FF14 director Yoshida asks fans not to “attack” Wuk Lamat actress

[Killigraphy]

Voice actors are held to impossible standards. Everyone pressures them to behave a certain way and don't allow them to just be regular people - with their own points of view and own issues.

Of course, there are certain topics they should be careful about discussing publicly just in the interest of their careers... but - above all - they're just human beings.

People are overly cruel online because they get to hide behind a screen.

[Zelda206]

That's easy; I don't really care about the voice actors in the sense that I'm familiar with them or intimate with them. What they all do in their own time is their own business, but when they start making it MY business, that's when they're open for criticism. All I, as a FFXIV player, want from the actors is to do a good job and throw all of their heart into their lines. Wuk Lamat's writing was poor and the voice-acting did not improve the character on the English side. So my beef remains with the character design and the first failure I've seen in FF history to make a story that feels like it came from the Final Fantasy genre; even the tactics games or even short storylines in the online game itself have better plot and character development. The PCT quest-chain alone felt better and felt natural. I have nothing against the VA or folks that enjoy the VA, but my experience in Dawntrail thus far has been "Don't you dare say a single critical thing against Wuk Lamat or you're a bad person". I can shake that off, but it's bred quite the unnecessary schism that likens to a Taylor Swift dynamic and does nothing to improve the game, players' experience, or encourage others to join in. The VA is a separate matter and whatever he/she/whatever decides to refer to oneself is ultimately up to them, but I am not bound to compliance in that regard.

The fact remains that the VA is allegedly gaslighting people on social media and has a confidante in the lore sector (leaving it unnamed; if you know, you know) that is gradually filtering out FF core building standards and replacing them with 'modern accommodating protocols' that are 'politically correct' for 'modern audiences', and the VA is a below-average performer in general. My standing ovation goes out to the JP and GER VAs, and I will never clap my hands for the VA for or the character known as 'Wuk Lamat' on the principle of act, the art of performance, and the standard of professionalism. This is a new low for FF14's team, but seems to be a growing theme with Square Enix in general. We shall see how things go, moving forward either with or without the game.

[Lyndina]

You know...i will never stop speaking out against this VA, who calls everyone racist if you dont like a special song or demands people to step down if youre not trans yourself. Is Wuk Lamat trans ingame? Is Bryer Latino? Why didnt she step down. But yeah...after a forum ban for 2 weeks i had enough, my sub runs out on 30 October, and after almost 10 years...i quit for good.

[EponaTBHSMH]

There's a difference between being frustrated,having opinions AND instigating,actively trying to start controversies, Sena crossed that line on a few of her tweets and got what she should have expected for making those targeted tweets

Everything is fine now though cuz she stopped doing that, YoshiP's reaction to this is fashionably late

[LarsBehe]

Voice actors are held to impossible standards. Everyone pressures them to behave a certain way and don't allow them to just be regular people - with their own points of view and own issues.

Of course, there are certain topics they should be careful about discussing publicly just in the interest of their careers... but - above all - they're just human beings.

People are overly cruel online because they get to hide behind a screen.

I would agree with this if it wasn't for the fact that recently, voice actors have rapidly become more unhinged and questionable over these past few odd years.

Take ProZD for example. ProZD holds the stance that fictional characters can only be voiced by people that reflect the same race/skin color as the Voice Actor. Most normal people do not care about asinine details like that, the only thing that really matters is if the quality of the Voice Acting good. That's it. Should all the Miqo'te's in XIV now only be voiced by real life cat people with ears and a tail? Should all the Hrothgar's be voiced by actual real life beast-men/beast-women? Should all elves in video games only be voiced by elves? Should Demons now only be voiced by actual Demons? Should Donald Duck only be voiced by a real life duck? Its so silly. So silly in fact that he started complaining that he was losing casting positions. How about we don't limit people on opportunities on the basis of the color of their skin or their race?

Then you also have some of the VA's who did work for miHoYo who are complaining about the new region characters not being dark skinned in the new Genshin Impact zone and asking and advocating for people to boycott/stop spending money on the game. Yeah I don't think telling your fans or the player base to stop spending money on a game that you did voice acting for is going to sit well with the company you worked with. Which thankfully it didn't and those VA's were let go and recasted by miHoYo.

Oh and lets also not forget how the original VA for Bayonetta (Hellena Taylor) wanted far more than was offered by Platinum Games when Bayo3 was coming around the corner. She tried really hard to spin a narrative saying that she was being offered only $4,000.00 to reprise the role, when in reality she was initially offered $15,000.00. While I do agree that she should have been payed more, the fact of the matter is she was purposefully omitting information that was very critical to the situation. And her stating that she was only being paid $4,000.00 in that initial video she posted didn't do her any favors and only muddied the conversation and made supporting her hard for not being forthcoming.

And now we have Sena who I'm not going to reiterate because I think everyone here has seen the things she has said and posted by now.

[Swordsman]

There's a difference between being frustrated,having opinions AND instigating,actively trying to start controversies, Sena crossed that line on a few of her tweets and got what she should have expected for making those targeted tweets

Everything is fine now though cuz she stopped doing that, YoshiP's reaction to this is fashionably late

The lack of action on SE's part has been puzzling. If I were SE's PR department I'd be doing everything I can to create distance between the company and Sena, something like releasing a statement that says: "in light of recent events SE has decided to no longer endorse the services of Sena Bryer in future FF projects, patches/expacs. SE is an equal opportunity employer, etc. and does not condone hate speech, discrimination, calls to violence, etc. etc." SE's relative silence on this is very odd to say the least.

[Vensaval]

The lack of action on SE's part has been puzzling. If I were SE's PR department I'd be doing everything I can to create distance between the company and Sena, something like releasing a statement that says: "in light of recent events SE has decided to no longer endorse the services of Sena Bryer in future FF projects, patches/expacs. SE is an equal opportunity employer, etc. and does not condone hate speech, discrimination, calls to violence, etc. etc." SE's relative silence on this is very odd to say the least.

The problem with that is if they speak out against Sena, then it'll cause a big media uproar. Twitter, Reddit, and all the gaming "journalism" sites will go wild calling SE transphobic for daring to dish out consequences for someone's actions.

That's the shield Sena has and they're fully aware of it.

[Zelda206]

The problem with that is if they speak out against Sena, then it'll cause a big media uproar. Twitter, Reddit, and all the gaming "journalism" sites will go wild calling SE transphobic for daring to dish out consequences for someone's actions.

That's the shield Sena has and they're fully aware of it.

And that's why you never involve people who weaponize emotional blackmail like that in a professional setting. It drags the rest of the department down when exceptions are being made for unprofessional behavior.

[Thurmnmurmn]

The lack of action on SE's part has been puzzling. If I were SE's PR department I'd be doing everything I can to create distance between the company and Sena, something like releasing a statement that says: "in light of recent events SE has decided to no longer endorse the services of Sena Bryer in future FF projects, patches/expacs. SE is an equal opportunity employer, etc. and does not condone hate speech, discrimination, calls to violence, etc. etc." SE's relative silence on this is very odd to say the least.

They probably see what's going on with Disney and want none of it. Star wars and Snow White have been such PR disasters.

Odds are if anything, SE will just not re hire Sena after this. No one should hire her after this.

[DynnDiablos]

The only silver lining is Wuk Lamat is very isolated to the Dawntrail storyline and Tural. I don't see her lasting beyond the 7.X patch series (or becoming a Scion - please god, no) so I expect she will be left in the dust when they pivot to 8.0 and will never be heard of again like Lyse. They kind of have to wait it out with her.