Wuk Lamat in Dawntrail's finale, Japanese vs English | FFXIV (spoilers)

Presented without comment.

[@Nejdii]

"Sphene. Listen to me," Wuk Lamat said calmly.

[@SuperFizzyjuice]

LOLOL I legit was thinking the same thing

[@caremond2718]

Let me tell you something LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING

[@KeLamity_Ch]

The lack of struggle when she was lifting up a giants hand 😩

[@aliciaatkinson2215]

My FC repeats mocks this specific VA line every time we do this trial.

[@NoreoNC]

way too calmly....

[@lyndina8492]

The real sad thing is....some director sat in front of this sequence and said to himself. "Yeah,this is epic, lets put it in".

[@NeoBluereaper]

Or more realistically. "Fuck sake we've been at it for 3 hours on this line we can't afford to carry on just pick the least worst take"

[@yamchayaku]

@@NeoBluereaper That is probably the most accurate reason. Reminds me of the Rainier Wolfcastle in the Simpsons trying to be Radioactive Man repeatedly failing to say "Up and Atom"

[@Hwyadylaw]

@@NeoBluereaper Doubt it. She did way better in a much less important scene.

[@LS-mb4my]

Said voice director happened to be good friends with the eng VA for wuk. Thanks, Kate.

[@zazikikomo7796]

@@Hwyadylaw Mmmm no. The performance was consistently bad across the board.

[@RicardoSantos-oz3uj]

Wuk Lamat. The only one that screams as is the middle of night and doesn't want to wake up her parents.

[@nezrafallon4086]

She yells in lower case

[@grizzlybear6377]

My mind is in the gutter right now 🤭😂

[@mrbigglezworth42]

Japanese VA: A mix of desperation and resolve English VA; SPEEN.

[@bowaffles6803]

S P E E N

[@ragnerangel194]

I died. I just cannot. It literally sounds like a frog being squished. But it's not a frog, it's supposed to be a cat lady!

[@Skeloperch]

Vinesauce reference.

[@nezrafallon4086]

SPEEN, LISTEN TO ME DMC 2 IS DA BEST, DONTE IS GUD, HE SCHUT GUN, PLAE GAME PLEAS

[@SleepyNoodle140]

s ᴘ ᴇ ᴇ ɴ!

[@Tpdude046]

@@nezrafallon4086DONTE PLZ PLAE DEE EMM BEEF STEW

[@bigtimetimmyjim6486]

Wuk Lamat: "Sphene, Listen to me" Willy Wonka: "Stop, don't, come back"

[@konjackonjac5201]

ngl Gene Wilder would've done a better job as Wuk Lamat.

[@xalmor6044]

@@konjackonjac5201 this

[@kyoai]

That was actually the first thing that came to my mind when I heard Wuk doing that line. I'm glad I'm not the only one with that thought. It sounds so utterly devoid of passion and investment.

[@OizenX]

This is the expansion that made me jump to JP voices.

[@aireqi9]

Go check the earlier cutscenes in JP voices while you're on it. I switched since the start because I thought the EN VA sounds so flat. Even the extras have so much depth.

[@TRECTADACTYL]

same

[@Tamamo-no-Bae]

I switched to JP when I learned the ARR voice actors got replaced. People suddenly changing voices is SO jarring to me. I am glad I did, I prefer the JP voices in many cases, such as Feo Ul in JP.

[@corvoyami3192]

​@Tamamo-no-Bae naw, Scottish accent is hot.

[@at0micl0bster]

@@Tamamo-no-Bae at least there it was an improvement all around... fuckin ARR lala voices are disgusting

[@occiderisaethiopissa3702]

We went from the amazing English voice work of characters like Gaius with his deep melodic tones, Emet with his sophistication, Vauthry with his pompous entitlement, to "SPEEN LEESTUN 2 MEE".

[@NeoBluereaper]

Makes them a incredibly amateur VA can put on a voice like anyone can but never give it any range.

[@RicardoSantos-oz3uj]

@@NeoBluereaper Is not the fault of the VA. but of the VA director. The scions also sounded bad on this expansion. With the exception of Graha. He was great as always.

[@LittleSparklingStars]

My favorite VA performance is EN Elidibus

[@Sneedmeister]

@@RicardoSantos-oz3uj why do you shills keep trying this "the VA has zero fault" line? Yes the Direction is important, but even the best Voice Director can't guide a SHITTY VOICE. Maybe they should not have tried to voice a Female Character with a Man?

[@backslash4141]

​@@LittleSparklingStars I am.... .... Elidibus

[@TheHakinator]

It really feels like she recorded it in her closet in a residential district and didn't want to disturb her neighbors

[@mrbigglezworth42]

Well it's a man doing the English dub anyway.

[@lordbauer5983]

@@mrbigglezworth42 So we’re just doing transphobia now?

[@darkblood1192]

@@lordbauer5983 Bruh

[@lordbauer5983]

@@darkblood1192 You tell me.

[@darkblood1192]

@@lordbauer5983 Dude is trying to insert lgpt into everything. Thats what makes you trash

[@user-rt9tg6si9z]

Man, who the fuck gave the ok on that EN VA.

[@yuriwolfvt]

One of the new consultants hired her specifically for the character

[@SILVERONIN]

a pink haired liberal white woman called Kate Cwynar.

