It seems that the controversy of games for Nintendo systems being censored just doesn't end. Only a few weeks ago, it was revealed that Xenoblade Chronicles X would be removing certain character customization options. Now, it appears that a similar tactic was employed in Square Enix's upcoming RPG, Bravely Second.
In the Japanese version of the game, one of the character classes is called "Tomahawk" and dresses the character in an outfit that resembles traditional Native American garb. Evidently in an effort to dodge politically correct individuals in the West, it appears that Square Enix has opted to change this class to "Cowboy". While it's not entirely confirmed whether or not this is the case, this wouldn't be the first time a game was changed to avoid offending certain parties in the West.
It might seem like fuss over nothing, but as Destructoid points out, there's been a recent drive to avoid representing Native Americans in media - for example, the Washington Redskins are likely to change their name to avoid causing offense. Perhaps this is a case of trying to avoid offending Native Americans by showing a stereotype in Bravely Second, but the change could potentially cause even more upset? Sadly, Native Americans - like many other minorities - could end up being expunged from games entirely, as developers and publishers shy away from the danger of causing offense.
What do you think? Will there be other changes to the game? Do you think Square made the right call here? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[source destructoid.com]
Comments 191
Yes, it's censorship. Yes, its wrong.
But am I getting as worked up about it as many people are? Nope. BD is still a great game in spite of its changes, and I actually support age changing.
Yeah, an unpopular opinion I know, but although its the wrong thing to do I don't mind it so much.
Still can't wait for it
Some Native Americans are offended by this.
Why is a Native American outfit offensive, but cowboy outfit isn't? I'm not trying to troll or anything, I'm genuinely curious to know why this is offensive.
Its not politically correctness and its not censorship. Firstly, Native Americans really do get very pissed about people appropriating the head dress because of its important significance to them. Secondly, Nintendo is not censoring it, as censorship is something forced from an external source like a government or licensing board. They are just localising it, like they do for everything that has a lot of story that goes West. Japan and the West are not the same and do not share the same values or cultures. Nintendo is a big company out to make big profit. Therefore they customise their product for the market it is being released in. Jokes that do not make sense in the West get replaced, cultural references that people in the West would not understand get replaced and nobody cries censorship over those. If you want to play the games as they were originally made then learn Japanese language and culture then import the games. You can't expect them to translate them and not adapt them for the market they are trying to sell them to. It's just business.
Because Japan. Get over it. Learn Japanese and buy a Japanese console if you want.
@RainbowGazelle I was going to ask the same thing. Besides, aren't native Americans hugely underrepresented in gaming anyway?
I'd think excluding them is more of an offence than including them. I mean I'd feel bad if they excluded my race in games out of censorship. :/
People get offended at the slightest thing. I suggest a teaspoon of cement.
@RainbowGazelle, @CB85 I don't normally cite MTV for useful articles but this article of theirs explains it way better than I could http://www.mtv.com/news/1837578/why-you-should-not-wear-headdresses/
I guess they consider "tomahawk" something that might catch offense in the West......but replacing it with "cowboy" isnt the best thing to do when considering American history. Could've named it "brave warrior" or "axe warrior" and kept the native motif.
I'm part indian and wouldnt be offended by any of those names. "Red Skin" is really the most deragatory one used.
The irony of this is simply stunning.
When censoring for "cultural appropriation", please dont swap one cultural stereotype for another who is known to have slaughtered the former.
Im usually not all that riled up by stuff like that. For instance, the Xenoblade "censorship" didnt even interest me at al.
But the irony here makes it oh so bitter sweet.
And honestly, if we would cut out every characters with a feather ornament on their head, 50% of JRPG characters would just go poof
Wtf! No! Tribal is beautiful. This is just dumb. SIGH
this is beyond stupid.racial stereotypes have always been used in movies or games and i never felt it was rascist.its just funny.people are becoming way to sensitive.a buch of little babies crying about everything.if racial stereotypes are so goddamn evil,destroy the intire disney cooperation then dear west.this is dumb.i hate rasicm but cliches and stereotypes are not fascist,its comedic.yes its a bit insulting but so what.
The Ninja outfit contains aspects from the Japanese culture that may offend those native to Japan. Cut it now. Also, regarding the Swordmaster, Kimonos can only be worn by those native to Japan, and should also be cut.
The Chariot outfit contains aspects from the ancient Egyptian culture that may offend those native to Egypt. Cut it now.
The Monk outfit contains aspects from the Tibetian culture that may offend those native to Tibet. Cut it now.
The male White Mages wear skullcaps that may offend catholics, the Rangers wear animal skins that may offend PETA, Atheists may object to a Bishop class when there is no Dawkinsknight alternative and the Cornish will surely not want to be reminded of their days as Pirates. Cut it now.
Yeah...the tomahawk wouldn't fly in the U.S., but cowboys are fine. Good call, Square.
Given Cloud's Smash debut, there's no better article to ask this question in: why Native Americans are bad, when Barret Wallace wasn't back in the day?
Square making brainiac decisions together with Nintendo. Why swap the costume to a cowboy costume? That's like pouring gasoline on fire.
I think, if I were a Native American, this might offend me more... as now I'm not represented at all, and I've been replaced by the ones who tried to completely wipe us out. That was cowboys right? 'Cowboys and Indians', they used to call them when I was a kid.
If people get angry about censorship in the West, people in the West have to get angry about their own society first. Those changes are done for a simple reason: companies don't want bad press. Remove the bad press and endless controversies in your countries, and the games will release as they are in free countries.
@edhe: cute, except none of those people whine. And that's why those outfits aren't censored.
Replacing a native american style character with a cowboy is one of the worst choices they could have made.
Is this the year of censorship trolls or what?! What's next? Banning Lucky Luke? Media outrages over carnival/halloween costumes? Relabel Shadow Hearts: Covenant as racist? Goddammit, we need to tell them off before worse things happen!
@YorkshireNed While it's an interesting read, I don't see the issue at all. Barely any catholic member ever complained about fictional characters wearing traditional pope garbs, like the religious representants in many Tales of games, or the Healer from Dragon Quest III, but now natives start whining over the representation of their culture?!
This is absolutely bizarre. Poor choice of an alternate class.
Fking sick man. This is just so wrong!
I am glad that I am learning japanese right now... And next year I am in Japan for 1 year...
Never ever I have to worry about a censored game for me!
After what happened with Tomodachi Life is anyone surprised that they are being a bit overzealous with potential changes in content when localizing for North America? I don't think it's a bad thing to remove potentially insensitive content anyway, but after getting slammed for Tomodachi Life, I don't know how anyone could expect otherwise from Nintendo. It won't affect the game in any way, and it makes games more inclusive to more players.... I don't see how anyone loses here.
Does anyone mind? I don't.
@einherjar That's really the worst part about it. Like replacing a mayan class with conquistadors.
Hell, technically speaking that isnt even a traditional indian war bonnet. It's a very stylized version that doesnt cover the whole head.
oh boy... SJW's will drive everything out of games! we're gonna have bland block, the game, can't portray any cultures or genders, or something may get offended, and then you're guilty of not representing people... you. cannot. win.
Oh, no. Another controversy?
Seriously, who cares. If it's going to offend someone, better safe than sorry.
Either way, they're both cute. So why make a fuss?
