I don't think you'll find anyone that didn't like Quiet that also gives any sorts of fucks your panty shots of Ms Potato Head are slightly less erotic.
Star Ocean 5 character gets less-sexy underwear 'in Fear of Western Criticism'
- Thread starter ponpo
- Start date
I don't think you'll find anyone that didn't like Quiet that also gives any sorts of fucks your panty shots of Ms Potato Head are slightly less erotic.
Maintenance
Member
It's all a game of chess, and people are being played everywhere.
I can hardly even see a difference. Hard to believe there's outrage over it. I would think if you're so desperately trying to get an upskirt shot of Miki to fap to rather than the character who looks like a succubus, you're probably into violating young, innocent, naive girls who would wear plain underwear anyway, right? :^)
Blood Diamonds
Banned
god is good
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
Yet in many wester country we do the complete opposite. Gore yes, nipples no. Sigh... Except in Italy where you sell everything with sex, despite the vocal group of Catholics and their Parliament presence... At least it helps us understand where you have reached the too much use of sexy stuff on TV at times
.BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Censoring yourself feels shitty. I imagine he's passively aggressively mentioning it as a tiny form of protest....
"The Japanese": DO NOT CONSORT WITH FOREIGNERS
admiralsandwich
Neo Member
It's just PANTIES, though, but clearly a lot of people in this thread disagree (laughs)
ponpo;199502078 [URL="https://twitter.com/mombot/status/714663154685448192" said:Bonus[/URL]
Y'know, this ain't much different than how you'd see people reacting in the west. Maybe a little less xenophobia? Maybe? But can you imagine if a new GTA got censored throughout the west because of someone not liking something in Asia? Africa? People would be out of their minds.
packy34
Member
While I don't care about the SFV thing either way, how can anyone rationally argue that it wasn't censorship? A part of the game was literally censored to appease people who were complaining.
He's actually just being conversational and possibly not exactly happy about it. Japanese developers can be surprisingly unfiltered at times, and Kobayashi more than most.
Considering how much he enjoyed talking about the sexy stuff in the game during the livestreams, when Ogawa says afterwards that having to change it was a bit frustrating, it's very possible that he's quite serious, even if he laughs it off.
Intheflorsh
Banned
Isn't wearing clothes censoring yourself tho
Scientist Supreme!
Banned
I mean besides zack does it? Seems like a fair criticism.
Funyarinpa
Member
Elaborate.
Yeah, there are people who enjoy virtual sexualized teenagers. So what? People are capable of differentiating between real life and fiction.
Quite hypocritical that so many people look down on this stuff but don't say a single thing about people enjoying shooters, though that's tangential.
Well yeah, there are idiots everywhere, from glorious Nippon to Murrica the Free™.
KirbYuuYuu
Member
Yeah, it's a diaper. It's also like stealth commentary to the West's integrity.
I'm sure the people making those comments are very representative of the average Japanese person.
This is the key part to me at least that says how far into the long term they need to think about their budget and whether they can afford to make revisions for what amounts to relatively minor initial work to avoid potentially larger work down the line.
That being said you can tell through various interviews and the way many niche otaku games are being received internationally that Japanese developers aren't as ignorant of these views as they once were. If anything this acknowledgement is only going to become more prominent amongst Japanese developers.
SolidSnakex
Member
Yes. 99% of the cast is Japanese.
But the designer did say something, and directly attributed the change to fear of western whiners. This isn't the first case of this type of thing either, not even in recent memory. It's a small change, but it's further indication of a larger and spreading problem.
Sakura
Member
People of color = not white.
Which is odd with how Star Ocean 4 had such dumb fanservice with the cat and oppai lady. Probably the most pandery Star Ocean. Before Star Ocean 4 it barely if at all pandered much to otaku.
He felt like Star Ocean 4 was not very good and not faithful to the series that it betrayed people's expectations and yet here it all is again from the looks of it. All I can really do is laugh at the reactions.
admiralsandwich
Neo Member
Do people really think it looks like a diaper? Have any of you seen real upskirts??? Pshaw.
