From Japan, With Changes...

[SIERRA-116]

So, if I am to understand, a lot of Japanese games get toned down for Western Audiences in the versions they receive due to both the original content creators being arrogant and/or contemptuous enough towards Westerners that enjoy their products and local censorship done because people think it'll be problematic for whatever reason, and thus a good portion of a fanbase is locked out of a lot of content simply because the original content creators seemingly don't like them and the local authorities are too chaste or something to allow suggestive content?

Or am I wrong?

[KillMoves]

So, if I am to understand, a lot of Japanese games get toned down for Western Audiences in the versions they receive due to both the original content creators being arrogant and/or contemptuous enough towards Westerners that enjoy their products and local censorship done because people think it'll be problematic for whatever reason, and thus a good portion of a fanbase is locked out of a lot of content simply because the original content creators seemingly don't like them and the local authorities are too chaste or something to allow suggestive content?

Or am I wrong?

Aye.

The divide between Japanese and Western cultures seem to be growing. Gone are the days when NSYNC sang for Pokemon and Morrigan Aensland get to have a throwdown with Doctor Doom (sure we have MVC3 but that's years old).

[Blake81]

Or am I wrong?

I'd say 50/50.

It IS true that games get ''Toned down for Western Audiences in the versions they receive due to both the original content creators being arrogant and/or contemptuous enough towards Westerners that enjoy their products and local censorship done because people think it'll be problematic for whatever reason.'', but the real problem here is that WHAT is considered as ''Contemptuous'' and ''Problematic'' is often left to the whims of the localizers instead of, y'know, the actual ppl who plays and enjoys them.

For instance, going for the reverse sample, the Japanese versions of any Fallout games get LOTS AND LOTS of lore and plot cut out as well as some items renamed. Why? Because anything referencing ''Nukes'', ''Fire Shrooms'' and ''Nuclear Annihilation'' is complete taboo on Japan, and all that. However, as you can imagine, removing or toning down all the atomic bomb references in a game that has ''Post Apocalyptic Nuclear Simulation'' on the very box will leave the end product quite inferior and limped compared to its Original English version.

However, according to a few friends I have that lived on Japan or are Japanese, one of the first patches that the Japanese Modder Commus create is a ''Decensoring Patch'' that fixed up all the stuff that the censcissors cut away. So, if the Japanese Fallout actually make the effort of getting the English game just to translated and add all those missing parts to their own game, why even bother in censoring it in the first place? After all, if you don't like seeing references to ''Nuclear Annihilation'' and ''Atomic Bombs'' on a game, why do you even bought Fallout anyway?

It's like going to watch Evil Dead: Army of Darkness and then complain that the movie's too gory and that Ash's chin is way too manly....

Thing is, as many game companies are quite proud to admit, they pay lots of attention to what mods are popular and what kind of things the community wants, and are quite mindful of this when creating their games. So, it makes me wonder, if game companies, both Japanese and Western, see that the players go out of their way to see these censorships removed, why don't they learn from this and simply stop doing it from the start? I'm sure that their customer base would be more than glad about it.

[kukuruyo]

The thing is that this increased censorship of the latest years comes from a vocal minority of people who don't actually buy or play the games they whine about, or even play games at all. It's the "tabletop games are satanism" and "videogames are violent and create murderers" and "who will think of the children?" of the 80s and 90s all over again, but this time is "who will think of the women?" with acusations of sexism and virtual violence towards women. And Nintendo Treehouse is aparently full of this kind of people, who inject their ideology into the localization, instead of translating it.

[Feathers]

Yea I played Radiant Dawn and 776, very familiar with the brutal Fire Emblems! I'm over the random stat gains, I made it a mini game where I just keep resetting. My Azura is getting pretty beast now. I haven't decided on a waifu yet though..I want to see the fox girl before I make my decision. Azura seems kind of Mary Sue'ish to me so far *gets shot* so I have her on hold. Setsuna and Orochi are incredible cute too though..Hmm..

The thing is that this increased censorship of the latest years comes from a vocal minority of people who don't actually buy or play the games they whine about, or even play games at all.

Yeah, so true, the vocal minority is quite annoying these days thanks to social media. Play Asia is certainly cashing in on being the "hero" though. I know for sure they are MY hero, else I'd never of been able to play Moe Chronicle, my favorite dungeon crawler of all time.

[Perentie]

I haven't decided on a waifu yet though..I want to see the fox girl before I make my decision.

Be aware you'll have to

Spoiler: show

get Kaden married before you can see the fox girl (she's his daughter).

[Feathers]

Yeah I know about that thanks though. Which is why I'm waiting. Picking the Monster Girl is usually my first choice.

Uhhh on topic one thing I read about lately was that Japan is really overprotective of their voice work, which is why a lot of games get dubs only. I heard that sometimes using the original Japanese voices can cost more than a dub itself! Call me enlightened. So I guess games/anime out of Japan are actually cheaper and that changes are encouraged?

[Blake81]

Uhhh on topic one thing I read about lately was that Japan is really overprotective of their voice work, which is why a lot of games get dubs only. I heard that sometimes using the original Japanese voices can cost more than a dub itself! Call me enlightened. So I guess games/anime out of Japan are actually cheaper and that changes are encouraged?