I do find the lack of general outrage (not just here on NL as this group is generally calmer) about this a little startling after all the fuss over recent weeks.
what is the difference here? is it okay to censor to for potential racial over moral reasons, is it because Nintendo isn't the publisher, or more worryingly... this doesn't involve boobs as this change seems to be only the name and a hat?
side note: why are the character models so different between the JP and West version? the quality difference is drastic... maybe the JP one is from some cutscene
@ChromXsome - So you rather people get accidentally offended? No. I'm quite disgusted how selfish you are.
@AlexSora89 Actually Barret was a major annoyance. However at this point I think that many African American gamers have gotten used to the fact that Japan thinks that we are stuck in the 70s, or live in a jungle, or are really angry all the time or if male are idiot roid heads, or if female pretty much sex symbols. However I don't think the NAACP cares enough about videogames in general to rile up its members over it. I just roll my eyes and move on...
They should've just made the outfit less revealing and removed the tattoos if they're afraid of offending native americans, can't they see how replacing a native american by a cowboy of all things is a very bad decision? That's almost the same thing as removing a jewish caricature and replacing it with a nazi instead.
@khaosklub Is SJW the term of the week in the gaming community now? There are organized tribes/nations in the US that will sue the pants off square and nintendo over this because for one it is a stereotype and for two the headdress has both religious and cultural significance for a number of tribes. That has been a matter of offense for a very long time. And before somebody tries to call me out on this...yes there have been several defamation suits levied for mascots and other offensive media portrayals. The National Congress of American Indians tracks these cases.
If you are going to portray a culture (let alone a group of cultures since most tribes were very different...my Grandfather would point that out in a second as he was 100% Blackfoot) it won't kill you to do a little research first. I may not like AC as much anymore but they at least try to do a little research in their window dressing of the year.
@BertoFlyingFox Exactly. Its just a hairclip with feathers.
Heck, Monster Hunter features a full set of armor with a very destinctive native style (Qurupeco armor) and nobody threw a tantrum about it.
@KO-Cub Youre kidding, right ? Please tell me youre just trolling here.
Who the heck gets actually offendet by borderline cultural stereotypes / references ?
If i threw a tantrum for everytime someone depicted germans as lederhosen wearing, beer mug holding, pretzel eating, fat bellied blokes, i would have died from a heart attack by now.
Not to mention how often ive been a Nazi by now.
But guess what, pretty much no one here even cares about stuff like that. Its bavarian culture, its recognizable so why not ?
I remember reading an article somewhere that explained that those feathered headdresses are very important in their culture, and this kind of depiction would be an offensive misappropriation of their culture.
@Ryu_Niiyama
Sue them? What on earth are you talking about. This is all protected by the first amendment.
If you can't sue the KKK for their crap, you definitely can't sue Nintendo for innocently depicting a cultural icon.
Assassin's Creed 3. Infamous Second Son. There are ways to represent native Americans without making them a caricature of themselves. In Japan, they never had this issue. They were never really colonized so alot of devs don't get that this is a sensitive issue. It is alot bigger of a deal than most think it is, and coming from Canada where native Canadians are constantly discriminated against, I'm happy they're taking this out. The fact is, they weren't representing native Americans in the first place.
@edhe This should really sum up how stupid censorship in general is. Well done.
3 examples in a month. Who else is suspecting NoA have 1 really self-righteous, virtue signalling, moron working for them who's behind all this nonsense?
Well, I mean I can see how they remove the body option for Xenoblade X for the young protagonist in it, I'm still kinda stunned about the "Make your own" character option that was disabled, but this I don't agree with at all. People these days are way too shielded for the society at hand. Everybody has to sugar code something or modify things to please everyone. But I guess you can't blame them considering how people get butthurt too easy. I look at it like this, Nintendo is trying not to get flagged as a "boob and discrimination" company and keep it "children safe" because thats where most of there money comes from. I will still pick this up but I'm pretty disappointed, and you better not hold your breathe for a "oops, we'll change it." Let's see what happens next for censorship
This is a joke, right? They could have replaced the Native American garb with literally ANYTHING except a cowboy outfit. The change is way more tone-deaf than the original issue itself was.
this is just a rumor folks. this hasn't been proven as fact. but honestly i don't see why they should replace it. it's just an outfit in a game.
@SahashraLA You do realize that there are also lots of works were Japan is depicted in an unflattering way, right? Have you seen the war propaganda of the 30s and the 40s? How westerners nuked and subsequently turned Japan into a puppet?
Now, they're but a shadow of their former selves.
"Yay let's be polite! Let's exclude native americans from games! Are you happy guys?!"
What's the problem with stereotypes?
@Pokefanmum82 - Fair enough, but, just for a sec. Leave out everything else, because it's their game, so they can change it, just give them a benefit of the doubt. If it's just an outfit to you, you wouldn't care if they changed it, would you?
@GeminiSaint ...and?
You know what's more offensive? Removing all traces of a culture, placing shackles on creative freedom, letting people go close their minds to everything they don't want to feel, making people think inside the box and only inside the box.
The list goes on.
Are you fine with repeating the same cycles of hatred and violence over and over, with people closing their minds to all dissenting thoughts and ideas?
A terribly mishandled and unfortunately, an ironic correction of cultural appropriation in a video game. Depictions of other's culture should always be handled with sensitivity and reverence despite the prevailing attitudes throughout history that have reduced such respects to a laughing matter and much worse
Nonsense.
Somewhere, TJ Thunder from Killer Instinct sheds a tear.
I am so tired of people are to sensitive to walk on the ground barefoot. This isn't offensive at all! I'm not a native American... But if you are HONESTLY butthurt that a relatively obscure video game character has a costume option that represents your culture (in a really cool looking way), then you should take a step back and reconsider, for everyone's sake.
@J-Manix98
Walk on the ground BAREFOOT?
YOU ARE INSENSITIVE TO NATIVE AMERICANS!!
WEE OOO WEE OOO WEE OOO PC POLICE
This is just localization being localization, nothing new here except it being actually reported on.
Just out of curiosity, what gives one the right to weigh in on if a culture should be offended or not if one doesn't belong or really know anything about the culture?
There's like, an entire village of Native American dressed people in Golden Sun 2, I'm surprised it got put on VC unchanged with todays attitudes.
@TheWPCTraveler
And Native Americans don't like it. This kind of portrayal of their revered cultural icons offends them. They find it disrespectful. Simple as that.
@SupremeAllah
Lol! Unintended, but I'll not apologize.
"the Washington Redskins are likely to change their name to avoid causing offense" is incorrect as the owner of the washington redskins has said multiple times he will NOT change the name, so the example u stated is incorrect.
Next rumor i heard... the pc police will attempt to rename all of our Tomahawk Cruise MIssiles to HPD;s or Human Pacification Devices.
I really hope this doesn't get censored, the cowboy costume looks stupid with that gigantic hat. The Indian costume is way cooler! (Oh sorry, I meant Native American)
@GeminiSaint ...and?
I'm asking you, so what? You're stating that they would get offended.
Let people get offended! Not every depiction has to be positive - I should know that, since I'm a Filipino!
Let people see both sides, both positive and negative, and let them judge for themselves! What do you think our brain is here for - regurgitating the sane things over and over again, regardless of their truth value? You cannot have a coin that only has one side.
...
