ottoecamn

@AlienX @SalvorHardin no, that's pretty in character for Omega. if you pay attention to his dialogue in Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog, he very much loves fighting and destroying things and has a lot of fun doing so.

06 was the only time he was completely serious. the only lines we had from Omega in these shorts were "I call dibs" and "I wanted to destroy it", both are pretty in-line with his personality.

Yeah... unless there's an actual NDA, somebody is gonna snitch.

@AstroTheGamosian yes, not only that, Blackrock is one of the main responsible entities for DEI (with Larry Fink being very open about it in that one interview where he talks about "forcing behaviours"), encouraging people to hire based on superficial characteristics like race, gender, and sexual identity in order to increase their ESG score and get more funding.

As @martynstuff mentioned, Im not too worried since Nintendo has means to protect themselves from hostile takeovers. And between Saudi Arabia and Blackrock, I much rather have the former owning shares than the latter. (I remember reading somewhere that Nintendo actually bans Blackrock from investing in them).

@Daniel36 All good mate! I appreciate we can disagree without animosity!

I'll say this (and I think we might've found some common ground here actually), I do agree that localizers SHOULD have a limited amount of creative liberty, there are such things as jokes, local expressions, metaphors, and song lyrics that simply don't translate, and I'm certainly not against reworking a lines to sound natural as long as they're not altering the original content or information being conveyed.

I gave Fire Emblem Engage as a bad example because it goes out of its way to completely change what characters are saying (and from what I hear Eiyuden Chronicles isn't much better), but one example that came under certain scrutiny recently that I actually defend is Unicorn Overlord. The game is a medieval fantasy, and thus, the localizers opted to make the dialogue more flowery and sophisticated, like you'd see in most western fantasies, but (as far as I know) they didn't do that thing where they altered personalities, or completely changed the lines into something completely different from the original, They just delivered it in a way that they believed would feel natural to the setting. That's something I'm completely fine with.

Another Example is actually from the game and character my Profile pic is from, in the Senran Kagura Series, Shiki is a Gyaru who learned speak English so she sprinkles some English lines here and there. Gyarus are a type of fashion sub-culture popular among young girls in Japan, so her manner of speech was adapted into an American Valley Girl (which is the closest equivalent to a Japanese Gyaru, even though it's not exactly the same), and her English lines were changed to French, since it wouldn't make sense to keep her foreign language lines in English when that's the language the game was being translated into.

Ultimately, The main thing I require is that the original intent be preserved. There is a time and place for artistic liberty but don't have a guy hold up an Onigiri and tell me it's a Jelly-filled Donut.

@SoIDecidedTo basically, yes.
Star Wars Outlaws was a massive failure, taking an entire month to reach 1 million copies sold (which is great for an indie or small budget game, not so much for a AAA licensed title that costed around $200 - $300 million to make), and that failure was the final nail in the coffin for Ubisoft's stock to plummet, and its investors start the talk about the company going private. they are terrified of what AC Shadow's failing would cause. hence why they're delaying it to try to make some last minute adjustments.

@Daniel36 I wasn't trying to sound condescending. I do find your interpretation negative, but I didn't mean that as a disrespect towards you

That's what I meant is that I don't think the mindset of "someone somewhere by be offended by this dialogue and/or content therefore we must change it" is a healthy one for creative works. It'd basically create an environment where the creators have to constantly walk on egg shells, and when you try to create something that appeals to everyone, you end up appealing to no one. And in the context of localization, it's disrespectful to the original author because it's not the localizer's story to change, and the fact that they so readily and shamelessly go around changing lines they don't personally agree with is precisely why many people lost their respect for the profession.

@Paraka it was definetly a factor. And of the Endymion report is to be believed, they actually DID have a fictional japanese male protagonist to go along the female one and allegedly, he was even modeled already, But the idea to replace him with Yasuke came about in 2020 after the BLM protests. And trying to change your project in order to ride a sociopolitical trend is typically not a very good idea.

Specially when you consider that, in this effort to make their game mode diverse, now we have a big foreigner going around killing Japanese people, which only served to add to how short sighted and tone deaf their decision making was.

@jojobar well AC historically has been known to adapt the cultures and time periods of it's settings pretty faithfully. with people saying their depiction of Venice in AC2 to be so beautifully recreated that it belonged in a museum. And Shadows showed itself to be very sloppy, and very incompetent in its depiction of Feudal Japan to the point that it was raised as a point of concern in Japanese Parliament.

