Oh please this shit happens here too.
Star Ocean 5 character gets less-sexy underwear 'in Fear of Western Criticism'
- Thread starter ponpo
- Start date
Oh please this shit happens here too.
DealWithIt
Member
Go read the Tracer reddit thread. People on the internet get incensed when they discover that designers care about somebody else's opinion more than theirs.
"the Japanese" =/= a selection of the 2chan crowd that reads Hachima Kikou.
Again, it's like using 4chan to represent "the westerners."
SolidSnakex
Member
I think they're more likely pissed about the fact that their version of the game was changed because of the west. People in the west would be pissed as well if western versions of games were changed based on the Asian markets.
Yeah, it's odd. The panties look pretty normal. Maybe if they were striped some might not have an issue?
Gormless Noodle
Member
Guessing they're scared it will happen to a lot more now or something? Not that I think anyone would have even nagged about the Potatohead's panties.
Maybe if we stir up enough of a gaijin ruckus, we can get them to change her head.
#nopotatohead4japan
But those perceived market forces don't exist. They're changing the game to cater to a vocal minority that likely wouldn't buy the game anyway, at the expense of people who would.
The existence of hentai has nothing to do with anything, so i'm not sure why you brought that up.
Makes me wonder how they would've reacted if they got Papa Nier instead of bishounen onii-chan Nier.
You can see 20% less of her ass when placing the camera under her skirt. This is such a none issue on both sides.
Seems like you are overreacting. Its just some anonymously posted comments. Outright blaming 'western criticism' was incredibly stupid though.
DealWithIt
Member
You're saying the market forces don't exist, but what I said is "perceived market forces" The distinction is important. Hentai is an example of market that exists despite the protests of the perpetually prudish.
They want attention/publicity. That would be my guess.
The panties are still visible.
Mr. Pointy
Member
IIRC, they got Papa Nier on 360.
They are mostly freaking out because a vocal minority of online whiners can ductate what can and cannot be seen in their own country, and they are right.
I'd like to see the mature reactions of westerners in a hypothetical scenario where a vocal minority in Japan dictated how heavily censored the violence in the Deadpool movie would be, in western movie theaters.
I'm sure westerners would rip their actual, hypothetical, and virtual panties in outrage.
Yabberwocky
Member
I'm a bit baffled they were so worried about changing fancy underwear when bizarre green-jester-cat-bat mage woman is in the game. Like, that's what you thought people would be offended by? As people have said, now it looks like she's wearing a diaper. It's not so much the design of the underwear that would ever be an issue, it's the fact that you can tilt the camera angle there to ever see it the first place - which still very much seems to be in. Head scratching a bit on this one.
The one true thing foreigners fear is fancy panties. It is known.
The one true thing foreigners fear is fancy panties. It is known.
Sakura
Member
Japan got both.
Sevyne
Member
I find it more hilarious that the company just threw us under the bus as the reason for the change when nobody would have even noticed in the first place. The change was made to a character who wasn't even really sexualized, and the panties looked like some regular panties a girl would wear. You wouldn't even really see them that often unless you were actually trying to get those upskirt shots. It's an odd change when you already have another character running around nearly naked.
I think the West was unanimously in favor of her head being changed. But did the developers listen? Nope.
Also, why wouldn't they just leave the skin in the Japanese version? There must be something more to the story.
Yellowflashdude
Member
True but there are definitely other examples that people can simply lookup. There are still debates over things like "boob armor" in the american geek community. I just find it hypocritical how the American geek community spawned issues like the Gamergate and yet they turn their nose up on foreign games and get outraged over things like panty shots in jrpg's.
The heavy censorship of changing a pair of panties to a slightly different pair of panties.
Mr. Pointy
Member
I can't even tell what of kind of panties Ms. Potatohead originally wore before they got changed.
Pinko Marx
Banned
It's refreshing to see that gamers are a whiney bunch the world around. The overreaction transcends cultural boundaries.
Dark Ninja
Member
Well DOAX3 wasn't even attempted to be localized because of similar situation. So Tecmo didn't even bother. These guys can't even buy an uncensored version anymore. At least if I want to play DOAX3 I can't import it from some Asian country.
Yeah, that is annoying. The character is well covered, not many are interested in a virtual character's panties and whatever they look like and could have been left in without any issue.