This isn't the place for this, this is a games site. I apologize for stating what I believe in in clear terms, too, since apparently, that can offend people now.
I'm really not liking all this censorship recently. This one is just bizarre though. It's worrying if they are no longer willing to add people dressed as "native Americans" in this game. What will be the next group of people that cannot be added to games? It's a bad precedent.
Well, obviously they'd want to censor it! It's a well-known fact by now that every single Native American owns a 3DS! How could you not know that?? Have you ever even Streetpassed in Arizona bro???
...
Until you can read this and take it seriously, the censoring is just stupid.
@TheWPCTraveler
Well said!
This shouldn't be surprise anymore. Nintendo is going to play Ma and Pa until I move out of the Nintendo house in the next generation. I'm sorry Nintendo, but I've grown up.
Also, to those Native Americans who get offended because someone wears a Native attire, get over it. This would be no different than you wearing "white man" clothes (here comes hell) or dressing up as a Ninja, Monk, etc.. Why is it that you get special treatment compared to the other cultures represented in these classes? Seriously, this political correctness has gotten to a point of patheticness.
@CB85
They are but of course, they do it too themselves. You should have seen them yapping away at kids wearing Native costumes on Halloween.
@TheWPCTraveler
Well then, contact them and let them know how you feel about it, I guess?
@YorkshireNed
Thanks for posting the good (and very relevant) link!
Understanding why the native american costume could offend people, and how it's an important cultural icon that unfortunately gets used in inappropriate ways, is really important and it's a shame that more people don't take the time to understand why it's an issue.
I know not everyone will agree about what should/shouldn't be allowed in a fantasy-based, video game setting. After all, this isn't real. Personally, I'm pretty lenient in that regard... However, it's pretty clear why the change was made in this case, and (whether individuals here like it or not) it's an understandable choice.
@ikki5 The ironic thing about this farce is that they replaced an "offensive" outfit with possibly the most offensive thing to Native Americans.
I should be angry, but they're so incompetent at this that this just makes me laugh.
And what about the Sword Mage costume in BD? Isn't that offensive to Arabian culture?
Lol bravely second is like a sexy halloween party
@Nintendo_Ninja I do. I much prefer the Tomahawk character from at the least an artistic point of view. Not a huge fan of that cowboy class because it looks tacky and feels shoehorned in.
Wow, a lot of people freaking out over a minor change made during localisation.
@DreamOn I thoroughly disagree. If everybody takes offense at everything, then anger flares all around because nobody can see eye to eye. To be part of a big world means you have to realize that people will post things about you, try to mimic you, or any numbers of other things. Instead of whining about it, native Americans should be embracing that and helping non native Americans learn about the native American culture. Instead they are just making everybody dislike them.
@GeminiSaint They need to get over their upset. They are part of a big world, so they need to quit the belly aching and realize that teaching people is far more effective than trying to force the rest of a world to honor your traditions.
As someone from the South, this stereotypical showcasing of a cowboy is- Maybe we need to be less critical towards Nintendo/Square and be more critical of how the culture is here, where characters and features are being outright removed because everyone loses their minds over literally everything. It's not a game ruiner: it's just extremely troubling. Also, the Redskins will more than likely not change their name because Dan Snyder is the idiot-hero we all need right now.
I'm getting a little tired of people telling me to buy a Japanese 3DS if I'm upset by censorship. I've noticed a lot of people saying that lately and it's frankly ridiculous. As if gamers should just blithely accept whatever these companies feed to them.
@abe_hikura I think people are just experiencing fatigue on this issue. There has been so much censorship news so often lately that it's starting to not surprise anyone.
@DekersHekers I'm a stickler for dictionary definitions and this is not censorship, but editing. It's no different to changing the language from Japanese to English, as even if you do a 100% translation some things have to be slightly changed to make sense, but nobody does a 100% translation because they tailor the game to the market for each region.
So if you want the original game, buy the Japanese version and learn Japanese.
@GeminiSaint sadly people don't like to be informed about anything g offensive they are doing, because then they feel you are being mean to them, and that it doesn't matter if they offend others, as others are clearly less important that themselves.
Why do people even feel the need to tell people of other cultures what they can and can't find offensive?
I bet many would be offended if there was say a picture of Uncle Sam as a Muslim, but this case is offensive to their whole culture, not just at a personal level for some.
@Ralizah but the western version changes many things, including the language and names, as well as many other things for a western audience.
So if you want the Japanese version instead of the western version, don't complain when someone says why not get the Japanese version that you want?
If I bought chocolate and complained that it wasn't ice cream, you'd recommend to me to actually buy ice cream. Although American v English mustard is a better analogy, different version for different market.
@Dezzy This wasn't Niintendo, they had no control over the changes in this game... This is all Square.
That said, I have no problems with censorship, I don't get why people get so riled up about it.
@CB85 wow, just wow.
@fed0ra7 call it what it is, "localization" censorship is a whole other ballgame.
@MadAdam81 People don't want the Japanese version. People want to the English version without the unnecessary censorship.
As I suspected, @ikki5 immediately goes and blames Nintendo for something they didn't do. Nintendo had nothing to do with this. Binari Sonori is the one localizing this game and are the ones who localized the first game. Square Enix was the one who requested the changes in the first game, and are the ones responsible for this game.
On a side note, Xenoblade X wasn't localized by Nintendo Treehouse either. 8-4, who has a notorious track record of censorship, localized Xenoblade X. Now, whether someone at NoA requested those changes, I don't know.
@IceClimbers Don't care, if SE didn't do it, Nintendo probably would have. Even if they had no part in this, it doesn't change the fact that they are playing ma and pa with our games. You may like being treated as a child but some people grow up. Hence why Sony and Microsoft are blasting Nintendo out of the water in terms of Video game content. If Nintendo keeps the way they are, the NX is dead to me and it hasn't even been officially announced.
Something else to think about, even if this was Square, would they have done this if it was for Sony or Microsoft? Probably not but of course, since this is Nintendo, it happened.
@Ryu_Niiyama
No, SJW is the term of the year in general 1st world life.
They're people who get offended by petty things portrayed in a fictional world.
It's a stereotype? Of what? What is the headdress a stereotype of? Native americans who wear headresses?
It's a cultural symbol? Well duh, that's kinda the point, how better to represent a culture than to use a cultural symbol? What's next? Using swasticas in games being offensive to nazis? Sure, you usually murder the lot of them, but their political/cultural symbol should not be what offends them.
And it's a religious symbol? So? Just because muslims have the world terrified to portray muhammad, and will shoot up the office of anyone who dares try doesn't mean every other religion should join the terrorism bandwagon (using fear to get your way) and object to having their religious symbols excluded from the media.
What's next? We remove the cross item from castlevania? It's petty to get offended by this! It's obviously not an offensive depiction. The harmful stereotype of native americans are that they are savages. Nothing of this girl shows that by having a headress! They can just associate her with a fictional tribe or make her non-native american. I don't actually know much of this game... but does it have an america? If not, then there can't be native americans by definition, and she can just represent an indiginous person whose people live off the land and kill things with feathers and wear it as clothing. Sure, tomahawk is a dead give-away that she's based off the "indian" stereotype, but that's just it, she's a character made to fit the stereotype.
Geez, so glad that SJW's suck at mega man games and will never play mega man 6, so they can't go crazy over tomahawk man.