[@1jidion]

im guessing a sweet baby inc consultant

[@Rubonoxio7-uw9cj]

They hired a male for a female character just..... why

[@psimissing2827]

@@Rubonoxio7-uw9cj Its insane it 100% sounds like a dude. It really throws it off after listening to the Japanese VA

[@kfk4441]

"Sphene. Listen to me" If you whisper to her, she's not going to listen at all

[@MedievalMarty]

I always thought the English VA was just okay, but assumed I was bias because I just really didn't like Wuk Lamat. But after watching this, we got robbed man. Craaaazy the difference in emotion and excitement between these two voice actors

[@emilychu9202]

Same, I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt because internet is always angry, but damn. The English VA here is embarrassing in comparison.

[@mrlion8834]

I feel like a lot of things has to fall on whoever was directing this. I'm gonna give VA the benefit the doubt because if you're in a booth with only lines to read, you really need context from the direction to get the emotions correct and I feel like if the directors had pushed "No this is the battle for everything, we need more urgency" I want to believe the VA could have given it.

[@1jidion]

the difference between a female voice actress and a man pretending to be a woman voice

[@Sneedmeister]

oh my god, it turns out that A REAL LIFE MAN WITH A COCK AND BALLS cannot voice a WOMAN. oh wow who could have guessed?

[@cameronmiyao2673]

@@mrlion8834she prolly couldve, she has before. Her work is impressive on its own. But I believe you are correct, and I think a lot of the time the EN team doesnt do a table read like I believe the JP team does, which is a bit of a shame in and of itself also

[@kyokusanagi9800]

As a japanese i always liked EN voices in japanese games which helped me greatly in learning the language. This expansion alone made me change to JP voice for the first time ever, Wuk Lamat's voice over quality is so unprofessional that takes you out of immersion and ruins the little moments of goodness that this expansion had.

[@albin8166]

Just completed the trial with the Japanese VA and wanted to see why they were so many complaints about the English VA. Now I get the complaints, this is just way too bad how can someone approve this for release?

[@CineGoodog]

Probably People afraid of being canceled for firing a trans.

[@Sorenthaz]

Just take a glance at the current English localization lead for XIV (Kate Cwynar) and what she's been saying about how Dawntrail was going to be super ambitious with its diversity and it all steadily falls into place, lol.

[@24hr-Gaming]

​​@@Sorenthaz Bruh she was also the localization lead for Endwalker. What she was referring to with diversity is making sure the English voices had accents that match the region they're from. This was done in Endwalker with Radz-at-han characters having Indian accents and Old Sharlyan having British accents. Also she's been writing since Shadowbringers and wrote the lyrics for Flow. Actually touch grass and stop being an NPC. This recording is definately a miss from the casting director, but considering how many times VAs have changed since ARR, that's not a new thing just play JP voices.

[@itsalwaysboppinbrother5924]

They didn’t wanna get backlash for firing a troon

[@Scerttle]

Every region's voice actor nailed the performance... except English.

[@AndrewSmith-nj8zh]

Blame the director. The VAs are not given much context when recording lines. It’s the job of the director to give that direction.

[@Scerttle]

@@AndrewSmith-nj8zh I also blame the script, somewhat. The dialogue would take a lot of work on the actor's part to land regardless.

[@skyash7566]

​@@AndrewSmith-nj8zh so why German so good? Even French? Nah, stop blaming only director, dude also fully guilty

[@slash8915]

That's what they get for forcing DEI. They could have literally gotten an actual voice actor from South America, but no. Instead they wanted to go the trans route.

[@wakkaseta8351]

@@slash8915 > complains about DEI > Argues that they should've done more DEI and hired someone from Cocaine County instead

[@greatgoatsby3068]

The character that finally forced me to switch to JP voices.

[@SuicideJade]

I did that in ARR tbh.

[@cantembargo]

I can't help but to burst out laughing every time I hear SPEEEN, LEESTEN TO MEEEE

[@LucaxCorp]

That is the voice I would expect for a one-shot side quest character, not the main character of the fucking expansion. The world’s supply of copium is at risk from those saying that people only dunk on the performance because the VA is trans. It is actually just bad.

[@zazikikomo7796]

My favorite cope is, "It's not her fault, it's the voice director's fault!"

[@FubukiShiromiya]

I played with Japanese voices so I don’t know one way or the other but I heard other English performances were also flat. I think it’s quite fair to be critical of the vocal performance in addition to the direction, and it’s also fair to question why the person was chosen for the role. Did we really get the best Wuk Lamat out of all available choices? I doubt it. The actor bears only some of the responsibility here.

[@RicardoSantos-oz3uj]

I also believe is the director fault. Mostly because the scions also sounded flat.

[@Thagyr]

@@RicardoSantos-oz3uj I swear Ysh'tola sounded like she was recorded in a hallway at one point.

[@royal2852]

"her" hahahahahahaha

[@82892869hi]

@@royal2852 what’s wrong with the voice actress?

[@KeysCrystal]

I had to take off my headphones...omg..I have to hear this everytime I get this in roulette now? oof..Please PLEASE redo this. I'm begging. If they got NA VA Thancred to redo his lines just for saying "Its my turn" they can do it here.

[@TheNatix26]

Play JP voice, trust me, you gonna thank me later for that

[@KeysCrystal]

@TheNatix26 I did and have. Anytime I get this in roulette I change languages to Jp. Jp VA did a good job.

