Topic: Nintendo Switch 2

@OmnitronVariant
I don't think it has much at all to do with cultural conservatism or anything inherently different about how the US in particular. I think it's more just a function of the US being a big market, which means two things, well one thing with two side effects. More resources can be spent so localisations can make more demands but also more is on the line

Two examples. You're a developer, you make a new game, the Australian classification board says your game will be banned in Australia because it has gambling and drug use as a reward. You do some napkin maths, guess how many copies you'd sell in Australia, it's not nothing but compared to the global market it's a bit of a rounding error. So you decide to not release in Australia. Not worth the effort to change it

Now imagine you're that same developer and your localisation team in the US says they like the game but they think some of the jokes won't land with the US market. They're tone deaf, they use non-US references, some people won't get it. Whatever the reason they suggest dramatic changes so it resonates better with the US market. You look at your sales projections and realise that NA is a third of your market so.... sure, whatever you say, lets change it

I don't think US content is inherently more conservative in the social political sense. But it is more conservative in the sense that it's more risk averse. Which sometimes just happens to align with being, you know, a bit socially conservative. But more often it just ends up being.... a bit more by-the-numbers.....

@VoidPunk Interestingly, it seems like Falcon themselves are changing some things.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Falcom/s/eWpbZ0hJ3F

@Bigmanfan

Crazy how little they care about their fans then.

Yeah, reading what @Bigmanfan sent, this is a literal nothingburger. Just like any and all the bad faith discussions tend to be when it comes to "censorship."

My other go-to example is that fundamentally different people were for and against translations for Xenoblade X and 2, which both took slightly different directions for how they localized certain things, and in both cases I thought their decisions were mostly fine with one exception. (well two exceptions, because I found out later they made 2 less gay at one point, but...those people don't care about that so of course I didn't hear it until years later :V). It was a real horseshoe theory moment, which is why I don't pay attention to this stuff anymore, unless something particularly egregious happens.

Also like people realize that horny stuff in Japanese games isn't cultural sometimes? It's just using sex appeal to make money sometimes? They then took it out to make money somewhere else. That's it, there's nothing else to it.

I don't even like censorship, I'm queer, that'd be suicide lol. But like, on average, uncensored Japanese entertainment is already winning, look at the sad state of western AAA gaming or non-movie animation, its clear where things are right now. I don't see a real issue happening that is worth caring about and in this case it is mostly better than it has been in the past, if anything!

People who care too much about things that don't matter is cringe, especially nowadays. Fight the real enemy of Visa and Mastercard at least instead, sheesh.

My stance is, any change the developer chooses to make is their right, and I respect it.

But when a localizer, it takes it upon themselves to change content according to their own personal belief system, that is when I define it as censorship. Often, it's trivial things that most people wouldn't even notice if it wasn't pointed out, but I do think it's important to voice dissent on matter of principle. And preserving the creator's intent. Not always, but I would estimate the majority of the time, the changes made by localizers are unnecessary. And it should be rejected upon principle. And that may follow the slippery slope fallacy, but i do actually think it's a slippery slope. Today it's swapping a tank top for a sweater, tomorrow it's removing entire regions of a game and storyline. You give an inch, and they take a mile, as they say.

If content offends someone, they always have the right to simply not play that game. and they should vote with their wallets. But I do support preserving the creator's original intent, or if they are updating the game themselves, preserving their modern intent.

It's the localizers that I take issue with, because they take it upon themselves.
Go well beyond simply translating and making sense in the culture and language, and start censoring and removing content because they claim it will offend. And in some instances, perhaps they are right. But from what I have seen the majority of times that claim is made, nobody in any significant number would have actually been offended. Only those who look to be offended.

I've got brown hair and hazel eyes. I could play a game where a character says, "Hazel is a ugly color of eyes and brown hair is the most boring color in the world. Brown haired hazel eyed people are the bottom of the barrel" and I wouldn't take offense, because it's just a fictional game and that particular character has his opinions. Whatever, ya know? If a localizer opted to remove that line, I would say keep it in, unless the developer wants to remove it that is.