I bet if this was any other localisation team (NIS America, Atlus, Ghostlight, or even Square Enix themselves ) this would not have happened. Because it's Nintendo publishing and localising the game in the West, they feel they need to protect the kiddies that largely play way more violent games on Xbox or Playstation consoles or mobile games.
If Native Americans are offended by the Tomahawk class, they should vote with their wallet. And changing from an "offensive" stereotype to another "offensive" stereotype is just plain stupid. Stop with this nonsense Nintendo.
@MadAdam81
Yes, but if you want chocolate ice cream, and they only offer vanilla, a flavor your tongue doesn't happen to understand, you darn well have the right to complain that chocolate ice cream isn't available to you!
It's honestly hilarious (and for all the wrong reasons). I'll just sit back and sip on some stereotypical tea with a stereotypical smirk on my face while thinking about Square being stereotypically squeamish about stereotypes. And replace one with another. GOOD CHOICE! *facepalm
We're too PC for our own good. eyesroll
@RoomB31 I know right! The game's not even set on earth, but in a fictional world instead, so what America would these native Americans come from? xD It's just a girl wearing feathered clothing.
The golden rule: treat others as they want to be treated. I applause nintendo for showing respect to Native Americans.
@CB85 that wow was to your comment, but I can see how you thought I was agreeing.
It's not going to keep me from getting the game, but this seems like a particularly significant and awkward change. I don't know why people think it's offensive to use traditional Native American clothing or images. I think the idea that such images are offensive is itself offensive, and possibly racist.
Also, if the Redskins change their name, it won't be to "avoid causing offense". It will be because the government revoked their trademark. Personally, I'm hoping they stick with their current name and symbol. Little known fact: the Redskin's icon was actually suggested and created by a Native American leader (Walter Wetzel, former president of the National Congress of American Indians). Before that it was just an R.
Upset a group of people who have been mocked, discrimanted, abused, attacked, and segregated for hundreds of years since they were taken away their homes and traditions? Or upsteting a group of whiny white babies over their "freedom" to continuing the mockering of the first group? Mmmm though one.
@khaosklub
If all they have is vanilla, then you go somewhere else, where they have chocolate, like @ikki5
@KLZ Yeah but... no
Using a costume that resembles a Native American in the game is offensive? So why not ban the ninja costume?
I'm from the south and am offended by the cowboy costume, so they need to change that. In fact, just make every costume just blank white leotards. But thats racist, we need black leotards, too. But some people identify as purple, so we just need rainbow leotards. But then gay people will be upset so we have to... whatever. I know thats an exaggerartion, but my point is, Native Americans shouldn't and probably aren't offended by a costume in a game, so changing it is unnecessary.
@KLZ "Mockering?"
I don't know, somehow replacing a representation of one group of people with a representation of the people who destroyed their culture doesn't seem like the most respectful thing in the world to me.
Pretty soon, natives and women will be protected from media representation entirely. For their own good, of course.
Oh wow, looking at the picture, it looks like they whitewashed the class as well in terms of the skin tone.
Removing ethnic representations from the game for the inclusion of white cowboys sounds pretty racist, to be honest.
Wow, it's been said plenty already, but using a cowboy costume to wipe out any trace of the native American costume is a hilariously terrible gaffe. It's hilarrible.
@Sir_JBizzle This is more the equivilent of having a chain of ice cream places. In one state, they have both vanilla and chocolate, but when one comes to your state, it only serves chocolate. You could go drive out of state for vanilla, but it's perfectly reasonable to be upset that the shop in your town decided not to serve vanilla.
@RainbowGazelle It has to do with power and oppression. The Native Americans had their land stolen from them, were murdered and raped, and generally treated like garbage by the invading Europeans that built America. So to have their traditional garb being worn by European-like characters is pretty tasteless.
Cowboys are just cattle rustlers with hats and sometimes guns. You could argue taht Cowboy media perpetuated negative Native American stereotypes, though.
@gojiguy Yes, and they had yet another thing stolen by the cowboys, representation of their culture in this game. Do you see how ironic it is, that they took out a Native American costume and replaced it with a cowboy one?
If its small bits of dialogue and/or a few outfit changes I don't really care. When core gameplay features are changed or removed THEN I care. At that point why even localise it if you're going to remove chunks of the game? But this is just a costume, an edit. At most, if there weren't the current storm about Nintendo's love of changing things, it'd show up in a Did You Know Gaming video or a Japanese/English comparison video by someone with more time than I have to care.
Due to my heritage, I would have loved to have played as this class. But whatever.
There's a difference between stereotypes and just portraying native tribes. I'd like to have representation of us in media, as long as it's not portraying someone else as the "good guy" and us the "bad guys".
Also, calling us "Native Americans" isn't accurate. We're natives, yes, but calling us Americans, when we were the first people here, before this land was called America by people who "swore" only peace while taking our land out from under us, is a bit... mean/pretentious? We are our respective tribes.
If NoA has any involvement in this like for the first game, then this is pretty much confirmed. No rumor, no "supposedly". It's guaranteed to be censored.
This reminds me, hopefully the Elibe FE games will never remade. Not only because IS as they currently will completely ruin the gameplay, but because they'll probably be forced to turn Hawkeye and his daughter into "cowboys".
@RainbowGazelle well the Native American s had to deal with mass genocide of their race. Cowboys are not a race.
Really wish people would stop being offended by stuff, and in turn businesses be afraid they'll offended vocal minorities about stuff.
I'd say more, but I'll probably just offend someone.
@faint And what happened to the Cowboys? They don't seems to be around anymore. Oh that's right, they were wiped out too. But apparently none of their descendants are offended by being in the game. John Wayne's probably rolling over in his grave right now. A female cowboy, so offensive!
@XCWarrior The funny thing is, natives wouldn't have a problem with this.
Edit: Cowboys still exist. They were and always will be ranchers. I think you're thinking of rangers.
@crazyj2312 Considering what class you are informs the kinds of skills you can learn as well, this is arguably a pretty major edit.
@Yorumi I spent years working at the national museum of intolerance in New Mexico and while you may find a few gamers who are native that don't care the group as a whole do and they are still marginalized in this country. Also when you use terms like sjw it makes you look like a jerk
@XCWarrior lol. So cowboy's are a race of people who were slaughtered? Are you kidding? People just stopped being cowboy due to the end of the old west and the industrial revolution. when did Cowboys become a race.
@faint Whether or not Native Americans are still marginalized, they shouldn't be offended by this, and what @Yorumi was saying is that they probably aren't. The people who are "offended" by this are probably white people who want to seem compassionate for 'defending Native Americans', which is basically SJWs in a nutshell. I agree with everything Yorumi said.
@Yorumi "They're offended over everything"
I'm starting to get the feeling this applies very well to the internet gaming community.
In the face of the ongoing Washington Redskins debacle, how minor is this? There have been changes to JRPGs coming westward since they started coming westward.
I'm starting to consider these kinds of articles as clickbait; they're minor little things that are written up because they'll spark controversy and get a bunch of views.
@rishisquid I'm glad that you are the authority on how they might take it. you agree with them due to your own agenda. I think everybody here is still on the xenoblade, fatal frame censorship wave personally. I spent most of my life living in New Mexico which has a large native population and hosts the gathering of the nations on a yearly basis. Trust me they care. "Who want to seem compassionate" are you kidding?
