Xenoblade Chronicles X Fans Are Once Again Discussing The Game's 'Censorship'

The first tweet is incredible stupid because she's simply wearing a different outfit in the Wii U screenshot

There are more than enough revealing outfits in the western release of XCX (including that one seen in the tweet) which will most likely be in the Switch version too

People really love to moan about non-issues.

Do we have to draw attention to how pathetic and toxic certain elements of the Xenoblade fandom are?

I mean, it's not like any of this actually matters in the slightest.

Possibly no breast size slider? That’s it, now I’ll have to give this game a 5318008 out of 10.

I think the lack of a boob slider is a big nothing burger. If they restore it, great. If they don't, it's really no big loss. The only other 'censorship' is taking out bikini armor for a character who is canonically 13 years old.

It makes sense to start with the Western version of the game because it had the DLC integrated and the bug fixes and such. To be honest this is TMS#FE all over again. The game is excellent and anyone trying to drum up controversy needs some serious help.

How am I going to goon now?

If your biggest problem in life is the amount of skin being covered up in a game I have no sympathy for you. There are plenty of other places to look at the female form should you wish to. The game will play the same way with or without cleavage.

If you’re that invested in a boob slider then you have some other stuff going on with you.

Anyone who claims this censorship isn't worth getting the game is a literal pervert. My opinion on the game wouldn't have changed with or without these features, but this says more about the people making the fuss than the game itself.

I have waited too long (a year) to play this game for me to care or for this to keep me from buying it honestly lmao.

Though I thinks it’s fine if people having an issue with the changes…..as long as those said issues have nothing to do with Lin as I think those are all positives.

@AfroMario Personally, I don't agree with X being the best place to start. I absolutely loved the original on Wii and was very hyped for X from it's reveal up till it came out. I bought it at launch and played it for a lot of hours but i just could not get into it. I tried again a few months later and had the same experience.

My experience with X put me off the series to the point I have never bothered with any of the sequels. If you want to try the series ,I would definitely recommend starting with the remastered original. It is way more structured than X and had me hooked from the opening scenes.

Haha, called it.

I just want to be perfectly clear that the problem people have is that a 13 year old girl can't be made to ware a bunny sex costume. Just let that sink in.

It's not even about "skin". In Japan, the "bunny suit" has no real sexual connection, given Play Boy wasn't really a thing (1), unlike the West were it's an overtly sexual symbol.

So they made the bunny suit in the west into more of a bunny costume, because the idea of having a 13 year old being sexualized didn't sit well with NOA.

There is one other minor change, but this is where the majority of discourse is happening.

I also have to point out, again, that DISCRETION is not CENCORSHIP. Censorship is when an outside body, generally a government, forces changes. NOA is the Western publisher and IP rights holder. They have every right to choose what goes into the game they are publishing, or refuse to publish any game with content that doesn't align with their values.

In fact the only possible censorship in situations like this is when the people upset they don't get play sexy dress up with a child try to force the IP holder to change things back to the way THEY want it, as they are trying to take away the publishers right to control and moderate their own content. That's censorship.

1 - Guess who the first, and to my knowledge only, company to hold the right to distribute Play Boy products and create new products using the Play Boy name in Japan?

Nintendo. No, seriously.

“Ah, FML.”

Says the person who can’t have their adjustable mammalian protruberences.

Gotta admit the removal of the boob slider is still a strange decision, it's hard to argue that the removal of a character customisation option is a good thing. I'll probably be playing as a guy character anyway so idrc lol

Even people who should know it better (like the author of the article above) call it "censorship" and cheer on hype. But you're oh so right, @HeadPirate.
People who get upset with things like that have a problem. But it has nothing to do with gaming or censorship.

It's a 13 years old girl. There shouldn't be any discussion here...

Oh no, the game is the ever so slightly censored version, what a shame.

The only real loss would be the breast slider for those who want to have a more representative character to play as, but even with it's exclusion that's barely a negative

it was a stupid thing for people to complain about in 2015, it's a stupid thing for people to complain about now.

Some people need to learn the definition of words.

Discretion or moderation is the rights holder / publisher making a choice and saying “I/we won’t do that here" either because it doesn't fit with the company's image or they wish to align with cultural sensibilities or notions of taste

”Censorship is someone saying “you can’t do that anywhere” before or after threats of either violence or government intervention

@Coxula

Generalizations are dangerous. If you grew up in a country where Play Boy isn't a thing, it's very likely you don't understand the problem and it looks like some random change. You don't associate the costume with anything sexual, so putting it on the character isn't sexualization. So you might think you are actually pushing back at a completely random, unjustified change.

Bunny suits, even on very young characters, are pretty common in Japanize media because it's not a sexual costume. It a leotarded and ears. I mean, even Dragon Quest has that. I do not think that all 150 million people in Japan "have a problem".

I just think NOA has the right to change things to reflect the different sensibilities in the countries they publish in. Sometimes I even disagree with the changes they make, but I still support their right to make them.

I do think it's odd about the boob slider. Many women out there have a larger chest. It's just reality. To remove it is to deny those that want to make a character closer to how they look and for no discernable purpose. I personally don't much care overall. Just an observation.

@OorWullie Yeah I agree. X is just an offshoot of the main games. Doesn't really make sense to start with the spin-off and odd duck of the series. You won't get a real feel for the series that way.

@HeadPirate: Agree again. But I think the vast majority of people complaining can't be found in Japan.

Erm, just makes me think of Dead or Alive 2 with the age slider in options (age 99 likes bouncing)
But to be honest its a computer game, censorship shouldnt have to be done by the people who make it.
If you are offended, dont play it, easy as that.

looking at things from outside the whole "culture war" mess...

The removal of the slider was a confusing one considering its an option that's very common in character creators both before and after the initial release of xenoblade X with quite a few of examples being franchise more mainstream than Xenoblade was at the time (or even now in some cases) such as Final fantasy XIV and the sims 4.

The lin stuff i could definitely see why it was changed considering the characters age.

while in this case it feels like the changes being in the japan version could be just because it would be easier to use one version as a base (and iirc the US one did have some QOL stuff like unlocking fashion slots from the start) in a few cases it seems like changes are made to japanese re reelases due to changes in how the Japanese ratings board, iirc its the main reason behind the changes to dragon quest IIIs remake and i imagine some of the Lin stuff in Xenoblade X could fall under that (though the slider i cannot see affecting the rating considering again, its not an uncommon slider in character creators)

again looking at the why and the what-for in these kinds of situations a lot of the time it falls outside of the reasons behind a lot of internet discourse

@Ham-n-jam
The character creator as a whole did feel rather limited and while i wouldnt really expect something on the level of dragons dogma or street fighter 6 (or the various wrestling games over the years) it would have been cool to have at least a few more sliders or control over a characters build other than just height.

People DO realize it can be customized, right?

I'm no square or prude but I hate nudity, hentai or otherwise in my games. So many of my shmups are littered with this. I don't even like sex scenes in films. There's so much nudity online, I don't need it in my other media.

Breast size slider sounds like a really dumb fanservice concept, since obviously its main point is not to provide a larger scale of representation rather than to give straight male players bigger boobs to ogle at. There's a reason most RPGs with character customisation haven't included a slider like that. So it if it's not included in the remastered version, that's just a good thing.

I remember this controversy from when the game originally released. On the one hand I do feel like Western culture has gone too far in its aversion to… what do you want to call it… male sexual interests? But at the same time we gotta get clear about what censorship is. Censorship is when a government prohibits something from being created or distributed. Censorship is not when a creator adjust something on their own volition. There is no actual censorship here.

Censorship (or “content moderation”…) is unwelcome to a whole bunch of people for a variety of reasons. It should be called out so people are aware of it and can make informed decisions about whether to buy something.

This particular case is a clear example of censorship / content moderation. We know for a fact that the content was restricted in the original release in US / Europe and this restriction is now in the Japanese re-release. And there may be further changes - TBC.

Whether it’s important to you is your call. For some people it’s important, for some not. Bringing attention to it so that people are aware is a good thing.

Censorship = no buy.
Also, I want remind people that if those things weren't significant, why Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe decided to censor the game, huh? 🤔
Also, why Nintendo is decided to rerelease the censored worldwide version again, like with that Tokyo Mirage game? Japanese fans are gonna be disappointed for sure, and I share this disappointment with them too.

@Mirastrix Unfortunately it's not just Xeno fans. It's gaming fans in general, all with their anime fan cousins.

I feel so, so very tired.

@MSaturn I'm a straight cis man, but I want to see explicitly erotic imagery, I'm not gonna look for it in a serious RPG with a serious plot. Personally, I find it distracting when I'm playing a well-written, dramatic video game, and all of a sudden it's disrupted with fanservice shots of comically large boobs, butts etc. that has nothing to do with the actual plot or characters. (Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the most notorious example of this in the series, but it's not absent from 1 in 3 either.)

Not to mention that such imagery can and will alienate many players who are not straight men, and/or who find the superficial objectification of female bodies to be sexist and offputting. I mean, if you wanna make a game just for horny straight guys, that's your prerogative, but I don't think that's what the XC makers were aiming for, so the fanservice elements in them just feel so stupid.

Give me a new console or at the very minimum a brand new game and I’ll get excited. A game that’s over 9 years old with a metacritic score in the low 80’s is pretty lacklustre. Yawn.

To the people saying rabbit costumes have no sexual connotation in Japan. I used to live up the road from a snack bar where all the staff sometimes wore rabbit costumes to attract customers passing outside. They were not of the all covering onesie variety.

@Polvasti “if you wanna make a game just for horny straight men, that's your prerogative, but I don't think that's what the XC makers were aiming for, so the fanservice elements in them just feel so stupid.”

I think this actually captures the essence of the problem with the changes to content moderation that we’re seeing in recent times (by which I mean the last 5 years or so). Anything aimed at “horny straight men” has become “bad”. But in the real world a very large part of the target audience for video games are straight men who are (sometimes!) horny. And what’s wrong with making **fun** games targeted at them? I mean, like the industry used to?!? The answer is - nothing. Absolutely nothing. It’s not exclusionary - as other games can be targeted other demographics too. But trying to tell what is the main demographic of the video game playing population that what it wants is “wrong” is ultimately doomed to failure. Hence a lot of the turmoil we’re seeing in the industry in recent times.

@TimeGuy Ya know using pornhub as a gocha in these situations comes off as sexually immature, right?

I do not like when someone decides to take out some option for us in games, but honestly : it did not stop me to enjoy the hell of this game on my good old Wii U, and it won't stop me to do it on Switch.

Such a great game. Can't wait to start it again !

@MSaturn Censorship is not a government exclusive thing. Artistic censorship has caused a lot of things to change to the point of making the work come off as disingenuous.

@Mirastrix calling them toxic for having a valid concern isn't really a good faith hill to stand on...

@Samalik

And the people yapping about this "censorship" are what exactly?

@jamess "But in the real world a very large part of the target audience for video games are straight men who are (sometimes!) horny. And what’s wrong with making **fun** games targeted at them?"

