Final Fantasy XIV - Kiwi Free Company

[ratnoid]

Is FFXIV even worth getting into at this point or the game isn't as active as it used to be?

 

[Well Intentioned]

Is FFXIV even worth getting into at this point or the game isn't as active as it used to be?

It's very active and the way that the game is designed, older content doesn't depreciate like it does in other MMOs.

Now whether it is worth engaging with the vast majority of the game's 'active' playerbase is another thing. There are reasonable people around, but the game is rife with empty-headed fuckwits.

 

[Troon Whisperer]

Despite all of that she does 0 introspection and can only hyper focus on her one singular goal, foregoing any form of nuance that could have possibly been had.

Sphene is just a shitty chatgpt model trained on the originals memories and tasked with the singular goal of "Preserve the citizens of Alexandria" so her being incapable on introspection and hyper focusing on one goal kinda tracks. The writers did fumble the whole Alexandria thing pretty badly, in the hands of a better team it could have been way more interesting to explore.

 

[Shieldman]

Is FFXIV even worth getting into at this point or the game isn't as active as it used to be?

Game is very healthy population wise still.

If you only want to focus on the main story, you can do it 90% alone.

In my experience, people in game are mostly well behaved, but communities outside of it are insane.

 

[Dopey Cunt]

Sphene is just a shitty chatgpt model trained on the originals memories and tasked with the singular goal of "Preserve the citizens of Alexandria" so her being incapable on introspection and hyper focusing on one goal kinda tracks. The writers did fumble the whole Alexandria thing pretty badly, in the hands of a better team it could have been way more interesting to explore.

Nah, I don't buy it. She went on and on about how Sphene's memories "cursed" her with powerlessness so I don't see how she couldn't have taken a bit to think about what she was doing, whether or not it's really worth it and come to a conclusion. Even if she ended up wanting to kill everyone, at least give me a scene showing some sort of internal conflict. We got none of that. It's not consistent. If she was more influenced by her programming from the start, I'd be more convinced. They could have even done a thing where she goes against her programming even if temporarily. If Sphene's memories didn't have such an impact on who she was, she would've never needed Zoraal Ja to harvest life for her, she'd have just killed him the moment he stepped through the gate, took the key from him and then went out to do the deed herself. But she didn't because she didn't have the "heart" to directly genocide people so she recruits Daddy Issues Ja to do it for her.
But you get rid of her tool and suddenly she's completely resolved to eradicate all life in the universe for her people. You get a throwaway line about how she's tried for hundreds of years. Tried what? What did she try? You're telling me that she let a hundred years pass by without trying to figure out any sort of alternative?
It all just stinks to me and the worst part is that the plot has to move forward, so any trite plotholes are just left hanging around for the sake of making the story go forward. Same as her conveniently turning off her ears when Graha unravels her entire shit plan right off the cuff in Living Memory. It really doesn't help that she's thrown at us literally in the final part of the story and she's not given any time to breathe before the plot demands that she plays the part of the villain.

She's written to be an awful contrivance to make the plot move forward and that's literally it. She isn't compelling, she isn't sympathetic. She isn't deep. She was just an annoying eyesore that I wanted to get rid of as soon as humanly possible.

 

[King Of Braves]

In my experience, people in game are mostly well behaved, but communities outside of it are insane.

That's what happens when xwitter fags don't get to run the show like they usually weasel their way into, so they're stuck following the rules in-game so they don't go to jail. Outside the game, they don't have to worry about moderation (and should probably also still go to jail.)

 

[Rich Evans Ayypologist]

Is there any information out there about, say, how the VAs are done?

Having done the first quest, wherein the cast all statically stand around and explain what their motivations for the expac are supposed to be (and in which the word "undocumented" popped up in what's surely a creative interpretation of the source material), there is such a difference in microphone quality between the 'core' cast and the people doing these absolutely godawful accents, like Wuk. Alisaie and Alphinaud have this much richer, fuller sound that just sounds several dBs higher than anyone else, and that doesn't seem like the kind of thing you'd run into if one studio was handling everything.

 

[Disc]

Is there any information out there about, say, how the VAs are done?.

Y’shtola rocking that Walmart Gamer Headset

Random, spoiler-filled thoughts about the story, what it means, and where it may go in future updates:

Spoiler: Personal Thoughts

my personal suspicion? Is that the Key is half of an hourglass. It’d explain why people were unable to fully understand its purpose, they’re only working with half the puzzle. My suspicion is that a dungeon in this expac will be a south sea island which will either be even more explicitly Hawaii than Aloalo, or a Madagascar expy, where we find the other half of the key.