That's just my opinion on the matter, anyways. I remember Tokyo Mirage Sessions and that was a classic example of a disaster, when localizers go too far.

Sometimes, content removed is genuinely offensive, but I choose not to take offense. Because it's just a game and a fictional characters' opinions or statements aren't going to get under my skin. There's people with all kinds of opinions in the world, and I think characters in games ought to reflect that diversity... In a tasteful manner of course, not just spewing offense for the sake of it.

Tales Remaster removing the classic pipe kind of aggravates me. It's such an iconic item- even my Tales of Vesperia steelbook has the dog with a pipe in its mouth 😀

That's the kind of stuff where i'm like, come on. This is taking things too far. Just let the game be as it is. And if something causes offense to a large majority of people, they likely won't buy it. And the developer we'll have to take that into consideration for their next title whether they want to sacrifice those sales or not. But I also think in most cases, the changes made are unnecessary and no notable sales would be forfeited. Like the pipe. Who is going to not buy a Tales game because you can optionally put on a mustache and old fashioned pipe your mouth? Are there really people out there like that? If there are I'm not knocking them- I respect others' opinions. I just don't foresee many people who would actually feel that way. But maybe I'm wrong.

ANYWAYS

A 512 GB micro SD express is just $78 at Walmart. 1 TB on Amazon is $220 but at least available now.

For anyone looking for some extra storage though, I think that SanDisk deal at walmart is a banger

https://www.walmart.com/ip/SanDisk-512GB-GamePLAY-microSD-Exp...

@JaxonH The issue is that in some cases, sometimes jokes or things in a game enable people who are horrible human beings to be even more horrible in turn. The trans joke in the original Persona 3 is inherently problematic. Not because I choose to take offense to it, but because it helps to spread a very very common lie about trans women, and people who hate trans women used to flock to it in order to use it as a reason to confirm their own biases. The joke being made in that game was pretty much saying "Trans women are groomers." This joke inherently also hurts Persona as a series, given that up until Persona 3, 4, and 5, the games were more progressive with LGBT rep from what I've heard. 3, 4, and 5 are veiled as progressive games with progressive messages, and the social links are built around the premise of being accepting towards all different kinds of people from many different walks of life. However jokes like these- or jokes like Yosuke being homophobic, or jokes like two gay men trying to groom Ryuji tend to really go against the entire core of this series and the messages that they're wanting to convey.

Persona 5 is a game about rebellion. A game about destroying the status quo that Japanese society places upon it's citizens, including the teenagers within that society. However these pretty harmful jokes clash with the tone or idea of that game- or this collection of games.

And then you have Fire Emblem with it's many different problematic content pieces. Engage's Japanese version literally lets Alear marry children. While one can say "well, just simply don't buy the game," that sort of content is still disgusting? Especially when the rest of the game is better than that, and actually offers things worth playing it for. Cutting it out was the right move to make.

Honestly, like I said in one of my previous comments, I'm still interested in buying that Trails in the Sky game eventually, because thankfully, it's Falcom doing it of their own decision instead of the game being censored by another company (which would be worse) or a government (which would be the most worse situation imaginable in this case).

And the situation about Persona 3 removing the gay joke that I've never heard of before now isn't so bad either considering the message the Persona games are trying to tell.

So not every situation involving "censorship" is worth whining about, but some of them are, especially if it involves something that I like, like what happened with the cancelation of Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth Collection's western release.

It sounds like you're describing the most basic of remasters. Remakes tend to improve the writing here and there, add quality of life mechanics, etc. as well as updating graphics. Even Super Mario RPG remake had both new and modified dialogue as well as some changed character names. I would argue the goal of a good remake is to overall improve and modernize every aspect while leaving the central plot/gameplay/etc. essentially the same. Changing some lines here and there is not changing the story, it can just be improving or modernizing the game.

Also this isn't counting when the creator themselves might have grown and understand more. Like, we have more knowledge of things compared to even a decade ago and so on.