@Yorumi what lol Christians are in the majority and run the government. Hahaha. Well any argument you make seems invalid after that comment
@Bliquid the Cowboys and Indians did battle. Mass genocide was carried out by government officials and the equivalent of the U.S. Military at the time.
I'm not surprised at the censorship, since the first game had censorship too. I'm just surprised at what they chose thinking it was a good idea. Pretty funny, though.
@Yorumi so you assume because I see issue with this that I see issue with all things? Silly
Not again I thought Bravely Second would be free from censorship.
Also this censorship actually makes the game more racist by refusing to have a Native American outfit and instead switch to it to a Cowboy... that is like replacing African tribal outfits in a game with an American plantation owner from the South. No seriously its on that same level.
By censoring it they made it worse.
Kingdom Hearts has the Peter Pan world with Tiger Lily and the Indians and that is a Square Enix game and Assassins' Creed 3 on the Wii U has Native American outfits and indians so why censor Bravely Second?
Did nobody notice the word "RUMOR" in the title?
@Yorumi whiners? You voting for trump? Sounds like it. Like I said Christians run the government and control the military. As a group what more do they need
From watching a bunch of different videos of Did You Know Gaming, these sorts of changes have been going on way before now. I mean, it started back in the NES days, and probably even before then. The only reason people get riled up over this now is because so much information is so readily available from the internet. This isn't the first time, and it probably won't be the last.
@CrazedCavalier couldn't agree more.
@faint Wow, not even recognizing the cowboy race as a legitimate one. Let me guess, even though video game players are looked down upon, we aren't going to recognize them as having a real culture either, and if they get wiped out, who cares, right?
A race can be more than a bloodline. Americans are a massive mixing pot... no one true of blood line. A culture is a group of people's way of life. So yeah, cowboys were a thing, and now they've been wiped off the face of the earth and replaced with emo kids and highly offended cry babies.
@Yorumi so your saying that the majority of congress and American world leaders who decide when we go to war are not Christian ? I care about equality. If their was some big push to close down all the churches I would be on your side. Keep that in mind
@DJKeens is the nationality of the avatar native? Nope. So it's just a costume. That's the problem
@edhe This comment neglects context. None of those groups were the victims of a continental, largely state-sponsored genocide.
Umm... okay, I guess. I'm not really concerned but I have to admit the original one is cooler.
STOP CENSORIN MAH GAMES!
That's what the classification board is for!
I think the decision to alter the costume is fine, but choosing cowboy was a little ham-handed. I do wonder if there wasn't a more effective way to represent Indians and keep the class (like, lose the headdress and the name, and make it something more authentic for some particular tribe).
And I feel the need to point this out on all of these threads: THIS IS NOT CENSORSHIP. This is the company deciding, on its own, to alter some content for the localization of a game.
Leave it to a bunch of (most likely) white internet dudes to tell a race of people who are regularly marginalized and discriminated against what they should and shouldn't be offended of.
I, like many others, don't necessarily agree with censorship as long as there is a point to the work being censored. In this case it's just a video game class with zero relevance to natives or their culture. So I really don't see what the deal is. It seems like people are more upset because they think the Native class is "prettier" than the cowboy one and are screaming about censorship as a response.
As for replacing the Native class with a cowboy? I can't believe no one saw the irony in that before they "pushed go" on this idea. Literally shaking my head right now.
@Yorumi This argument that caring about things offensive to one group of people means you must care about all things offensive to all groups of people is a false equivalency. There is this little thing called context. "Christians" are not a group that has been systematically persecuted, excluded, attacked, marginalized, ignored, or suffered any other form of disenfranchisement in the west in the last several centuries.
Have you ever held the entrails of an English guy?
Or bit the beating hearts of Spanish men?
Can you shoot an arrow in some French guy's eyeball?
Can you paint with the red colors in these men.
@rishisquid the costume itself is not offensive, in fact it might even be sacred (idk I'm not native american), the problem here is that people think they can use them for whatever they want just because hey it appears in cartoons, and sports teams, and halloween. Its not theirs to use (or yours), its not public domain, it belongs to them for religious and cultural reasons. Its not like the rest of the world is in good terms with the native americans to be like hey I'll just borrow your image to put it on this cute sexy outfit for a wizard you see it fits, magic traditions, whatever. You might be offended for a cowboy costume, but that is work attire, you might want to slow down a bit if you think working with horses its the same as the spiritual lifestyle of the oppressed people. I'm not commentint on the ninja costume thing cause I don't know anyhing about that. Finally it's not for you to decide if native americans should or would not be offended by whatever reason, leave that to them, listen to them first and then defend them, don't speak for them.
@Ralizah it's not like the native american leaders asked the japanese to please put their image in the game and then the developers said nah bro, cowboys are better. They never asked to be there in the first place, so no one is getting replaced. I would assume if they want to be represented in the media they would like it to be respectful and informed, rather than borrowed caricatures of them.
@KLZ Hahaha
@XCWarrior I almost can't tell if you're being serious or not. I mean do people here not understand the differences between racial stereotypes (like American natives) and cultural stereotypes (cowboys, gamers, emo, as in your examples)? Do you realize the difference between things you choose to identify with and things you were born as, such as race? But wait lemme guess, you "don't see color".
@rishisquid I just made that comment as a point of levity honestly. 😊
@Yorumi she was arrested for being in contempt of court. She decided because she didn't believe in gay marriage that nobody in her county could get one. She is an elected official and should do her damn job. Btw no all Christians believe gay marriage is wrong.
@Yorumi just to clarify I was not talking about legal stuff or whatever, like you CAN'T do that, more like don't do that cause its not cool. Just like you said in your first comment, in the case of that specfific tribe that was working along with the school to make sure everything was allright, thats what should be done always. Its not the same as for example ubisoft using london and uk flags and costumes for the zombie u game, cause france and the uk are in good terms of collaboration and international diplomacy or whatever. Same about well pretty much every other western country. Just saying that before making fun of the way of speaking or using the caricature image of the people that has been neglected and opressed for 500 hundred years you might want to ask them if its cool you know? Its not like the rest of the world is buddies with the native americans.
If you wish to express an opinion do such without using vulgarity.
~Santa
@Simbabbad
"Remove the bad press and endless controversies in your countries, and the games will release as they are in free countries."
What for? Let it get bad press. The only people who would actually care are the idgits getting offended over it anyways.
I say never bend to the will of political correctness out of fear of backlash. There's always someone getting offended somewhere. Screw it- let em be offended.
@Yorumi I think it is different. The later things you mentioned, "typical American, German, Russian" are all national. They have their own culture, but it's still, to a degree, something people can choose to identify with, unlike race. I'm not totally informed on this, but yes there are different tribes and cultures, but I think the whole point of where the dissatisfaction comes from the native communities, is that it seems the majority of people only know about native culture to be these stereotypes. The feathered headress, for example among others, is what all of those cultures have been reduced to. And so, people put on a headress for a costume and call themselves "Indians". I think all that's wanted is respect and understanding of what's being worn, as it's usually horribly misinformed and devolved to a caricature.
Now of course I'm not trying to speak for natives, that's up to them to decide if the game was being disrespectful. I'm sure SE had good intentions, but I think simply naming it Axe Warrior or something instead of Tomahawk, would have been much better. Besides, it's just a localization, and a rumor at that, not something to fuss about — but if it's true switching to a cowboy was definitely not a much better choice.
