Is it possible that Dawntrail’s story was already written but had to be rewritten because squeenix wanted Blackrock or some other liberal slanted corporation investments and they were wanting Sena to have a more notable role in the story?
No. And if you're really enjoining this beyond a meme, spend less time on Kiwi Farms lol
If this was the case, they'd get a Japanese, French, and German troon. If they were just concerned with having a troon as top billing, they'd get one that could actually voice act (and I know, I know, but they exist. They just don't try to voice women. So we'd still have the 'that's not a woman' issue, but it could at least be
fun).
Sena clearly took advantage of nepotism and connections to get the role, which suggests a grossly unprofessional getup... but we've known that about the US voice-acting industry for a long time. I mean well before "Vic" was a name anyone cared about, much less the hilarious crackhead grifter who we're all more intimately familiar with. The role in any language is overbloated and reflects really childish, immature writing trends that you'll find in plenty of amateur work, so the sheer amount of lines that the author's manic-pixie-girlfriend sputters out isn't surprising. Koana, again, is clearly supposed to be Hiroi. So yes, he's clearly into half-sibling incest winky-face.
That Sena got the role seems like a confluence of: the adults leaving the room, someone convincing SE that they needed 'authentic' actors for the US-Tural cast (seems like JP/FR/DE all used the same VA studios to me), and that same someone pointing them to this studio that can't even master its fucking audio correctly as "the best choice." It suggests that someone had way, way too much of a say in the process, especially since I can't imagine the US studio was any cheaper to employ than the UK one.
As an aside, again if you're enjoining this line of thinking,
I recommend watching like ten seconds of this Patrick Boyle video. DEI shit has never been this insane all-consuming conspiratorial vacuum: it's been a cringeworthy corporate trend that they thought would make them money. From retail investors and purchasers.
The reason so many things have gone to shit is because so many people now making those things... are awful at it. If you work in the corporate sphere, you recognize that like 20% of employees do 90% of the work, and so when that 20% gets moved off to work on something else or retires, you really get to see what those other guys weren't capable of.
It's to the point the tinfoil retard in me feels this entire expansion was a way to sell a shitload of story skip MTX.
This seems much more plausible to me. Because they can apologize and make promises and kiss the floor and all will be forgiven - but this expansion will be forever. It will never improve. It will always be terrible. It will always be the "you really should skip this, there's nothing important there" expansion.
I mean, obviously, this isn't what really happened - what really happened was that the competent people got moved off and the professional moochers got put in the spotlight. The talent pool in CBU3 doesn't feel terribly deep.
Actualy that entire xpac was just awful I hated every moment of it lol.
Endwalker still has some OK moments. Garlemald is too brief, but it's still OK and the lead-up to it is genuinely great. The idea of "everyone you've met along your adventure is helping out!" has a charm to it, even if Labyrinthos and the space ship and rabbits make it all fall flat. The Role Quests make clear how much of a wet fart the End Days were, but on the whole they're actually enjoyable and their culmination sequence felt a lot like what that expac needed more of.
I cannot say the same for Dawntrail. I like the raids, and everything before them, I've hated.
Forcing myself through DT's MSQ permanently instilled some kind of Pavlovian response in my brain that made me stop giving a shit.
I think it's a mix of that awfulness looming and everything just feeling really, really fucking phoned in. While the EW crafting quests weren't anything amazing and didn't pull double-duty like in ShB to flesh out the world, they were at least pleasant little stories. I cannot get through the DT crafting lines - they're abysmally bad.
The DT role quests are also so one-dimensional and flat that I see myself eventually mashing the skip button. They're all one big joke, and the joke isn't funny.