The reason I’m thinking all that is that the Storm Surge lines up with the second calamity in effect (and it’s extremely unlikely the Ascians fucked up like they did with the 13th by not having a matching calamity on the source) but the Milala came from the 5th calamity. Having the portal able to call across space and time - much like Azem’s Crystal is able to do, and like we’ve already done twice - would solve this mystery, and justify calling their world the Unlost World - a world that should have been lost but was somehow preserved.

 

[Well Intentioned]

Is there any information out there about, say, how the VAs are done?

Having done the first quest, wherein the cast all statically stand around and explain what their motivations for the expac are supposed to be (and in which the word "undocumented" popped up in what's surely a creative interpretation of the source material), there is such a difference in microphone quality between the 'core' cast and the people doing these absolutely godawful accents, like Wuk. Alisaie and Alphinaud have this much richer, fuller sound that just sounds several dBs higher than anyone else, and that doesn't seem like the kind of thing you'd run into if one studio was handling everything.

What I know is:

- They contracted out a lot of people to an America studio this time around (basically any American/Hispanic sounding characters)
- Y'Shtola's VA was doing her lines remotely because she just had a baby.
- A lot of the NA voice actors that were used are friends with folks at SE. This isn't anything out of the ordinary, though I think it's worth noting that some folks might've had an 'in'
- There's big discrepancies in the various localisation scripts. Apparently the German one is vastly different from the English one which is vastly different from the JP one.

 

[Rich Evans Ayypologist]

- They contracted out a lot of people to an America studio this time around (basically any American/Hispanic sounding characters)

Perfectly explains it. Fuck me, it's so horribly obvious. At least to my ears, anyways. Maybe it's only really noticeable with a good pair of headphones but like. Man, if I was actually an audio engineer, I could tear into this shit, but the core cast is so much more dynamic than any of the people they contracted out to.

I go from hearing these higher and lower registers to hearing this crunchy, compressed mess that never ever gets as quiet or as loud as the core cast is capable of. The difference is just night and day and it's driving me insane, alongside these fucking Disney's Coco-ass hispanic accents. It's like they were told to emulate the 2004 RE4's Louis - "It's perfectly authentic!." Honestly, it'd have been way more interesting if it was just recorded in fuckin spanish with a translation rather than these cartoon-ass accents. And hearing Vrtra's voice actor (or whatever his stupid puppet is named, varashan? idk) pop up on the early antagonist, barely even trying to conceal himself - the audio is a mess, just out the gate.

 

[Well Intentioned]

Perfectly explains it. Fuck me, it's so horribly obvious. At least to my ears, anyways. Maybe it's only really noticeable with a good pair of headphones but like. Man, if I was actually an audio engineer, I could tear into this shit, but the core cast is so much more dynamic than any of the people they contracted out to.

The weird thing is, this isn't limited to one studio. The reason I mentioned Y'Shtola is because I feel she sounds like she's talking through a copper wire at points rather than a microphone.

And Wuk would've been part of the American batch, so her lines would presumably be just as off as the other Hispanic ones.

I go from hearing these higher and lower registers to hearing this crunchy, compressed mess that never ever gets as quiet or as loud as the core cast is capable of. The difference is just night and day and it's driving me insane, alongside these fucking Disney's Coco-ass hispanic accents. It's like they were told to emulate the 2004 RE4's Louis - "It's perfectly authentic!." Honestly, it'd have been way more interesting if it was just recorded in fuckin spanish with a translation rather than these cartoon-ass accents. And hearing Vrtra's voice actor (or whatever his stupid puppet is named, varashan? idk) pop up on the early antagonist, barely even trying to conceal himself - the audio is a mess, just out the gate.

Yeah, this is what I'm saying about nepotism being an unfortunate reality when it comes to this shit. If they had hired actual Hispanic VAs, were a bit more dutiful in paying attention to detail and putting little touches on word usage, vocabularies, etc. it would've been a lot better than this bullshit we got.

It sounds like a fandub project, and it there's little verbal ticks here and there that come off as transliteration, rather than trying to make what is being said sound natural. It's a common issue when it comes to localization, as some folks think it's more important to translate everything word for word and taking liberties is bad. I honestly don't know if that's the case here, but that's the impression I got at parts.

 

[Ravana]

They way they changed Zoraal Ja’s title from “miracle son”to “resilient son” was so half assed that they kept the line about there not being a miracle in the trial so it made no sense

 

[Alligator Alcatraz]

What I know is:

- They contracted out a lot of people to an America studio this time around (basically any American/Hispanic sounding characters)
- Y'Shtola's VA was doing her lines remotely because she just had a baby.
- A lot of the NA voice actors that were used are friends with folks at SE. This isn't anything out of the ordinary, though I think it's worth noting that some folks might've had an 'in'
- There's big discrepancies in the various localisation scripts. Apparently the German one is vastly different from the English one which is vastly different from the JP one.

Square Enix really needs to get rid of Kate Cwynar. This is embarassing and not the level of quality I expect from a Square Enix video game.

