9th December 2015, 7:44 AM
That problem is creepsters complaining about US "censorship". What was censored? Something that should never have been in the game in the first place! This is one of those rare situations where content cut from the game makes it BETTER, but, well, take a look for yourself.
As they explain, they only really censored two things. Now, the "bust slider", while in most games with it has a really odd focus (how about a "fat slider", something to acknowledge the reality behind what bust is and the body types that tend to have the larger ones), is not what I'd have removed. It's just one of those customization things that most open world games have SOME form of. It's a minor thing in the grand scheme of things though.
The real problem is the "bikini options". Not mentioned in the video? The "beach wear" is only available for the female characters, period. A similar thing happened in Peace Walker on the PSP. It's about as obvious and creepy as one would expect, especially when one looks at the designs of these so-called bikinis. Still, even THAT is something I'd have resolved with more swimsuits (for the men) rather than less. No, the biggest issue with the swimsuits is that all of those really creepy designs (the swimsuits with holes in them) can be put on the 13 year old. So, they obviously had to change that. Great, problem solved, except why was this option in the game to begin with? Now, the optimist in me would like to think it was an oversight, something they didn't catch, but unfortunately thanks to things I've seen on the Daily Show, I know the truth. Japan's got a really bad problem with marketing directly to pedophiles. It's disgusting, but it's there. Worse, there's way too many American fans that have complained about this particular bit of "CENSORSHIP!", and their reasons range from naive to oblivious to horrifyingly creepy defenses that just prove the change was the right one after all.
The sad thing is, modern RPGs from Japan have developed some sort of list of "necessary archetypes", like a bullet list of exactly what characters a JRPG needs, and ONE of those is "sexualized little girl". I didn't notice it for years, because early on it wasn't yet a fixed archetype. I remember that FF4 had Rydia, Palom and Porom, 3 children characters. Of those, Rydia had a well-made storyline befitting a child, where the rest of the party only took her along out of necessity, and it was clear she was in extreme danger. At the first opportunity, she is given over to a place to take care of her, and later she comes back (due to time dilation) as a grown woman and capable fighter. At no point is she creepily sexualized, it was actually a very natural, if heartbreaking story for a child. Palom and Porom were also children, but treated a bit differently. They were a brother and sister duo of mages sent along with your party and treated as capable fighters in their own right, right up to their tragic end, but while it clashes with how they treated Rydia's character, at no point did their characterization get creepy. One acted like a little brat, and the other acted like a goody-two-shoes type.
FF6 had Relm, and again, she felt like a natural addition to the party. At every step, the party refused to let her join them because that's the responsible thing to do with kids, keep them out of harm. Eventually, she forces her way in and proves herself, but she still acts like a kid. A kid with a sharp tongue, but still a kid.
In later games, they'd stop adding kids for a while until Eiko in FF9, but even there she's just a lost orphan. Xenogears again had a child who was also a robot, but even WITH the parts where she's naked in a test tube, at no point did anything seem creepy. It was nude in the same way baby Superman was nude at the beginning of the first Superman movie.
No, I really started noticing an actual creepiness right around the time I played one of the newer Star Ocean games, The Last Hope. They included a "little girl bot" character, but she didn't seem to actually have a personality. She was basically about as stereotypically "little girl" as anything I've ever seen, but at every point they manage to make her say those things in the creepiest way possible. I don't even know how to describe it, but they made "I wanna take a nap with you" creepy, not in how she said it, but in how the MAIN CHARACTER reacted to it, and to every other line she said. I mean, what the hell Japan? I really felt bad for the English voice actors. Their delivery made it clear just how uncomfortable those various lines made them. This is to say nothing of the actual costumes of the characters. One of which is an innocent cat costume, like kids wear on halloween, except NOTHING like that because it's also some sort of weird leather straps and thongs madness. Gross! Also, "costume" is the right word, because again symptomatic of modern RPGs, none of the characters wear things even remotely resembling what the other NPCs are wearing.
From there on, every other JRPG I bought had this "token child" that had no actual personality but had a creepy vibe. In fact, it ruined one of the kid characters in Xenosaga (altogether a really disappointing spiritual successor to Xenogears, unlike Xenoblade), who upon reflection had some pretty creepy moments herself. Then there's Paz's "dating" missions in Peace Walker. She's actually an adult with a growth disorder who's pretending to be a student, but Snake doesn't know that, and Snake DATES her, and NEEDS to date her to get the real ending. Gah!
At this point, it's so bad that this 13 year old kid in Xenoblade Chronicles X may have scarred what could be an otherwise amazing game just by existing. Ugh.... Makes me want to just stick with Pokemon and Earthbound games. At least there the creepiness has nothing to do with the kids (and everything to do with psychic aliens and superpowered cock fighting). Suffice it to say it isn't a problem with ALL Japanese RPGs these days. Ni No Kuni and Zelda seem to have avoided this creepiness. However, it's bad enough that it's an issue, and anyone decrying "censorship" when an American company is forced to clean up Japan's mess needs to get their priorities straight.