[@aaronh678]

@@TheNatix26 Nah, games crap. Just don't play full stop.

[@theonesithtorulethemall]

@@TheNatix26 but I won’t to play the rest in English and every trial Roulett There’s a chance

[@ItachiYasha94]

sphene listen to me. i understand. God i like the english cast but fuck me that killed any hype around the final fight. And that yell at the end. spheeeeene. Its like it was the first time they read the script.

[@cheerfulgestalt3282]

Blame the voice direction and devs, VA did what they were told to do and has a VERY good history with various big name game devs like Blizzard and other anime dubs.

[@FringeSpectre]

It's what happens when you cast a troony toon with no talent to voice act.

[@zazikikomo7796]

​@@cheerfulgestalt3282 I've watched Sena's "highlight reel," this is the type of work she always puts out. It's not a direction problem, it's the voice actor not having the chops.

[@SILVERONIN]

@@cheerfulgestalt3282 no, its a shit voice actor that didn't deserve this role

[@LeeSong325]

@@cheerfulgestalt3282 the VA has no vocal range and yells like they might wake their parents up

[@SILVERONIN]

How to ruin a final boss fight

[@TheUrbanLegend52]

Ikr? Had a dude whining saying “When FF14 players upset they can’t be protags for 5 minutes.” I’m upset cause phase 1 music is a bop, the delivery is so bad, and the fact she actually helps you in the fight vs say in Hades you just get the summon from G’raha and in Endsinger it’s a Hope vs Despair as both sides get damage buffs to see which will prevail in the end. I felt nothing in the last stretch I just went “Really? Endsinger again?”

[@mahuk.]

@@TheUrbanLegend52 hey! hey hey hey hey! for endsinger the one who comes to our aid is Zenos, aka super soldier, more super soldier by absorbing souls and obtaining artificial echo, semi god due to Shinryu, then pact with a voidsent, and later absorbed the remaining energies of Hydaelyn. If there's a character justified to be able to reach us at the end of the universe, IT'S HIM. And for us getting the power of prayers. We basically had the entirety of The First praying for us (except the whole "new world" because apparently the *worldwide* message from the loporrits didn't reach them?). That's borderline summoning a primal power like Shiva. Yes it was cheesy, but *it was justified* Meanwhile... what power did the Walmart cat have to justify breaking into the sealed boss room? and how tf did she become so strong out of nowhere? that's my issue. Wuk Lamat has no way in lore to justify her presence in the last fight.

[@TheUrbanLegend52]

@@mahuk. Yeah one of my first things I thought was “So she got in…but G’raha and Krille didn’t…”

[@BRxAzure]

tbf, the final boss seccond phase was already a let down compared to the first phase.

[@TheUrbanLegend52]

@@BRxAzure True, least Endinger tried killing you and Hades has an enrage as he's screaming the light was what split the world. Here it just felt like a sad comfort group.

[@ForgeofEternity]

Aint no way this is real I can't believe it honestly. I feel flabbergastered by the fact that we went from the absolute Godlike voice acting of Golbez (Joseph Capp) to this. Where is the range? Where is the emotion... Just anything, really. Like to compare it with Golbez is a bit of a stretch but he was a newer character, and the actor did a lot of justice to convey his brooding, determined voice with the low growl feel to his lines Nothing against the person themselves, but she was not ready to voice someone, not in this game, not in this scene. This is just purely lacking in performance and characterization

[@TheUrbanLegend52]

You wretch! With Heroes blade and abyssal darkness I bring my people liberation! I honestly can’t quote Wuk Lamat at all and considering how much screen time she had…

[@koro_kokoro]

the english wuk lamat is what happens when you hire someone based on who/what they are instead of based on talent/merit...

[@muchmercy3449]

whys no one looking at the french va's voice acting for wuk lamat. Id say she did the best out of all the languages. Seriously the french cast was outstanding for this expansion

[@Vaajiru25]

as a player you who used JP audio, I feel so SO SO Sorry for the players who use EN voice audio.

[@donimmortal7692]

ARR Minfilia : our-battle-will-be-legendary

[@iantaakalla8180]

Minfilia: “Sphene no” Minfilia in ARR patches: “Sphene, no you mustn’t!”

[@Silversky1113]

This scene is the worst offender for Wuk Lamat's VA. Sena just doesn't have the range. After having seen her past work, she is still very much an amateur, and it didn't help that her spanish accent felt very forced and unnatural. How she landed a lead role such as this is beyond me, and it's even more confusing how a take like this made it past the final review. This sounded like a cold reading. The voice directing is definitely not blameless. Overall, they really fumbled the ball on Wuk Lamat's voice acting , which is a shame because I enjoy her character. Sena should have either taken some training, or casting should have gone with a different candidate entirely.

[@cameronmiyao2673]

The major issue as well is a lot of the time JP VOs have a table read for mmos like this, and outside of major tv series like GoT I dont see a lot of use of table reads in EN directing, and I feel like that helps VAs familiarize with their characters more.

[@mr.cuddlesworth3144]

>She >Her

[@joshuaklein8429]

​@@mr.cuddlesworth3144, we get it, "lol DAE attack helicopters roflmao!?1?!1" Get a new joke.

[@soffa93]

​@@joshuaklein8429what joke? It's a dude

[@ii2gjdp20sjdj2]

​@@joshuaklein8429The joke here is the quality of the voice acting.