@RainbowGazelle
The reason some find it offensive is because this is the image that pops into people's head when they think of a Native American, while modern day tribe members are often ignored and feel as if they can never move past that identity. You have costumes labeled as "savage chieftain" and the very same people who destroyed your way of life wearing these cheap garbs that mimic something of great spiritual importance to them.
@Yorumi part of the problem is precisly that, what native tribe were they trying to portray? Because there are hundreds of different tribes, just a regular generic costume? Thats discriminatory and dehumanizing, because they're implying theyr are all the same. They're neglecting the different struggles that each community had, like they were all nameless indians. If they did look out for a specific design then that tribe owns it, period. And whats wrong with taking a poll? Whats wrong with people changing their mind with the pass of time? A poll in the fifities would have had racist results against black people, is it wrong that nowadays that wouldnt happen (as much)? Its a good thing that people change their mind accordingly to time, we are suppossed to be moving foward evolving not only biologically but socially too.
Umm... is that really censorship? Censorship is the suppression of unacceptable parts. It's not like Square Enix is saying that it's not acceptable to be a Native. This is just political correctness running wild and it has nothing to do with Nintendo. However, since it's a game on the 3DS, people will whine about it nonetheless.
@FriedSquid Half and half. I am serious with that we always have to find something to be mad about. Some set of people are being abused or misrespresentated or whatever. And it's not coming from that set of people! I want to hear from some native American what offends them and what doesn't. I don't want to hear from PC crazy people who THINK they know what the Native Americans think.
I get why this might be a touchy thing to do since Cowboys vs Indians etc...But, yano, maybe that's why they chose a Cowboy as a replacement in the first place? Not out of malice but all they know is "isn't cowboys and Indians a thing? Replace it with that, makes sense to us". They may not really fully understand the actual significance of it.
Then again, if the West wasn't so butthurt over literally anything these days, things like this wouldn't be changed in the first place. The way I see it, they were gonna get slated for including the native American character, they get slated for changing it and taking away racial representation.
Certain vocal groups in the West get butthurt over so much that they may as well ship it over as is since they're seriously never going to please everybody...Yano, since everybody in the world is expected to follow and understand the US's culture.
It's bad, people get offended by stuff for other groups is taking it to far. In this case though i don't mind the change as im a sucker for the old west and love me some hats.
[sub]Watch your mouth ~Santa [/url]
They could maybe add both classes in. That dark skin is just 😍.
So I guess Koji KOG is racist for playing T. Hawk in Street Fighter 4 and liking the character enough to cosplay as him even though he's Japanese and not Native American, and T. Hawk is himself racist because a character designed to look like a Native American has the audacity to look like a stereotypical Native American.
https://youtu.be/CFEUvuk4W5A?t=447
Warning, video below has strong language, but is a good joke about the idiocy of political correctness.
https://youtu.be/Ep4rh2aj4VY
Anyone thinking Native Americans don't care about something that seems as trivial as this, you're mistaken. They very much do care about people appropriating their attire. The headdress is a particular sticking point, as it can only be worn by people considered worthy within the tribe. It's a religious thing, more than anything. A bit like how the church has gotten irate over people sexualising the Nun's outfit. There have been many cases where catwalk models have worn the headdress and faced a backlash. Recently my favourite band (No Doubt) removed a music video within 24 hours of it going up, all because it had a Native American theme and Gwen Stefani was rocking a feathered headdress. They were instantly branded as racist by SJWs despite their history proving the exact opposite.
Oh boy, here we go again. Thanks for policing our art, Nintendo. What would we do without you protecting your fanbase of children and their poor, innocent little minds?
@Yorumi I feel like this sums up SJWs and the whole PC culture thing pretty well:
Then there's also this bit about their "safe space", which sums up the likes of Sarkeesian:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXQkXXBqj_U
South Park is excellent social commentary and satire honestly. This recent season completely rips on the whole PC culture thing, but also makes sure to rip on Trump.
@MrRight Bravely Default was developed by Square Enix. Not Nintendo. Koei Tecmo developed Fatal Frame V and Monolithsoft developed Xenoblade X. When it comes down to brass tacks, Nintendo's not making these changes. It's the developers.
@Yorumi Ha, "people like you." You're sliding into kook territory.
All I'm suggesting is that context is important. Why do you continue to pretend that there is no such thing as context? Why do you not understand that a group of people might have a real problem with being the victims of a genocide, being marginalized and largely voiceless in the society that overtook them, and then forced to watch as that society appropriates all of their cultural symbols, mostly incorrectly?
I hate it when people have this idea that because something doesn't bother them, it must not bother anybody. Or that things that other other people aren't important. The issue is not "some Indians are annoyed by this. They should just get over it." The issue is that appropriating symbols like this is part of a bigger cultural marginalization that leads to people thinking of Indians as cartoon people, not real people who are in an objectively terrible situation.
"People like me" are just people who realize that they have, culturally, had it very good compared to other groups, and that we are not in a good position to decide what should offend other people.
@Sir_JBizzle
Japan has the vanilla ice cream, us gets chocolate, instead of chocolate ice cream. Some people are fine with just chocolate, still tastes of chocolate, but it's not the same.
Some people love chocolate ice cream and miss the days we got it. Some people have weird chocolate ice cream fetishes and want to do weird things with it behind closed doors. And a lot of people are upset about being denied chocolate ice cream, even if they don't even like it!
I wonder if the redskins will have to change their name of other ones will too. I get that red skins is more offensive bit still. The college I went to didn't have a mascot because the Chippewas thought out was offensive several years back and we got rid of it to keep on good terms with them. How sad is out that a college football team doesn't have a mascot.
Also I agree with the guy pointing out a lot of the other things like ninjas and monks which have been in games a lot more prominently and yet their countries of origin haven't complained and whined. If Native Americans fond this offensive than they need to calm down.
@MadAdam81 No Adam. It is desexualising characters, therefore it is censorship.
Japan as a culture still has lots of racism and misinterpretations of other cultures. I don't understand why people are so angry at keeping a poor representation of a historically belittled culture in a video game. Japan needs to grow up, faster than it is. I'm not saying they are all one in the same (because that's racist). But the culture in Japan has much improving to do when representing many other cultures. This is a light case, but still one nonetheless.
makes sense I dont know too many Native americans who enjoy being called "Tomahawks"
This is dumb. Especially considering how cowboys massacred Native Americans. Yeah, Square Enix/Nintendo. Real culturally sensitive move here.
@KO-Cub
"Better safe than sorry"
Except offending people doesn't actually do anything. There is no "safe" about it. It's all entirely safe.
Not surprise that Native American style outfit was censored, it would have been seen as racist by many if it was released in the final game.
@Xenocity
By many idiots. Are they a good group to let dictate your attitude?
@ThunderRazor It's because Japan hasn't been infected by PC culture yet. They don't give sh*t about offending other people/races, as it should be when creating art.
@Dezzy
It's about a significant part of the U.S. and Canadian populations being offended and/or taking action to address the perceived wrong.
This editing of an outfit is preempting this, to avoid a massive public outrage that could damage the brand in the near term if not forever.
