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

[BigBoom550]

The worst part is that people aren't connecting Smile to black gospel, they are connecting it to the Disney Hercules song which is inspired by gospel. It'd be like accusing people of hating Mexicans for not liking Taco Bell. The accusation itself is patronizing, just like the people equating Erenville to black representation after he said he doesn't know his dad. Please stop helping. You're not.

...that Erenville one has to be a 4ch troll. I refuse to believe otherwise, because that says some really, really bad things.

[Lady_Silvermoon]

...that Erenville one has to be a 4ch troll. I refuse to believe otherwise, because that says some really, really bad things.

Nah, well meaning people really did argue the writers did a racism when a bunny of color mentioned not knowing his father and I had to explain that while Erenville is black, he's not black. And when FF14 wants a group in game associated with a real life group, they let you know and Viera are not modeled after African Americans. And fathers smashing and dashing has been established as part of Viera culture regardless what color the bunny is. And that suddenly connecting Erenville with blackness because he doesn't know his father was way worse than anything the writers did.

Sometimes people are so eager to fight racism, they do a bit of a 360... I feel Sena is doing something similar with her comments about Smile (I just found out who made that statement.)

[Nyxs]

Woke up to a lovely tweet from Wuk Lamat's VA insinuating that disliking Smile could be because you're a racist.

People already don't like the character and have issues with the performance, yet people like me were willing to defend the person for doing her job as best as she was able and believing that any directional or casting issues should be laid at the feet of the company, but now she's doubling down on these implications that Dawntrail is only receiving mixed reception because fans are intolerant and don't like Black Gospel, South American culture, or Trans VAs.

I'm sure there's a certain subsection of the fandom that do believe this, and I believe her when she says she's been getting harassed due to the presence of grifters like Grummz getting involved. She should be allowed to vent her frustrations and discuss said harassment, but she's becoming a brand risk by attacking the average fan now - even if she believes that putting plausible deniability in her wording is clever.

I'm beginning to feel like the character has simply got to go. She's doing more damage in a couple months than every other VA has in the last decade combined. Lack of professionalism.

Wow, I am not surprised. Glad you are finally getting rid of the veil and seeing what everyone else was seeing the whole time. My other comments got deleted but I stand by my opinions on him. I hope they take a closer look at future hires. Check the social media and everything,like a full deepdive so this never happens again. I thought they did do that though but I guess when it comes to DEI hires it doesn’t matter how rotten the apple is.

People just didn’t like a Disney type song. Has nothing to do with any color of people. I hated it. Was so weird and felt out of place like I just watched a family movie ending. But then again we can argue the msq was a disney movie plot with bad voiceacting and one of those side character that always needs attention from the main character.

[Remiferia]

Wow, I am not surprised. Glad you are finally getting rid of the veil and seeing what everyone else was seeing the whole time. My other comments got deleted but I stand by my opinions on him. I hope they take a closer look at future hires. Check the social media and everything,like a full deepdive so this never happens again. I thought they did do that though but I guess when it comes to DEI hires it doesn’t matter how rotten the apple is.

People just didn’t like a Disney type song. Has nothing to do with any color of people. I hated it. Was so weird and felt out of place like I just watched a family movie ending. But then again we can argue the msq was a disney movie plot with bad voiceacting and one of those side character that always needs attention from the main character.

Sorry, but just to be absolutely clear: I won't participate in any misgendering and I think treating Sweet Baby/DEI like some kind of video game illuminati is equally unhinged. To do so is to ignore all of the critically acclaimed games that have released with the assistance of consulting firms and there are plenty of stinkers that release without them.

I do find some of Sena's comments and opinions on the fanbase/industry concerning. I also think that her continuing to do so would and SHOULD make her position as the voice actor for a protagonist role in Square Enix's crowning jewel untenable, but I leverage that against her as an individual and not as some personification of 'everything wrong with video gamez today'. She's not. She's done better in other roles. She's likely also lashing out because of the abuse she's been receiving and I understand that, but it's no less unprofessional and inappropriate.

[Nyxs]

Sorry, but just to be absolutely clear: I won't participate in any misgendering and I think treating Sweet Baby/DEI like some kind of video game illuminati is equally unhinged. To do so is to ignore all of the critically acclaimed games that have released with the assistance of consulting firms and there are plenty of stinkers that release without them.

I do find some of Sena's comments and opinions on the fanbase/industry concerning. I also think that her continuing to do so would and SHOULD make her position as the voice actor for a protagonist role in Square Enix's crowning jewel untenable, but I leverage that against her as an individual and not as some personification of 'everything wrong with video gamez today'. She's not. She's done better in other roles. She's likely also lashing out because of the abuse she's been receiving and I understand that, but it's no less unprofessional and inappropriate.

Except what I said is true. Just because you dont think so doesn’t mean otherwise.

If they had cared more about the game and the fanbase they would of hired someone who deserved the role and would of did it justice.Hiring someone to tick a checkbox is never a good idea so I hope they learn from this. Many companies doing the same are struggling with negative reviews as Dawntrail is currently. Companies need to pull back from this nonsense while going back to caring about the product they are making.

[Lady_Silvermoon]

Except what I said is true. Just because you dont think so doesn’t mean otherwise.

If they had cared more about the game and the fanbase they would of hired someone who deserved the role and would of did it justice.Hiring someone to tick a checkbox is never a good idea so I hope they learn from this. Many companies doing the same are struggling with negative reviews as Dawntrail is currently. Companies need to pull back from this nonsense while going back to caring about the product they are making.