[@Ramirez77]

One thing that bugs the hell out of me is there is no blood curdling scream when WL gets crushed by a giant goddamn robot hand. Like I get she’s like gone super sayian or some shit but just the hand crushing her and… nothing. I don’t care how goddamn strong you are you’re screaming getting crushed by a giant hand.

[@Sorenthaz]

Yeah at least the JP voice actress was sounding like she's struggling while talking.

[@AngMortem]

Where's the mod to switch only Wuk Lamat's voice to Japanese or German? Save the future generations.

[@jamesrusselleriii8284]

Change Wuk's lines to a muted trumpet like the adults in Charlie Brown.

[@marcusaurelius4777]

This is what happens when you hire amateur VAs for a VERY PROMINENT CHARACTER in your MAJOR EXPANSION RELEASE for a BIG MMO. Good lord lol.

[@malafazzle7966]

After 8 (EIGHT) years of playing with English VAs i swapped to Japanese after just 15 minutes of Dawntrail. It pains me to abandon some of the voices but these new hires are so bad they bring down the entire cast's performance to an unbearable level.

[@Forien]

I switched in ARR around lvl 30. Best decision of my life. JP VAs are all so good across the board, every character brings so much depth and emotion. In EN it's usually either "meh, decent" or "wtf is this"

[@mickbotcast]

other new characters sound ok enough but I don't understand why they can't cast a more skill VA to do the "Main character" Wuk Lamat performance is just on another level of bad in the final battle.

[@kurokan13]

1:06 すぴーん、りっすんとぅみー

[@Petitmoi74]

I think the VA is afraid to raise his voice, otherwise his male voice will stand out even more. He's really taken the wrong career path.

[@aya8475]

​@@Petitmoi74you are so disgusting and disrespectful

[@EarthChang-xh3jg]

カタカナの方がいいんじやないてすか？

[@Reki_Arpeggi]

1:07 OMG GUYS IS "SPEEN LISIN 2 ME" HOLY SH*T 1:50 ???

[@rinoiya]

I am laughing hysterically and I cannot stop

[@HiguraGainishigi]

1:50 Steve(?)

[@rinoiya]

ZOMG STEVE!?!?

[@DilzwieldKing]

Holy hell, I played with JP voices and I thought her voice acting was pretty good My condolences for those who chose english dub and had to listen to that shit the entire expansion lmao

[@lajohnson8588]

same, i was confused with people complaint about her. until i saw this video. it’s comically bad, it’s worse than ARR voices

[@BeeLightning]

exactly what I said to all my friends playing with EN Voices Didn't know it was this bad myself until I watch them on this fight and this line just coming out of nowhere with a steel chair to the face

[@mickbotcast]

I dodge the bullet too, change it halfway before the dawn servant ceremony, this video just prove that I pick the best decision for this expansion -__- and I always like or accept XIV eng VA performance.

[@akridx5712]

I chose the english dub, and was able to tolerate some of it. But when she said that one line, "Your Happiness, Is My HaPpInEsS!" I couldn't handle all that cringe.😝 Switched to Jp immediately after.

[@royox]

I'm spaniard and I'm almost obliged to play with English VA because Reading in english and listening in Japanese would make my brain melt. Reading and Listening English helps me better understand what's happening (and the banter during the battles, I don't have time to read the chat while dodging million of aoes). The second they add Spanish subtitles I will instantly change to Jap VA because this is becoming unbearable.

[@CrusadeChau]

After clear DT i was curious why so many player complain about Wuk Lamat esp in NA region......Now i understand... Lamat's JP VA is doing her job way too good...

[@NeoBluereaper]

JP va was doing her job. EN va was phoning it in.

[@7thHeavens]

"KAL ELLLL NOOO!!"

[@SILVERONIN]

OMG perfect comparison Lmaoooo

[@Red_Blade]

For real, who the hell listened to this and said "Great job! Green light it!" ??? Like, you are recording for what's supposed to be the end-expansion, the grand finale, the climax of all. Wuk Lamat is *desperately* trying to reach out to Sphene, have her stop what she is doing... so put some damn emotion into it, you are fighting against a massive overpowered sentient... graphic card that wants to wipe an entire world for souls to keep her own world alive, you can't be sounding like someone who is trying to not wake their parents sleeping in the other room in a moment like this.

[@ItsMeMemiya]

Man... did they not direct the EN VA or Wuk Lamat at all?

[@CaptnMarvelous]

Everyone complains about Wuk Lamat but man all the characters in english felt off. Y'shtola sounded phoned in and I thought Thancred was a different person. Wuk just gets it the worst as the centerpiece of the expac. English VA can actually do some good emotive scenes from their demoreel but -man- the director fucked her over.

[@ricodc6529]

@@CaptnMarvelous Wuk Lamat's voice isn't getting thrashed because she's the center of the MSQ. She's getting thrashed because her VA did a shit job at her. How Wuk's EN VA got past quality control still boggles the mind.

[@cheerfulgestalt3282]

@@ricodc6529 Blame the direction, not her. VA has a long history with various big names like Blizzard, and has a long resume. They're more than qualified. They just weren't given proper direction. Honestly though, I like it, and I don't get all the hate people are throwing at Wuk Lamat.

[@GenuOfTheDank]

@@cheerfulgestalt3282 why scare to blame the VA? is it wrong to call the bad? the director and the VA are both at the wrong here, they did not careless for the story and the quality, look at EW and ShB and you can see the different.

