I'll just say I also know one of the writers and it was in her PhD dissertation; I don't think she was an otaku. XDI've got an idea nonetheless: The authors are otakus themselves.
I'll just say I also know one of the writers and it was in her PhD dissertation; I don't think she was an otaku. XDI've got an idea nonetheless: The authors are otakus themselves.
D'oh. At least you can ask her yourself about that.I'll just say I also know one of the writers and it was in her PhD dissertation; I don't think she was an otaku. XD
Indeed, that's what I'm planning because it made me really curious. :)
One of the more disturbing things I've read lately is some recent academic papers that paint otaku in a pretty weird light. It presents them not as being obsessed but as just, "really really concerned about the source material". Which I guess reads somewhat differently but it doesn't really deal much with their attitudes nor does it discuss all the less savory aspects of otaku.
Fan culture in general has a lot of these problematic aspects too, that also don't get talked about outside their respective circles all that much. Which I think is one of the problems associated in both cases. Everyone is kind of passively aware of the problems but they never reach a wide audience, or if they do, that culture is painted as a minority and treated as "bad apples". And the seeming inability to either subsume or exclude those voices from regular fandom is responsible for the generally negative reaction to those communities as well as a lack of respect for individuals involved, whether they are part of the problem or not.
And separating out extreme viewpoints has clearly become more fraught in our current cultural climate.
Games like FGO, FE Heroes or a lot others have going for them the fact that they already have "popular" characters to draw people, as opposed to standalone stuff like Grandblue Fantasy. But even then, you have stuff like how at first they stay closer to the original designs, but the game eventually devolves into releasing versions of said characters that follow a theme (Summer for Swimsuits, Christmas for Santa stuff, Eastern for Rabbit like costumes?) and crank it up to the max. See Australian Christmas Tharja.
I mean, Awakening Tharja is already setting quite a low bar, but her face at least looks kinda (I don't know how to put it) mysterious? menacing? but Australian Christmas Tharja face took her face and expression and turned into #MoeFace1343249324. If you compare both of them, you'll see Christmas Tharja has a more rounded head, a smaller nose and a slight blush effect all for the sake of making her look cuter. Both seemed to have shiny skin, which is another design choice that I see being used lately to make anime-style characters look better. It's more subtle stuff than T&A, but I've watched it often enough to see a pattern. Thought it would be interesting to bring that point since moe is another form of sexualization.
The increasing interest of the West (Netflix for TV, better sales overseas for games) and the growing female audience makes me hope the situation can improve in the next few years. If a point is reached where you're leaving in the table more money by alienating people than you're making by targeting otakus, we'll start getting better stuff.
I think the magnitude for the participation of an average otaku is far beyond what most would consider normal fandom. The source material is far more inviolable - to the extent that some otaku levy death threats against directors and dox them or do other awful stuff if the story doesn't meet their expectations. It's a bit beyond just interest in the source material.That part about being concerned about the source material (if it's what I imagine) it's something that actually exist in almost every sphere of entertainment. When I was reading comic books, a bunch of people had this while seeing adaptations in cartoons or movies (including me, because I was a reader of the source material). I think the same is true for books being adapted to movies, games being adapted to movies, manga being adapted to anime or a live action and diverse other cases in different media.).
I think the magnitude for the participation of an average otaku is far beyond what most would consider normal fandom. The source material is far more inviolable - to the extent that some otaku levy death threats against directors and dox them or do other awful stuff if the story doesn't meet their expectations. It's a bit beyond just interest in the source material.
Does anyone know what DQXI is like in this regard? I'm quite looking forward to it.RE: XB2
I'm slowly beginning to realize that things will likely get to the point where I'm all but pushed out of the genre (I realized upon making this post that Dragon Quest probably won't go as far as other games).
Oh well, I own a lot of fucking JRPGs and there are always more SFC ones to go back to.
Does anyone know what DQXI is like in this regard? I'm quite looking forward to it.
Thanks for that, much appreciated!Only objectionable thing I've heard of is that the new naginata welding lady, Martina, is basically the new Jessica and has a bunch of "special" costumes you can get for her. She's also been really popular in Japan.
https://kotaku.com/the-dragon-quest-xi-character-japan-has-fallen-in-love-1797423013
Nothing on Xenoblade 2's level as far as I can tell.
From those clips she appears to be owning it, and looks like a really fun character. If she's like that through the whole game then it's an example of sexy done right IMO.Thanks for that, much appreciated!
Some people made the point upthread that we shouldn't excuse forum favourites (Persona, Trails, DQ, Ys etc) from criticism and I agree, admittedly I have a blind spot for DQ which is why I thought I'd ask. I liked that character in the trailer but some of her outfits are similar to others we've heavily criticised here. Agree with your point that it's one character rather than a particular treatment of half the cast. What does everyone else think?
You cannot play that one, it's tainted. This is a jest.
If that level of sexualised costuming did count as 'tainted' I'd have to burn half the RPGs on my shelf, and the other half shortly after just for impractical armour design :D
I dimly remember Ann's costumes/general treatment did. It's definitely healthy for discussions like this to look at forum favourites as well as the low-hanging fruit.Has Persona 5's characters been mentioned in this thread because for all the praise it gets by its fans, it always gets ignored when it comes to terrible representation of female characters because its a loved franchise and double standards and all that. I cringed when I first saw Panther and her persona and the more you got to know each female character the worst it got. I liked the Doctor though.
