Final Fantasy 14 boss tells fans not to “attack” voice actors amid Dawntrail character backlash

The director of Final Fantasy 14 has asked fans not to make personal attacks against the voice actors or localization team of Dawntrail, specifically the ones who worked on Wuk Lamat.

Final Fantasy 14’s Dawntrail expansion involved the player traveling to the continent of Tural, where they became embroiled in a succession war between different heirs. The Warrior of Light joins Wuk Lamat, a claimant to the throne of Tuliyollal, and helps them complete tasks to prove their worthiness.

Wuk Lamat is easily the most prominent character in Dawntrail, including over fan favorites, such as the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, who are barely present in the story. The Warrior of Light themself also takes a backseat, with many quests involving their support for Wuk Lamat on their journey.

This led to a backlash against Wuk Lamat from the fanbase, or more specifically, to her voice actor, Sena Bryer. In the past, Bryer has discussed receiving death threats and transphobic abuse on social media. This situation was commented on by Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida in an interview with JP Games, where he directly addressed the fans about their response.

Naoki Yoshida asks fans not to attack Wuk Lamat’s voice actors or localization team

“But I would very much like to request something: I would really like to ask that people do not direct personal attacks to the voice actors involved in the development and also individual members of the localization team,” Yoshida said, “Because they are really doing their best to create something which is great for the creative process.

“It is really not that they are trying to bring forward an argument about a certain movement or anything like that,” he continued, “It’s just that they are doing their best for the development so I would really like to ask that the players do not direct personal attacks against them.”

When discussing why Wuk Lamat wasn’t well-received by some players, Yoshida had some theories. Part of this is due to Wuk Lamat’s inexperience, especially compared to the Warrior of Light and the Scions, and the frustration that comes with helping them with their confidence issues after you just saved the universe from blowing up. It’s a huge shift in scale, which some fans might not like.

The other reason is Dawntrail’s relatively slow first half and how much of it is dominated by Wuk Lamat. If you didn’t like her when you first met her in the Endwalker patches, then you’re really not going to like her during long cutscenes and slow fetch quests.

It’s fine to dislike a character. When it comes to Final Fantasy 14, I’ll be happy if I never see or hear Hien from Stormblood again, but that doesn’t give people the right to harass anyone involved with the production of a game, regardless of how they feel. It’s just a video game.

It’s a shame that Yoshida had to comment on it publically, but this kind of awful behavior breeds like wildfire in large and passionate fanbases. Hopefully, he won’t need to address it again.