Just prefacing this with: I liked Wuk Lamat. I think if she didn't hit with you and you're annoyed with her that's fine - not every character's gonna land with people.
I am, however, as a Wuk enjoyer(tm) -super- frustrated with how Dawntrail handled her because, despite the fact that her character would up pretty okay by the end of it (I cheered whenever she got her moment, including in the final trial) I was also similarly exhausted with her by the end.
On paper, Wuk Lamat's character arc is very good. She starts out insecure, but as the trials go on, quickly proves herself to be a hell of a good leader. What she lacks in booksmarts, she's willing to delegate, and her naming Koana co-dawnservant basically cemented by general like for her in my head - it was a smart, humble, wise decision, and it paid off massively.
She's a good leader. She does good leader things, and I believe it based on how she got there. She recognised her faults early on and made a genuinely admirable effort to get over them, and we got to see why she's suited for the role - she has a genuine, heartfelt investment in her people.
But holy shit does the story overuse her and underutilise its other characters. Alisaie and Alphinaud might as well not be there, and she steals a ton of oxygen from Krile and Erenville - there are so many redundant scenes.
I don't say this because I want to see less of her, but because even if you're hanging out with your best friend you're gonna want to see/talk to other people occasionally.
This is an issue the script has overall - not properly weighting moments, charcter interactions, and dialogue - but Wuk Lamat is sort of the case study for it.
IMHO, Wuk should've
Then there's the voice stuff.
I like Sena Bryer's performance, but the voice direction for this expansion lets her down so hard. In general I think it's actually been pretty poor - several voicelines from NPCs just had the straight-up wrong delivery. We just notice it the most with Wuk Lamat because she is objectively talking the most, and thus has the most opportunities to be let down by whatever the hell happened in the recording booths.
Her voiceline in the final trial is sort of the eptiome of this. I legitimately have no fucking clue how this voiceline got into the game - it didn't take me out of it, but it's just. It's a bad take. It doesn't match the action, at all. I don't think this is a fault with Sena at all - she will be given a script, lines to read, and direction for a scene, it's just she's speaking like she's not doing any fighting at all, here?
I'd like to direct you to her VO reel. I'm using an earlier one here because it doesn't include Wuk Lamat voicelines, which is a bit better to illustrate my point, but:
Listen to that first clip. She can yell. She can yell just fine. She's got plenty of range. There are even a handful of voicelines in DT where she gets a good growl/yell going. It's really not her.
Anyway - Wuk Lamat, I hope, will be a lot more sufferable once we get a break from her and once the voiceover localisation team (hopefully) gets its fucking act together. I love Wuk Lamat, but boy did she get let down by the storytelling.
submitted by /u/Kain222
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I am, however, as a Wuk enjoyer(tm) -super- frustrated with how Dawntrail handled her because, despite the fact that her character would up pretty okay by the end of it (I cheered whenever she got her moment, including in the final trial) I was also similarly exhausted with her by the end.
On paper, Wuk Lamat's character arc is very good. She starts out insecure, but as the trials go on, quickly proves herself to be a hell of a good leader. What she lacks in booksmarts, she's willing to delegate, and her naming Koana co-dawnservant basically cemented by general like for her in my head - it was a smart, humble, wise decision, and it paid off massively.
She's a good leader. She does good leader things, and I believe it based on how she got there. She recognised her faults early on and made a genuinely admirable effort to get over them, and we got to see why she's suited for the role - she has a genuine, heartfelt investment in her people.
But holy shit does the story overuse her and underutilise its other characters. Alisaie and Alphinaud might as well not be there, and she steals a ton of oxygen from Krile and Erenville - there are so many redundant scenes.
I don't say this because I want to see less of her, but because even if you're hanging out with your best friend you're gonna want to see/talk to other people occasionally.
This is an issue the script has overall - not properly weighting moments, charcter interactions, and dialogue - but Wuk Lamat is sort of the case study for it.
IMHO, Wuk should've
Had honest heart-to-hearts with Alisae/Alphi in the first few zones, with each character relating their own experiences to her. Make use of the characters that are there!
Had her screentime split with Krile. Each zone should've had an A plot (helping Wuk) and a B plot (helping Krile uncover her mystery) with more-or-less equal weighting.
Shown that she was growing more independent by going off and doing some stuff by herself in Solution 9 - i desperately wanted to find out why Alisaie was so opposed to the soul stuff, maybe have a 1 on 1 convo with her, but it just never happened.
Then there's the voice stuff.
I like Sena Bryer's performance, but the voice direction for this expansion lets her down so hard. In general I think it's actually been pretty poor - several voicelines from NPCs just had the straight-up wrong delivery. We just notice it the most with Wuk Lamat because she is objectively talking the most, and thus has the most opportunities to be let down by whatever the hell happened in the recording booths.
Her voiceline in the final trial is sort of the eptiome of this. I legitimately have no fucking clue how this voiceline got into the game - it didn't take me out of it, but it's just. It's a bad take. It doesn't match the action, at all. I don't think this is a fault with Sena at all - she will be given a script, lines to read, and direction for a scene, it's just she's speaking like she's not doing any fighting at all, here?
I'd like to direct you to her VO reel. I'm using an earlier one here because it doesn't include Wuk Lamat voicelines, which is a bit better to illustrate my point, but:
Listen to that first clip. She can yell. She can yell just fine. She's got plenty of range. There are even a handful of voicelines in DT where she gets a good growl/yell going. It's really not her.
Anyway - Wuk Lamat, I hope, will be a lot more sufferable once we get a break from her and once the voiceover localisation team (hopefully) gets its fucking act together. I love Wuk Lamat, but boy did she get let down by the storytelling.
submitted by /u/Kain222
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...