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The director of Final Fantasy 14, Naoki Yoshida, has once again expressed his thoughts on the reception given to Dawntrail and the abuse suffered by the voice actress of Wuk Lamat, Sena Bryer.
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Yoshida says he and his team have accepted the criticism of the character, but will include her in future patches to “show more of what makes Wuk Lamat so great.”
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She also claims that the abuse she suffered from Bryer “broke [his] heart”, but that fans should get used to “more opinions out there”.
Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail is now gone, and now that the dust has settled (and we're eagerly awaiting patch 7.1) we can look back on what was an honestly decent expansion, far more hated than it probably deserved. That hatred came from many places, but much of what drove it was the reaction to Wuk Lamat, arguably the true protagonist of the expansion and a character who continues to divide opinion to this day.
Even though there were legitimate reasons to not get along with Wuk Lamat, the abuse and death threats sent to voice actress Sena Bryer very quickly turned any conversation about the character into a toxic nightmare. The problem has become such that even Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshia (Yoshi-P) has asked fans to stop directing personal attacks at the game's voice actors and localizers.
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Nearly two months after that statement, Yoshi-P opened up a little more about Wuk Lamat's negative reception and once again addressed the abuse he suffered from Bryer. In a new interview with Checkpoint Gaming, Yoshi-P was asked what his thoughts were on Dawntrail's reception as an expansion, given that it's quite controversial among fans.
Final Fantasy 14 director says Wuk Lamat's voice actor abuse 'broke his heart'
He began by explaining that he “knew from the beginning” that opinions would be mixed, thanks to the fact that our Warriors of Light would be taking a back seat this time around, before quickly delving into the character of Wuk Lamat. Yoshi-P says his team has accepted feedback about the character and apologized for not being able to “correctly represent him” in Dawntrail, promising that future patches will “show more of what makes Wuk Lamat so great “.
He then turns to the abuse Bryer suffered and dismisses claims that his team was “too accepting of diversity” and that the negative comments hurled at Bryer “broke.” [his] heart” because of how hard he worked during development.
I'm afraid one of our staff members received very negative comments and it almost felt like a personal attack, which breaks my heart, because he worked really hard and these criticisms were not constructive at all.
He then points out that these types of attacks “make staff lose motivation” and can potentially damage the quality of the game, and urges anyone with problems to “take it home”. [him]Yoshi-P then states that as Final Fantasy 14 grows, the game will “have more people, which means more opinions out there”, so he wants to try to reduce the amount of “unnecessary attacks” his game has to deal with staff. I think I can speak for most fans when I say we couldn't agree more.
Dawntrail is the fifth complete expansion for Square Enix's MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV and marks the beginning of an entirely new story arc. It takes the Warrior of Light across the ocean to the continent of Tural, adds the new Viper and Pictomancer jobs, and a host of more dungeons, raids, and more.