As they explain, they only really censored two things. Now, the "bust slider", while in most games with it has a really odd focus (how about a "fat slider", something to acknowledge the reality behind what bust is and the body types that tend to have the larger ones), is not what I'd have removed. It's just one of those customization things that most open world games have SOME form of. It's a minor thing in the grand scheme of things though.
The real problem is the "bikini options". Not mentioned in the video? The "beach wear" is only available for the female characters, period. A similar thing happened in Peace Walker on the PSP. It's about as obvious and creepy as one would expect, especially when one looks at the designs of these so-called bikinis. Still, even THAT is something I'd have resolved with more swimsuits (for the men) rather than less. No, the biggest issue with the swimsuits is that all of those really creepy designs (the swimsuits with holes in them) can be put on the 13 year old. So, they obviously had to change that. Great, problem solved, except why was this option in the game to begin with? Now, the optimist in me would like to think it was an oversight, something they didn't catch, but unfortunately thanks to things I've seen on the Daily Show, I know the truth. Japan's got a really bad problem with marketing directly to pedophiles. It's disgusting, but it's there. Worse, there's way too many American fans that have complained about this particular bit of "CENSORSHIP!", and their reasons range from naive to oblivious to horrifyingly creepy defenses that just prove the change was the right one after all.
The sad thing is, modern RPGs from Japan have developed some sort of list of "necessary archetypes", like a bullet list of exactly what characters a JRPG needs, and ONE of those is "sexualized little girl". I didn't notice it for years, because early on it wasn't yet a fixed archetype. I remember that FF4 had Rydia, Palom and Porom, 3 children characters. Of those, Rydia had a well-made storyline befitting a child, where the rest of the party only took her along out of necessity, and it was clear she was in extreme danger. At the first opportunity, she is given over to a place to take care of her, and later she comes back (due to time dilation) as a grown woman and capable fighter. At no point is she creepily sexualized, it was actually a very natural, if heartbreaking story for a child. Palom and Porom were also children, but treated a bit differently. They were a brother and sister duo of mages sent along with your party and treated as capable fighters in their own right, right up to their tragic end, but while it clashes with how they treated Rydia's character, at no point did their characterization get creepy. One acted like a little brat, and the other acted like a goody-two-shoes type.
FF6 had Relm, and again, she felt like a natural addition to the party. At every step, the party refused to let her join them because that's the responsible thing to do with kids, keep them out of harm. Eventually, she forces her way in and proves herself, but she still acts like a kid. A kid with a sharp tongue, but still a kid.
In later games, they'd stop adding kids for a while until Eiko in FF9, but even there she's just a lost orphan. Xenogears again had a child who was also a robot, but even WITH the parts where she's naked in a test tube, at no point did anything seem creepy. It was nude in the same way baby Superman was nude at the beginning of the first Superman movie.
No, I really started noticing an actual creepiness right around the time I played one of the newer Star Ocean games, The Last Hope. They included a "little girl bot" character, but she didn't seem to actually have a personality. She was basically about as stereotypically "little girl" as anything I've ever seen, but at every point they manage to make her say those things in the creepiest way possible. I don't even know how to describe it, but they made "I wanna take a nap with you" creepy, not in how she said it, but in how the MAIN CHARACTER reacted to it, and to every other line she said. I mean, what the hell Japan? I really felt bad for the English voice actors. Their delivery made it clear just how uncomfortable those various lines made them. This is to say nothing of the actual costumes of the characters. One of which is an innocent cat costume, like kids wear on halloween, except NOTHING like that because it's also some sort of weird leather straps and thongs madness. Gross! Also, "costume" is the right word, because again symptomatic of modern RPGs, none of the characters wear things even remotely resembling what the other NPCs are wearing.
From there on, every other JRPG I bought had this "token child" that had no actual personality but had a creepy vibe. In fact, it ruined one of the kid characters in Xenosaga (altogether a really disappointing spiritual successor to Xenogears, unlike Xenoblade), who upon reflection had some pretty creepy moments herself. Then there's Paz's "dating" missions in Peace Walker. She's actually an adult with a growth disorder who's pretending to be a student, but Snake doesn't know that, and Snake DATES her, and NEEDS to date her to get the real ending. Gah!
At this point, it's so bad that this 13 year old kid in Xenoblade Chronicles X may have scarred what could be an otherwise amazing game just by existing. Ugh.... Makes me want to just stick with Pokemon and Earthbound games. At least there the creepiness has nothing to do with the kids (and everything to do with psychic aliens and superpowered cock fighting). Suffice it to say it isn't a problem with ALL Japanese RPGs these days. Ni No Kuni and Zelda seem to have avoided this creepiness. However, it's bad enough that it's an issue, and anyone decrying "censorship" when an American company is forced to clean up Japan's mess needs to get their priorities straight.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)