Given Sena was one voice actor out of several who played Wuk Lamat and people are taking issue with DT regardless of what language they played it in, it seems to me the writing was the main problem, not one voice actor. Are you also claiming the writers were DEI hires?

[Y2K21]

Woke up to a lovely tweet from Wuk Lamat's VA insinuating that disliking Smile could be because you're a racist.

People already don't like the character and have issues with the performance, yet people like me were willing to defend the person for doing her job as best as she was able and believing that any directional or casting issues should be laid at the feet of the company, but now she's doubling down on these implications that Dawntrail is only receiving mixed reception because fans are intolerant and don't like Black Gospel, South American culture, or Trans VAs.

I'm sure there's a certain subsection of the fandom that do believe this, and I believe her when she says she's been getting harassed due to the presence of grifters like Grummz getting involved. She should be allowed to vent her frustrations and discuss said harassment, but she's becoming a brand risk by attacking the average fan now - even if she believes that putting plausible deniability in her wording is clever.

I'm beginning to feel like the character has simply got to go. She's doing more damage in a couple months than every other VA has in the last decade combined. Lack of professionalism.

Is Smile supposed to be Black Gospel inspired? I thought it was supposed to be like American musical big choral piece.

Anyways. I think Smile's issue is that it's played during the Evangelion "Congradulations" cutscene for Wuk Lamat and the literal plotting of committing a terror attack by train bomb that make it more cringey than hated.

Its super out of place.

[Remiferia]

Except what I said is true. Just because you dont think so doesn’t mean otherwise.

If they had cared more about the game and the fanbase they would of hired someone who deserved the role and would of did it justice.Hiring someone to tick a checkbox is never a good idea so I hope they learn from this. Many companies doing the same are struggling with negative reviews as Dawntrail is currently. Companies need to pull back from this nonsense while going back to caring about the product they are making.

It's not true, though, because Dawntrail fucking sucks on its own merits (or lack thereof) completely separate of one VA in one language.

You can't say with certainty that she was hired to 'tick a checkbox' on the basis she's trans when Wuk Lamat's JP VA is also a relatively fresh face so they could have just wanted to hire an 'up and comer'. They could have just as easily wanted her on the basis she has Puerto Rican blood and they felt she fit the bill for their South American story. You say there are 'many companies' doing the same and are struggling but there are also many companies who are not. Baldur's Gate 3 has won so many awards that it affected their development. On the flip side, SSKTJL was just a bad game with a shitty battle pass but people for some reason blame the consulting firm. The argument is disingenuous.

[Remember_The_Name]

You can't say with certainty that she was hired to 'tick a checkbox' on the basis she's trans when Wuk Lamat's JP VA is also a relatively fresh face so they could have just wanted to hire an 'up and comer'.

While we cannot be 100% sure this was made for "checkbox", it is the most obvious thought, unfortunately.

Otherwise, why they hired this clearly B grade actor to voice a character that is present in... pretty much ALL voiced Dawntrail cutscenes and is the center point of the expansion?!
I didn't thought CBU3 cared so little about their playerbase. Neither Emet or Zenos were voiced anywhere close. Hell, the entirety of Fandaniel/Hermes crazed performance is delivered through VA, which did an amazing job!

It was just the previous expansion, mind you. And now we have "SPeEeEeEn, Lissun to me!" and the rest of the slop Wuk said during this trial. There were no effort to deliver emotions, no weight in words at all. And it wasn't just a single oversight, the overall performance from 6.55 to 7.0 in its entirety barely reaches the "acceptable" level. Just listen to other languages, the difference is flipping massive!

It doesn't have to be VA being a trans, it is just raw inexperience. Which points back to the initial question.

[Remiferia]

Snip.

I do agree that this part was clearly well above what she could do but that's not really on her. She has an agency that gets her these parts and she can say that she's lent her voice to critically acclaimed games like Unicorn Overlord and anime. If SE have been going to these companies in the US for South American talent then the agency is going to lean into her Puerto Rican heritage. This is just the nature of getting clients jobs and it's the nature of every person who has ever had to sell themselves in a job application.

6.1-7.0 have been an overall downgrade in voice direction and of course that's going to hurt the character with the most lines the most. A lot of people focus on the 'Speen! Lissun to me!' (which IS bad delivery) but far less people mention how poor Sphene's line delivery is in her own boss fight, or how dry Krile and Y'shtola sound, or how the voice direction has clearly told Erenville to roll his R's so hard he's at risk of taking flight etc. Voice directors and likely NDAs have fucked non-JP delivery up as well and we shouldn't be letting them off the hook.

Just recently, Faye Mata (Jade from Honkai Star Rail in this context, but also Aqua from KonoSuba, Metera from GBF and Petra from FE3H) said in a stream that she watched Jade's story trailer for the first time with the general public, and she said that she would have read her lines completely differently if she was actually told that Jade was talking to someone else as she had interpret the context herself and guessed it was a monologue. The situation VAs are put in suck ass for a trailer so imagine how fucking bad it is for a whole MMO.

This isn't to excuse poor performances or clear struggling with the role, but I think it's quite reductive to chalk everything up to Square Enix arbitrarily 'ticking a checkbox' when the issues with the game go far, far beyond Sena and it's patently unfair to lay all our hangups at her feet. Wuk Lamat and the DT story is divisive in all languages.