[@daparksama]

I’ll say it. Her va portfolio is middling, her range is bad and she cannot emote during strong scenes as a voice actor. All the direction in the world can’t save a subpar va. She was horribly selected for the role and they shouldnt have gone through with her.

[@Jozaros]

Yes, this is the part the VA from N/A did not express as if she was being pressured and sounded like she was flat and stale in those heated scenes. Japanese version sounded perfect and expressed the pressure in that heated moment. I felt N/A VA reminded me of VA from 1.0 and ARR.

[@GenuOfTheDank]

Who the mf at SE heard the eng VA and said: yes this is how we want our expansion mascot to sound like

[@Kaiju_Traveler]

If you Google their VA you'll see why lol

[@AndrewSmith-nj8zh]

@@Kaiju_Travelerwe get it. Waah waah, trans bad.

[@thehurricane6767]

​@AndrewSmith-nj8zh you can't not say the voice acting was horrible

[@AndrewSmith-nj8zh]

@@thehurricane6767 It was not great across the board, suggesting that it was more a directing issue, rather than one person’s performance. Also, other VAs have also mentioned the directing being awful this time around. The VAs are just given the direct lines. It’s up to the director to give the context to the line. Consider the “Sphene, listen to me” bit. Taking the line without the context we have, it would seem to be more conversational. The line itself has no indication of it being after Wuk Lamar jumped through a portal and is being crushed. That’s where directing comes in. The director needs to give that context and order additional takes if it isn’t quite right. Kaiju is pretty clearly suggesting that it’s all because Sena is trans.

[@historian252]

Look if you can't handle the fact that the dude is not a good voice actor and trying to have him voice a woman didn't work then I don't know what to tell you.

[@GarretDejiko]

why, why in the world they had to botch the most popular language jp bros won, frenchies won, german bros won

[@ChrisMorray]

For real, German Wuk Lamat just fkn sends it every time.

[@thebestthebestthebestthebe8828]

Above all, story skippers won. Terrible story this time around.

[@Sorenthaz]

Because DEI was going to catch up to Squeenix sooner or later sadly.

[@ChrisMorray]

@@Sorenthaz Literally every expansion of FFXIV has been all about bringing cultures together. What game have you been playing and why are you pretending something changed with your dogwhistle?

[@jamesrusselleriii8284]

@@ChrisMorray small brain take, go munch on tacos

[@youdontknowmegigna]

"Sphene, listen to me," Wuk Lamat screamed with determination.

[@vfvs11a]

But think of all the DEI/ESG points they got for the english VA?

[@corvoyami3192]

Omg how dare you say that, bigot? ( I learnt this last word last week on Twitter and now anyone I disagree with is a bigot)

[@AndrewSmith-nj8zh]

Trans people live in your head rent free, don’t they?

[@ykagz007]

ffxiv is one of the few games where i choose English voices but listening wuk lamat Japanese now after finishing dawntrail in English i might consider changing it for when the new mqs drops

[@ykagz007]

after listening to the English voice right after the Japanese voice. yeah I'm definitely changing the voices at least until a new expansion drops

[@DfRaid]

Thats why Woman should voice woman and guys should voice guys.

[@mismismism]

Omg I didn't see the Japanese version until now and just wow... They didn't even try with the English voice acting, and not even just Wuk Lamat. WTF happened?

[@user-ew9rn7hs2b]

アメリカは声優の地位が低いからな…

[@jamesrusselleriii8284]

声優はコネで採用されました。

[@1jidion]

no, its because of dei consultants forcing a trans actor into the game to do the voice, our en va is a man pretending to be a woman

[@Rubonoxio7-uw9cj]

They actively say they are still in female voice training, idk why they would be hired other than DEI. Im all for people having the freedom to be whatever they want, but they should not a biological male to voice a female character. Not only does it not fit, they are taking jobs from female voice actors 3x more qualified

[@SILVERONIN]

Facts!

[@Lancun]

Take a look at Kate Cwynar and tell me she's not what you envision as a stereotypical activist with the short, bubblegum hairdo. I don't know if she's the one who actively picked Wuk's English VA or if this is the result of Sweet Baby Inc's meddling, but either way, I don't care. Just give me a good product. If the VA is trans, great. If it's not, great. I just want a good damn performance.

[@wg_rey]

Holy shit lol Thank god I did JP VA. The English is horrid. 😂

[@rosalina2938]

because its a man

[@JamesCrimson43]

Behold, the power of diversity over actual skill or talent!

[@pipin90]

Shadowbringers got the voice acting from another planet, but this...

[@warbraid]

when you roll 1 on the speech check

[@fushicha]

教科書の音読？ｗ

[@clairemadeinheaven]

THE THUMBNAIL LOL

[@Sweetwaterdream]

"Sphene, Listen to me"...its said so flat...she is supposed to scream this as she drops down "SPHENE!! LISTEN TO ME!"...its hard to believe the director thought this take was OK...

[@NeoBluereaper]

Director probably had to give up after hours of trying to get a better take.

[@Borghesi08]

There's more emotion in your all caps text than in the actual line read

[@Hwyadylaw]

Thing is, it doesn't sound like she tried to scream and failed. It sounds like it was recorded for a different scene.

[@AndrewSmith-nj8zh]

@@NeoBluereaperthe director didn’t give a shit to begin with, according to other voice actors. It’s why most of the performances were worse this time around.