Even leaving the matter of Yasuke aside, they had really amateurish and frankly stupid mistakes of the sort that you wouldn't see in past games:
Like having events that happen in different seasons take place all at once (like cherry blossom and rice crop harvesting, also a rice field next to a river, which wouldn't happen as it'd flood the field), Chinese Architecture being spotted, using the flag of a modern-day Reenactment group without their permission, making a promotional figure using a one-legged Torii gate (the only one in existence is monument to the victims of the Nagasaki bombing in WW2), and another promotional stand using an ebay-bought sword from One Piece.

Ultimately, through sheer incompetence, they managed to piss a country that not only is one of the main hubs of gaming in the world, but also one that is traditionally very proud and protective of their history. to the point they had to issue an apology in their japanese twitter account, and cancelled their TGS appearance last minute, so I'd say it's a lot deep than just a usual case of toxic gamer talk.

as they say, you get what you deserve.

if anything, going Private at least would give Ubisoft the chance to change itself for the better. not that I think they'd be able to.

Wish him all the best in his future projects! Ubisoft very clearly didn't deserve him!

@Kingy it doesn't.
The context and the message is still exactly the same, but a lot of websites are trying to use this statement (which, let's face it, was probably forced from above, cuz it doesn't make sense to scrub an entire interview over a single mistranslated word) to completely invalidate the point about censorship.

@Daniel36
Yeah... I respectfully completely disagree with everything you just said. And I find that mentality extremely negative.

In the example I gave, for that character, who is an attractive woman constantly talking about her own beauty and proud of her figure, being concerned about weight gain is perfectly natural and in character, the idea that a certain character isn't allow to talk about a certain topic because someone somewhere might be offended is asinine. It's literally changing art and stifling creativity (ironically, this is something Shuntaro Furukawa himself spoke out against when Sony's new censorship policy was being implemented and he wanted to make clear Nintendo would not impose on what third partied can and can't publish).

People who have an issue with being overweight aren't gonna magically feel better about themselves because they removed a line about a character being concerned about her own weight from a game. And this goes for any other taboo topic.
Thus I'll reiterate, it's not the Job of the localizer to alter the original script. It doesn't matter if the culture being translated for has different sensibilities, because the foreign product was made with the values and sensibilities of its country of origin, and that should be respected.

these are fantastic, I love the lore continuity by bringing in a younger GUN commander (with the Archie name "Abraham Tower" basically being confirmed canon with Maria calling him Abe), and Rouge making Shadow go to Sonic's Birthday Party, justifying his presence in Generations. Ian Flynn is just built different to be able to make everything connect so naturally like that!

but DAMMIT THESE ARE TOO SHORT!

@MegaVel91 I'd like to add to that as someone who didn't grow up in an english speaking country and got exposed to lot of localized american products.
The job of a localizer is (or at least should be) to convey the author's intentions in a new language in the best possible way. there IS some creative liberties that have to be taken (like when a character is portrayed to have some regional accent, or in cases of song lyrics, jokes, or slang), but ultimately, it's not the job of the localizers to "rewrite" the work, completely changing a phrase to be about something completely different, or changing a character's personality.

The only reason the localization discourse became so toxic and why some people take it too far with the accurate translation thing is because WAAAAAY too many American localizers have been doing the later rather than the former, and that's undeniable.

Heck, my first language is Portuguese, and when I started learning english, I'd watch movies or shows with subtitles, Now I'm trying to learn japanese and it's really freaking distracting when I chose to play a game in the japanese language with english text (a VERY recent example is Fire Emblem Engage), and I can clearly tell that what I'm hearing and what I'm reading aren't remotely the same thing. (One example that always comes to my mind is a support talk where Rosemary is originally worried about gaining weight from eating too many cakes, yet the localization says she's embarrassed about making a silly face while eating. I don't know how anyone can defend that type of crap with a straight face.)

even if the word is Puritan and not Sex Education, that doesn't take away the rest of what was said in the interview. it's still Crystal clear that the censorship happened, they don't like it, and the fault is the west.

This reeks of some sort of cover-up, you don't scrub an entire interview because a single word was mistranslated.

@TheDragonDAFan I don't think we're gonna see any of those, since those games are completely unrelated to Shadow. (I know Frontiers isn't either, but it's the most recent game in the series so that's probably why Chaos Island is in there),
It does seem we're getting Westopolis level, which makes sense, it'd be weird if the Shadow campaign skipped on a level of Shadow the Hedehog, specially if Black Doom is the main antagonist.

Ah he'll yeah! There was th concern that this was only gonna be a few levels, but if it's roughly thr dame length as Sonic's campaign, and WITHOUT classic Sonic, that's fantastic news!

