Star Ocean 5 character gets less-sexy underwear 'in Fear of Western Criticism'

Ha, they thought they solved a problem. Little do they know, I command an army of diaper fetishists.
 
The slaughter comment is on point. Almost so much so I can accept that as a full retort to anything we complain about from Japanese games lately.
 
i always wondered how cdpr gets away with it. their games seem to have boobs everywhere, sex scenes, full frontal nudity etc. No one gives a shit.

Maybe the whole censorship thing is self imposed by companies and pubs rather than a real existing problem.
 
The slaughter comment is on point. Almost so much so I can accept that as a full retort to anything we complain about from Japanese games lately.
I'll take two consenting adults shooting each other in a blam blam game in the USA over a sexualised lolita character written by a team of middle-aged men in Japan. But don't take my word for it, I am not to be consorted with. lol
 
Eh, sometimes it feels like the vocal part of the Japanese gaming community is just actively trying to find a reason to hate any JRPG released in the last couple years. I mean let's be real here, if it wasn't for this I'm sure they found something else to raise a stink about.

Don't think it applies to them as a whole since I do feel like not a whole lot of people besides a vocal minority particularly has strong feelings about this minor change, and chances are a part of the people bitching now never really intended buying Star Ocean 5 anyway and just like to complain about how gaming is going down the shitter because there is something for them to be upset about.

As for me, eh, I don't see a difference and since the change affects absolutely nothing about her appearance only changing underwear, I can't say I particularly feel strong about this change given how invisible it will be to anyone actually playing the game instead of peeking under skirts with the game's camera.
 
I'll take two consenting adults shooting each other in a blam blam game in the USA over a sexualised lolita character written by a team of middle-aged men in Japan. But don't take my word for it, I am not to be consorted with. lol
Personally, a little cheek showing is more acceptable than a bullet going through someone's face. (I'm American)
 
Personally, a little cheek showing is more acceptable than a bullet going through someone's face. (I'm American)
Well, they said *anything* we complain about in Japanese games. This panty thing with this adult whatever character is a lolworthy non issue as far as I'm concerned.
 
I'll take two consenting adults shooting each other in a blam blam game in the USA over a sexualised lolita character written by a team of middle-aged men in Japan. But don't take my word for it, I am not to be consorted with. lol

Im sorry but usually when people are shooting each other in Call of Duty, they're kids.
 
They should've fixed the face instead.

The quotes about this ridiculously small change just damages and pollutes people's understanding of an issue. The false dichotomy between sex and violence for example, which some people in this thread and elsewhere think is a valid observation against the criticism of sexualized objectification for presumably straight dudes in an otherwise standard JRPG.

It seems to me that the developers, and frankly other similar cases of Japanese developers, simply do not understand what the problem is when it comes to their pandering female characters (e.g. Square Enix' sexist comments about the feedback on Cindi in FFXV)
 
Both panties look terrible. The old looks like a rash, and the new looks like old-timey panties.

Hipsters would be better. But to be fair, who gives a shit?
 
They should've fixed the face instead.

The quotes about ridiculously small change just damages and pollutes people's understanding of an issue. The false dichotomy between sex and violence for example, which some people in this thread and elsewhere think is a valid observation against the criticism of sexualized objectification for presumably straight dudes in an otherwise standard JRPG.

It seems to me that the developers, and frankly other similar cases of Japanese developers, simply do not understand what the problem is.

Because there is no problem, of course.
 
The false dichotomy between sex and violence for example, which some people in this thread and elsewhere think is a valid observation against the criticism of sexualized objectification for presumably straight dudes in an otherwise standard JRPG.
Precisely! Instead of choosing between violence or eroticism, they should combine them. Konami is way ahead of the rest, in this regard.
article_post_width_eroticviolence.jpg
 
She's under 18 right? So why are they even trying to sexualize her in the first place? Why are these guys so obsessed with being able to see a teen girls panties?

That's the funny part. The Japanese obsession with panties is very much an American post-war import.
 
They should've fixed the face instead.

The quotes about this ridiculously small change just damages and pollutes people's understanding of an issue. The false dichotomy between sex and violence for example, which some people in this thread and elsewhere think is a valid observation against the criticism of sexualized objectification for presumably straight dudes in an otherwise standard JRPG.

It seems to me that the developers, and frankly other similar cases of Japanese developers, simply do not understand what the problem is when it comes to their pandering female characters (e.g. Square Enix' sexist comments about the feedback on Cindi in FFXV)

They know the problem, they just choose to perpetuate it becuase—like many other industries in Japan—Otakus pay big time for stuff that panders to them.
 
I don't care about video game panties but I'd seriously prefer that we get games as the creators intended. Even if it's stupid shit, I'm an adult. I can handle it.
 
Blaming Western criticism for a management decision within a Japanese company seems a little unfair. Management have clearly made their own decision based on what they believe the Western market to be - namely they either thought that including the original designs would affect sales in the west. Whether they're right or not, this isn't the result of pressure from Western bodies.

The slaughter comment is on point. Almost so much so I can accept that as a full retort to anything we complain about from Japanese games lately.