[@123hattan]

If they only gave us this one moment, just this once without Lam-tea to interrupt our fun.

[@Lyu-Phy]

Words cannot express the joy I feel listening to this glorious one sentence.

[@Cfishies]

hope they demote whoever wrote this clustercrap of a story to janitor

[@pastaboy1338]

man we got DEIed.

[@MrKagemitsu]

But you can't criticise the English VA or you're a 'phobe

[@U9B]

Do it anyway who fuckin cares

[@Azaism]

I love ProJared but what the actual fizzityuck is he talking about in his rant defending the English VA? I should've known he was wrong when he didn't include a single example to back up his defense.

[@DarkDyllon]

Wait, ProJared jumped to someones defence ... AGAIN?! dear god that guy can't catch a hint to fucking keep his head down and stop taking hits. he's like the guy in a battlefield when you're in the trenches, gets hit once on the helmet but survives. does it again 5 minutes later ... and again. he had to defend himself against some pedo allegations, actually proven wrong as well. then he INSTANTLY defends Jirard (the completionist) for comitting charity fraud. and now defends Wuk's shitty VA? damn, the dude is just so cooked

[@CirnoFairy]

@@DarkDyllon worse yet he insults anyone who preffered or turned Japanese voices as "You just like hearing noise you can't understand" and that you're dumb and wrong for saying this was a bad performance. I actually unsubbed from him because of it. I stayed during the controversy, but that? Nah.

[@Rynn21]

He’s an edgelord that has to be different. Always been his most annoying trait.

[@DarkDyllon]

@@CirnoFairy I legit have no idea how ProJared still has a following, he is such a bad take magnet at this point. I generally watch english if possible, even anime since I prefer to understand what i'm hearing, but I can't fault either side, especially in DT where everything BUT english VA was much better.

[@gravitycat7874]

I was kind of hoping they'd go the way of General Zod (Man of Steel) with this conflict. WoL shuts down all the endless and when Sphene finishes scrubbing herself she returns to find an empty city, now purposeless she proceeds to break down into a nuke it from orbit rage on Etheirys. WoL tells Wuk that the vacation is now officially over and to go stand in the corner because she's about to witness why they call you the savior of the star.

[@DarkDyllon]

this would actually make 100x more sense. instead Sphene just went "I love my people ... but i'll let the obvious intruders aiming to stop me roam freely no problem" why not right as Sphene is done scrubbing herself clean of any emotion and becomes a stone cold machine she analyzes the surroundings, realizes everything is ... off? and everyone she was trying to protect is ... gone?! and then goes into a full blown rage moment and just goes the nuclear option and take revenge on us. nah "it's cool dude, just destroy the reason why I do what I do"

[@novavimj5148]

Even without bad VA, this scene is cringed af

[@loomingdeath1758]

It's funny cause it only works for Gaia and Ryne

[@Dogan_TM]

@@loomingdeath1758 didn't even really work there lmao

[@novavimj5148]

@@loomingdeath1758 I mean, for Gaia it makes more sense because she was an Ascian....but why the house cat?

[@TheNatix26]

Kate Cwynar did a really bad job choosing this guy to do Wuk Lamat

[@SILVERONIN]

Moment I saw Kate I knew she was bad news, smh Yoshi P vet better!

[@moonum4567]

She being a part of the team in any capacity raises many eyebrows as to the continued quality output of this game. I'm also gonna go there, I think Dawntrail is the way it is because her network brought in possible cultural consultants of the American loony left (or Canadian, honestly I'm Canadian and its REALLY bad here with these kinds of politics and people) kind in order to avoid a white savior tropes. Its not just the tranny VA hire which, judging from Sena's performance here, is nepotistic in nature. No way SE would greenlight something like this and that they did shows how far reaching Kate's influence is. Kinda glad her culture of gaming is on its way out, like how my kind of gaming was forced to go through.

[@U9B]

@@SILVERONIN He has no say in this. It's total DEI incentives.

[@elCamo12]

the sad thing is that spehene's "lamatyi" (or however it is spelled) has has such an impact on me... even in the english version

[@LionLostInTime]

the jp one sounds so angry and emotional, en is like: ''listen to me sphene 🙂'' the en performance sounds like a parody

[@seenseenseen]

This is what happens when DEI and nepotism hiring infects voice acting.

[@AndrewSmith-nj8zh]

“Everything me no like is DEI.”

[@U9B]

@@AndrewSmith-nj8zh Say that again without crying this time

[@lilik.3327]

I played with English voice pack since forever but this expansion made me switch to JP. The English voice of the MAIN CHARACTER of the expansion is horrific, monotone and has the emotional range of a juvenile dog.

[@Doctor.Deadly]

no way the English synchro hahahahahahah

[@dhanyl2725]

I don't play ff14 (haven't played ff since tactics advance 2 even) but DAMN I WASN'T READY FOR THAT ENGLISH DUB WTF

[@AmebaPa]

Thank myself for notice the sign of disaster mid MSQ and change from EN to JP there. I would be more devastated if I experience this combo after the slog.

[@Ailingforale]

This reminds me why I watch most anime as subs. There's the occasionally good dub, but they are few and far between.

[@papyrus9761]

English VA's dad must work in SE, no way she got that gig based on merit.

