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Disco Elysium the Final cut refused classification in Australia (UPDATE: Reclassified R18+, now available for purchase)

Jintor

Jintor

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Oct 25, 2017
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www.classification.gov.au

DISCO ELYSIUM - THE FINAL CUT

The Australian Classification website comprises information for general public and industry about the classification of films, games and publications.
www.classification.gov.au www.classification.gov.au

It's probably drugs, right?

notable that disco elysium has been widely available on PC for a year+, though it never bothered getting a classification rating
 
Strings

Strings

Member
Oct 27, 2017
31,445
Not even an R18 like the super extremely mega hardcore Atelier Rorona?

Bm6JZuXCUAA3t_0.png:large
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Crisis Dino
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
38,531
Ibis Island
The first tweet under it is rather interesting. Funny how it was fine on PC as unrated but was only an issue once it got rated for consoles lol.
 
Bulby

Bulby

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Oct 29, 2017
5,039
Berlin
They can sell you an utterly broken game, but not one with challenging content.
 
OP
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Jintor

Jintor

Saw the truth behind the copied door
Member
Oct 25, 2017
32,458
Jawmuncher said:
The first tweet under it is rather interesting. Funny how it was fine on PC as unrated but was only an issue once it got rated for consoles lol.
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it probably wasn't 'fine' on PC just it never attracted any enforcement action since it wasn't sold at physical retail in Australia and they still haven't gotten it in their head that online stores exist.
 
laoni

laoni

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Oct 25, 2017
4,721
Yeah, knowing our board, it'll be the stat boosts tied to drug use that's brought the ban hammer here.
 
GrrImAFridge

GrrImAFridge

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARYDOOS
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Oct 25, 2017
9,680
Western Australia
Yeah, the introduction of the R18+ rating didn't really solve anything, as the classification guidelines themselves weren't updated to reflect it, so the OFLC still views incentivised drug use (and anything that can be considered a depiction of sexual violence, such as the anal probe scene in The Stick of Truth) as a big no-no.
 
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ZeroX

ZeroX

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,266
Speed Force
potential chance that dooms it in New Zealand too, if stuff can't get classified in Australia it often means they skip NZ (not because it wouldn't get classified, but because it's not worth spending the money to get it classified, if a game is classified in Australia it doesn't need it in NZ depending on the rating)
 
tobes231

tobes231

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Jul 10, 2019
620
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I feel like this will get changed by next week, but it definitely sucks. Presume it won't affect the Steam upgrade.
 
laoni

laoni

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Oct 25, 2017
4,721
Jintor said:
this one's bizarre, does atelier have some crazy gore shit i should be worried about or did the publisher fuck up with their sizzle reel lmao
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I believe it got the high impact sexual violence tag because of the implication of an adult character sexually assaulting the lead without their consent that is pretty standard in these types of animu games. I know that's why the sequel to Rorona, Totori, also got the R18+ rating in its rerelease (but a minority of the board argued for it to be refused classification)

DJwest said:
Then these guys must ban all RPGs lol
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As long as it's not named after a real life drug, it's a-ok.
 
wonzo

wonzo

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Oct 25, 2017
1,577
I fully expected this to happen when they announced the console ports. Still shitty and I hope theres a real pushback against it.
 

Bucéfalo

Banned
May 29, 2020
1,566
It freaking blows my mind that in 2021 a burocratic state organization has the authority to decide for you if you should or not play a specific videogame. Insane.
 
Brat-Sampson

Brat-Sampson

Member
Nov 16, 2017
3,469
Aw man, I hope they can sort this out, I was planning to recommend this to a Switch-owning friend in Aus when it released on that...
 
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Jintor

Jintor

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Oct 25, 2017
32,458
Brat-Sampson said:
Aw man, I hope they can sort this out, I was planning to recommend this to a Switch-owning friend in Aus when it released on that...
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they'll rename it to medX, the board will take another pound of flesh for reclassification costs and everyone will forget about it in two weeks
 
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Jintor

Jintor

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Oct 25, 2017
32,458
obin_gam said:
But but but.... the majority has to be afraid since the stupid people have been voted into power?
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the amount of people that would vote based on whether the classification board is more or less censorious is probably incredibly marginal
 
Papertoonz

Papertoonz

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Oct 26, 2017
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knowing how things work down here it's gotta be the drugs, it's always the drugs that our rating board has issues with
 
Aangster

Aangster

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,617
Fuck outta here ACB.

Expect it to be appealed and hopefully overturned like Wasteland 3.
 
Kemono

Kemono

▲ Legend ▲
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,669
I'm really bummed to hear that.

Australia was often the other country with an overreaching ratings board next to germany. Luckily the german ratings board started to chill big time a few years ago.

I sincerely hope the same happens to the australian ratings board. Shit is nuts.
 
Cutty

Cutty

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Oct 31, 2017
394
Release Hotline Miami 2 pleaseeeee (another one of the AU classification board's victims).
 
TΛPIVVΛ

TΛPIVVΛ

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Nov 12, 2017
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Good to see all the aussies in here in defiance haha most likely they'll rename the drugs in it to something else and reclassified hopefully was looking forward to it
 
Aarglefarg

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Oct 27, 2017
4,068
Jintor said:
this one's bizarre, does atelier have some crazy gore shit i should be worried about or did the publisher fuck up with their sizzle reel lmao
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It's because several of the Atelier games contain paedophilia. It's a small part of the games it's in, but it's there.

Two clips about Astrid, Rorona's teacher:
Atelier Rorona: https://youtu.be/vWre5jyTJjA?t=171
Atelier Meruru: https://youtu.be/yRYYT0jyi4E?t=240

Honestly, either rating the games got could reasonably be defended but I'd lean towards the higher ones.
 
The Fabled Englishman

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Oct 28, 2017
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Jintor said:
it probably wasn't 'fine' on PC just it never attracted any enforcement action since it wasn't sold at physical retail in Australia and they still haven't gotten it in their head that online stores exist.
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'Enforcement' isn't really the right word. The problem is that they can't accommodate certain content within the current rating guidelines. If they don't rate it in the first place, the guidelines aren't a problem.
 
grand

grand

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Sonix

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NocheToledana said:
It freaking blows my mind that in 2021 a burocratic state organization has the authority to decide for you if you should or not play a specific videogame. Insane.
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While I think we all agree that in this case it is bordering on absurd, there are reason why its desirable for a society to outright ban or at least increase the hurdles enough so that some media is not easily accessbile. Think pedophilia, hate crimes, inciting violence against minorities, holocaust denial, stuff like that.
There is an incredibly thin line though.
 
laoni

laoni

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Oct 25, 2017
4,721
Manfred said:
Is there a possible appeal for the publisher ?
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They get a reason why it was refused, can make changes, and resubmit to classify. Like people have said, likely all that'll need to happen for getting it through is the drug names changed from real life drugs to something fake (Like Bethesda changed morphine to Med X)
 
-shadow-

-shadow-

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Oct 25, 2017
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That what the hell is the 18+ rating for? Other than shits and giggles?!
 

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laoni said:
They get a reason why it was refused, can make changes, and resubmit to classify. Like people have said, likely all that'll need to happen for getting it through is the drug names changed from real life drugs to something fake (Like Bethesda changed morphine to Med X)
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Ouch so no, it's not really an appeal of the decision. Thank for the info.
 
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