I'm not saying making games with content targeted for them is a problem in every case, but it is problematic in this specific case. The XC games are serious, philosophical sci-fi RPGs that deal with issues of power, equality and personal autonomy, and sex and sexuality are not really important themes in them. So the inclucion of sexist objectification of women in them is at best extraneous and distracting, and at worse it contradicts with the actual themes of the games.

I have no problems with this. I wouldn’t have cared if the costumes came over or not, but a boob slider is in such poor taste that it would have made me less eager to get it.

@Polvasti “The XC games are serious, philosophical sci-fi RPGs that deal with issues of power, equality and personal autonomy, and sex and sexuality are not really important themes in them.”

No they’re not. Yes - they have elements of that. But there’s a whole lot of lighter moments and fun in them. Is sex taboo now or something? And who are you or I to tell the developers / creators of the game what should be in their games - it’s up to them.

Shakes head. Really? I'm going to buy it anyway no matter the costume and customisation stuff changing or no. Or being the Jap version or no.

**chuckle**

@Polvasti How does it contradict?! You said it yourself. They are philosophical games, especially on the meaning of existence. Therefore, they don't detract by having a pair of boobies, making the argument all the more invalid.

Not to mention you said something like this:
"Not to mention that such imagery can and will alienate many players who are not straight men, and/or who find the superficial objectification of female bodies to be sexist and offputting."

As if normal women are going to look at a character from these games and feel offended. FFS, even the character designer of Pyra and Mythera is a woman.

"I mean, if you wanna make a game just for horny straight guys, that's your prerogative, but I don't think that's what the XC makers were aiming for, so the fanservice elements in them just feel so stupid."
This game is aiming for classic mecha action, which yes, does mean these outfits are on theme, whether you like it or not.

@DiamondJim

84% from 89 critic reviews

@SBandy1 people who want an honest work to buy. Is that too much to ask?

@JohnnyMind yeah a world without breast sliders doesn’t bear thinking about does it.

@JohnnyMind "It's sad to see that so many people still don't realize where (self-)censorship will bring us if we don't go against it no matter if it starts with something small and/or that doesn't matter to us personally despite history repeatedly teaching us this lesson..."

What you call self-censorship is something that happens all the time in commercial art and entertainment. If you're making a commercial video game (or a movie or a TV series etc.), you're not like some artist freely painting whatever their subconscious tells them on a canvas, you're always gonna think about what your target audience might like and dislike and adjust your product accordingly. The inclusion of a boob slider in the original Japanese game was obviously a concession to the horny straight male demographic, just like the exclusion of it in the Western version was a concession to people who find such concepts stupid or offensive. So this kind of "censorship" is not gonna bring us to some awful dystopia, it's always been a part of commercial media.

@TimeGuy Suggestive outfits ≠ pornography

I'm all for it, remove everything that can be interpreted as sexy or hot. Make everyone gender-less potatoe people and cover them 100% up from top to bottom. 👍

We need to make a list of every persons kink and what they find attractive and force developers to remove, cover or uglify said things. Give large trigger warnings if it must occur (after being vetted by a committee of course). Make gaming safe again! ✊️

(I'm sorry for the use of hand-emojis, I know a percentage of the population finds hands sexy...oof I'll try to better myself in the future).

On a more serious note - Can't wait to play this one, it's been an embarrassing blindspot in my Xenoblade experience. The wait is almost over. 😃

@jamess "Is sex taboo now or something? And who are you or I to tell the developers / creators of the game what should be in their games - it’s up to them."

Sex should obviously not be a taboo, but sexuality can be depicted without being sexist or objectifying women. (XC 3 was actually mostly really good about this with just some minor misteps.) Of course the creators have the right to do whatever they want, just like I have the right to point out that sexism and objectification go against their themes of equality and personal autonomy.

@Synthatron_Prime here's the thing, though: would you rather deny certain women the ability to adjust their character (which, the female gamer community is already a minority to begin with), or have this games reputation ruined by a bunch of perverts on the internet?

@LuXifer Just make every character unreal engine guy at that point!

This news should not be here. Mainly, because this is a cheap way to make clicks out of controversy. Secondly, both images represent two different outfits and you can change stuff Emma wears before getting to NLA.

Stop arguing in the comments people, game will be great.

It's controversies like these that make me glad I live in the real world. It is NOT OK to want to dress up a child inappropriately. End of discussion.

@Polvasti “ Of course the creators have the right to do whatever they want, just like I have the right to point out that sexism and objectification go against their themes of equality and personal autonomy.”

And this is where we get into the territory of telling people there’s a “right” way to do sex, rather than what people want or find attractive, or how the creators want to portray it. This approach is embedded in censorship. Hence why many people reject it.

@Zenibeans Define inappropriate here, because it becomes weirder when you realize a bunny outfit covers up more than what you probably saw this summer at the beach or the local pool...

@Friendly: More like 55378008.

Pixels people. It's pixels not pornography lol.

If you're living in the west then of course you're still gonna get your western version with everything that use to come with it. Not sure why this is even an issue.

@JohnnyMind

Honest question:

One of the first things I ever wrote that wasn't garbage was an article on, shocker, the unjustified negative perception of Marxism. It was published in the York and University of Toronto news papers.

It wrote it before I was sensitive to things like pronoun usage, so it almost exclusively used male pronouns even when the reference is gender neutral. Also when I discussed the LGBT+ community I used language that, while at the time was consider sensitive, is out of date.

10 years ago I was asked to re-submit it and do a talk on it. I changed it to correct both those problems. When I gave a talk on it at a Japanize university, I removed a part where I talked about World Word 2 because obviously.

Do you think this is "dangerous" self-censorship? Do you feel that other people should be allowed to force me to present my work in it's original form, even if I no longer agree with that work? Should some government body forbid me from changing the content when I present it in different countries, even if I feel it doesn't change the overall message?

And keep in mind the important part here is that I'm the RIGHTS HOLDER, not that I'm the creator. If I sold this piece to someone else to publish or created it on commission, I would give up creative control to a degree agreed on in the terms of distribution.

Oh no men can’t oogle a 14 year old girl in a bathing suit. What is the world coming to. By all means creepos please don’t buy the game. I will be focusing on riding my skell around and beating up monsters…actually playing the game.

It is so frustrating being a human female. Cradle to grave, this species is full of sicko nonsense.

Not this again... I'm 30 years old, I'm well aware that women come in all shapes and sizes (as do men). Why did they even have a breast slider in the original Japanese version if it gets removed in every version after that? It's such an absurd thing to delete from a game, what purpose does that actually serve?

It's obviously not for inclusion, because removing an option is inherently exclusive. People are also attracted to all sorts of things, so it's irritating that breasts keep getting singled out, it's not a good precedent to be setting and unnecessarily demonises a large part of the population.

Yeah great instead of promoting this great game, people in the internet complain about it so that other people not buy it because they think something important was censored...

Nothing will top the original Xenoblade Chronicles for me, but this one comes 2nd. Had a blast with it back in the day. I actually hated 2 and 3.

@jamess You seem to constantly misread what I'm trying to say. I'm not saying there's a "right" way to do sex, what I'm saying is that it depends on the overall tone of the game/movie/series/etc. There is such a thing as internal consistency, and I much prefer stories that keep true to their vision all the way through rather than break it for cheap thrills. I'm similarly critical of, for example, movies with anti-war themes which nevertheless depict warfare as cool and thrilling.

@HeadPirate Based on what you are saying, I assume you work with news and information. Of course that may need updating, it's information that is gaining age of understanding.

I don't think that has as much of a throughline with artistic expression. What one says in their art is one thing, because it is entertainment in the end. And unless there is genuine polish to be had, most artists move on and make something else from there as a result.

The field you are working on is very different from the art field, where an artist is, in ideal scenarios, usually the one who has their hands all over the intended expression. It then becomes a problem if another division takes the work and removes things even though the game was already done. And for a lot of artists, it can erode trust.

@Samalik Nope, not playing ball with you. You can play devil's advocate if you want, but the facts stay the same.

@Polvasti and the games aren't already trying to be true to their vision?

Sometimes I wish the comments allowed me to just put "Lol" and move on.
But I can't, so, uh how about...
Let's not pretend a boob slider was here to be more inclusive to women with different boob sizes when the literal only other slider in the game is height. (Iirc)

Also, and more importantly, I take issue with the idea that XCX is "generally inferior" to the other games. Do people really believe that? Maybe, I wouldn't know. Are those people wrong?
Absolutely.

FYI they learned after the Switch Tokyo Mirage Sessions Japanese refund fiasco. At least they didn’t keep things vague/had confusing screenshots for a version of a game not being sold.

People here want to joke that “it doesn’t matter”, but people should be properly informed of what versions they are buying.

@batmanbud2 Games like Baldur's Gate 3 offer way more customization in many ways and that game does not have a terrible reputation. If the ability to scale realistic chest sizes causes a game to get a bad reputation I think society has way more issues than I suspected.

@Polvasti Not trying to misunderstand you, I’m actually learning about your point of view from your replies - but not getting it right all the time I guess. You’ve clearly thought it through and I get what you’re saying (I think) but for me the sexual elements of the XC games have always there (maybe less so in X, and toned down in 3). For me it’s part of the games - a fun and enjoyable part - that I don’t want to see sacrificed to the modern trend of watering down game content. I don’t agree with you when you say it’s objectifying women - and I think this is probably a difference that explains the differing viewpoints on the games and a lot of other things. It’s not about objectifying women for me - it’s about recognising the female body as a source of attraction - and is good natured fun. I think this is a consistent (and consistently misunderstood) theme in a lot of Japanese entertainment.

@Synthatron_Prime The difference is, obviously, that games like BG3 offer way more customisation options than just boob size and height, so you can create characters with realistically proportioned bodies instead of merely fanservicey ones. That's proper inclusivity.

Also weird seeing all these people here on the hill of “this Japanese Mech Sci-Fi themed game is serious so it shouldn’t have boobs”….as if they are either completely ignoring or completely ignorant of the history of fanservice in Japanese anime/games in the past within the mecha Sci-Fi genre LMAO.

@JohnnyMind what IS your point exactly? Where will ‘censorship’ on these points (haha) bring us?

Because it’s not even censorship at all. It’s a badly needed, conscious decision to remove things that are embarrassingly out of step with reality and the modern world. My wife works at a company where guys can wear any suit they please, while the women wear a stuffy, set in stone uniform. THAT censoring sucks, not a tiny, insignificant omission from a video game.

Also putting aside the genre, weird again people here acting like Xeno series wasn’t full of sexual themes content prior.

XB1, XB2, and XB3 + Xenosaga all had them yet people still played them all the same. I highly doubt the existence of a breast slider or a hot spring costume would have been a deal breaker at this point lol.

I’m more concerned with whether the Western release will include Japanese voice track for those of us who’d want it.
Also, will the entire game be on the cartridge?? Inquiring minds won’t find out till March, I suppose.

