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

[Shibi]

As far as I remember, that was not Koji, but the guy who also sings that deep voice part in the theme for Thok ast Thok.

Hmmm yes no excuse for that wirecross, John Crow, not Michael Christopher. Sorry. https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...sions-of-FFXIV

And as said in theat thread

Haurchefant is intended to be received as a good and true ally, but some of his comments directed at the player could, if rendered in EN as it was written in JP, provoke a strong negative reaction for some players

I think the way Poochie ended up has garnered a much stronger dislike than Haurchefant could have ever been in his true form. They killed him as a result. I do have strong hopes that a future event has a poochie fur rug to wipe our feet on.

[SummerAnt]

I've been comparing their use of Ardbert to Wuk Lamat as well. The guy had literally nothing better to do then follow us around and talk to us yet we don't always see him in every scene. We don't have him literally following us 24/7 like a minion, we don't see his reaction to everything, he doesn't have something to say in every scene. He's not the only character Shadowbringers revolves around. Instead we have key moments with him, spaced out over the expansion. Did they realize how suffocating his character would feel otherwise? So what in the world happened in DT?

Exactly this! The guy literally had a part of our soul yet he didn't force himself into every scene. And he had 0 contact with people besides us. His presence felt organic because he appeared in the right scenes. He introduced some of the First's lore while developing a bond with us. That's why giving his soul to us felt well-earned and special imo.

And here's Wookie who followed us everywhere. Even after she became dawnservant, she HAD to go with us to Heritage Found. Why not Koana? If they're quote to quote "making a whole Dawnservant together", why couldn't they let us spend time with him? SE made him dirty with the Wookie simping ngl.

And let's not even talk about Living Memory where Erenville had an emotional moment with his mom. It should've been a very heart wrenching moment but the second Wookie says 'well this is the last of 'em', I felt... disconnected and empty inside. If this cat thinks they only need peace, love and understanding, she should've tried to understand how painful it was to Erenville (she also lost his 'Papa' not too long ago). Why was she even there if she can't contribute to their character development?

[Plumerian_Ariadust]

(she also lost his 'Papa' not too long ago).

Would be great if the writers bench her from 7.1 to 7.3 under the guise of mourning or suffering through grief.

[Reimmi]

Would be great if the writers bench her from 7.1 to 7.3 under the guise of mourning or suffering through grief.

Benched permanently then we leave the new world unceremoniously for a new *actual* adventure and never see her again

Wonder if anyones compared her lines to any other character, i wouldnt be too shocked if she has more to say than even some of the scions despite being in 1 single expansion (+1 patch in ew)

[Zaniel]

Would be great if the writers bench her from 7.1 to 7.3 under the guise of mourning or suffering through grief.

The same writers who had a love affair with this character? We should be so lucky. To be blunt, the writers also need to be sitting on that same bench or we're going to be right back here in 8.0.

The writing problems are so egregious and numerous that this isn't just "teething issues" with the new team that can be addressed by them stretching their literary legs.

[Kozh]

I'm not surprised honestly. Part of me thinks its a shame, but also up until this point I've felt FF14's story and characters are really engaging so I haven't had the need to even look into localisation differences. I'm sure if I went back and checked everything I'd be more disappointed. Obviously I didn't join up here until DT, so I didn't see that thread, but do you remember if the changes to the dialogue felt jarring/particularly bad? I might try and dig that thread up myself so I can see what people were saying.

I won't say EN localization make it like super bad or anything, but it feels like trying too hard to be "different". They don't 100% change the meaning, but the interpretation of a dialogue can be different compared to JP (while DE/FR most of the time tries to stick as close to JP interpretation). It's been very long time for me, so I don't remember much and in detail, but some examples I can recall is:

1. Patronizing Amaurotine in ShB is named Charitable/Helpful Amaurotine in JP

2. Y'sthola dialogue in 5.4 (or 5.5, I don't remember) which says something like "we have seen firsthand what destruction zodiark power can cause. We should not let that happen to our star" -> in JP she said "emet selch has entrusted the planet to us, we should stop fandaniel from harming it" (paraphrasing). EN has more negative connotation about zodiark, while also doesn't make any sense because before Zodiark trial in 6.0, we have never see his power. Even when fighting Hades and Wolidibus, their strength is not Zodiark's

3. In labyrinthos when we're waiting for Ragnarok to finish, G'raha muse about the Ancients. This one I don't remember what he said (so you're free to not believe me), but in EN his tone is more judgmental about the Ancients while in JP he's more neutral and actually pitying them.