It's less about the panties and more about them getting affected by censorship because of us.
They just don't want this to set a precedent, they like that shit in their games, and there's no reason why their version of a game made in their country should get the same censorship treatment as ours.
...Scatter...
Banned
Oooooh that delicious salt. DO NOT CONSORT WITH FOREIGNERS!
The diaper symbolizes that the West is full of shit, and the panties symbolize the universal need for a waifu.
But at the same time, it was all based off a crowd vote anyway.
It's pretty magical that in a game where one character wears an outfit that checkerboards with her skin and looks like an Elfen Lied/ero game reject they choose to change the character that for all intents and purpose is totally unoffensive.
Then the change they make makes it so her underwear is even more visible.
Japan, you so crazy.
Then the change they make makes it so her underwear is even more visible.
Japan, you so crazy.
Mr. Pointy
Member
They probably more representative of Star Ocean's current audience in Japan. This ain't a Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy level RPG franchise. It's probably not even a Tales level franchise at this point.
The people who would be put off by visible panties you have to go out of your way to see aren't going to suddenly buy the game now because they're slightly less revealing, though. Same goes for fanservice in niche otaku games in general. You're not going to increase sales by censoring games that the general public was never interested in buying in the first place, you only serve to alienate the fanbase you already have.
DealWithIt
Member
The larger spreading problem of designers responding to perceived market forces? If he didn't martyr about it we would call it exactly what it is, a design choice. It's only a problem if you genuinely believe they are losing the freedom to express themselves. I don't buy it. Where there's a market, it will ship. There is plenty of Hentai out there and pornhub exists despite complaints from those opposed. There are no shortage of panty shots in video games and I know Onechabra came out here. This is an invented problem.
Their goddamn porn is censored in response to actual laws, not to an overreaction from the western office of the company.
admiralsandwich
Neo Member
Which is funny, because I distinctly remember the designer (?) for the catgirl saying he wanted to design eroge... which is basically why she looked the way she did. Maybe that's the case for this one too......
foxuzamaki
Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
haha not really a spoiler, she is 88
KirbYuuYuu
Member
That's a long form version of "or their lack of faith of such"
Scientist Supreme!
Banned
This is off topic but whatever.
Well it seems like he changed it from that to "Multi-cultural characters" which makes more sense.
I don't think it's about increasing sales rather than measuring their production budget against any potential changes they might make down the line. At any rate I see it as more of a business consideration especially because to me at least the changes are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things.
Yeah, she's wearing much less than any cat girl in the series. It's like they took Pericci's normal leotard and inverted it so the entire center is gone and she's just got leggings and sleeves.
EDIT: Also Meracle was 16 too.
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
Arguable meaning it is still a debated and not settled question, spoiler alert violence being the biggest harm, makes me a bit sad...
Dark_castle
Junior Member
Am I the only one who find it incredibly hilarious that the Japanese are freaking out over the fact that they can no longer see one virtual cartoon character's panties anymore?
Zomba13
Member
I don't get this. Like, I don't see the big deal. It doesn't matter if she is 14 or 18 or a 1000 year old space dragon, those pics in the OP are what this hubbub is about?
1) there is barely a difference, if anything it looks like one butt cheek has a sort of shorts like design in the new version.
2) why does this matter? this isn't a game where panties and clothing are important, it's not a game where sexualisation is a thing. It's something you would see if you put the camer in a position to look up a virtual girls skirt.
3) You have the other witch woman in the weird clown spandax thing with alternating diamonds cut out so you can see her butt cheeks and that is staying in, you can still see butt flesh if you want
1) there is barely a difference, if anything it looks like one butt cheek has a sort of shorts like design in the new version.
2) why does this matter? this isn't a game where panties and clothing are important, it's not a game where sexualisation is a thing. It's something you would see if you put the camer in a position to look up a virtual girls skirt.
3) You have the other witch woman in the weird clown spandax thing with alternating diamonds cut out so you can see her butt cheeks and that is staying in, you can still see butt flesh if you want