@TimeGuy Wanting to see fan-service and/or revealing costumes in general ≠ wanting to have sex.

@Teksetter Did the original release of XB1 on Wii only have English voices in the localization?

XB1 DE has both languages so at least from a precedence point of view the last DE had dual audio and I don’t remember the last time a Monolith game was dub only since the original X localization. I don’t see why they wouldn’t add the JPN voices now even if it has to be via free DLC at worst.

@Samalik

I would consider the work in question a work of artistic expression. It's a long form poem and I wrote it as a pollical statement.

But beyond that, who gets to tell me what is and what isn't art? I have written articles for news outlets that I would consider "art". Do other people get to tell me they aren't art, and then use that to justify subjecting them to different rules?

@JohnnyMind you're comparing a part of a character's story and identity to a boob-slider and a sexy costume for a child. You got to know these aren't the same things. If your point is removing a bunny costume for a 13 year old will lead to LGBT suppression that's wild and kinda loaded.

@JohnnyMind Those two things are not comparable, because it's a matter of what the content that was changed actually is. Positive depictions of trans people in video games and popular culture in general are still very rare, especially in media aimed at all age groups such as a Mario game, so having the original depiction of a trans character properly reinstated in the English remake is a great thing. Whereas popular media in general, and Japanese RPGs specifically, are chock full of fanservicey, sexist depictions of women, so losing one example of such is not a big thing. (And if you're against sexism, it's actually a positive thing.)

@Samalik Sexism is sexism, even in Sci-Fi, my dude in christ

Real question, do you have to be very familiar with the series to play this? I only played Xenoblade 2 and did enjoy it, but never picked up 3.

Censoring it is just dooming it. The consumer wants the game an intended. Not sanitized.

The Censorship Defense Squad coming out full force on this one lol, there's a surprising amount of vitriol in these comments.
Idk why it's so hard to just say "Yeah, that's pretty lame, but this one drawback shouldn't be reflective of the whole game's quality". But nope, the game is BETTER now that they've changed it! So silly, I'll never understand it.

As far as I remember the only things that got the axe in western version of X was the boob slider - which is a stupid thing to remove, that's literally just character customization. And they heavily altered some of Lin's alternate costumes - which is understandable because that character is definitely underage, and its pretty cringe when games try to sex up a kid. But even then, if having these options was the intent of the original developers then it should stay in and you and I can just choose to simply not put the child in a swimsuit.
Look at that, easy solutions to small issues that don't require infringing on someone else's artistic expression to satisfy your sensibilities.

@JohnnyMind

My personal opinion? I hate the changes and think they are not just pointless, but are damaging to feminist ideology. Men in Japan shouldn't be making decisions about how woman in the UK and NA should see their own bodies.

But my belief that NOA has the right to fully moderate the work they publish supersedes that. I defend that right, even though I don't agree with the changes, because as a rights holder and a creative, I know how important that right is.

I respect the idea of giving control to the creator, but what's that look like?

If 10 people worked on the boob slider and were involved in its creative design, should NOA have to ask each of them individually if they approve of the change? What if 5 of them agree and 5 don’t?

What if 5 of them ask NOA to remove it in the Western release because they understand the West is more uptight about things like that and they don’t want to offend anyone?

If I hire someone to write something for my store flyer, clearly starting that I don’t want offensive language, but they use offensive language anyways, should I be forced to publish it as is and irreparable harm my business? Should I be forced to pay someone else for a completely new write up because it’s “censorship” to change their original to remove the thing I told them not to do in the first place?

The problem I always find with “free speech" arguments is that no one takes the time to answer questions like this, and they generally lack suggestions of “rules” that would replace the ones we have now. The consent seems to be that everything should be subjective, just … better somehow.

That means what people are actually saying is that on a case-by-case basis, we should check in with them and find out how they would handle it in that given situation, and then force people to do it that way.

That’s not free speech. That’s despotism.

The current system, that the rights holder has exclusive and unlimited rights to edit the works they own is imperfect, but it's absolutely the best opinion I've ever seen presented.

@__jamiie I find it really disturbing when others want to police what I might think.

@Polvasti “Whereas popular media in general, and Japanese RPGs specifically, are chock full of fanservicey, sexist depictions of women, so losing one example of such is not a big thing. (And if you're against sexism, it's actually a positive thing.)”

I’m against sexism but pro fan-service-y content. You need to lighten up.

@shonenjump86 No, it's completely removed from the numbered entries. The only similarities are superficial things like a couple of races from the original game being present in X. You're good to go.

@HeadPirate
“Men in Japan shouldn't be making decisions about how woman in the UK and NA should see their own bodies.”

Oh it’s men who made the decision is it?

@HeadPirate Sorry if I sound rude, but I honestly don't see how it is art if it isn't coming from a passion to entertain first.

Information is vital, and in places where it needs to be updated for accuracy, it needs to be, because it will be used for reference and perhaps education.
But there's no such thing as "accurate art", especially for all of the fantastical things that Nintendo puts out.

Putting it in single quotes doesn't immediately negate what it is. Any removal of options or alterations from the original is a lesser version, and removing things is definitively a censorship. People who say get over it only say that because this time it's not something they care about. These arguments never reach the real point of the matter and always get gummed up in stupid political proxy fights (like everything nowadays), which is in 2024 we are still in the world of games not having parity when brought overseas.

@Polvasti I don't disagree there on BG3 offering more inclusivity and I'm all for that. But the thing to keep in mind is everyone has sexual preference. Many people prefer smaller breasts to larger. So those people are STILL going to act how they will regardless of a slider. The slider just prevents some.

As has been proven over and over men and women can both be objectified no matter their physical appearance and for any reason. Height is a big thing for some when it comes to sex appeal. Should that slider be taken out too? I just think it's a funny thing to remove when the original creators put it in.

@Synthatron_Prime Indeed if you remove any possible sexappeal you'll end up with a game with rectangles as characters.

Because nobody would call Pong "sexy".

And honestly, what is wrong with sexappeal? It's one of the most natural things not destroyed by humans in this world. Any animal uses sexappeal toward their opposite gender, which is natural and normal. Even for 99% of the human population (otherwise there wouldn't be a human population). But now some people decided that "sex" is bad, and should be banned from all media.

Please tell me: why? I absolutely do not understand it.

Personally, I am glad to hear it. We don't need nearly-naked people to enjoy the games!

I kinda blame the Nintendo World Report. not everyone knows the game has customizable outfits and this is a lot of people's first time seeing Elma. we've seen A LOT of Remasters censoring outfits so you can't blame anyone for being concerned.

My main worries are: Are any of the existing outfits going to be toned down and is the Breast Slider going to be restored? there was absolutely no reason to remove what is a standard slider for customizing a female character from the game. These are fair concerns to have and is very disappointing seeing people so dismissive of that. it's fine if you particularly isn't bothered, but why is it such a bad thing for people to want aspects of the game they liked to be preserved?

Just a reminder that this game still lets you dress everyone up as pornstars. Just not the 13 year old.
So any concern about not getting to have your fan service and eat it, too, is pretty disingenuous.
No boob slider, and the 13yo wears shorts or skirts over or under their bikini bottoms. That's it.

@Samalik
“relating that kind of behavior to what is essentially it's own universe with it's own rules and relaxations is still nuts of a relation and you know it”

They are clearly, CLEARLY, both issues of sexism.

@B3RTAY apologies if I'm jumping to conclusions, but did you actually play the original game on Wii U? Because you seem fixated on bunny outfits seemingly because the article mentioned it, but you're bringing that up nothing else.

Edit: Also, mysteriously omitting the part where I said men and women are treated equally in game.... That's only adding to the suspicions...

@Zaruboggan pornstars is your conclusion.....

really?!

Because I played this game. I saw nothing I'd relate to a pornstar...

@Samalik

You have every right to think it's not art.

You just don't have any right to tell me it objectively isn't art because of your opinion, or suggest art should be treated differently then "not art" when what is art is subjective.

In the literally word, they are very clear rules that are agreed on as to what makes a work of writing "art", or "pros". I'm going to go with that.

I also don't really see how you could argue that a long form poem isn't art, regardless of it's topic. It was an artist decision to not simply write it in pros. Art doesn't just "entertain", it challenges and informs.

Andy Warhol is not entertaining. He's absolutely an artist.

These look like unnecessary changes, but there are more important instances of censorship in the world that gamers should be invested in (none involving games).

@sanderev Who's policing? I was just pointing out my thoughts on the issue.

@sanderev hot rectangles, yes! Another thing that's confusing me about some of this discourse..... Why are some people implying that your created character having larger boobs makes the game about fan service and shoving boobs in your face? From what I recall there were no fan service forced camera angles or moments for your character. I'll admit I didn't play through the entire game but none stick out to me. Also, if those angles or story beats were in there they would apply to a male or non-boob slider character too.

I'm just a bit confused how boob slider = erotic game.

@JohnnyMind

I think we can both agree that we dislike the idea of arbitrary changes to creative works. The only real disconnect I see is that I'm more of a realist. While I absolutely support burning down the system from time to time, I tend not to unless there is a better system we could put up in it's place.

Tear down capitalism and replace it with a Marxist utopia? Yes please. Tear down the system of control over published works and replace it with ... ???. No thanks.

Get back to me when you've got a really solid idea of how to move forward, and I'll most likely support it

That's mostly why I replied to you. Not to suggest that you are fundamentally wrong, but encourage you to think about the edge cases and inform your own opinion a bit more.

@HeadPirate I initially was, but then I misread that you were probably talking about news articles rather than actual poems. by bad, and yeah, that's your prerogative.

Art is still made for the purpose of entertainment first. It can show sides of the human experience that maybe vital no matter how casual, or show something that people don't want to look at but maybe have to, but entertainment and human expression for the sake of it is still the prime intent first and foremost.

But to put things back on topic, the main concern here is the removal of artistic expression from the game by a 3rd party, even in the company. And that's something we don't want.

As far as I know, the western Wii U version only censored the "chest" sliders by removing it and the tone down clothing of one of the characters because she's 13, the rest of the game was left untouched. I think censorship is stupid, but I can live with only those changes.

@Samalik

You need to add "you think" to that second paragraph, while acknowledging that basically every artist on earth disagrees with you. Again, you have every right to an opinion, even an unpopular one. But you should state it as an opinion.

As for the "on topic part", do you have answers for the questions I asked in post 115?

@Samalik Lol bro, you played the game. You know for a fact that several of the outfits you can equip are JoJo levels of ridiculous.

@JohnnyMind the real world has nuance. Absolutism is an immature way to approach anything. Editors are a normal thing in all media. We can be critical of our media as a company can be critical of their own media. Please do not suggest that a sex costume for a 13 year old is equal to LGBT representation. You will not be taken seriously because most people can tell the difference.

@Zaruboggan And people are not allowed to like their stand armors? or want the armors to remain untouched?

That's one of the reasons why I'm harping in this port to restore things. Because at least then I can throw away by Wii U copy in favor of the way it was always meant to be.