Never underestimate how damaging a racist allegation and sexist (against women) allegation can damage your sales and lead to it sticking the public mind about your company.
@Priceless_Spork Yeah, as an American, I reserve the right to say whatever the f*ck I want. If you're offended by that, it's your problem.
@Yorumi
You can sue them, taking them to court and make a forceful stand.
In the end it probably won't matter, since the public will still see you as being racist and/or sexist.
It's hard erase the connotations of racism, sexism, rape etc... especially when they are false.
Clearing your name might not fully work and could lead to a bigger public backlash.
@Xenocity
"Significant part of the US and Canadian populations"
Oh please! That's completely delusional. You almost never get more than few thousand people to sign petitions when people protest this sort of thing. Only a few examples a decade REALLY bother the public at large.
Most people really don't care either way and just have better things to be worrying about.
@Yorumi
I don't know what SJW means.
People are easily offended now days and lots of little things are now controversy worth (especially in the U.S. and even more so in Canada).
The people put off by these controversies and little things are much greater than those put off by the actual fixes by companies and PC.
It's very easy do destroy your sales/sales potential by not being PC and/or seen as sexist and racist.
Those of us who hate this climate are not large enough in numbers to reverse the trend...
(I'm part Native American here...)
@Xenocity
Social Justice Warrior is a vague term that means a number of different things.
It's used to either describe people who take social activisim so far that it becomes idiotic (e.g http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/11/26/master.term.reut/)
Or people who claim to represent social activism, but are completely disingenuous about it and are doing it purely to get popular and shit on their "opponents" because it's effectively a socially acceptable form of bullying.
An example of that would probably be Sabrina Erderly from Rolling Stone, from the now infamous fake rape story. She clearly had no interest whatsoever about whether her story was true. It was purely about fighting for the "right" cause against the bad people, and getting to rewards for doing so.
@Yorumi
Chick-fil-e has a history of discriminating against LGBT people.
Every survey done shows the majority supporting PC culture and equality for all.
The numbers are higher in Canada.
Nintendo especially has had a bad run with PR over the past decade including:
-Being public sued in the U.S. for not doing more to warn of the health risks of playing games. A kid had his first seizure playing a Gamecube game, his parents sued in federal court and actually won a decent judgement. Nintendo was forced to put more health warnings in place. The media ran with this story
-Nintendo DS pictochat feature hit the Western media for stranger danger issues as kids were being hit up by pedophiles and other via pictochat.
-Nintendo during Wii/DS also had to deal with UK government coming after them over Mario Party 8, Wii Fit and others over them directly offending users by using offensive language.
-Wii and DS online games were reported on exposing users to dangerous people and Nintendo not doing enough to stop it.
-Animal Crossing: WW was seen as teaching kids that stealing was acceptable, it was reported by quite a few local stations here in the U.S.
-Nintendo is still being accused of being racist and sexist in it's games over the lack of minority and female representation.
-Metroid Prime series and Other M are seen as sexist due to their portrayal of Samus and her body image.
-Pokemon is banned in a few areas of the U.S. due to evolution being in the game
-Pokemon is constantly being seen in other states as promoting animal abuse.
-Mario and Luigi are constantly being seen as offensive to Italians.
3DS was reported on for making people sick and being dangerous for children the first few months on the market in the U.S.
3DS Swapnote was taken down to prevent a full fledge government investigation and charges.
Even Wii U hit headlines due to Nintendo online services not protecting children from strangers.
This was the company that significantly modified the first 3 Zelda games to make them appropriate for the West.
Nintendo also modified plenty of other games on NES and SNES to avoid controversy.
Hell Ocarina of Time had two decent sized controversies, one relating to the original fire temple theme having muslim prayer in it and the other was due to the blood of Gannondorf.
Other things were changed in the game including the Gerudo flag and emblem because it looked to similar to muslim symbols.
There are literally 4 versions of the original game, each version "fixed" something people had an issue with.
Though to be fair to Nintendo they have been sued quite a bit due content and features, including Goldeneye causing Columbine...
It's cheaper in the long run to take the precautions than to be sued in court and/or have the media and people negatively respond to it.
@Yorumi
Actually Chick-Fil-a has repeatedly refused to hire people based on their sexual orientation and support for LGBT.
Chick-Fil-a isn't innocent either.
This is normally illegal under federal law.
The majority of people will never take action on most issues including those they agree with including government spying on them.
As for this game particularly, they are probably had more of an issue with how it looks on the female characters, not necessarily the costume.
i wouldn't be surprised if ESRB and PEGI warned them they would receive a higher rating over it.
Most importantly feminists are a more vocal group that will go after anything they feel is negatively impacting women.
The U.S. feminist movement is highly active and highly vocal.
This is horrific! They are censoring an entire race of people! They are making the statement that just having representation is offensive. Screw Square, and screw this game.
Anyone familiar with the long walk? Probably not... I'm Navajo and in the 1860s the US forced marched 10000 members of my tribe 300 miles to concentration camps in fort Sumner Texas, killing anyone who fell behind. It didn't matter if they were children, seniors, or even pregnant women, they would lead them over hills, out of site, and put bullets in the back of their heads.
Genocide was committed. And even before that across America 9/10 people died from the diseases brought over.
When there were too many of us for them to kill, they took away the children and put them in boarding schools to strip away our language and culture.
My cross country coach in highschool and my grandparents went to these schools. Nick( my cross country coach), used to run from window rock to monument valley just to get home(3 hour drive today.). They would have a car waiting and take him back.
In world war 2 the US recruiting us to(in our language.) create a code to be used in the pacific island campaign. We were a big part of the victory, but the code talkers were never given medals or ceremonies for their time as marines. When they went to eat at restauraunts they were turned away. They couldnt even tell their families what they had done in the war. They couldnt tell them that because of them, japan could not break the US code. It wasnt till ronald regan became president that they were given medals. And he did the cerwmnony just to boost his public image.
Our history is very sad, and i dont agree with the difderent racial outcries, but we have been american citizens for 129 years and we have never had a voice, so please be understanding.
There are many examples of Native American, Latin American, or South American cultures being represented in gaming, and Nintendo has been host as well. (For example, Skies of Arcadia had an entire civilization based on the Amazonians.). The precedent is that as long as the representation is not aggressively demeaning, or at least not portrayed as overtly inferior, then there's no problem. There is no precedent for this kind of censorship.
This form of censorship is caustic. It not only is pointless, it actually is offensive as a result. Replacing tribal garb with cowboy digs is a legitimate excuse for proclaiming that the censorship is either plainly racist, or overbearingly homogenized towards Euro-American culture.
I said it before for the Xenoblade censorship, and I'll say it again: we should know who is responsible, and they should be held publicly accountable.
@1nightinthepit That's true and terrible, but it ultimately doesn't relate to having a girl wear something that may resemble a Native American outfit in the game.
@1nightinthepit Have you ever read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee? It was... An enlightening read for me.
Also, have you ever read 1491, detailing new archeological finds about civilizations before Colombus arrived? The idea that pigs, brought over by Hernando DeSoto by the request of Queen Isabella of Spain, could be unintentional biological weapon is plausible. (Since they carried many European diseases, while indigenous North American peoples at the time had experienced virtually no plagues until then, thus increasing susceptibility.) However, many prestigious scholars, such as those working for the Smithsonian, still continue to deny such a genocide could have happened. That is because they fear what that would really mean:
As of the time period of the bubonic plague outbreak in 14th century Europe, there may have been a larger population in the North American continent compared to all of Europe. Where did all those people go by the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century? Why have we not found more obvious signs that so many people existed... Unless that information has been covered up?