Like... a Remake might also be a chance for the dev / creator to make things better in their own vision imo.

I do genuinely think unless like...the original release of X game is some super important all time favorite of yours, it doesn't even make sense for someone to care about minor examples of this? Like I'd at least focus on the ones that actually stand out? That's why my attention goes to Tokyo Mirage Sessions, because that one is clearly a negative on the story. (though even then, as much because of how they changed it as them changing it at all)

I also only say bare minimum about this sort of thing anymore because even as someone with a genuine interest in this sort of thing and a dislike of lazily editing art because they're scared of backlash or the ESRP or Sony (Sony are worthless hypocrites with what they allow on their storefront), beyond any dislike I have for the vibes of the minor backlashes that pop up, it rarely stands out as substantial enough for me to care. It will probably never be as bad as it used to be back in the 80s and 90s. And there is not a real audience that will change that unless it does get that bad. That's just factual, like the amount of people who were gonna buy it and now won't, is, and will always be, until it DOES get that bad, completely insubstantial. I have zero doubt about this.

Like beyond anything else...like make complaints of substantial things? Things that people will care about? Or the 8 billion other things to complain about in games? I just think that's more useful and productive and enough times, less redundant.

@VoidofLight
People who hate don't need a reason or a video game. And anyone who forms their opinions based on a video game is probably a child anyways. I've never played a game and some fictional character spat out a line, and I was like, yeah, i'm gonna believe that now. Anyone who does that, their opinions are going to blow and change like the wind. If it's not a video game, it's gonna be something else. Who cares what they believe. Editing out a distasteful line isn't going to suddenly funnel their opinions in line with what you think they should be. If they're stupid enough to form opinions on random lines in a video game you're gonna have to police everything they do for their entire life. I really don't think there's many people out there like that. Most people whether they agree or not, don't hate and find mocking others in bad taste regardless.

You have the right to be offended or not be offended, I was just explaining that I choose to not be. That's not a condemnation for anyone who does.

And yeah the children thing i agree. The game is better without it. The problem is that's a rare situation. It worked out for the better in that particular instance. But then I look at a dozen other games where they're just covering cleavage, removing items, changing story, etc etc over trivial stuff.

There's really no perfect solution, all I know is I'm tired of having my old fashioned pipes removed and blur fields covering cleavage.

@JaxonH The thing is that while people who don't hate shouldn't need a reason or video game to confirm those biases, they often still look towards them for that. Why do you think bigots are upset whenever homophobic content gets removed from a game- even when the creator worked on the remake and acknowledged it was distasteful? I've seen so many people use transphobic jokes or archetypes in stories as justification for why I shouldn't have rights as a human being. I've seen countless people applaud Atlus for being part of the "Cool club" because of being "based" by including homophobic jokes in their games.

Removing the content in a remake isn't really censorship- but it is my belief that unless a piece of media is using a slur or archetype to make a point against bigotry as a whole- or to portray the era that story is taking place within, then it shouldn't be in that piece of media. Especially if the product was a result of a translation error- like the ending of Disc 1 for the original FF7, where the localization made Tifa call Barret the R slur over and over again because he was being slow when running up the stairs.

@VoidofLight
Idk, you seem to be focused on one specific game and instance. I'm talking about censorship in general. I get that you're happy about that one game and all but there's really nothing more to say about that. The larger issue is it's happening to dozens of games I'm interested in every year. Often it's just a nuisance and nothing I really care about one way or the other, but it's starting to encroach more and more upon things I do care about.

There is definitely overcompensation by the radical PC evangelists. When a grandfather pipe gag item is deemed "offensive" and removed, we have a real problem.

And Nintendo Treehouse in the Wii U era... that was on a whole other level. It's like they believed they were the actual game developers, or perhaps they wanted to re-establish Nintendo of the 90's in the green blood era, Idk. I'm just glad that is behind us.

BTW I just got the Genki portable battery which has magnet side and its amazing. Sticks super hard to the magnet ring on back of Switch 2. Didn't get the case but that battery is fire.