@Kingy okay, thanks for the info.

@HeadPirate I'll tell ya this much on 115, the director low key mocked/got defensive over the removal by trying to argue that they should add crotch sliders. So clearly, he was not happy.

So yeah, the whole revision of one's own work doesn't quite apply here. that was likely back when Monolith only had around 50 workers, so you knew everyone had to trust each other to make the best game they could.

From what I remember some of the costumes they had to censor originally are pretty cringy. Kinda wish they'd just redesign them completely or remove em haha.

i hate censorship like any person but i think they made the right call for that one character lin whos 13 and the slider thing not being in the game is not an issue.

@JohnnyMind How far back do you have to go for this era of "used to be"?
Because just off the top of my head, they made changes to Mother 2, Super Mario Kart, Pokemon Red, and Super Mario RPG.
Do you mean, like, the 80s?
I don't personally think every change they made was necessary, but it's hard to deny that NOA's policies haven't had the intended result: Nintendo is synonymous with family friendly across the globe.

@Samalik I'm saying they're still in the game?

@JohnnyMind in the adaptations of Stephen King's It I dont think any included the child-sex orgy. Maybe theres an adaptation out there that did, but that was at least relevant to the plot and had an adult demographic. I'm sure censoring It had the same weight on national policies as Xenoblade Chronicles X. That's my point.

Lin’s outfit being covered up is fine, that is not a hill I’m dying on

Having a customization slider continue to be censored is asinine though. It was originally there in the JP version. In fact, it’s technically in the EN version, the UI component is just removed

And y’all are acting like they aren’t going to censor or change anything else

Oh who am I kidding, y’all are going to excuse those as well, because you need to consume. Don’t ask questions, just consume product. Like pigs at a trough

@Zaruboggan I'm not following

I say this is a win! It’s sad to see how many people skip out on XB2 because of the promiscuous outfits. If censoring a few, honestly unnecessary, features can bring more Xenoblade fans along, then do it.

@a-werewolf I dunno about that. live action and 3D animation don't really have the same level of ethical concern, especially over mere outfits treated with innocence in the game's world compared to what we would have called official CSAM depictions.

So it's not really a stable point to make.

@a-werewolf well said.

You gotta choose your battles, man. Censorship that makes us miss out on story content or even whole games in the West is very uncool, but this is…not that. You’re kind of making a fool of yourself when you post publicly about your personal desire to bimbofy all the female characters and undress the minor.

@JohnnyMind Ah, I understand now. But that's not NOA's decision. That's on the parent company.

@Mrkittyhead “It’s sad to see how many people skipped out on XB2…”

XB2 is the most popular and sold Xenoblade game to date regardless how one personally feels about the game so kind of an odd comment to make even if you want to take the pro censorship side. By that logic even more people skipped out on the other games of the series for various “sad” reasons that are non “fanservice” reasons.

Ironically the fact that XB2 pulled those numbers while being the most “fan-service” of all the Xeno games kind of puts things to perspective that the “sexy stuff” in Xenoblade was never a huge factor for the series success or failure as some people here think.

@JohnnyMind

Nintendo is the Japanese publisher, which means they have finial say on what version gets release there. The fact that they went with this version means this is the one they wanted to release. There is absolutely zero change NOA "bullied" Nintendo into publishing this version even if they didn't want to.

This is why I speak to the edge case of "what if Nintendo has changed their mind". And I mean they clearly have in a lot of cases. They remove things from Japanese only re-releases that have never seen a release outside Japan.

So if you want the original publisher to retain control, there is no problem here. This is the version Nintendo and NOA both want. It's either that or "force" Nintendo to release a version they no longer want to, which you said you didn't want to happen, at least in the case where it was my work.

@HeadPirate “So if you want the original publisher to retain control, there is no problem here. This is the version Nintendo and NOA both want.”

Agreed. And it’s good evidence that Nintendo of Japan’s outlook is becoming “Westernized” - which is a concern for a lot of people.

@Samalik I'm not sure where I lost you, so sorry if this comes off as repetitive:
The only thing the game took out was the boob slider. All the revealing outfits are still accounted for, it's just that the 13yo's have been made to be less revealing for Western markets. Murderess and Elma can still strut around the snowy continent with 90% of their body showing. The game's fan service is still in tact. Arguing otherwise is disingenuous.

Women in real life have a "Breast Slider!"
It is called Implants!

I remember everyone liking the body sliders in the Cyberpunk game!
How/why is this game the exception where it gets/needs to be removed?

@axelhander Yeah, as much as some changes to games can suck, it's frustrating seeing some folks' concern over "censorship in media" begin and end with titillating/inconsequential parts of consumer media that rarely even impacts the greater narrative of a story.

Even entertaining the crusade in a vacuum, it's hard to take "the principal of the matter" seriously when you look closer and it's almost only ever about how a private company opted to make a piece of media [subjectively] a little less "sexy"...

The reason I think the boobslider removal is stupid because it just reinforces this whole unnecessary fetishization head space around certain body parts that should just be perfectly normal and accepted by now imho.

I say that as having no chips in the game, I hate all self insert games equally. One of the main reasons I play JRPGs instead of western ones is actually because I get fleshed out characters instead of having to make one that will act dumb and out of place all the time.

The fact that I have to make a custom character is a way bigger turnoff for me than any customization option removal could be.

Lin is NOT a real child!
Also, she was aged up in the NA version of the game so there still shouldn't be an issue!

@Zaruboggan sorry, I'm taking things 100% honest or I'm not taking it at all. I'm not putting my money down only to continue to get a lesser product when I hoped to have gotten the original in my not-so-naive years this time.
Arguing it's disingenuous is not really excusing the practice. And partly, it begs the question of "if it didn't matter, why remove it?!?!"
No, Even I don't get Lyn's changes either in retrospect even after playing the game.

@Samalik I'm just saying it's "censorship" that goes back to 1990, is relatively successful, and hasn't been the downfall of Western civilization like JohnnyMind is suggesting. But maybe this is just an American perspective. You can see the difference between an inconsequential costume and csam, maybe there's a difference between a costume and LGBT representation.

Shouldn’t we all be having a serious conversation of the great things about this great game? This is just NOISE

@DiamondJim That's fine if it's not for you, but that sounds so negative. Low 80s is a pretty good score, and it's a nine year old game on a console that famously wasn't very popular, so the game will still be new for a lot of other people. (I mean, I think technology has sort of plateaued enough that nine years isn't even as visible as it might have been. This isn't like comparing an NES game to an OG Xbox game.)

So here's my thing, and not saying I'm right; But why not just leave all the "sexy" bits in it and then allow the user to decide if they want to partake or not. If people want the boob slider, then have the boob slider. No one is being forced to use it in order to play the game. Want revealing outfits, that's fine! No one is forcing you to use those outfits on your player. Who is ACTUALLY being harmed by this? If you are of any "offended" group by boob sliders or clothing in games, then maybe your life is really, REALLY good when this is what upsets you. Be thankful for what you have and let others enjoy things the way they want to enjoy it. There should be no shaming. I'm rather anti-censorship. Would I play the game with the boob slider all the way up? Most likely not. Probably would never use it, but if that's someone's thing, who am I to tell them not to enjoy it? We should be more open minded and tolerant of others.

@Yoshi3 “Shouldn’t we all be having a serious conversation of other things about this great game? This is just NOISE”

For those that are unhappy with the increasing censorship of titles in recent years - this is a very big deal - hence the reaction on forums like this. If the censorship doesn’t bother you then - yeah - it’s a bit of a nothing-burger and you can play the re-release w/o any issues.

It’s good to see an open discussion on this on Nintendo Life though. Congratulations to the Mods for not censoring the hell out of it. Even if the framing of the article is still clearly - “it’s censored but it’s not a big deal and anyone who thinks otherwise is a bit mental”.

@jamess

I don't completely disagree, but I would say that's the idea they are becoming "Westernized" is inaccurate. They aggressively do not care what is happening in the West. However, there is a independent push in Japan to remove panty shots and revealing clothing from non-sexual media. It's pretty universal, and started in anime years ago. It's also really complicated as to why it happened, as it requires a lot of sub-text.

They are making these changes because it's what vouge in Japan right now. They are not making them for the West. They still do very Japan things. There is straight up nudity in the Splatoon manga, because nudity isn't revealing clothing!

@a-werewolf I Dunno what costumes have to do with LGBT or how it fits but ok.

Seeing how other Americans are willing to call this nonsense out, I'm not buying that this is an American thing. Regardless of how you want to frame it, America use to have the haze code, which was a code in the 50s that prevented a lot of art from being sincere as they should have.

You may try to frame it as "civilization will fall", I frame it as "I will never be able to make a living off of my art ever again and not die inside", because quite frankly I want to make comics, comics that are CLEARLY going to touch on some touchy subjects. But if a new censorship rule gets passed in the art world again, I would not be able to tell the story I wanna tell to begin with.

@shonenjump86
Not at all.
There are "Easter eggs" for those that know stuff from only the first XenoBlade Chronicles games.

Lin's Monado hair barrettes for one.
The nopon has a legendary sword that looks like the Monado as well.

@HeadPirate Yes I’d like to understand more about the Japanese angle on all this. It’s made harder by the language barrier. My understanding is that what you’re saying is true - there’s a general push for removal of the more sexual elements of some of their entertainment. But I know there is kick-back on it in some areas of Japanese society (the anti-censorship parts, like the rest of the world I suppose). And there are questions about the Japanese companies’ motives + links with “globalisation”, “appealing to modern audiences”, ESG and DEI. It would be great to get some decent journalistic insight to all this - but that’s unlikely with the increasingly agenda-pushing nature of the mainstream media nowadays. Ultimately it would be good to see more kick-back on this censorship and a return to pushing boundaries on art and entertainment is healthy - and often a lot more entertaining - without fear of offending people. IMO of course.

@Synthatron_Prime
There was a joke/scene in the game that completely fell flat because of the change/removal of the costume/armor from the game.

@HeadPirate
So, someone who works hard gets the same rights, abilities and privileges as a lazy bum?
Yeah, no thanks!

@Synthatron_Prime Echoes of Wisdom was user-bombed solely on the premise that Zelda was the protag. Our society is already there, buddy.

@Samalik the other guy was equating removing the costume to Vivian's representation in Paper Mario Thousand Year Door. Good luck with your art, though try not to be sensitive towards constructive criticism. You have the right to expression the same as people have the right to be offended by it. People make faux-pas, even collectively as a dev team. It's not about pushing boundaries as much as consideration for a market. You can read back through my old comments to the other guy but this isn't that serious. This isn't the interracial kiss on Star Trek; the XCX costume isn't pushing progress. Just as the orgy in It wasn't being progressive. People were offended by all three of these things, but they're somehow all different and don't carry the same weight.

@jamess

I can give you the long and shot of it pretty quick. A series of studies by universities in Japan showed that a overwhelming majority of male and some females felt sexual assault was justified if a girl dresses sexy or even if she accidently flashers her panties. The main reason they gave for thinking this was how it's normalized in anime.