Much of the evidence (such as burial mounds) have since been destroyed or plowed over, so we have lost a lot of Native history. However, new discoveries are being made. For example, there once existed the Beni tribe in South America, along with several other civilizations predating the Incas. The Beni's almost 2000 years ago had irrigated water systems, better organization than European villages at the time, and a mystifying mountain of discarded pottery (that still exists today) which dwarfs the entirety of the classical Roman Empire's trash disposal yards.
The more I look at advancements made by those such as the Cherokee, who were once master terraformers, or the Haudenosaunee, who framed the first democratic document and governmental social safety network systems in the USA, or the Lakota, who philosophized a system of law and leadership without needing authority figures, or the Shoshone, whose southern tribes once grew peach trees in Nevada(!), something has become clear to me.
The Native Americans of the past were not timeless barbarians who never advanced beyond a certain point, as historians so often claim. They adapted themselves to the world around them, as well as adapting the world to themselves in their own way, just like other progressing civilizations. And I believe the potential for that progress, and of rebuilding/healing, is still possible.
@1nightinthepit I first learned about the Navajo Code Talkers (and met a few of one Code Talker's family descendents at the National Museum of the Native American) around 10 years ago, myself. Reconnaissance and dispatch orders were indecipherable for the Japanese, ensuring that no useful interceptions could take place.
Also, I've read that The Long Walk/Trail of Tears is at least partially a product of the policies of Andrew Jackson... The guy on the $20. That he continues to be represented in our currency is an affront to the true history of this continent.
Yeah, I understand. And I don't agree with it or disagree with it either. I was just making a statement because of all the recent outcries over things like the redskins and the headresses , etc. This stuff really doesn't bother me too much, but I know aaalllooooot about the history. Weve never had a written language, so we wrote it out using the English language, while Ronald Regans term was just about up we were just released the first dictionary in our language. So he released the codeto the public and gave the surviving code talkers medals for what they had done. He had released it to give himself a better chance for being reelected. But I think my comment was misunderstood. I was just stating that we have had a rough history and people are just starting to recognize us, so a lot of people bring up stereotypes that they think are wrong. But I myself, don't agree with a lot of the stuff that most natives will voice.
@RainbowGazelle Because reasons, that's literally all I can come up with.
@Yorumi I read about that, the Cherokee were a particularly advanced civilization for the time period. Even though they lacked the technological advancements brought about by chemistry, coal, iron smelting, and steel forges, their agricultural/horticultural and diplomatic abilities were no lesser than the other great civilizations of the time. They may have even been capable of surpassing others in those regards.
Native American history is a kind of "great blank", where seemingly no one knows what happened anymore. I think uncovering lost history is one of the most interesting endeavors one can have. It's this great, big mystery of who they really were, and what exactly they did and were capable of. Those pieces are slowly being put together. Perhaps one day, we can rediscover the lost advancements those civilizations made.
Not going to get involved in the heated debate over this localization choice, but... I will say that this is yet another reason I'm glad I have a hacked 3DS. There's already an uncensored romhack of Bravely Default available, and I'm sure someone will be creating one for the sequel that will enable people to return outfits and such to the way they were in the original release... if they feel so inclined.
@khaosklub I'd say its more like enjoying British style vanilla ice-cream, but accusing ice-cream makers of censorship for only selling US style vanilla ice-cream (or vice versa, depending where you live). Even that has more differences than Japanese & Wetern versions of XCX & BS.
The argument that this is about the headdress is stupid.
First off, the characters are not wearing the type of headdress that causes offense to the, primarily, Plains Tribes that use them as a symbol of achievement. There are several tribes that get bent out of shape over it's superfluous use and I get that. But, the headbands used in these designs are just plain decorative headgear. I'll point out that the headdress that is often in question, called a war bonnet, is not used here as those are traditionally made with eagle feathers and have a very particular form. Each feather represents an important achievement in the life of a person in the service of the community. These are not eagle feathers, therefor these are not war bonnets. The Elementalist job in Final Fantasy: Four Warriors of Light is far more offensive.
If I had been in charge of this localization I would have changed the name of the job from Tomahawk to Hunter like similar jobs in other Square RPGs and called it a day.
The way things are looking right now it's almost as if Nintendo is is pushing to have the stigma of being a "kiddy" game company again.
Most of the self censorship being done is really pointless.
Most of these games are Teen rated and do not benefit from the changes being done. For the most part we are receiving less content for the same price as other regions.
@MadAdam81
There's a british style vanilla? I've heard of french vanilla, but never british. Intriguing!
@Yorumi Thing is I know someone who has Native American ancestry and he finds this sort of thing to be offensive to the culture he was raised with, and is even more offended by people dismissing it as something which can't be considered offensive.
Being British I don't know the full history behind Native American and non-native settlers, but I can imagine when your people have been forced out of their territory by new settlers over how ever many years, then for them to start wearing the clothing you consider sacred would be smack in the face.
@khaosklub It might be an old home made style, but a friend of mine, is father came from England to Australia over 40 years ago and their vanilla ice-cream was different to what we get in Australia, the colour even being a bit of a browny colour instead of being white and having a different taste.
@Yorumi Badly done copies are generally more offensive than exact replicas. Badly done stereotypes are generally considered racist, like the golliwog, blackface and various bad Asian stereotypes.
Imagine if instead of a cowboy it was a dumb redneck outfit, with half their teeth missing and a "#1 Trump" badge? The outrage would really hit the fan then.
Somehow I knew my scroll wheel would get a workout on this comment section.
Some people have no chill. That goes for both sides.
I'm curious how many people that were glad the first game got censored are mad this time, or vice versa? It's all the same to me. I'm a little disappointed, and also think it's sort of hilariously MORE offensive to whitewash the Native American inspired class with a COWBOY of all things, but people will complain about anything on the internet, lol.
(And I'm native american before any smelly hipsters try to lecture me on 'appropriation')
Even more censoring! I thought I lived in a modern, free world. Guess I was wrong...
Meh. That's it. I'm done. Think I'll just start buying the JP versions again and using my JP n3ds as primary 3ds. All this "localization" crap is just a poor excuse for ruining these magnificent works of art. Games should not be altered for different regions in any form or shape. Games should not reflect rules in the "real" world unless they want to. Like art, games can be as unrealistic as they want to be. The original, true product (in the initial shape and form) should always be what everybody gets.
I don't see how I'm less mature than a Japanese person of the same age. Oh well. Time to go full Japanese because Japanese people are apparently allowed to see things the rest of the people in the world aren't.
Screw censoring in all its ugly shapes. "Localization" nowadays seems to be a synonym for censoring a product, then shipping it along with a politically correct message to the world.
I brought the game and i just find out it has been censored, i can't even enjoy the game anymore, because i feel that they are playing 100% of the game and we have to play the game that has been fixed by the censoreship, and that's not fair and we are deserve better than that. the outfit doesn't even show the parts that kid not supposed to see, why even censore it and make a different about it? are we really over done it ? Just hope the people or group can see this message~! This is the first time i get mad on a video game.
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