[Feedback] Wuk Lamat's English Voice

[Jojoya]

Just chalk any wonk in her accent up to being raised alongside Erenville and his Icelandic accent influencing her inflection.

My thinking also included Erenville, though slightly different.

If the two of them were childhood friends, or acquaintances as Erenville preferred, then I don't think it's a good idea to believe that the accents of those from Tural are intended to all be Latin/South American in nature. Erenville's clearly isn't. We've been given the information that Tural residents are very diverse in nature so chances are good any accents are intended to be related to race and not culture/nation.

If that is the case, then perhaps we should be wondering why Wuk doesn't sound more like the male Hrothgar that have had voice acting. I don't think we've had any voice acting for any of the Mamool Ja characters we've met so far - perhaps they'll be the ones represented by Latin/South American voice actors. I definitely agree that it's a missed opportunity for SE if they haven't included them.

Accent aside, did the voice acting feel a little off? Sure. I felt the same way about Lyse when she finally showed up at the end of HW and early in SB. It could be the voice actor trying to settle into a new character on fairly short notice. It could have been a decision of the voice director about how to portray a character that is relatively young and uncertain but trying to achieve great things and pretending confidence they really don't have yet.

Please remember that Wuk is effectively our new Lyse for Dawntrail. The WoL gets to be big brother/sister while we watch Wuk grow up, just as we did with Lyse.

Because we're dealing with a character that is uncertain, I was fine with the voice acting being a little off because the voice should and did reflect that uncertainty.

And anyone saying '' her voice actor's identity has nothing to do with why her performance is bad '' is also wrong. Of course someone who merely identifies as a woman isn't going to be able to pull off the same performance for a female character as someone who was born a woman. Not all roles are perfect for every person, and this was sadly clearly miscast, hopefully not because of ideological reasons.

I disagree as someone who was born a woman and identifies as a woman. There was no moment in playing through the MSQ today that I thought of the character as anything but female when listening to the voice actor.

Seriously, trying to blame real life gender identity for any dissatisfaction is ridiculous. Men have been doing some female parts in acted entertainment for centuries. Women have been doing some male parts in acted entertainment for centuries.

It doesn't matter what gender identity a voice actor has. What matters is whether the voice acting helps to create the character the content director and producers want for their content. SE feels that this voice actor is the one they want for this character.

[Davy_M_Jones]

I've been on this game since 1.0, and ARR. Got used to the voices then, only for them to be replaced by the time Heavensward came out. I'm even biased in regards to a few of the actors, having followed their careers.
The voices changed. There was a point when the whole cast was brand-new and fresh and no one was acclimated to them.
I can't speak for everyone, but I got used to them pretty fast, all things considered. I like them. They're lovely and charming. Based on this prior experience, I expect it will be no different with Sena. Until it's shown otherwise, until something actually bad occurs, this is a non-issue for the type of folks who have been picky about subs-vs-dubs for even longer than I've been alive.

I feel she sounded lovely. S'all I care about.

[Tehmon]

The difference between JP and ENG voice is way too jarring. You are essentially presented with two completely different characters. JP Wuk is a energetic and rambunctious young woman who is adventurous and expressive, perhaps a bit loud and unladylike, yet she is clearly inexperienced and somewhat cowardly, and these flaws she covers up with her loud personality. And despite being unladylike and having some non-stereotypical traits for women, she is clearly presented as a youthful woman with a sensitive side. ENG Wuk sounds like a confident village elder type of character and her youth and her excitable, hot-headed personality do not come through one bit. Because her voice is more deep and... just kind of uncanny, the inexperienced, sensitive side of her doesn't also come through as much. Though I suppose Wuk Lamat could be older than expected, but I'd find that a weird turn of events.

And anyone saying '' her voice actor's identity has nothing to do with why her performance is bad '' is also wrong. Of course someone who merely identifies as a woman isn't going to be able to pull off the same performance for a female character as someone who was born a woman. Not all roles are perfect for every person, and this was sadly clearly miscast, hopefully not because of ideological reasons.

[Davy_M_Jones]

And anyone saying '' her voice actor's identity has nothing to do with why her performance is bad '' is also wrong. Of course someone who merely identifies as a woman isn't going to be able to pull off the same performance for a female character as someone who was born a woman. Not all roles are perfect for every person, and this was sadly clearly miscast, hopefully not because of ideological reasons.

