Forum - View topicThis Week in Games - Tilting at Windmills Instead of Dragons
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i got the shivers!
 Posts: 126 Location: Brazil |
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This sounds more like an American phenomenon because usually with the Asian media we consume in this fandom it's the exact opposite. The "regressive" side is the profitable default and the "invaders" are the ones seeking to change it from how it is. Whether it's Mihoyo not wanting to put dark-skinned characters in their game or Atlus not wanting to add a female protagonist option to Persona. Or the amount of ecchi anime every season. Usually the shoe is on the other foot in terms of what's being complained about |
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 681 |
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That was literally what happened, though. Statements from Torashima and Horii were taken out of context. We had people claiming that the interview was "proof" that Americans were forcing Square Enix to insert content into the remake. There are no "genuine thoughts" to be had about censorship, because there was never a discussion to be had with regards to DQ, and certainly not a valid one.
This is an extremely bad faith argument concerning the nature of criticism towards media, and framing people who critique media in any way as "invaders" is inherently insulting. You're presuming people in Japan don't argue for these things either, or that Japanese creatives aren't concerned with these matters. Last edited by FinalVentCard on Fri Oct 04, 2024 3:36 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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AiddonValentine
 Posts: 2391 |
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I mean, this is provably wrong. The biggest ratings hits for anime aren't ecchi shows, they're stuff like Detective Conan (Japan just loves murder mysteries). The idea that Japan is some haven of "traditional values" and "politics free" is laughable. |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 3077 Location: Email for assistance only |
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Song of the South doesn't have anything to do with this column. That line of discussion is done.
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light turner
Posts: 206 |
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I wonder if Square-Enix is going to keep Horii on a tighter leash from now on. That interview was very candid and I'm sure they didn't appreciate him and Torishima airing all their dirty laundry a month before the game comes out and caused a lot of bad PR for it.
I'm sure the game itself will do fine but that doesn't mean people can't complain about the censorship in it or admit it's stupid at the kinds of hoops games have to jump through these days to appease the global market. Thankfully mods exist so we can add in the original sprites and gender options. I wonder if they actually will reupload the interview or they're just going to keep delaying it and hope people forget about it. Or upload it but cut that segment out entirely and pretend it never happened. |
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FishLion
 Posts: 314 |
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The fact there has been legal censorship that restricted creators and you still have people claiming "changes due to making more sales is censorship" always amuses me, there were literal laws preventing the depiction of many things including being gay yet apparently having a gay character in media is an agenda. Somehow in some people's minds, decades of legalized censorship being imposed on creators and a massive corporation keeping their skeletons in a closet and a few modest changes being made to a game so the original designs get kept are all equivalent to each other in some battle of ideas where any side could come out right. Do some think if people argued well enough when rock n roll was on trial that we would be right to censor an entire genre of music?
The side arguing for regressive standards is always wrong. That can be wanting culture to be like the 1920s, punishing companies and evoking scares so games can be like the good old days of the 90's, thinking dancing is evil like in Dirty Dancing, or wanting rating systems to be harsher like they were in the past instead of collaborating with your child to decide on a media diet. It all feeds into a yearning for the past and a disregard for creators. The people being warred on are not willing participants, they just want to dance. For what it's worth, I don't think anything should be censored. People with money to hire lawyers will twist any legal codes to fit their purpose if they have the time and will, censorship rules of any kind are gross and limiting. That being said, voicing your opinion of a work or asking for differences that result in amicable changes are fine, but harassment campaigns or algorithmically hiding content is still censorship in my eyes. Despite that, legal censorship has universally favored regressive ideologies that seek to hide things not adhering to their own views. Culture wars are not two equally feasible sides in competition, they are an imposition of ideology on cultural products. If anyone wants to fight censorship they should focus on fighting the people setting the rules like credit card companies being anti-porn or libraries banning books, not companies trying to make a buck by adhering to the systems others set up or individuals who voice their opinions on media. |
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tintor2
 Posts: 2231 |
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While Ken is an "American Ryu" it is theorized he was based on Joe Lewis. Meanwhile, almost everything about the early Terry is based on Loren Avedon especially the movie the King of Kickboxing. I recommend watching it. The more I watched the more I realized how much Fatal Fury was based on a Hollywood movie
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 681 |
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Looking up old pictures of Joe Lewis, I can see it (Ken totally has his hair, lol). And thanks for reminding me of King of Kickboxing, I still to watch that one. If I recall correctly, Billy Blanks' character in that movie was the inspiration for Deejay in Street Fighter 2. |
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FishLion
Posts: 314 |