It made headlines and became a huge issue, and led to a lot of publisher vowing to remove that trope. It's important to note that it's really limited to that exact troupe. Like you can show anime breasts on TV after 8pm, and even some of the anime that show nudity like that stopped showing panty shots. Boobies? Fine. Panties? Bad. Only in Japan, man.

There has been almost no blowback.

I can't speak for every company, but the ones I've interacted with are not in any way interested in globalization, to the point where any company that wants to appeal to the West generally moves it's leadership team to the US (ie, Sony) because the concept is so far removed from cooperate culture.

A lot of people making indirect, bold accusations of Nintendo forgetting they're the ones who originally put in that booba slider for a 13yo. Maybe you should voice your disgust by not buying their games period since you seem to have a problem with it, and most Japanese games in general since they have similar things in them. It's almost like Japan and the West are different cultures, and they're desensitized to sexual stuff in the same way the West is desensitized to the most disgusting gore imaginable.

@HeadPirate I'll answer them, I think these are good hypotheticals worth addressing. To preface, my stance is that NoA does have the LEGAL right to moderate all the work they publish, obviously. And I would never claim that they don't play an integral part of the development process.
However when it comes to a MORAL right I find the things they tend to do (for certain games) appalling. It's important to note that NoA doesn't look at censorship the same way most of us do, it's not really an argument about "artistic integrity vs the removal / modification of controversial content". THEY do it because they have an image of Nintendo to keep (aka Nintendo is a family oriented company that makes games for all-ages), and the guidelines for how they retain that image is fundamentally different than how that image is retained in Japan due to cultural differences.
I of course, could be wrong, but I believe their actions are purely motivated by business and not out of any malice or contempt for the original creators.
Now, the problems I have with this strict adherence to that image they're upholding is-

1) It disregards the original creator's vision and intent. Again this is due to cultural differences, and because localization is a necessary process it is technically impossible for NoA to release a product that 100% aligns with the original's ideas. This is why I think they need to be more careful with what exactly they do moderate. Unnecessary changes will only serve to further and further stray from the original, which as Nintendo's western representative, I believe they ought to be sticking to as close as is reasonably possible.

2) No longer representative of the majority of western consumers. This adherence comes from an era where games were seen as medium exclusively for kids and America's puritan values INFECTED every facet of its culture, including art. Neither of these things are relevant today, so sensitivity to violent and sexual content in the west should no longer be in consideration as grounds to change. Now obviously Nintendo and by extension NoA are free to decide how their content is portrayed based on what score they want on the ratings board (typically companies shoot for as low as possible), but it just starts to feel a bit hypocritical with the third and most important reason-

3) Not all Nintendo games are made for all-ages, and need not apply!
They're much better about this sort of thing nowadays, but back in the Wii U/3DS era when this game released NoA went nuts censoring games that were already unsuitable for children. Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, Fatal Frame, all of these franchises are made and marketed with an older audience in mind and contain adult themes. It just makes you wonder who were they doing that for if not simply just because the games had the Nintendo label and therefore couldn't be associated with problematic content.

This is all of course a preamble that ended up longer than expected, so I'm gonna get to the questions in a second comment to avoid hitting the character limit, sorry for the delay!

@a-werewolf Nah. text changes is the same thing as costume removals. Both speak to the game's world. And altering them over moral sensibilities makes the work less sincere and fun. Just because they don't speak to a political angle to you, doesn't make them less important.

If anything, you could argue that their removal was political. And that's where we start to run into an issue.

I'll take the criticism that is actually being earnest and sincere, if a little blunt, but the topics and depictions I'll end up covering (should I get to it) is inevitably going to get some bad actors who will rather pivot the blame on me for how they feel rather than get them to be more self aware of themselves. So I think I'm a little mentally prepared, since I feel I can already see through the facade.

But Sonic’s 4kids level censorship was ok?

@JohnnyMind

I mean, as a Marxist in a Marxist state, there is no creator. The work belongs to the people, and decisions on changes to the content would be made by the collective agreement of the union which sponsored and paid for it's creation. The "artist" would get one vote, same as everyone else involved. It would never been an issue if the original was changed, because that would require the majority of people to agree that was the right decision.

Marxism dose not resemble capitalism even slightly. It's difficult and not very meaningful to speak about parallels, although I'm always up for trying!

I don't disagree. I just don't think that's happening here. NOA didn't force Nintendo to change the game. If they did, sure, I would be against that.

But Nintendo changed it on their own. I'm not against Nintendo deciding that in 2025, the US release more accurate reflects their values then the one they published in 2015. They have every right to think that, and every right to act on it.

@mariomaster96 Whaaaat? internet idiots making up stuff to get mad at? Never!

@Kingy

Thank you so much for investing so much time and thought into a reply. That blows my mind and makes my day.

However, while this very effectively communicates why you believe things should be different, that’s not the question I’m asking. I’m asking HOW you make it different while respecting edge cases. How do you respect the creator in the case where, for example, they tell Nintendo that they feel a character’s name should be “Death to Israel”. And as soon as you say “Oh well obviously in that case Nintendo should be able to say no”, then you’re just endorsing subjective enforcement, which is a nice name for "tyranny, but where I'm in charge".

@Arawn93
I haven't fired up XCX on my Wii U since probably 2018, so memory is very hazy. I think that Japanese was not on the disk, but was available as DLC from the eShop?
At this point, I'm not even entirely sure I remember playing the game with Japanese dialogue! But I think I did!
I'll have to check tonight when I get home.
Playing Japanese games with Japanese dialogue is always my preference, to keep my language skill up.

Either way I'm hoping that both EJ are on the cart for the Definitive Edition, but even without multiple voice tracks I worry the file size will exceed a 16GB cart and sacrifices will be made.

I'll be preordering a physical copy regardless, just to frolic about in my robot skell with the giant space giraffes and gorillas.

Eh. The game looks good so…

Just to help people remember that NoAs policies are mostly absurd and they can affect on the gaming environment:
Disaster: Day of Crisis (an awesome Wii game) didn’t release on NA because of NoAs censorship.
Interestingly enough this was also a Monolith Soft game.

@Mirastrix To be fair, a big part of people complaining aren't even Xenoblade fans. They are just tourists complaining about "censorship" and "woke" and how women in videogames are "ugly" (and how a character that is canonically 13 years old doesn't have a bikini armor).

Now, don't get me wrong, I could understand the criticism about the character creator. In there it's less options for a character you make after all. But at this point I just find frustrating the most loud complaints about censorship online are about... Em... Lewd things while other stuff gets ignored or even sometimes gets praise when it gets censored.
And yes, that happens. Specially with LGBT topics.

HERE WE GO AGAIN.

@HeadPirate

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I guess the example you’ve given is relevant but I don’t think public outrage over anime panty upshots can fully explain the situation. There’s a lot more going on here. There have been public statements from both a number of the larger Japanese companies and Japanese politicians on the influence of ESG, DEI and the push for market development of the Japanese entertainment industries outside of Japan, with adaptation of their products to suit the global market. Difficult to piece together all of the components - made harder by the language barrier.

It is always irritating when content is taken away, since you can choose to use it or not. That said X had a lot of very good costumes and as long as we got to keep what we had the first time, I have no problem with this.

Seeing the amount of people vehemently shaming people who actually care about choice western sensibilities changing Japanese games honestly makes me very disappointed. Not surprised, but very disappointed.

At one point character customization options are all well and good and nobody should care about them if they're not going to use them, but suddenly when it comes to this particular game and a "boob slider" it suddenly becomes an issue that should be removed and stay that way, even when it was present in the original Japanese game? The amount of hypocrisy and double standards regarding these cases is incredibly apparent and I have no idea how so many folks are totally fine ignoring that fact.

You can call the folks who want the original vision and content to stay untampered anything you want, but by shaming them you are not fixing a problem, you are the actual problem.

@HeadPirate the "no, seriously" part isn't even necessary - we ARE talking a company that reportedly tapped into love hotel biz among other ventures way back when. And I doubt NoA even cares much about fictional teenage attires these days, the third party stuff greenlit on western eShops being a far cry from what could score a release in the 90s or even late 00s. But as with Tokyo Mirage Sessions prior, there's only so high Nintendo will want their own product's age rating bumped on the account of mere regional board discrepancies. And hypocritically bashing them for that certainly comes across as more meddlesome than any actual censorship could be.🙄

@HeadPirate

Marxism rightfully has a negative perception. As for "self censorship" that's your decision. Likewise, an author who doesn't want their work to be censored years later should have that choice.

@__jamiie

I don't see how people who like "sexy video games" should grow up. Would you say the same for people who enjoy "sexiness" in movies, music videos and people who enjoy erotic art or erotic novels? People like sexy things, sex sells etc etc.

I'm actually somewhat of a prude myself so excessive "sexiness" isn't for me but your comment seems far too judgemental on something that's quite ordinary human nature for many men and women.

As for this game, I'm glad the 13 year old kid has been "censored" because kids shouldn't be sexualised in the first place and Japan can be creepy for that. As for the boob slider, I couldn't care but it seems like a weird thing to not include when literally nearly every game with a character creator nowadays has a slider for boobs...Nioh, Dragon's Dogma, Cyberpunk, the upcoming Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate, The Sims, WWE games etc etc. I doubt its inclusion offends anyone unless they're offended by small boobs/big boobs (because the default in games is regular sized) in which case, I don't know how they cope seeing different sizes in real life.

Also its inclusion, contrary to some comments here, wouldn't give the game a pervy reputation. If anything, it already has that because it's anime and the characters already look ridiculous. The other games don't have that reputation apart from Baldur's Gate 3 or Dragon Age and that's only because of the gay male fans and female fans, not straight men lol.

Honestly though, I think the censorship discussion in this case is a nothing burger.

If you have any problems with this "censorship" I say you should that energy toward things that matter.

Censorship really needs to go the way of the Dodo. Stop censoring the human body. Stop censoring curse words. So barbaric that our species keeps trying to stifle itself of itself.

@HeadPirate
Q1) "If 10 people worked on the boob slider and were involved in its creative design, should NOA have to ask each of them individually if they approve of the change? What if 5 of them agree and 5 don’t?"

This is of course dependent on who is requesting its removal and for what reason. We'll say it's NoA as that's the most likely scenario and question 2 is pretty much the opposite. Now, I don't think the amount of people who approved or disapproved of the slider in the original project is relevant to the overall fact that the slider was inevitably included. But say NoA did want it removed and put it to a tally of the original devs, then NoA would ultimately be the tie-breaker and opt for the removal. They are apart of the artistic process and should have consideration for it. This is assuming NoA would be some sort of unanimous entity and wouldn't itself have a group of people for or against its removal, and realistically any idea that's so divided among the dev team probably would never make it into the game to begin with. But hey, that's what hypotheticals are for and I believe that to be the right answer even if I wouldn't approve of the outcome.