[@Tecolote41]

He* did not 😂

[@jabaash]

@@papyrus9761no, she is correct, the other person is just being shit

[@TopLurker]

The lead Eng localization team, a pink danger haired woman called Kate Cwynar apparently hooked up the actor Sena Bryer for the role cause TRANS. Clearly Nepo DEI hire.

[@AoIndigo]

@@papyrus9761 For better context, actress is trans. So, that comes with the added intricacies of male voice constantly having to feminize their tone, which severely impacts the range at which she can perform. I agree, however, that the VA missed the mark, and seeing her other work, she's very amateurish and shouldn't have been cast for this leading role. Some pieces were moved to have her there, because afaik someone MUCH better was going to get the role until she didn't, for some reason. Take that however you will.

[@aya8475]

​@@AoIndigoyou don't know how voices work, the voice you use all the time becomes second nature with voice training, and you don't have to FORCE yourself to anything, she's just a bad VA, like every English VA in the gaming industry, not because she's trans, you guys are really coping to try and find a way to hate someone because they're trans

[@WonderingSkilly]

Glad someone posted this. I thought I felt alone that this trial voice acting was lacking from the English voice actor. Either it was the director or the voice actor who failed to perform here.

[@NateValeci]

i love it when wuk lamat somehow just get unknown strength to immobize endsinger's lost sister for a moment in 1 huge swoop

[@TheUrbanLegend52]

See like this just killed the final trial for me. I loved the phase 1 music and the delivery man…much less we had absolute gems like WoL speech, Emet with the victor writes the tale, or G’raha’s “Champions from beyond the rift, HEED MY CALL!”

[@gdzen4302]

This single part ruined the fight for me. This phase just sucked lol. The actual fight prior to this is actually pretty goddamn good too, the music is great as well but this part was a hard NOPE for me

[@at0micl0bster]

its normal mode... the fuck did you expect (tmw twitter bird is better in the normal fight than ex)

[@kmikaele9408]

English voice actor ruined DT for me.

[@ShoutOfEarth]

This feels really overblown, but it's honestly similar for me too. It definitely took it down a notch or two; if I would have given Dawntrail a 7/10 it got a 5 for being in English. Most of the actors, who have done some incredible work throughout the other expansions, really didn't feel at home here. Some of them even sounded like they were straight up recorded on different equipment, or in totally different environments. Hopefully this is a one time thing

[@NeoBluereaper]

​@ShoutOfEarth Wuk Lamat got triple the voice lines than most characters. The second closest being SPHENE who doesn't get to talk until the last TWO zones. It's mind blowing they put so much focus on a single character.

[@FubukiShiromiya]

Believe me it wasn’t that much better with the excellent-as-always Japanese dub.

[@HyouVizer]

​@@FubukiShiromiyaI tried JP and absolutely hate Alisaie JP voice, extremely annoying, far worse than eng Lamat, while JP Lamat voice just sounds generic as hell.

[@FubukiShiromiya]

@@HyouVizer I didn’t know an opinion could be wrong, I learned something today

[@rem9748]

LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HE'S SO BAD what the hell were squeenix thinking with this guy lol when they have actual voice ACTRESSES to play the part wtfff 😭😭😭😭

[@madmulk9]

I played in JP voices since pre-heavensward for what should be obvious reasons. I'm used to those, and I will say that the EN voices are by no means bad. That being said, I didn't realize just how bad the ball was dropped till I watched other friends playing through this... highway robbery in the vibes. I love Wuk Lamat's characterization with the japanese voices cause you can really hear the headstrong confidence. Sadly, it as well as some of the other things this expansion feel like they didn't translate too well, which is a major shame.

[@velvetteabunny]

Just finished my playthrough of this fight in Japanese. And wanted to hear it in English..... dear lord wtf did my ears just hear???

[@vecnagreyhawk78]

Japanese with subtitles for the win. Always. 😅

[@cheerfulgestalt3282]

Not always, but hey, you're free to enjoy media as you choose.

[@GenuOfTheDank]

EW and ShB were the best in English, after Natsuko Ishikawa and koji become managers and not working on the game everything turn to shit

[@zackt3288]

​@@GenuOfTheDank Japanese didn't save Endwalker for me, but it saved Dawntrail. I feel bad for anybody who did this in English lmao

[@Dogan_TM]

@@cheerfulgestalt3282 as a deaf man, I can definitely say I didn't have any issues with the english va... totally overblown.

[@Forien]

I changed to JP voices around lvl 30 in ARR like 3 years ago and it was best decision I made in this game. I honestly believe that most people who have issues with Wuk Lamat played with EN dub and suddenly forgot how bad Minfilia or dozen of other characters were.

[@Hinkles]

@@Forien I play on a Japanese server with Japanese friends, and the issues with the character itself seem universal from what I've seen. There's also a recent poll of fan favorite characters in Japan, and Wuk Lamat failed to place in the top 10, despite being the main character. I just think there are a lot of issues with the character that go far beyond opinions on the voice acting.

[@HyouVizer]

​@@Hinklesyep, she isn't well written, insanely overused too. Her whole character needs a lot of work 7.1 onward.

[@astrum_remi]

@@HyouVizershe needs to be non existent from 7.1 onwards.

[@alliaxandromeda]

People forget how bad G’raha’s delivery was on his ‘We stand together’ line just before the Hades fight

[@florytb]

we didnt 'suddenly forget', those bad voices were from almost a decade ago. they changed the actors up with HW and its been smooth ever since - until now

[@u155247]

WOW, JP voice sounds really good, I will switch to it.