Funny you mention that, as lately it seems like those regulations have been getting loose; more than a few Japanese games I've gotten of late came with a very simple and practical setting to change the voices to Japanese, instead of the usual odyssey of fan-made original voice patch or game files tweaking.

For instance, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend had the language settings disabled, so I had to manually fix the voice files. But the latest BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend for PC (Yay! Kokonoe-sama! Having her at last makes me forget of all the annoyances of this badly-made port), despite the controls being set to be as unintuitive as possible, getting the voice setting worked perfectly.

The same has applied to Valkyria Chronicles, so maybe some regulations are being changed.

That said, it seems like Japanese Game Devs have finally realized that the Consoles are in a downward spiral, and PC is where the good stuff is at now. But sadly, it seems like the curse of Dark Souls (that if a game is good ppl will play it no matter how bad the port) continues to afflict us, with PC ports like Tales of Symphonia and a few others working WORSE in PC than they did on good ol' Emulators.

Hope this changes soon as well....

[[BRindustries]]

.....the latest BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend for PC.....

.....
.....
.....
Wat.....
WAT.....
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
This is the first time i've heard of this! Exellent!
*checks if he can actually buy it this time*
.....
.....
.....
YES!
YES!
Kokonoe-senpai, here i come.

[Blake81]

Kokonoe-senpai, here i come.

Word of warning, tho. When you're on the game menu, the keys to make everything work are the 7 and 8 numbers of the Keypad. And make sure you fix the controllers as the default keys are all set to play with the Numpad, as if we had two right hands....

[[BRindustries]]

Kokonoe-senpai, here i come.

Word of warning, tho. When you're on the game menu, the keys to make everything work are the 7 and 8 numbers of the Keypad. And make sure you fix the controllers as the default keys are all set to play with the Numpad, as if we had two right hands....

Well, i'm used to having to rebind the keys anyway, so that won't be much of an issue, thanks for the heads up anyway.

Though i'm a bit conflicted now, because BBCPE is here, but BBCSE is also available to me now, as well as GG:XRD-SIGN, and since i don't feel swagger enough to buy them all at once i just can't pick which one to get, grrrr!

[Kaijin]

Though i'm a bit conflicted now, because BBCPE is here, but BBCSE is also available to me now, as well as GG:XRD-SIGN, and since i don't feel swagger enough to buy them all at once i just can't pick which one to get, grrrr!

It depends in what you want them for in the end.
If you're a casual gamer and just want to play for fun, pick the one you like more (or the cheaper one).
If you're a competitive gamer who wants to use them to train, pick BlazBlue (GG Xrd's PC port has some delay issues compared to the console versions and getting used to the PC version may (and most likely will) mess your timings up pretty badly).

[Kaijin]

Quite the bump... But I have to.

Dragon Ball Fusions has arrived to American territory, just to have the weirdest and most pointless censorship job I've seen in a videogame in quite a long time: Nintendo of America/Treehouse has taken all wooden stick.

[youtube]a7CMhlXluiw[/youtube]
I guess they didn't make the cut huh...

I don't get it... while they're not a main trend in the whole franchise swords are still quite the iconic element in Dragon Ball Franchise (A sword is what comes to mind you think about Future Trunks and his famous Burning Slash attack and other characters like Dabura, Yamcha, Yajirobe or Janemba either are or were associated with swords aswell), besides we're talking about a chibi look RPG where there is no blood nor gashes, was it even necessary to remove them and replace them for something that seems to made with the paint program? (This is beyond 4kids' level of censorship).

On a personal level this actually worries me, since it's a game I was pretty hyped for... and this censorship job could pretty much be carried over to the European version of the game (like it happened to Fire Emblem Fates, Bravely Default, Bravely Second...) and it's even a "small change" the last thing I want to do is support a group of people that keeps laughing at a large base of consumers with these "localization jobs".

I guess I'll keep an eye to the reviews by the time the European version gets released before reaching my wallet.

[Blake81]

Was the video removed? For some reason nothing is loading...

[Kaijin]

No...As a matter of fact I can still see it perfectly.

But okay... here, have a link (and it has the video embedded on it to boot).

[Jinouga87]

I was able to see the vid as well. While the censor makes non sense there is a certain charm about the sword wielders using sticks on the foe.

[Feathers]

Censored swords?! LOL. I had no hope for the game as it was (I love the DBZ series but their games..ugh), but wow, that's terribad.

[Kaijin]

(I love the DBZ series but their games..ugh)

I actually had the chance to try it out on early November and it's actually quite a good game, it's a turn based RPG that actually is a nice addition to the 3DS's catalogue (and the OST is incredibly good too).
I can't tell you that it's the perfect Dragon Ball game (quite the number of people will either ignore it for not being a fighting game or for its chibi/superdeformed look... not to mention that the RNG in this game will potentially be extremely salt inducing I'm afraid) but it's still a real solid title with plenty of replayability (specially once the online mode and the QR scanning are implemented in the Western versions).

(Yeah, I'm trying to ignore its censorship... since I still fail to understand the point behind it...¬¬).

[Feathers]

Hmm maybe I'll check it out when the price goes down. Sword Art Online HR and Pokémon has me busy for now.