Q2) "What if 5 of them ask NOA to remove it in the Western release because they understand the West is more uptight about things like that and they don’t want to offend anyone?"

I think a more interesting question is what if the majority of the original developers want the feature removed for the western release regardless of what NoA wants to do with it. I would say NoA should be obligated to remove it in the same way they should be obligated to not if the original creators told them they cannot. In the first scenario I expressed that NoA should have consideration, but not equal consideration to the creator, who's word ought to be respected as final for creative decisions (with exceptions, more on that at the end). NoA is free to try to convince NoJ one way or the other, but if NoJ wants to self-censor they have every right to and NoA would in fact be censoring them by NOT complying with that (a CENSORCEPTION if you will).

Q3) "If I hire someone to write something for my store flyer, clearly starting that I don’t want offensive language, but they use offensive language anyways, should I be forced to publish it as is and irreparable harm my business? Should I be forced to pay someone else for a completely new write up because it’s “censorship” to change their original to remove the thing I told them not to do in the first place?"

I like this question the most because it addresses something that people tend to not realize. YOU the contractor are the original artist, even if YOU are not the one doing the actual art. Everyone you hire conforms to your specifications, and if they don't like that they are free to find work elsewhere that suits them. In this scenario the guy putting explicit language on your store flyer is censoring YOU, and you have every right to demand him to change it or to hire someone else.

@HeadPirate
Finally, on the topic of fringe-cases. I believe there should only be one rule that supersedes the original artist's vision, and that is the application of illegal content. Hate speech is good example to start with because it is rocky topic. How much should we allow platform to radicals who degrade others beliefs or extrinsic qualities, and how much of that should we be allowed to emulate in fiction. I think a strong guideline is calls to action or violence and the context thereof. Naming a character "Death to Israel" should most likely not be allowed, but then, what if the character is being portrayed as a radical who we are not meant to sympathize with, and the game is overall a critique of his radical ideals? Idk myself, it's hard to make a call.
There is of course more definitive answers. If Nintendo included footage of real people being murdered or child porn in their games, then they should be punished by law accordingly. More nuanced questions rise from this territory, such as sexualizing Lin, who IS a minor in the world of Xenoblade X, is that okay and should it be allowed, and how much? To that I'd say she is ultimately not a real person and therefore should not be viewed the same way we would view a REAL LIFE teenaged girl in this context. It is plainly fetish content yes, but fetish content is not illegal and is not grounds for removal, even as deplorable as we may find it.
All that is to say, as long as the content is not breaching any real world laws then it's fair game, and artists are free to decide how far they want to reach to this point at the risk of controversy. It's not a perfect answer due to how stories require some suspension between fiction and reality, but I think that's the best way to handle things so as to not cause some dystopian world of absolutes one way or the other.

I watched that same comparison video yesterday and you know what, I don't ever remember Elma in my game wearing that open chested top. I swear mine was the standard full red outfit. They've just used a video of her wearing a different outfit to the default one. Honestly it's a bad comparison video since they used a Wii U video captured at night time, so it doesn't match up. This is a big nothing.

Pretty sure Monolithsoft's always going to have this kind of discourse following them around. Despite making excellent games, their degenerate tendencies keep attracting degenerate fans and putting them at odds with everyone else. I hate the idea of localized games having to be changed to suit the tastes of other regions, but there are also some things I'd rather they have the sense not to add in the first place.

The problem with this is that, although the boob slider is trivial and means nothing to me, the practice has always led to more changes that do affect what possible experiences are altered cause the argument is always that I was "fine" with the changes before. Cause everything change is always "It's just this," and "It's just that." Eventually you got a mound of trivial "just" changes that the game's overall experience is changed.

That essentially trains people to respond sooner and make less trivial matters more of a concern. I don't care of a boob slider, and I was a fan of the more conservative wedding dress change in Tokyo Mirage Sessions. But I didn't like the meme references in FE, nor the story beat changes in TMS.

But I am apparently just as much of a "fake fan" as those who opposed earlier changes. Cause "It was just one interaction," and "It was just that one chapter." Now I am in the same group defending chest sliders when I don't care for them, because I don't want those who change things consider continue changing things.

I don't see what's wrong with the breast slider since it's a option. Phantasy Star Online 2 has that option and that game came out long after XCX for the west. Now Lin is up for debate but personally I'd rather have the game be uncensored.

I knew we were going to see this discourse again. It happened with Tokyo Mirage Sessions, I don't know why y'all are so surprised lol

@HeadPirate Oh! And one more thing I nearly forgot. Companies are obviously allowed to decide what content they deem acceptable for their platform, I think that's completely fine. If Nintendo deems their console shall have no games containing explicit sexual content, it is their product and their decision to make. This is another one of those scenarios like in question 3 where Nintendo the company is the artist contracting another artist to make a game for their console. They have no grounds to breach Nintendo's desired guidelines.

I take a pretty firm anti-censorship stance in all articles relating to it, but that is coming from how I believe they ought to operate rather than if they should be enforced to.

@Tuulenpoika @VHSGREMLIN @SoIDecidedTo agreed.

"It's generally regarded as somewhat inferior to the numbered series"

I enjoyed it much, much more than the first Xenoblade Chronicles. At the very least, the gameplay is a light-year ahead.

@Samalik You’re an artist? Are you referring to digital art when you say that?

This is not something that really matters. More importantly the game is come out at all is a shock.

@LadyCharlie I want to be sure I understand you. Are you saying the grifters are accusing the "woke left" of being responsible for the so-called censorship in XBCX?

I don't care! Just give me that game! Just hook it to my veins!

We all know why that slider is gone. Nintendo knows what all of it degenerate fans will do with that bewb slider. 🤣

My issue with it that the devs got to go overboard with the bewb slider in XC2, cough cough Dahlia cough cough, so we know they aren't that prudish. They just don't want us degenerates to have it. I mean you degenerates... because I would never play with it or anything.

@Kingy

Again, while I really, sincerely appreciate the effort you put into this, to me all of these answers seem to be variations on "respect the creator, except when you don't" and "go with the original, except when you don't". It's subjective.

Your opinions are valid and well thought out, but that's all they are ... opinions of what to do in a given situation. Society needs hard set rules that are simple and apply in all situations. Right now we already have one when it comes to content; the rights holder has exclusive and completely control over the content they release. The artist is the rights holder until they sell it to someone else, or produce it under contract.

It's simple, and while not perfect, it works pretty well in almost every situation.

The only thing I would point out that I categorically disagree with is your use of the world "censorship". Only the government can censor something. Censorship is when it's illegal to do something in any context. I am completely against censorship.

Nintendo deciding that their opinion on content they own has changed between 2015 and 2025 isn't censorship. It's an opinion, as valid as any of yours. They have every right to have it, and every right to act on it ... just like how if you owned this content, you would be able to act on your opinion.

I really hope we meet again on other topics. While I don't agree, you still gave me a lot to contemplate and think on, and I thank you for that.

Oh boy, the people complaining have absolutely no idea what censorship is.

We're all in for body freedom. Let the girls show their bodies if they want to. It's natural in many parts of the world at the beach, for instance, and it's not viewed as sexual.

A sexualized stereotype with unproportional assets (which I may add, is a warrior and makes no sense in leaving anything not covered) at a game targeted at a very broad audience, works AGAINST such freedom. Don't try to manipulate what's going on here.

@Vyacheslav333 You're probably saying this as some kind of principle thing, but not buying the game because you now can't have a 13 year old wear a bunny suit and because they removed the boob slider, is quite frankly ridiculous.
It's very clear why these things were changed and they don't change anything about the actual game itself.

I'm gonna say this again about the DE version of this game...
SO TF WHAT?!?!? This takes nothing away from the gameplay.

If you're the sort of gamer who gets angry about this sort of thing you really need to go outside and look at the sky for a few hours and reconsider your hobby. It really doesn't matter at all.

@shoeses It's not a boob slider for a 13 year old but for the main character you customize yourself.

@TimeGuy I’m against censorship, but my religion tells me that pornography is bad. Fan service in video games and videos on [insert naughty site here] are two completely different things.

@HeadPirate I don't think we actually disagree on much here. I'm entirely with you on how artists and contractors are and should be allowed to operate rights wise (All my answers to those hypotheticals are more or less reflective of that unless I misspoke).
Anything I levy against them would fall under criticism which is the subjective part, and that I DO apply that to individual cases at varying severities. I might've not been clear enough that those are two separate positions, sorry about the miscommunication.

As far as the word censorship is concerned, I agree I probably used it too liberally in those answers. But the definition of self-censorship is accurate, so whenever I use 'censorship', know I'm referring to that. Except for when I used it to describe the third party cases (being NoA and the hypothetical flyer artist from questions 2 & 3 respectively) those examples were just flat out wrong uses of the word. Those cases wouldn't be censorship, just a breach of your contract.

So to set the record straight, what Nintendo did for 2015 Xenoblade Chronicles X is self-censorship, and I believe that to be a bad thing but also acknowledge they are allowed to change their own game as much as they want.

For the 2025 re-release, interestingly I'd have to say nothing has been "self-censored" (assuming the content remains the same from the original western release) because they were always going to use this version as a base to begin with, just like Tokyo Mirage Sessions a few years ago. Personally I'd say that's not the right move and they should've opted for the japanese original as a base, but I think they pick the western release to make the localization process easier, which makes sense.

Hopefully that makes things a bit clearer on my end and yes, happy to have any kind of discourse in the future, it's nice to have an actual discussion in the comment section every now and then lol.

Does no one else find it odd that a lot of people say "it doesn't really matter" yet just about everyone feels the need the give their opinion on it? Like I honestly didn't think people cared enough about this for the comment section to be so long, lol.
It's hard to say 'it doesn't matter' seriously when so many people clearly care.

Also why are we saying "Censorship" in quotation marks?
Lin's outfit was altered and the breast slider was removed so I'd call that censorship. It's how people use the word, regardless of whether or not you think it was the right choice.

Plus, lol, there's a lot of people saying "good, I don't want fanservice in my video games!" or "why don't you just watch porn instead". And... have any of you actually played this game?
Have you played any game in this entire series? Girls in sexy outfits have been a thing since the first game. And if you think XC2 had some spicy designs then you have not seen what the Xenos/aliens look like in this game. Seriously, if you want a game without fanservice, you've found the wrong one in XCX.

Anyways, breast sliders are in plenty of character creators like AOT2's and I don't see people complaining about it usually, so I don't think removing it XCX is a plus in any way. People do realise you can make them smaller too? Some are desperate to say it's only for guys to make them bigger and use that as an excuse to remove it, as if lesbians don't exist or that a lot of characters in XC games have large breasts. Again, if you don't like the idea of people looking at boobs, you've found the wrong series.

Lin's censorship is something that I can understand people defending. But wasn't she aged up in the western version? She should be 15-16 or something.
Personally, I'm not desperate to see Lin in a bunny outfit. But I'm against censorship, so I'd still rather have the Japanese version of the game. I can just not put the bunny suit on Lin if I want, lol.