Is sad but not surprising that, even with the creators coming out, and explaining in no uncertain terms "we didn't want to make these changes, we think they're stupid. But we've been told that we have to", there's still people on these comments defending thr blatant tampering of their vision.

@BlublacMH no, it hasn't. All that's happened is that certain groups with very extreme views weaseled their way into positions of power and now try to dictate what is and isn't allowed.

Neither the creators nor the consumers wanted any of these changes. And this interview has made it crystal clear that whoever it is at Square Enix's american branch that has been feeding these lies that "this is what westerners want" to the Japanese creators, they need to be found and fired.

@DreamlandGem ah, appreciated!
Apologies for bringing up something completely unrelated, I really didn't know the proper channel to ask.

@JohnnyMind yeah, I feel ya. It's kind of a hard choice to make, now it's been made clear that neither the audience nor the creators themselves want these types of changes (whether it's the censorship or the "type A and B" instead of male and female).
Ultimately, the only way this can be fixed is if the rot inside the American branches of companies like square is weeded out, (since they are the ones feeding the narrative that America has narrow and strict regulations, when that's a complete lie) but that's easier said than done.

It's up to each person really, I chose not to get the game (or, if I get it, it'll be either used or at a discount) because I dont want censored games on my shelf, but i don't blame anyone for still wanting it.

If you haven't played Dragon quest and wants to though, DQ11 is an easy recommendation! Excellent game.

I really liked the demo! Gotta pick it up some time.

I know it's off topic but I don't know where else to comment this.

Ain't y'all gonna report on that Yuji Horii interview at TGS?

You know, the one where he addresses why certain changes had to be made in DQ3 Remake?

Is it even legal to sue for patents filed after the release of the competing product? This seems kinda illegal to me.

@OwenGamer22 I'm kinda in thr same boat, I do really wanna pick this up, but the censorship is a deal breaker. I might get it used down the line (it's not liket he switch is lacking games to play).

I brought up Romancing Saga 2 in my initial comment cuz, from what I've seen, none of the designs seem to have been toned down (probably because its a more niche title that isn't big enough to get the attention of the ethics department/consultation companies/censorship Square associates with. I didn't care much for it in the dirext but the demo really turned me around on it.

@the_beaver kind of a disingenuous characterization.

Nobody is gonna be complaining about peach being covered up in a mario game, what most people are against is the censorship of games from the past made for the sake of people who probably wouldn't buy the game regardless (one example is censoring cleavage in female designs, like the female form is something to be frowned upon, but another is what Capcom is doing with the dead rising remake, removing line from a war veteran about communism, making one of the many psychopaths in that game white when he was originally Asian, or removing the "erotica" rating which was an optional type of bonus points you could get in the original).

It's more of a matter of respecting the original vision and not having american sensibilities forced in Japanese made products (which is something that HAS been happening, with the people behind it not even hiding it).

@DripDropCop146 rhats fair, if it doesn't bother you, go for it.
In my case, I'm sick and tired of seeing this happening. Specially when it comes to historic revisionism and altering products from the past for the sake of an audience that doesn't exist.

still censored. keeping me money.

looking forward to Romancing Saga 2 (played the Demo and was very impressed)

Batman and Shadow eh.....
....
SHADMAN?!! D:

@Kisame83 ooh boy, where to even begin.

You really gonna throw the "modern audience" argument? The modern audience games like Dustborn and Corcord were made for? The one Disney is desperately trying to chase with Star wars and their live action remakes that fix "problematic elements" of the originals? How's that going for them? How about Koie Tecmo? Wanna look at how much their sales for Dead or Alive 6 boomed after they decided to tone down the game's sexuality "for a modern audience" despite DoA5 being the most successful game I the series just years before?

The modern audience doesn't exist. All you do when uou try to chase it is remove elements people in your fnadom enjoyed and getting nothing in return. And I guarantee you this all stems from the west.
There's not a single person out there who's gonna look at the bikini armor with shrots and a shirt under and say "I wasn't gonna buy this game before but now I will!", while there's A LOT of people aren't gonna take this gutted version.

Nintendo had the right idea with Bayonetta 3, giving people the option to turn off her clothes vanishing during wicked weaves, and most people would be more than happy with a toggle, But they don't wanna make it optional.

@the_beaver buddy, I got over 100 games on my backlog, and I despise censorship. At the end of the day, games are entertainment and the Japanese ones in particular have been targeted by nonsensical censorship from the west.

So me, and other people are choosing to vote with our wallets. I'm not gonna lose sleep over not playing a single game.

