Wuk Lamat's Poor EN Voice Acting

[Davixxa]

That would be exceedingly difficult to prove either way, not in the least due to Square Enix disallowing comments on their uploaded videos and Twitter being prone to echo chambers due to how the algorithms there work.

As someone who uses Twitter too much for her own good, the only echo chamber it is good at feeding is the anti-woke one. I'm constantly fed that kind of drivel despite not wanting to hear about it. Also, replies are, for the most part, exempt from the algorithm. There are a myriad of ways on that site to judge it with a certain degree of accuracy.

As I said as much in the previous thread - and speaking as a gay guy myself - one's sexuality or gender identity is not a shield against constructive criticism.

In this thread however - which is all I can judge you by, given that the old thread is gone, there's not been much at all in terms of constructive criticism from your side. You're absolutely right that it isn't a shield against constructive critique - but there's a difference between that and blatant transphobia.

[decoratibo]

I had to change to Japanese voice acting for the sake of my sanity and I'm not enjoying my experience. It's not because the Japanese VA is bad, it's fantastic - the issue is how different the English localization is to the Japanese dialogue, and hearing one thing and reading another can be quite overwhelming for me. Maybe I should just play in German or French?

The reason why I had to switch is because I have misophonia, meaning certain sounds or frequencies make me really angry and it's something I can't control. Something about her voice triggers my misophonia like crazy, and I really don't know what it is or why. This is probably just going to sound like misguided, unreasonable hate but I noticed there was somebody in the previous thread saying her voice caused similar issues for them (and they seemed like a genuine person, not just somebody trying to pile on hate), and I'm mostly just posting here to help validate others who may suffer from the same thing.

I feel awful about it, I'm sure the VA is a lovely person and I don't think she deserves the torrent of hate she's receiving, but I just literally can't play in English if she's going to be a major presence. It sucks to not be able to offer constructive criticism regarding this as it's something out of anybody's control.

Her performance is a bit shaky even outside of this though (mostly in how her accent fluctuates so drastically), but I think the same could be said for almost every other English VA this patch. I think something is going on with the voice director more than individual VAs. Why did G'raha suddenly sound so dead inside? I know he's capable of better, and I'm sure Wuk Lamat's VA is too, so it's just a shame to see. Does her VA need to be fired? No. Does the English voice director need to re-evaluate their approach? Yes, probably.

Anyways, it's really shameful that actual, nuanced criticism is getting drowned out by unfounded hatred. I don't want to be lumped in with the majority of people posting in the previous threads but I have actual problems with her voice and I felt as though I needed to share them because I feel like I'm going crazy lol.

Edit: Hi it's me editing my post a day later. It's probably irrelevant now but I just remembered the EN Lopporits voice really got me too, the brown one. That was a fairly minor character though (hence why I forgot about her), whereas Wuk Lamat is going to be way more present, probably.

Again I do feel pretty bad for adding into this conversation even if it's about something I can't control. I really hope that with better voice direction that Wuk Lamat's VA can maybe affect me less - the VA herself has no control over how my weird little brain reacts to sounds, but I think if she was maybe directed differently there could be an improvement. I hope if anything comes from this it's Square Enix telling their EN voice director to just do better because they really faltered here.

[Heroman3003]

Hey guys, this is a new thread. Why are some of you still talking about transphobia?
If you don't want these discussion to devolve into another of the deleted threads, stop bringing up the old threads.

A) because OP is intentionally misleading people about why the other threads are being deleted, acting like it's those daring to speak against things they don't like being silenced and not attacking someone's identity bring stopped.
B) there's already been at least one display of such in this very thread already, and that's just from my own glance reading.

[Boblawblah]

Something about her voice triggers my misophonia like crazy, and I really don't know what it is or why.

riiight, this ONE voice in ALL of the voices in the entirety of FFXIV's story is just setting you off that much.

[Raikaiko]

Anyways, it's really shameful that actual, nuanced criticism is getting drowned out by unfounded hatred. I don't want to be lumped in with the majority of people posting in the previous threads but I have actual problems with her voice and I felt as though I needed to share them because I feel like I'm going crazy lol.

FWIW, as someone with synesthesia and misophonia myself, though generally much gentler, I do commiserate with you a lot here. It sucks to have your brain play these nasty tricks and make something unenjoyable to even painful for no reason, but I think you also don't have to worry about being lumped in with the hate. There's an ocean of difference between "This is a me problem, and I recognize that, but its still a problem" and "I don't like this/her so she should be removed from the role". Though ultimately even the real and valid discomfort your sensory processing causes you, isn't particularly actionable criticism

[VerdeLuck]

The previous thread was restored by mods, check the forum listing, they took it down to comb through for all the rule breakers and then brought it back.

[decoratibo]

riiight, this ONE voice in ALL of the voices in the entirety of FFXIV's story is just setting you off that much.

Yes! And I feel awful about it, as I've said! I know misophonia is insanely easy to dismiss (I get it quite often) but I legitimately do not mean this out of any ill will. Having to explain this disorder to others is nigh impossible and I understand your trepidation after seeing the previous threads, I really, really do. But I'm being honest because I really want to know if others feel the same way and I want to make my feelings known. Misophonia sucks a lot and it can make you feel like you're just going insane most of the time.

Please aim your accusations of transphobia elsewhere (maybe towards people who aren't actually trans themselves). We are literally on the same side lol. I am just trying to explain how I feel.

[Thurmnmurmn]

The previous thread was restored by mods, check the forum listing, they took it down to comb through for all the rule breakers and then brought it back.

Nice to hear it wasn't all yeeted.
Thanks for the update.

[decoratibo]

FWIW, as someone with synesthesia and misophonia myself, though generally much gentler, I do commiserate with you a lot here. It sucks to have your brain play these nasty tricks and make something unenjoyable to even painful for no reason, but I think you also don't have to worry about being lumped in with the hate. There's an ocean of difference between "This is a me problem, and I recognize that, but its still a problem" and "I don't like this/her so she should be removed from the role". Though ultimately even the real and valid discomfort your sensory processing causes you, isn't particularly actionable criticism

Thank you! I'm really glad to see somebody actually understands. I'm fully aware my words aren't constructive, I just honestly felt like I was going nuts so having even a few other people commiserate is nice lol.
That said, I do think the English voice director needs to step up their game. Something was off about this patch to me (G'raha especially, like I said) and I can't be the only one who noticed - I really hope things improve in Dawntrail.

[custe]

yeah misophonia is a real thing for sure, not doubting that (i have a family member who can't be in the same room as other people chewing food).

it is curious that of all sounds and voices in the game trigger the response, but so it goes.

hope you find little ways for yourself to enjoy the new stuff safely