 

[Well Intentioned]

Square Enix really needs to get rid of Kate Cwynar. This is embarassing and not the level of quality I expect from a Square Enix video game.

Without really knowing a lot about her and without being fluent in Japanese, it's hard to determine exactly what's going on. I really don't want to be pulling a Grummz because he's a fucking stupid twat, but there's some warning signs here and there.

But if the sense I'm getting is accurate (I don't watch any anime so localization stuff is pretty foreign to me) combined with some of the shit she's said in interviews (the "if someone dislikes a character I like my reaction is no, you're wrong") makes me think that she's someone who rose to a position she's ill-suited for.

Seeing some of the localization issues that have been featured in threads around these parts makes me think she's another person who feels it's necessary to editorialize and put forth the 'true' version of the translation rather than something that sticks with the tone and spirit.

 

[Shieldman]

- There's big discrepancies in the various localisation scripts. Apparently the German one is vastly different from the English one which is vastly different from the JP one.

afaik, the french and german translations stick to the japanese script very closely.
The US translation team get very "creative" with it.

they/them loporrits and Varshahn getting pissy over his sister's gender are -allegedly- something that that Kate person invented from whole cloth. Would love clarification for that.

 

[Dopey Cunt]

- Y'Shtola's VA was doing her lines remotely because she just had a baby.

Well okay, that explains why she sounds like she's talking from inside a box for the 4 voiced lines she has in the entire expansion.

 

[Well Intentioned]

Well okay, that explains why she sounds like she's talking from inside a box for the 4 voiced lines she has in the entire expansion.

Which is fucking weird. I don't want to powerlevel, but I've seen/dealt with similar situations and "patching in" isn't typically a huge issue.

 

[Well Intentioned]

afaik, the french and german translations stick to the japanese script very closely.
The US translation team get very "creative" with it.

they/them loporrits and Varshahn getting pissy over his sister's gender are -allegedly- something that that Kate person invented from whole cloth. Would love clarification for that.

I heard about the they/them shit with the faeries in Shadowbringers. Which makes sense if going off of the lore it's based on (although it's VERY obvious that was not the reason why Kate was pushing for it.)

Is there anywhere that's been doing a breakdown of the scripts? There's certain parts that kinda jump out to me as worth looking at.

 

[Rich Evans Ayypologist]

And Wuk would've been part of the American batch, so her lines would presumably be just as off as the other Hispanic ones.

I think I didn't notice before because I was barely paying attention to the EW postgame, and Wuk's... "voice acting" is distracting in and of itself. But Wuk does have the same crunchiness and lack of dynamic range as the core cast, when you stop to listen.

Wuk's VA is just really fucking bizarre. It obviously sounds nothing like a woman, which I get over by just interpreting the character as an effeminate male - at that point, whatever. But it's a fucking awful performance for an effeminate male. Nevermind what people have said about the actor's lack of emotional range - how about the fact that the actor drops the accent over and over and over again? Multiple VAs do this, but it's really jarring with Wuk because Wuk is the main fucking character.

One of the most obvious consequences of having multiple recording studios, beyond the fact that they were obviously recording with different mic setups and DRs, is that it's clear the actors had nothing to bounce off of each other. Krile's VA chews the scene early by portraying a character on the brink of tears just barely holding it all together when talking about her grandfather's letter, with this lovely little undercurrent of wavering in her voice... and then you get some stupid cartoon accent in response. Like the guy was given the line without any clue of how his opposite sounded, or how his response should sound to match the tone. I'm hearing people from the core-VAs shouting and energetic while being greeted with lethargic responses from the US-VAs, and then vice-versa with the US ones suddenly coming off way more excited and invested than the core cast.

 

[Well Intentioned]

I think I didn't notice before because I was barely paying attention to the EW postgame, and Wuk's... "voice acting" is distracting in and of itself. But Wuk does have the same crunchiness and lack of dynamic range as the core cast, when you stop to listen.

Ah I just mentioned cos you included Wuk in as an example of 'better' sounding VAs.

Wuk's VA is just really fucking bizarre. It obviously sounds nothing like a woman, which I get over by just interpreting the character as an effeminate male - at that point, whatever. But it's a fucking awful performance for an effeminate male. Nevermind what people have said about the actor's lack of emotional range - how about the fact that the actor drops the accent over and over and over again? Multiple VAs do this, but it's really jarring with Wuk because Wuk is the main fucking character.

It's really funny how the VA's talent reel has him voicing either male characters (one of which is throwing a hissy fit) or grotesque creatures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eDi9aJzs4w

One of the most obvious consequences of having multiple recording studios

This is why criticism of Kate's role (or whoever was overseeing VA recording if it wasn't her) is deserved. They're the ones holding the narrative threads together.