4. Old examples, but DRK HW quest. JP DRK makes it really clear that "Fray" is Fray's corpse coming "alive" due to our aether (basically meat puppet) and other people can see and interact with him. The merchant who tasked us with retrieving his products directly refer to Fray who accompany us. Meanwhile EN makes it that "Fray" isn't real and it's all in our head.

[SummerAnt]

Would be great if the writers bench her from 7.1 to 7.3 under the guise of mourning or suffering through grief.

Now that you mention it, I didn't see her crying too much over her Papa's death. After the credits, she mentioned that they already had his funeral in a cheerful tone. Her main problem was... she was too busy so we didn't have the chance to talk? Girl, we spent the whole msq talking to you and you want MORE? xD
I get it, people grieve differently. But it's really weird when she cried over getting onto a ship (or something similar, it was around lvl 92 quest) than her father's death. She has an emotional level of a teaspoon. Happiness, peace, love, nothing else.

[Midare]

I think the way Poochie ended up has garnered a much stronger dislike than Haurchefant could have ever been in his true form. They killed him as a result. I do have strong hopes that a future event has a poochie fur rug to wipe our feet on.

Still, I feel something like that might backfire, since we'd get reminders of our "good friend" Poochie and that would be worse than her simply being forgotten.

[Godzillaxpowerrangers]

Poochie minion that you can't get rid of. Will remind you to go talk to Poochie every 10 seconds. If in a run Poochie pops up every 10 seconds to talk.

[aTanpopo]

I won't say EN localization make it like super bad or anything, but it feels like trying too hard to be "different". They don't 100% change the meaning, but the interpretation of a dialogue can be different compared to JP (while DE/FR most of the time tries to stick as close to JP interpretation)

"Different" is definitely a good way to put it. I did manage to find a thread (not sure if it was the same thread) that talked about EW localisation so I have an idea of a few of the points you brought up. But DT definitely has had lines where I feel either the general vibe of dialogue came out completely different in EN vs JP, which then characterises people differently too, or the meaning changed but not enough to completely change the plot. An example off the top of my head would be in living memory, when you are exploring the last area with Cahciua, she brings up how Galuf's stories about Sharlayan and gleaners are what she told Erenville to try and motivate him to go see the world because he was becoming extremely pessimistic and withdrawn. Erenville apologises for being gloomy, and Wuk Lamat replies back to him straight after, but the way her reply was translated changes the entire meaning of the interaction imo

EN: If you ask me, you still have some work to do. But it's because you're that way that you're with us now, and I for one am grateful!
JP: 「ま、そのおかげで[Player Name]に会えて、今があるんだから、感謝しとけよエレンヴィル！」Well, thanks to all that you got to meet [Player Name], you should be thankful for what you have now Erenville!

The English turns the sentence around to be that Wuk Lamat is thankful for Erenville being with the group, when the original was her trying to encourage him to be thankful to his mother for her recommendations, because now he has friends like us. The Japanese line feels more like she was saying he's grown as a person since back then, but the English is saying he's still gloomy and withdrawn now but it's because he's that way that he's travelling with Wuk Lamat, which makes no sense. Honestly it feels like a typo or something, because if it said "you were that way" instead of "you're that way" it would be perfectly fine. Also, it's meant to be about how Erenville made a friend in us, the WoL- a moment where we actually have a place in an interaction without it being about Wuk Lamat's thoughts/feelings.

I get the English trying to be subtle with storytelling sometimes, but before I started reading through the JP dialogue I felt like a borderline conspiracy theorist with how much I was reading into things. Reading the JP lines and thinking to myself "oh ok I wasn't going insane" made me feel much better. I understand some people might find translating things more directly isn't as interesting to read, but there's being a bit poetic with your storytelling and then there's just straight up missing out lines and flavour...