Also, was anything else censored in XCX? No dialogue changes or anything? Ah well, I will get the game eventually either way. But overall, I think the less censorship a game has, the better. Nothing good comes from people getting too comfortable with censoring content.

I've deleted that post about Xenoblade Chronicles X: DE because I'll admit that I may have jumped to conclusions about Monolith censoring Elma's design.

I guess we'll see when the game finally gets released.

@Bizaster complaining about the boob slider? Sure. About objectifying the 13 year old? Not so much.

@Lightsiyd Not quite an "proper" artist yet. I do have a large wacom computer, but things in life keep getting in the way to the point where I have to focus on building and painting plamo instead, since it requires less abstract brain power.
I have been jotting notes down of what I want to make. and want to get restarted on learning the process and actually make something when I get out of this house that keeps holding me back

Sorry if I got your attention in the wrong way there.

@SinceSpacies Yeah, you probably should have double checked. Even I knew that besides the model polish, the comparison was all wrong. Even her color scheme should have been a dead giveaway that something was off with your comparison, because japan loves their red and white

@Samalik I will not dispute that there is a totally valid concern around censorship in video games, but it is definitely not to be found anywhere at all in discourse about Xenoblade Chronicles X, and I am not going to humour these people by pretending they've got a valid concern when they're expressing it in a completely invalid way.

@Mirastrix If someone makes a mistake you call them out on it.
But don't paint everyone else with that brush, especially when their concerns are just as sincere.

As for the discourse, that's not 100% true. The original release WAS censored. I was stupid enough to buy that nearly 10 years ago. So unfortunately, until we get confirmation that we wanna hear by launch, it's going to remain in the conversation because it's a really nasty gamer PTSD sticking point.

@Samalik When I see an actual valid and sincere concern about Xenoblade X's censoring I'll acknowledge it, but considering it revolves around a thirteen year old and a bust slider, I highly doubt I'm ever going to.

@Mrkittyhead, many people didn’t miss out on Xenoblade 2—that’s not true, and you know it. It remains the best-selling game in the series. Mythra and Pyra are extremely popular, even making it into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. So, those “promiscuous outfits” did their job.

@Samalik
“”Edit: Also, mysteriously omitting the part where I said men and women are treated equally in game.... That's only adding to the suspicions...””

Equally? Ah so there’s a slider to adjust how much heat the male characters are packing?

You’re conveniently leaving out or shunning the points I’ve made too, m8

You’re obviously passionate enough about the series that your mind is completely closed on the topic, but sure I’ll play a 100 hour RPG so I can legitimately continue this thrilling debate. See you next summer!

Ok I’m honestly asking. Are the majority of people complaining about “censorship” really mad about Lin? Like I heard there are the sliders and like two outfits so I can understand people taking issue. But I feel like I’m seeing more people talk about people disliking the changes to Lin then people actually having a issue with it.

@jowy_sw The “tourists” thing goes both ways. You see all the time on Twitter/X for example of people complaining about X game, Y anime, or Z manga by throwing out buzz phrases like “male gaze pandering” “bunch of gooners” or “incel dwellers” while having zero prior stake on said thing they are complaining about just because it shows up on feed and conflicts with their personal bias sensibilities.

@Arawn93
Ok upon loading my old Wii U save file, I confirmed that I was playing in English! And no language settings to be found anywhere. No wonder I had this trepidation over language options in this upcoming definitive edition.

Now I'm wondering whether I should import a Japanese copy of the game next year, in case the NA version is monolingual.

Also, in just a few minutes I was reminded how cool a game this was! It’ll be well worth the double-dip.

@BTB20 It was in the original version, so, it's not ridiculous, lol.

@Arawn93 You are literally doing whatabautism here.

And, you know what? I played all numbered Xenoblade games, including Xenoblade 2 and their DLC. You can go probably go back in my comments and see me talking about those games all the way when they came out (at least since I'm active here). So I'm far from a tourist.

So ignore all the whatever random Twitter tourists you mentioned to avoid talking about what I said, I think the obsession online with lewd content when talking about censhorship and games in general is sad. This obsession about how women in videogames are "ugly" and how EVERY time "censorship" is brought up is all about lewd is just sad, I can't really say it any other way. It makes it look like an excuse. And, of course, the hipocrisy of it all when censorship is fine when they like it.

And even sadder is the content creators that are making money making ragebait videos about this, searching for witches at every place possible since their livelyhood is dependant on it (and are probably the most clear and questionable tourists out of them all).

@Snatcher “So I’m honestly asking, well the people here at least that are upset about the “censorship” mad about Lins changes?”

I disagree with the changes to Lin’s outfits. From what I understand - so the reasoning behind my conclusions are clear - 2 somewhat revealing bikinis that were in the original Japanese release were removed from the original Western release. And that censorship will now apply to all regions for the re-release.

I checked out the artwork of the original Japanese release earlier this afternoon to make sure I understood what was being discussed. I’m not going to link it but it took me 10 seconds to find the relevant images by searching the internet.

IMO the costumes are harmless. The point was made above - and I agree - they’re no more than you’d see if you went to the beach. IMO a teenage girl’s body is nothing to be ashamed of. And looking at it from the perspective of a part of the target demographic for the game - teenage boys - it’s probably a (harmless) plus point for them. It was clearly the creator’s intent for them to be in the game. So all good.

I think censorship like this is unnecessary and possibly harmful. As a society we should be embracing and promoting positive body images for all ages. We shouldn’t be frowning upon it, suppressing it or in any way suggesting it’s not perfectly normal.

And we definitely need to get a bit more mature about discussing this.

@AfroMario It isn't a good starting point for the series. X is an entirely different animal from mainline. Entirely different priorities. X focuses more on sidequests and the gameplay while mainline focuses more on the actual stories of the game.

As for the censorship itself, the only thing I remember being censored in the original was the breast slider, and the fact that the game no longer sexualizes the 13 year old mechanic character. The core of the game was pretty much left in-tact. Don't get why people complain.

I'm just looking forward to trying it. These weabs cray cray.

censorship is bad but I want to get rid of my wiiU.

@MsJubilee I genuinely didn't know it was the best selling in the series. It's easily my favorite, so I'm glad to hear so.

Honestly, leave the breast slider in, but the other stuff can go.

@Jack_Goetz Those people who really love to moan on digital platforms probably really love moaning on digital platforms.

@Friendly 😂

Would have prefered to have it uncensored.

As so many others have said, there is no censorship. There is nothing to see here. Nintendo just made a choice to make a change. Who knows what they were thinking when they made the change?

For all we know, Takahashi woke up one day and decided Elma dress nicer this way. Or that these new look works better with Elma’s and Lin’s character more.

@graviton In a way, it's a bit like the controversy surrounding Stellar Blade for the PS5. There were apparently changes made to some of EVE's outfits, and people were up in arms about censorship. While people blame Sony for allegedly demanding that SHIFT UP censor some of her more revealing outfits, I have heard that SHIFT UP said that those outfits, which were teased before the game's release, were always going to be changed before launch.

Of course, we'll see what the case is when the game comes out for the PC in the near future. If the more revealing versions of the outfits are in the PC version versus the PlayStation version, we'll know for certain that it was Sony who demanded that the game be censored for the PS5. If the PC version also has the less revealing outfits, then it's confirmation that it was always the plan on SHIFT UP's part for them to not be as revealing, and so it's not on Sony.

@jowy_sw Its not about lewd things every time. For recent examples, people complained about censorship regarding cross symbol in the remake of Dragon quest 3 being turned into a trident symbol and dialog changes in the Sonic Generations remake.

I’m personally glad for it. I like my porn and games separate.

I mean, this is fine? I don't know if present-day me even has time to play a game like this anyway, but Nintendo can't fix that for me. 😭

On the topic, it isn't censorship when a private company makes adjustments to their own properties in the name of the changing public perception of their brand or getting a certain ESRB rating or whatever. (E.g., it's not "censorship" when Coca-Cola launches a new can design).

@World
A lot of people seem to be adamant that this isn't censorship or that this is what the company wants. But they're leaving out the fact that it was the Japanese devs/Monolith Soft that clearly wanted these things in the game and that it was NOA that decided to take them out.
So it was NOA that censored the game, not the creators themselves.

And it's interesting that you bring up the age rating, because not long ago the creators of Dragon Quest were complaining about how they have to censor/alter their works "in the name of compliance" and America was brought up, so it's not like companies or creators are happy to change their own works to suit certain rating agencies or advisers or whatever. They comply because they think they have to.

@DDFawfulGuy Right. But my point is that it's still brand management and not censorship. Compliance with international market standards is just a part of doing business in our world.
Different regions have different things they want to see, and companies want to make money so they do that. My argument here is that it isn't censorship and decisions like this happen all the time with more banal things too. Very rarely does a company sell a product that is exactly the same across all markets.
Like, if Lays (or I guess PepsiCo) as an example reads the room and decides that a certain chip flavour will do well in one market with this ingredient and in another market they add some other thing to it, is that censorship? I'd argue it's not.
And maybe this is a flaw of international markets, I don't know. But the way the game is played as it is, companies are always going to be tweaking products across borders if they think that's what the market wants, you know?

I've been reading this site since the Wii era and this might be the most comments I've ever seen on one article...

@LXP8 The Best LGBT games list is probably a good competition for that. Because some people feel the need for some reason to say that they "disagree" with it.

@World
I'm afraid we're not looking at this from the same perspective.
I can see what you mean about branding and how a company would try different flavours and recipes in different regions, but this isn't one company making food and selling it around the way how they see fit, this one company creating art and their sister company deciding said art should be changed regardless of the input of their consumers.
In the first place, I don't like idea of anyone, but especially NOA, deciding for me what's acceptable and what's not.
I'll admit at least that Lin's outfit being changed due to her age is conforming with American sensibilities since they're (sometimes?) less comfortable with showing skin etc. than Japan is in fictional media. But plenty of other games have bust sliders so I think that was a non-issue.

If you want to compare actual alterations that are censorship and ones that aren't though, one example is Bravely Second.
There's a class called Hawkeye. In the Japanese version, this class is based on Native Americans and has a feather cap. But in the western release, this was changed to a cowboy and cowboy hat because Nintendo Treehouse thought people would be offended. This is censorship because a second company decided changes should be made due to 'sensitive' content that could offend people.
But another change in the western version of Bravely Second is how side quests are concluded. Apparently feedback from their Japanese players said that they felt dissatisfied with how quests with the old Asterisk holders went because you had to choose between two sides and something tragic happened either way, so it felt like you always made the wrong choice. This was changed in the western version so that completing the side quests and choosing a side felt more satisfying and like you made the right choice either way. I don't consider this censorship because it's the creators trying to improve their work and make it more appealing to everyone based on feedback, rather than trying to hide something risqué or offensive.

A simpler example is the Pokemon anime. Or 4Kids dubs in general. Any mention or sight of guns was never allowed with 4kids, so removing that is censorship. But remember the infamous 'jelly filled doughnuts'? That's not changing something sensitive or offensive, but a silly way of localising something so that the audience can understand what it is. So I wouldn't call that censorship.

