around Wuk, so in theory with the voice acting bit as well, then it is to say that it was a miscast, or in some cases a DEI cast.

I think getting a normal female voice actor for the job probably could've alleviated any issues with screams, or tone of voice, due the voice being more naturally occurring. It's rare to have a VA like Ayumu Murase who can do both a cute girl voice and a beautiful man (Ikkemen) voice. The only voice actor I know who can do a very high-pitched voice in the anime VA community is Ben Diskin with his Cutemon voice, and even then it can't get to the high volume of a scream of sorts or yell.

We've had Trans VA's before, like Maddie Blaustein who was the second voice for Meowth on Pokemon and probably the one people know the best. Meowth isn't a female role, but the acting is superb, and she even sang as Meowth. I just don't think Sena has the talent, at the moment, to be in such a big role and possibly in a role where the voice just isn't a fit if yelling or screaming changes the tone of the voice drastically.

We've had nonbinary people play characters that fit their voice in the UK side, such as Lilly Hart, who played Gender-ambiguous Juniper, even the game data doesn't tell if Juniper is a girl or a guy. Yet the voice fits, the battle lines fit, the voice acting is amazing. It's all about being casted right, and Sena just wasn't casted in the right role.

If you look into their twitter/X, you can get some pretty crazy stuff. Maybe she should follow her own words and have let a cis-gendered woman have the role. Especially if the voice is a better fit. Don't go down the Twitter/x rabbit hole though, most people there can get downright nasty and cruel but some pics below. If she's willing to go after another VA, she shouldn't complain about criticism coming her way.

It's insane that you can't raise this kind of sentiment up in so many places because you'll get lumped in with the chuds who hate Sena voicing Wuk because she's trans and not because she's just not very good.
Then I saw some of her other posts on twitter man and like, now I see why she isn't good. She refuses to improve and thinks she's not getting work because she's trans and not stopping to think about her own skill.
btw if any of you hope she'd be replaced or anything, that is 100% not going to happen. The backlash would be tremendous for replacing a trans VA, even if her performance left much to be desired.

[Rikizza]

I dont see how her voice is any different than erenvilles but no one is complaining about him.

[ZodaSoda]

I dont see how her voice is any different than erenvilles but no one is complaining about him.

Erenville's voice actor is fine and matches the character quite well, what is utterly stupid tho, is the writers deciding hes no longer a Eastern Viera and instead hes from Tural, yet somehow the only Turali Viera who sounds like a Eastern Viera.

[AddictedToWitches]

I dont see how her voice is any different than erenvilles but no one is complaining about him.

Im also on the fence about Erenville but he has like 1/8th the speaking lines of Wuk Lamat so of course he's not going to be judged as much

[Turnintino]

Erenville's voice actor is fine and matches the character quite well, what is utterly stupid tho, is the writers deciding hes no longer a Eastern Viera and instead hes from Tural, yet somehow the only Turali Viera who sounds like a Eastern Viera.

Lack of foresight on casting's part tbh. They wanted to copy the accent model used in FFXII's English localization (where viera spoke with Icelandic accents) without any of the same considerations.

Remember Lyna also has an Icelandic accent, despite being raised by G'raha in the Crystarium. Runar's Norwegian accent, despite presumably being raised among the Night's Blessed (who otherwise had British accents). Strange, because they were previously more consistent with the use of accents in Stormblood (and Heavensward), where all Ala Mhigans spoke with northern Yorkshire accents; and now again in Dawntrail, where Central/South American-coded Turali speak with Spanish-American accents, and so on.

Erenville sticks out like a sore thumb because their homage to XII lacks any internal logic in-universe, but it could've been saved if at least the other viera in Tural -- or at least his family -- hung on to the same accent, but... no.

I suppose their rationalization could be that he adapted his current accent the same way he adapted his new name, but of course there can be no acknowledgment of that in-game because it's an invention of the localization lol. So it falls apart all over again, imo, because certainly Lamat, of all people, would've made fun of him for his new accent if indeed it was actually an affectation. But here we are.

It annoys me about as much as the way literally none of the Scions can keep the pronunciation of "Y'shtola" straight.

[VerdeLuck]

It's insane that you can't raise this kind of sentiment up in so many places because you'll get lumped in with the chuds who hate Sena voicing Wuk because she's trans and not because she's just not very good.
Then I saw some of her other posts on twitter man and like, now I see why she isn't good. She refuses to improve and thinks she's not getting work because she's trans and not stopping to think about her own skill.
btw if any of you hope she'd be replaced or anything, that is 100% not going to happen. The backlash would be tremendous for replacing a trans VA, even if her performance left much to be desired.

That's pretty much it tbh and been some people's argument from the start. She's an amateur VA with no formal training, who started in the industry only a few years ago, only had experience doing very specific bit parts as side characters for a few lines apiece, and then got thrust into the main focus of an entire expansion.
She is not good enough to be the main character, she did not really pass the standard of quality from a AAA game like this. Sorry to her if it hurts her feelings but that's how it goes, this is a AAA expansion of a huge franchise, there is a level of quality expected.

But then things get wrapped up in transphobia because you cannot criticize a trans VA without that being the first accusation leveled your way, everyone circles the wagons, and it becomes a culture war thing.
The character itself was poorly written, and had way too much screentime, combined with an ill prepared VA, and it's just a disaster....

[Rynn21]

Huh? I liked the voice acting. Very fitting for the character. For half of the story, I was kinda meh on the character, but she grew on me by the end. That's the writing's fault though and not the voice actresses.