Topic: The PlayStation Fan Thread

@Anti-Matter I wouldn't call Atelier particularly fanservicey, there's shades of that but it's hardly a Neptunia or Senren Kagura, and it always seemed very popular with women, as far these sorts of franchises go, with several spin-offs aimed exclusively at that demographic.

If you're interested in hot muscular dudes, have you given otome games (dating sims aimed at women) a try? There's a veritable mountain of them on Vita and PSP. They don't have much in the way of fanservice - the most you'll get are shirtless boys, which you seem to be cool with. They're certainly more much more chaste than your average print romance novel.
Ones I've enjoyed include Norn9 and Piofiore no Banshou.

Some of the DLC outfits are 100% fan service, but I think the series is trying to have much less fanservice in recent years than it used to. I assume part of this is the devs realizing the player demographics is not what they thought it was.

@FishyS Women were always among the main target markets for the series - part of the reason a female protagonist was chosen was the increasing number of women playing games in Japan during the PS1/N64 generation.

Personally I don't mind swimsuit costumes and such. I find them rather gaudy and off-putting, and would prefer cuter/goofier alt costumes, but they're easy enough to ignore if they're not your thing.

@FishyS Really? Because, from an outside perspective, the Ryza games look WAY more fanservicey by default than other ones I've seen people play.

@InnerSound I've seen a lot of internet debate on this question but I've never seen the company itself comment so I don't know. But there was definitely a lot of outcry about the fan service a few years back.

@Ralizah Honestly, it's mostly just inserting random swimsuit outfit options.

@FishyS Certainly the fanservice eg swimsuits is shooting for a male otaku demographic, but a significant female audience is undeniably part of the series's DNA.
Here's a passage from a Famitsu interview with Atelier director Shinichi Yoshiike (translated by myself):
"When we were developing Atelier Marie in '96 and '97, manga aimed at girls were becoming super popular, including with men. The Sony Playstation was also attracting more female gamers than ever before. We made the protagonist a woman in hopes of appealing to both male and female players; in the end, about half of game's fans were women"

@InnerSound Neat. I'm curious if it is still half and half or if it has tilted. I don't know many men who play the series.