[@emmv2770]

Omygod what happened to your voice direction? I play with the french version and it's exactly like the Japanese one. I thought this cutscene was so epic. This is probably the reason why dawntrail wasn't an appreciated expansion by english players.

[@Hinkles]

@@emmv2770 I will add that I play with JP players on a JP server, and many of them did not appreciate the MSQ either, with remarkably similar story complaints to what I hear in English.

[@emmv2770]

I didn't like but i didn't hate either. I think we don't need an expansion similar to Endwalker to start a new story. Dawntrail highlights interesting elements for the next of our adventure and i'm very hyped !

[@Hinkles]

@@emmv2770 No one has said it needed to be like Endwalker. In fact, Endwalker crashed the existing lore with a vengeance, so I wouldn't want a repeat. However, the new region is a very large chunk of the world map and throws several wrenches in existing lore as well, while adding extremely little. We know there's a ruler of the region with no real information on how it works, aside from the fact that they have some soldiers that Zoral Jaa was in charge of (ignored, of course). It's especially worrying when looking at the development the three city states had originally. I just hope they course correct hard. At least the gameplay after is fun.

[@saymoncardoso656]

The EN dub needed more emotion, her voice is nice, but they should've tried to give more desperation to the acting. the world would end if the character failed, she should passa that feeling or urgency and anguish.

[@razqel]

KEK lamat. Yawntrail. So glad I waited for the reviews. Legit AI voice would be more interesting then the English VA. The JP VA is at a much higher level.

[@CloudHiro]

honestly her english VA is great in most scenes, but this is what people will remember. remember when she was trying to give medicine to the body at the beach and breaking down? her VA did amazingly there.

[@originalHiruy]

The english version honestly just makes the entire scene feel and seem like its a animated ride from Disney world or universal studios.

[@backslash4141]

Who would win? SEFENE! vs speen...

[@shinkushika]

Sufen, without a doubt

[@EarthChang-xh3jg]

Please.. SE.. Implement a feature to blacklist NPCs

[@blitzychitz5240]

Japanese: Girl, full of emotion. English: Man, Woke Lamutt.

[@lajohnson8588]

the english VA can’t scream, otherwise the manly voice could come out

[@dadkwashere]

SPLEEEEN

[@jamesrusselleriii8284]

ˢᴾᴱᴱᴱᴺ ᴸᴱᴱˢᵁᴺ ᵀᴼ ᴹᴱ

[@v77z]

The difference is just... wow. Terrible acting.

[@TiaKatt]

Terrible directing at the very least, too. The NA VA clearly was not told anything about the fact that the character would be lifting/straining against a heavy object.

[@ElemXCR]

@@TiaKatt Yep I'm blaming it on the sound director with laxed quality control. I'm sure the EN VA is good at her job.

[@loomingdeath1758]

XD I wish I could believe that

[@NeoBluereaper]

​@ElemXCR Check their past work and realise the VA is the problem not the director. Barely any decent experience outside of a silly voiced single line of dialogue here or there.

[@heehooobsessor7907]

​@@NeoBluereaperit's a mix of both. Sena Bryer just doesn't have the skill and training to do a convincing performance (although some scenes in Dawntrail show she has potential), and when compounded by terrible voice direction it was doomed to be a bad performance.

[@chaosky5785]

英文版爛出新高度，劇情拉稀就算了，英文老哥還要聽這配音還不破防?

[@EarthChang-xh3jg]

有点滥用.. 但这根本就是猫嘴吐不出象牙嘛😰

[@Nesaru]

Honestly, I feel they should have called Sphene, Beryl instead. One because Sphene in English sounds silly (Japanese they say Su-ven, French kinda sounds like Sven. Unsure about German), two because multiple syllables and three it would make Sailor Moon fans immediately go into fight or flight the moment she introduces herself as "Queen Beryl."

[@lukoscreyden]

Yeah, queen-sphene doesn't sound great. I cannot take that name seriously, and that was before I heard people say speeeen instead of sphene.

[@dn7949]

Virgin latino trans vs the chad Nihon no seiyuu.

[@jamesrusselleriii8284]

Dude is about as Latino as Rachel Dolezal is black.

[@garytsang5673]

careful, those are highly stunning and very brave species called latinx, not problematic Latino

[@dn7949]

@@garytsang5673 Mea culpa, please don't send my family to the gulag.

[@eliofastora]

Thank God I started the MSQ late and my friend recommended me to use JP Dub. Wuk Lamat's EN VA isn't bad at all in normal dialogues. But this particular scene you can tell really lacks expression for a finale. Watching this made loled so hard but at the same time I realized that this would've ruined a potentially good experience for some players.

[@argofangles]

As JP voice user from the start, I feel sorry to you all EN user to have to tolerate with…this. If you guys ok with anime voice, you should use JP from now on since the quality is more consistent and seiyuu industry is highly competitive in Japan so no way you’d get questionable performance from JP voice.

[@FrozzenK]

As a jp user (full jp including text) I feel sorry for what you guys have to put up regarding localization as a whole. Koji was great. The new localization direction is... well. Wuks voice ans casting is but one aspect of it.

[@lordbauer5983]

Koji Fox stepped down as localization director, so all English players are suffering now no matter what audio option they select.