Sorry it was a bit long winded, but I hope you can understand what we mean by 'censorship' now. In general, it's when a second party other than the creators makes changes to or suppresses art or work that they think is sensitive or offensive.

@DDFawfulGuy I don't think it was long-winded at all! I appreciate your respectful exchange with me on this. Thank you for this explanation! I think you are right. I'm coming at this from a completely different perspective, and seeing video games as a product rather than art (which is not necessarily a deeply-held belief of mine, more just a reflection of my background and what I know, I guess).

I suppose I tend to think of censorship as when a non-market player (so not a regulatory body like ESRB, but something like a government) steps in and influences a product in some way. I'm Canadian, so to use a Canadian example: many folks in Quebec view Quebec as a nation. So if a company made a game that featured Quebec as a nation and then the Canadian government stepped in and made them have to remove that, in my mind THAT would be censorship.

But I see where you are coming from now. You are saying "the market" is not a sufficient reason to alter a video game's content because you view it as a representation of the artist's vision, and I can respect that perspective.

Once again, I appreciate the discussion!

@HeadPirate

Nintendo of America is the holder of Nintendo's IPs in the West only. It is just a subsidiary of Nintendo.
They aren't cutting content because of their values, but to avoid offending some people in the West. Nintendo is censoring their content because some people may be upset.

About the game's censorship, I just don't think the breast slider should have been removed. Don't know why people would be offended by this feature.

@World
I'm glad we could reach a mutual understanding on this!
It can exhausting trying to explain or persuade people on the internet, so this practically restored my faith in humanity, lol.

And I think I understand why you didn't see this as censorship and what usually counts as censorship to you. It seems that you, and perhaps people like HeadPirate, only consider something 'censorship' when things like laws, governments and other politics force a change, rather than regional differences and rating boards for marketing and sensibility purposes.

But you get it. When people like me are against censorship in games, it's usually because we want to experience the artist's original vision rather than what a second or third party thinks is suitable for us.

And I appreciate this discussion as well!

@KidSparta What minors? Enjoy hunting down the developers for originally adding it in the first place then, no? How about not buying the game since it originally has that in the first place? No again? Yeah, thought so.

@AlexanderDaniels I missed the part where I said I was cool with any of that

@Mirastrix it absolutely matters. Is it life or death? No. Is it more important than irl conflicts and tragedies? No.But I’m not supporting neutered art, as I refuse to just “don’t ask questions and consume product” like you

@Ryan_Again if you see a character in a bikini and think of porn, that’s a you problem. Some of us are actual functional adults who can distinguish between the two, and aren’t brain rotted

It's not censorship if the company / artist / developer etc makes the change of their own choosing. They were simply being judicious launching the game in certain markets. The decision wasn't imposed on them by a third party. That would be censorship. This is editing.

We've had all these discussions 9 years ago!

@Mirastrix And that concern in what went missing is insincere? Sorry, I ain't buying it.

@B3RTAY All I get out of this is that you were basically grifting at this point. In other words, you don't give a care to begin with, and using the game as a springboard to shout "sexism" while knowing nothing about the game, insult people who complain about it in what is essentially an "offline" MMO and wasted everyone's time and energy, all in a name of one-ups man ship. And you're not the first one today, as I had someone else pull the same grifter nonsense over trans rights on the announcement article.

@Shigmin Corporate censorship is absolutely a thing. look it up

@Samalik Yes, true. Still a kind of self-censorship though. Which I agree is not ideal in general, but I think it's not worth the amount of outcry in this particular case.

@Shigmin well, if nobody speaks up, nothing gets changed. And like I said earlier, I'm not buying a game again that doesn't fix this back to how it was suppose to be, because I want to permanently shelve my Wii U copy.

My character's going to be a rusty old man as always, so I don't really have a dog in this fight.

@Samalik You didn’t get my attention in the wrong way. I’m just curious about it as an artist myself. I wish you the very best on your journey as one. Cheers!!

@Samalik

Over exaggerate much?

I know well enough that there are themes of equality in the game… but as soon as you include what’s being ‘debated’ here, it contradicts or detracts from the messages of the game and that’s not even opinion, it’s FACT.

You call me insulting when you were rude and belligerent about an issue I mentioned way, waaayyyy more serious than this and you also have me painted as some sort of campaigner for sexism, when my only real issue is that this is a NINTENDO published game. I have relatively little idea of the horrors that lie on Steam’s NSFW pages, and have no strong opinion on them either, but let’s not have such superfluous features bleed in to a game affiliated with Mario, yeah?

This IS a waste of time and energy though, that’s a great point.

I don't get it. When scantily clad characters are covered up a little bit people get mad and claim its censorship. But then people got mad when they uncensored Paper Mario by reincluding a trans character that was supposed to be there from the beginning. Do you people want censorship or not?

@Ultimapunch If you are refering to Vivian, in the original Japanese version of Paper Mario Vivian is otokonoko. A feminine guy.
Link to screenshot of Japanese version
https://x.com/DimitriMonroeZ/status/1702609443500732645

I don't like features being removed but seeing the fanservice of XC2, I'm ultimately favouring this being is down/ removed. It doesn't help someone's overall immersion. If anything, it's more distracting and a shallow way of pulling in players.

@Lizuka @Ham-n-jam @B3RTAY @batmanbud2 @nessisonett @Solomon_Rambling @Captaindantastic @MsJubilee @electrotamitha @Mirastrix @SnackBox @Friendly @Jack_Goetz

I just want to play a female character who is as flat-chested as I am. And for some reason, Nintendo of America decided I can't have that just because I don't live in Japan. Then Japan decide it was a good idea. It's an extremely outdated way of thinking. "We can't have a bust slider for the female protagonist in this game because only boys will play this."

There's really no positive way to look at "less features in character customization" when Rook being customizable is a key part of the game.

Insisting it's about gooning or saying it's unimportant is really reductive of the actual issue, and that's games having features removed and companies adhering to outdated standards of girls not playing games and being inherently sexual for having certain body types.

Not to mention the "13 year old" counter is a gross misrepresentation that makes me wonder if they even played the game. Rook is the one who you customize, and their age is also something you can customize both in the character creator and in dialogue. You could literally make Rook look like a middle-aged man and then say "I'm not old enough to drink" so this character customization feature removal issue isn't about a 13-year-old party member.

EDIT: Also, the guy who said that bunnysuits aren't a sexual thing in Japan has obviously never played Dragon Quest.

@Cyberweasel89 yeah I agree with what you're saying about the bust slider removal. It's stupid that it got removed when it was something that was already coded into the game, and it's lame for anyone that wants to play as a girl. Even tho I'll play as a boy it's also a bit lame that all the other online players' character NPCs that pop into the game world are just that little bit less unique from each other.

I think the arguments about the 13yo censorship are usually talking about Lin's more conservative armour design changes rather than the Cross/Rook bust slider stuff tho? I feel like the sentiment of most reasonable people is that they're okay enough with Lin's armour changes, but they're against the bust slider removal.

@Cyberweasel89 lol okay

So people are weirded out about folks being upset they can't sexualize a minor in the Western esition, but aren't raising questions about the inclusion in the first place?

And I've seen a comment about Japan being different about certain outfits being sexual or not. Like, really?!? Sure...

I wasn't going to buy the game anyways, but now I am certainly not getting it. And Japanese devs need to start doing some introspection anyways, this isn't the only game with questionable content.

@Ham-n-jam Ohhhh, I see what you mean now. Thanks for explaining that in good faith. And yeah, I totally agree. Though TBF, I find even the censored version of Lin's bunnysuit pretty... uncomfortable to look at. Seems like a missed opportunity for a pajama-esque bunny-themed onesie. Though I've never understood Japan's fixation with child soldiers in fiction anyway. At least in Gundam the message is that war is hell for everyone, even the kids.

@themightyant

I get what you are coming from, but watch this.

Respect - Thing
Self Respect- Different thing

Deprecating - Thing
Self Detracting - Different thing

So, censorship is a thing that the government or ruling body does.

Self censorship is non-existent idea that incels made up.

They are different, and in my opinion, only one is worth discussing.

It's also worth nothing that Nintendo is not "afraid" of releasing sexual content. The Splatoon Manga (which was translated and published in the west) has full frontal nudity. They license body pillows of Peach in .... well, let's just say NOT her dress. I don't know why they wanted to go with the NA release for the remaster, but it sure as heck wasn't fear.

Not sure if anyone wondered WHY Elma may have her chest covered aside from being some form of “censorship”.

Just a thought, Alvis got a new pendant in DE, maybe Elma got an updated design to something akin to Mio.

@themightyant

I'm not trying to give you a hard time, it's hard to translate the friendly, hopefully "teaching" vibe I'm trying to go for in typing. So please try and read what I'm saying in that light.

Ghost is literally a word in the dictionary. Ghosts are not real. We use words to identify objects and concepts. Words do not provide these objects and concepts any extra validity. Also Incel is in the dictionary, and I'm pretty sure that word originated with Incels.

You can trace the Etymology of self-censorship, and it leads to far right groups and incels. A good way to steel yourself against propaganda like this is to ask about something called "parallel ideology."

The people who talk about self-censorship, do they ever mention how likely the biggest example is how members of the LGBT+ community often have to write about straight characters because if they make them gay they face death treats and boycotts?

No, they just exclusively seem to be talking about how moving away from media dominated by the male gaze is actually a mortally bad thing because it's ... ummm ... what's a word people react strongly too? Oh, I got it, "censorship"!

This is a really good way to test a lot of "movements". If they are being applied to parallel ideologies, then the movement is likely legitimate. But if instead it's only being very narrowly applied to one issue, it's likely people are actually using buzz words and emotional manipulation to get you to argue something you wouldn't actually agree with otherwise.

If not already mentioned before it is worth mentioning that they also changed the original acronym of BLADE. As well as some names. As for BLADE. It's real and original meaning is "Beyond the Logos Artificial Destiny Emancipator"

Meanwhile the western version was "Builders of the Legacy After the Destruction of Earth"

And for all us that's played the game the real acronym makes far more sense. Especially once you learn the truth about your body.

Some name changes of our Dolls/Skells
As for some name changes some of them are.

Wels -> Verus (Originally a Xenogears reference)
Wels.CAIN -> Verus Cain (Again, same as just Wels)

Lynlee Ku was changed to Lin Lee Koo.
(There's other name changes but i don't recall them at the moment)

If anything the only things I want changed is bring back the chest slider. There was no reason to remove it to begin with, and undo all the unnecessary name changes and acronym, name change.

@jamess sorry for replying so so late.

Thank you I really wanted to get a different perspective on why some people wouldn’t want it changed (as a lot of people who thought that thinks they all have malicious intent) and I think this is a pretty good reason!

I mean, the western version still has a few bikinis, I'll take what I can get. @Jack_Goetz

We still getting some bikini's like in the Wii U version. Take what you can get people.