Had it not been pointed out in the thread, I wouldn't have known. Even knowing it now... still doesn't much matter to me. Strangely, the tall puma lady wielding an impossibly unwieldy highway road sign made of chunks of local landscape just sounds... like a lady, to me.

[Batbrat]

Yeah, I'm sorry, but this voice casting was pretty baaad. I don't really want to argue about politics or anything, so please dont try to hide behind some shield like that as a reason to why everybody should be ultra accepting right now-that shouldnt be the main focus, as right now, we're currently talking about character accuracy, ok, not whatever causes you may virtuously support irl. Ok,

The voice casting just doesnt sound South American at all, and it fluxates in a way that suggests that they likely dont even know what a South American is lol. You're telling me not ONE South American woman with a genuinely heavy accent was available for this? Because that person whoever they are does NOT sound like they speak even a lick of spanish LMAO. They focused way too much on trying to sound like a genki anime tomboy girl instead of sounding like a South American woman from a very distinctly cultured far away land. and I say this all as someone who doesnt even usually CARE about VA stuff. I'm usually pretty lenient-like, some of the other VAs clearly arent what their voices should be from either, right? But at least you can't tell. It's not that blatant. This however, was a bit cringe. Come on. Come on guys. It sounded like they were half going for an Indian accent at times lol-like it just kept going all over the place. If youre going to fake an accent, that's fine! British actors do it all the time in American movies and vise-versa! However! You need to learn how to PICK! JUST ONE! accent, and keep it consistent. and that's what this person is currently unable to do. and also, most importantly, it should actually sound like the people/culture that you're going for. How you can do a borderline Indian accent for South American, whenever everybody in the WORLD knows who Shakira is, is just astounding. It's just astounding to me. Try harder, do better.

[Junepi93]

Yeah, I'm sorry, but this voice casting was pretty baaad. I don't really want to argue about politics or anything, so please dont try to hide behind some shield like that as a reason to why everybody should be ultra accepting right now-that shouldnt be the main focus, as right now, we're currently talking about character accuracy, ok, not whatever causes you may virtuously support irl. Ok,

I can't help but feel if "politics" here wasn't involved nobody would be up in arms about the voice acting choice. Awfully strange for everyone to be sooo angry about this, to the point that people are saying they'll never listen to the English version ever again, but I'm supposed to leave "politics" out of it. Riiight.

[Eraden]

Mao gonna chime in here. Mao actually liked Lady Fuzzy Cat. Mao had to muchly resist urge to pull out whiffle sticks and brushes and start brushings and pettings Lady Fuzzy Cat. Mao needs to remember to bring Mao collection of whiffle sticks and brushes to new land. Is time for Mao to get SERIOUS!

[Jettinson]

This got the most unnecessary intense reaction for a voice, damn.

I thought she was alright, really enjoyed her banter with Erenville but she could use better consistency but that's it from me.
Also telling to switch to Japanese voice acting despite forgetting how different all the cast sound is jarring.
If you want the highly energetic Wuk Lamat, the door is open for japanese, she sounds great but I am fine with a lower tone and I do not want to lose Erenville's english voice as well as Krile, Estinien etc.

I am more curious how the future characters sound especially the Miqo te in the Dawntrail poster

[Thighland]

Alright, since the last thread got deleted, I'll write this again.

I didn't enjoy Wuk's english voice.
Not because the VA is trans, and not because they are not south american enough.
The voice is simply not good.
The delivery is shaky, inconsistent and lacks the energy required for a tomboyish character like Wuk Lamat. And the awfully forced accent doesn't help.
I probably wouldn't mind that much if Wuk was just a side character, but she is supposed to be a major part in the coming expansion.
So I'll probably switch to JP for Dawntrail, since we've reached a point where the downsides outweigh the upsides in my opinion.

I don't think the VA should get fired over this, but I think it is important to give honest feedback, so Squeenix can make better decisions in the future.

[Somnolence]

Not because the VA is trans

This unfortunately hampers discussion or criticism of such things.

Better to just generate all voices with AI in video games when tech is perfected to avoid any controversies and issues IMO.

Who I am kidding, somebody would complain about stereotype accents despite them being the result of actual AI model training data on real people