@Kisame83 it's precisely that mentality that emboldens the people censoring games to keeping pushing further and further (just look at the Dead Rising remake, they changed an asian character into a white one because he's a psychopath, removed the fact that the soldier guy mentioned communism, and removed the "Erotica" rating, which was an actual way of earning points in the game). Heck, 2 of my favorite gaming franchises ever (Dead or Alive and Senran Kagura) are not DEAD because of this garbage that y'all keep supporting.

At this point, there's enough good games out there that DON'T capitulate to censorship. I much rather give my money to them, and if that means I'll miss out on some good games, so be it. it's not like I don't have a massive backlog to play through. And if don't think these types of changes are that big a deal, the least you can do is ask why they're even being made in the first place.

if there's ever a reason to lose faith in humanity, it's the fact that Outlaws is number one.

@bobrocks95 you know it wasn't him because there's no way in hell he would've approved putting pants and a shirt under the female warrior's bikini armor.

I don't care if you think I'm petty or childish for this, but putting the shirt under the female warrior's Bikini armor is unbelievably insulting.

It's such a digustingly lazy attempt at censorship, nobody would realistically wear that. not to mention Toriyama himself would never approve of this.

I really hate to be such a downer, but I'm just sick and tired of these types of changes and I can't really bring myself to support games that do this type of revisionism anymore. (and to all the people who say "why do you care? it's no big deal" well, if it wasn't a big deal, they shouldn't have changed it). at least Romancing Saga looks promising.

thanks Square, you just saved me some money.

@N00BiSH mate, your ascribing emotions to the me that simple don't have.
It's just a matter of principle for me: you censor a re-release of a game, I don't buy it. Simple as that.

Had they actually gone back and restored the removed dialogue in a patch, I would've given them the credit for it and even consider picking it up. But they chose not to, so they're not getting my money. I'm not going to compromise on my principles.

Rewarding behavior you support with while punishing behavior you condemn is a basic thing to do, specially when it comes to products.

I do respect them for not censoring the following games, but as the saying goes, trust is hard earned and easily lost. And a developer that responds to the backlash by saying, and I quote directly, “we forgot all about them when we first posted this FAQ! (Refering to the FAQ where they said nothing would be cut)” isn't doing a lot to earn back that trust.

And if spreading that information so people who may not have been aware of their actions eith the previous game can have that information and do with it as they please, then sorry, but I'm not sorry.

@N00BiSH I'm not bitter nor miserable, I never played Sam and Max before, but always had a passing interest. After all they did, they guaranteed they wouldn't get my business. I got more than enough to play anyway.

I don't tolerate censorship, specially not when it's made in secret, I just felt like commenting because I saw the headline in case someone else who doesnt like censorship has an interest in these games but isnt aware (then they can make that decision for themselves), before going back to not thinking about this game again.

And no. "They censored it but only a little bit" isn't an excuse that's gonna fly".

I was excited for these when the first remastered got announced but after it got revealed that they not only censored some jokes but also BLATANTLY lied about it (saying nothing would be cut or censored prior to the release), I'm not touching any of these games.

Type moon been on fire lately, first we get the Tsukihime and Mahoyo remakes, then Fate/Stay Night AND Hollow Ataraxia get official English releases and the first time ever, Now this?
Fate bros eating good.

@Lightsiyd it is. The original was a 3d beat em up created as a collaboration between Suda51 (of No more Heroes fame) and James Gunn. It's a really fun game.

@_Figo_ did they ever patched Symphonia?

My favorite tails of game!

I might pick this up but I'm very disappointed the western cover art is censored. does anyone know if it's only in the trailers?

@Darthmoogle yeah. I feel like this game does pretty much everything right, the twist to the boards makes it distinct from mario Party, and he minigames are fun in their own right, there's just not enough of them.

The only thing this game is really missing is more minigames.

for me it's
1) Off the Hook (Marina HARD carries)

2) Squid Sisters (I didn't have a Wii U but I respect the OGs)

3) Deep Cut (I don't like their designs. I never got over how hideous to look at Frye in particular it. Shiver is kinda whatever and Big Man is the only good one).

@Samalik that's why I said ALMOST unanimous. People had criticisms which is fair, but the reception was widely positive

as for why I believe he could do it, He was in charge of writing the comics since 2006, and managed several stories happening in different points at once, he knows how to make world building and create a dense story with many moving parts.

@Samalik not at all. Man knows about Sonic lore more than anyone. Knows how to create hype and emotional moments, and been proving himself the best for the job when writing sonic, and now that he wrote Frontiers and it got almost unanimous praise online for its story, I can't think of a better person for the job.