Garou
Member
One the one hand: It's just a texture and shouldn't warrant such a huge outrage.
In the other hand: The "teenage-girl with skimpy outfit"-trope is something that occurs so often in Japanese media, that some might even refer to it as pop-culture.
So now you have a Japanese developer changing an aspect of a game sold in Japan because of the mismatch with the foreign culture.
Think about this: GTA games in Japan were often censored so that you cannot kick a person on the ground and civilians wouldn't drop money when killed. What would everybodies reaction be if Rockstar made that edit to every version of the game, just to adjust to Japan's market?
In the other hand: The "teenage-girl with skimpy outfit"-trope is something that occurs so often in Japanese media, that some might even refer to it as pop-culture.
So now you have a Japanese developer changing an aspect of a game sold in Japan because of the mismatch with the foreign culture.
Think about this: GTA games in Japan were often censored so that you cannot kick a person on the ground and civilians wouldn't drop money when killed. What would everybodies reaction be if Rockstar made that edit to every version of the game, just to adjust to Japan's market?
While the actual change indeed is a nonissue - i can hardly notice a difference lol - i can understand why japanese people could be concerned about the implications for the future i.e. JP games getting changed more and more to suit "western" tastes in order to maximize profits, thereby alienating the original fanbases. Altho, looking at the comments, that is probably not the actual reason.
Literally nobody was talking about this.
How can someone be hypocritical over a subject nobody was discussing?
Man, I wish they had listened to that. Miki's head is freaking freaky and looks so out of place compared to other characters. She breaks the overall aesthetic so badly.
Probably as hilariously immature as the reactions to this panty change.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I feel like there is this kind of self-satisfaction over this, because it's about sexualization of young looking anime characters. It's just "market forces" imposing the "right" view on a backwards culture. Easy for us to say "so what" or even "good".
But eventually China's going to be a big enough market that "market forces" will force elements such as zombies and skeletons (banned by Chinese gov) out of our games.
If Germany were a big market: no more nazi enemies.
If Japan were a big market: no more decapitations.
If India were a large market: no more kissing.
If middle eastern countries were a big market: no more smoking or drinking.
These "market forces" aren't always going to be what we've decided in America is morally right....
But eventually China's going to be a big enough market that "market forces" will force elements such as zombies and skeletons (banned by Chinese gov) out of our games.
If Germany were a big market: no more nazi enemies.
If Japan were a big market: no more decapitations.
If India were a large market: no more kissing.
If middle eastern countries were a big market: no more smoking or drinking.
These "market forces" aren't always going to be what we've decided in America is morally right....
If the developer hadn't come out and called attention to it, I doubt many people would have noticed. Pretty dumb of them to mention this right before the game goes on sale in Japan.
It's entertaining you would think they threw us under the bus. He just said what the industry has been hinting as slowly since Dragon's Crown to DOAX3 to SFV and beyond, the western gaming space has become a volatile and controversial place in terms of Japanese releases. In the past, GAF would try and say it was design/sales. But we've had hinting from Yoshida to NISA that it wasn't the case. I thank him for being the martyr on this.
KirbYuuYuu
Member
In which again, I said I'm not sure what the point was because it doesn't solve anything.
imagine a world in which people got this upset about that male final fantasy character having his outfit changed to show less skin.
Remember when the devs of that game said they changed his design because it made people in focus testing uncomfortable?
Ya, not so sure we sure lil nerds whining about that one.
Remember when the devs of that game said they changed his design because it made people in focus testing uncomfortable?
Ya, not so sure we sure lil nerds whining about that one.
Simply put, we were thrown under the bus.
DealWithIt
Member
This seems a pretty weird idea to me. If the market is there people will make stuff. India and China make movies in addition to importing ours. It's not like Otaku culture is being stamped out. Hell it's too prevalent in Japanese game design for my taste. I just skip that stuff.
This is a weird reverse moral panic. You can make and consume whatever kind of media you like. Sometimes designers will make changes that don't suit your taste. Plenty of media fish in the sea.
Silly Japanese, westerners only freak out about virtual butt slaps.
As long as this is still in the game, I am content.
In this thread, after seeing this ^^, I learned that I want Star Ocean 5.
That's not evil prudes censoring gaming, though. That's... uh, different. Yes.