It's not on point if it's being used to advocate another problematic trope in games.

It is possible to be critical of both the objectification of women and depictions of violence. And many of the most prominent feminist critics often are. The problem is that the latter is somewhat upheld by the state - as state sanctioned violence is idealised as necessary for maintaining security and peace.
 
"All foreigners play are games where you slaughter people indifferently. So they got a lot of nerve to speak up about small things like this in other countries' games"

There's a lot of hyperbole, but that's rather spot on. Many Western (and especially US games) contain a large amount of random-ass violence, which the people of that locale/setting are (designed to be) utterly jaded/indifferent towards to a nearly sociopathic degree. Worse still, you can see this sort of attitude reflected in real life when events like mass shootings occur.

Frankly, I see the above issue a bigger problem than whether or not a girl which may or may not be 16 (or 18, depending on 'translation') is flapping her g-string-equipped buttocks at the world. A much more pervasive one, at the very least.
 
Playing Nier right now..I wish the developers would have done something similar in that game. It doesn't even look sexy or anything, just extremely ridiculous.

Never understood the fascination of pantyshots anyway.

With all that said, I'm not ok with developers changing anything just because they're afraid to offend anyone. They should simply focus on making the best game possible.
 
Because there is no problem, of course.
Please explain this.
Playing Nier right now..I wish the developers would have done something similar in that game. It doesn't even look sexy or anything, just extremely ridiculous.

Never understood the fascination of pantyshots anyway.

With all that said, I'm not ok with developers changing anything just because they're afraid to offend anyone. They should simply focus on making the best game possible.
Are you talking about Kaine, because there's an explanation for that.
Whether you find it satisfactory or not is another thing. Given a lot of people's disdain for backstories and lore though, seems unlikely.
 
Playing Nier right now..I wish the developers would have done something similar in that game. It doesn't even look sexy or anything, just extremely ridiculous.

Kaines outfit (and to a degree the character) is specifically supposed to mock fan service tho.
That's why all characters in the game comment on her outfit beeing ridiculous af.
 
There's a lot of hyperbole, but that's rather spot on. Many Western (and especially US games) contain a large amount of random-ass violence, which the people of that locale/setting are (designed to be) utterly jaded/indifferent towards to a nearly sociopathic degree. Worse still, you can see this sort of attitude reflected in real life when events like mass shootings occur.

Frankly, I see the above issue a bigger problem than whether or not a girl which may or may not be 16 (or 18, depending on 'translation') is flapping her g-string-equipped buttocks at the world. A much more pervasive one, at the very least.

There are a lot of problems in this world. We can tackle more than one at a time.
 
.

Especially since it's basically generalizing our opinions (er, people in america who have one, I don't care about larger panties or w/e) to the statement "doesn't matter, your country has violent games!"

*cough* drakengard *cough* killer7 *cough*


I mean, again, it's up to the devs. I personally didn't see anyone complaining, I'm guessing that was moreso a precautionary thing.

Calling out Drakengard in this context is very unfair. Just gonna drop this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD6xCLlF5dY
 
Never understood the fascination of pantyshots anyway.

As per Cracked's "<insert_number> weird Japanese shit that was actually an American import" article, panties became highly sexualised after the US occupation, when the only women who could afford them (instead of old-school bloomer-style underwear) were high-class prostitutes.
 
This is pretty inconsequential though.

I think they did this and announced it to get in on those DOAX outrage bucks, to be honest. Who'd even know if they hadn't said anything that the most annoying character had her bloomers broadened

But to get the outrage bucks, they'd need to have a version of the game with less panties. If all the versions have bigger panties aren't they going to lose on the outrage bucks?
 
Please explain this.

Within Japan, there is no acknowledgment within the industry or its fanbase of objectification as a problem afaik.

There is a problem, and it likely expands beyond videogames as part of a broader conservative value system in which women exist for men.
 
Wait, this is in both the domestic and international version? That's absurd - do what you have to in order to allay the criticism of western reactionaries, but don't take a hatchet to the original game as well. This could set some really troubling precedents.

A hatchet to the panties and don't be surprised if anybody gets hurt.

Disclaimer: I've got this pre-ordered.
 
But to get the outrage bucks, they'd need to have a version of the game with less panties. If all the versions have bigger panties aren't they going to lose on the outrage bucks?

My logic was flawed -_-

I don't think people usually buy Star Ocean for underage ass shots though, so getting the extra notice right before release will probably benefit them to some extent.
 
You know...when you think about it, the average violent Western game is worse than the average lewd Japanese game. The former actually strive for realistic graphics/art-styles, while the latter look very unrealistic by comparison. I don't really care though, since I enjoy both.

More importantly, the real controversy here should be that SE/TriAce are willing to go out of their way to edit that girl's panties for the sake of censorship, yet unwilling to edit that same girl's face for the sake of looking less weird.
 
Why even show off this change? Have there been any footage prominently showing off her panties before?

Most people would just make the change, and go about their day. Customers would never have known it happened in the first place.

Weird PR move, but whatever gets you in the "news" I guess...
 
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