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Please note, maintaining the standard is not regression. If Mihoyo is not wanting dark-skinned characters and Atlus not wanting to add a female character is how it has always been, then keeping them the same is not pushing a regressive attitude. If fans want to lobby for changes in a respectful way that doesn't involve harassment then good for them. If fans want to say "It's fine the way it is now/ was at release, no changes!" in a respectful way then good for them. No culture war has happened. The culture wars really only come in when there is a perceived moral failure or broader battle being expounded by one side. "(company) should do what they want, too bad _____ has run rampant and now this company is forced to adhere to these pernicious social norms that have been pushed on an unwilling society" is turning a statement about a game into a statement about what's wrong with society and how whatever it is taking something else from us. Weirdos from any side of an argument are willing to harass unfortunately, but the bigger issue is people with followings encouraging harassment, algorithmic hiding of content that is allowed on a platform, or legal targeting like pornography has been through recently. Starting a culture war always involves a return to the past (not present) and moral reasoning about the fabric of society (however flawed) for why something is bad or should be removed. Mihoyo isn't a culture war issue because they want to pretend it's a moral failing and not people wanting accurate representation. The most important ingredient is that people waging the war are depicted as "under attack" and thus in need of defense. A few examples I have seen from others: people are under attack from a culture of pornography and need laws to protect their minds and improve society, companies are under attack by ideologues and need to be defended before their products are forced to be progressive, children are being poisoned by sex and violence and media so we must censor media or the internet to have complete control over what they do. I have seen a ton of discourse about what's wrong with gaming culture today centered on people's complaints about how Mihoyo depicts other countries. To my knowledge, Mihoyo never asked for defense or said it needed help, people just decided it was part of some larger struggle where people are upset that progressive values are being integrated into games and decided that they must stop that outcome or gaming will never be the same. I have seen people that want Mihoyo to better represent people and they may even talk about things like racism in media to support that point and talk about that as part of a larger pattern of ignoring certain skin colors in media, but no one has claimed that there is some conspiracy pushing this lack of depictions or that if we banned games like Genshin Impact that is would fix racism. They just think their feelings haven't been considered and would like that. Meanwhile, people on the other end of that discussion say that there is a concerted effort to make them consume media with messages they hate and that if this line of thought is followed then the quality of all media will be lesser due to restricted freedoms, even when companies choose themselves to choose to make a less offensive version to sell more it is all because of evil forces that want to take away the things you love and make sure nothing like them is ever made again. This is silly, people are only complaining about companies caving to social pressures because they are no longer the target audience. It would be a company's dream to appeal to audiences new and old, but people were so upset about really goofy stuff like Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn having a bit of face fuzz that I wouldn't be surprised if now they have to tow this weird line where they try to reach broad appeal but not scare off their easily frightened long time crowds. I would honestly love if people could ask for things in games without some reactionaries feeling personally targeted ending in a backlash every time, but that's just the internet for you. |
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flamemasterelan
Posts: 503 |
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This is all kind of meaningless, because we're just talking about removing the terms for a character you could already select the gender of. The rest of the cast and future games will still have gendered relations, just not what amounts to the player's avatar.
That's a common misunderstanding, but aside from a few returning ideas, cameo names, and character designs, Xenogears and Xenosaga don't have anything in common. Xenogears doesn't take place in the same universe as Xenosaga, and the elements that are re-used in Saga are used in completely different ways. Xenogears is the fifth episode of its own story, while Xenosaga started a different one. The main similarity is that executive meddling kneecapped both. |
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q_3
Posts: 178 |
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My takeaway is that it's a darn shame that Caligula Effect 2 wasn't more popular, as a Japanese created Persona-ish RPG that includes a playable character who identifies as (literally says in a voiced line) X-gender. That definitely was not something added at the behest of woke western megacorporations or whatever.
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Bvick00
 Posts: 66 Location: Goa, India |
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Monolith Soft's 25th Anniversary : Congratulations Monolith Soft! Here's to more solid RPG in the future!
Monster Hunter-themed Digital Monster Pets : Monster Hunter Tamagotchi! Wahoo! I have been on a Monster Hunter journey of sorts - playing both Monster Hunter Now and Monster Hunter World (brought the game on Steam at the request of my 2 best friends from highschool and it's been such a blast to play with them and others) Guilty Gear Strive Dizzy Teaser : One of my favs is back! And she looking absolutely majestic! FF COTW x SF : Kinda wish they made the SF characters in the style of the FF COTW characters. Oh well.....
Darkstalker at least got a re-release in the Capcom Fighting Game Collection from 2 years ago. Us Dino Crisis fans on the other hand are still stuck in the freaking time portal, just waiting to be released 
I don't think you need to worry about that 
Dragon Quest 3 HD 2D Remake : Don't mind the change too much, though they should have kept the black innerwear from the 3DS game rather than the tacky orange they went for in this game. Also it seems that the Bunny Girl has also been covered up as well. This all just reminds me of how Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness had to change the initial design of Fiona Brunelli least CERO increase the age rating of the game. Last edited by Bvick00 on Fri Oct 04, 2024 7:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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animaters
 Posts: 99 |
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if CERO can let fate/extra ccc out in the wild then am sure dragon quest wouldn't have an issue imo. it's clear this is being done to allow the game in all overseas markets
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3613 Location: Finland |
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What? Dino Crisis was announced just a week ago to be released on PS Classics line coming to PS4&PS5, coming before the end of the year. Is a little wait that much of an issue? |
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RickyTheRat
 Posts: 33 |
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I thought the censorship complaints were about outfits being censored and the Type A and B stuff. There's nothing gay in Dragon Quest 3 unless you count the puff-puff scene where a woman tricks you into getting one from a big burly dude instead. |
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