Has Persona 5's characters been mentioned in this thread because for all the praise it gets by its fans, it always gets ignored when it comes to terrible representation of female characters because its a loved franchise and double standards and all that. I cringed when I first saw Panther and her persona and the more you got to know each female character the worst it got. I liked the Doctor though.
Which plays into my point that you generally can play everything and it's highly subjective how to deal with the taint you become aware of.If that level of sexualised costuming did count as 'tainted' I'd have to burn half the RPGs on my shelf, and the other half shortly after just for impractical armour design :D
Well, yeah, I think a large portion of the examples put up for discussion in this thread have been from people who've played and enjoyed the games and found a handful of elements within they want to criticise. Certainly that's the case with the ones I've talked about (various Fire Emblems, Valkyria Chronicles, Trails of Cold Steel, Ys etc). The notable exception is probably Xenoblade 2, in which case it seemed more like a perfect storm of the marketing blitz hitting at the same time as Era launched.Which plays into my point that you generally can play everything and it's highly subjective how to deal with the taint you become aware of.
Does anyone know what DQXI is like in this regard? I'm quite looking forward to it.
We've discussed it a few times now, especially it's hypocritical attitude and treatment of Ann. And yes, there are some severe double-standards at work, where P5 gets away with all sorts of shit that other games, such as XB2, don't.
Thanks for the impressions, much appreciated.I played through DQXI when it first came out and, even as someone so had to warm up to the series (XI is the second I've played), I really thoroughly enjoyed it. As for sexualized female characters, there are moments with Martina that are probably a bit sexualized (that are now a blur to me), but I don't recall anything like boob jiggle physics, frequent camera leering, or anything like that. DQXI is also probably one of the more progressive JRPGs in recent years, due to another character (even though it's handling feels culturally specific to Japan).
I finally decided to check in on what this 'blushy-crushy' thing was. And uh.
Huh.
How awkward.
So I resumed Xenoblade 2 today and just got to the "Blushy Crushy" scene in Chapter 3. Good God is it awkward. And from what I've gathered from this thread, it gets worse in Chapter 4? Even worse is my sister decided to come out and watch what I was playing for a little bit at the very moment and she's like.
I mean usually when we watch anime we just poke fun and laugh at ridiculous fanservice scenes but this genuinely pissed her off especially the fact that the choice in this scene is basically "Yes" or "Absolutely!" She liked Nia though. I think this solidified my decision that I'm not going to be so quick to preorder the next game.
The wonky 3D was bad enough, but this just makes it worse.I just noticed that The Secret of Mana remake has bonus costumes for people who preorder at GameStop. One of the outfits for Primm (the female character) is a two-piece tiger bikini while the male characters are covered head to toe in their own tiger outfits. To be fair, the bonus includes a set of Moogle outfits which have all three characters entirely covered except for their faces but yeah, Primm is the only who gets a skimpy outfit.
It's probably a bit of both. The most memorable thing I remember about the series was all the different weapon types (and the sprite, for some reason?). Secret of Evermore and all the other games with the sort-of top-down action RPG flavor were pretty great games. That style of game continued for a while but I don't think that since Terranigma, there's really been one that stood out all that much (Terranigma is still a pretty great game).I loved Secret of Mana as a kid. I've been cautious about looking at the remake as I fear it won't live up to my memories of playing it through alongside my brother. It just seemed so important to us at the time, but upon replaying it on the Wii virtual console a decade or so ago, I just remember thinking that the collision detection was a bit wonky and being a bit underwhelmed. Maybe it's just that much better in multiplayer, maybe it's a touch of raw nostalgia on my part.
Yeah, I remember the endingIt's probably a bit of both. The most memorable thing I remember about the series was all the different weapon types (and the sprite, for some reason?). Secret of Evermore and all the other games with the sort-of top-down action RPG flavor were pretty great games. That style of game continued for a while but I don't think that since Terranigma, there's really been one that stood out all that much (Terranigma is still a pretty great game).
Ahhh me too!
I just looked up the videos for this alsoI finally decided to check in on what this 'blushy-crushy' thing was. And uh.
Huh.
How awkward.
Such a great game.One of my all-time favourites. My old avatar was from that game :)
I finally decided to check in on what this 'blushy-crushy' thing was. And uh.
Huh.
How awkward.
I actually just witnessed the cutscene earlier today. Yeah, Tora is easily one of the worst JRPG character ever. I can't believe that there are people who consider Xenoblade 2's cast as 'Best JRPG Cast Ever'.
They are.I actually just witnessed the cutscene earlier today. Yeah, Tora is easily one of the worst JRPG character ever. I can't believe that there are people who consider Xenoblade 2's cast as 'Best JRPG Cast Ever'.
Yeah, but decent is still far from the best. Judging by the introduction, Zeke looks awkwardly annoying too.I mean, to be fair, kick Tora in front of a bus and it's actually pretty decent. Not the best by any means though.
Tora is cute from outside, but the inside is just a rotten pervert. My wife loves the better creature, the chibi Gramps.They are.
My wife fell in love with the entire cast right away. She is still think cosplaying as Pyra or Brighit. And she thinks Tora is the cutest thing ever, aside from our dog.
Yeah, but decent is still far from the best. Judging by the introduction, Zeke looks awkwardly annoying too.
Tora is cute from outside, but the inside is just a rotten pervert. My wife loves the better creature, the chibi Gramps.
I finally decided to check in on what this 'blushy-crushy' thing was. And uh.
Huh.
How awkward.
The main theme is awesome. Oh man, the title music for it, that's something I've never been able to forget. Great stuff, just a few bars but I've been finding myself humming them every so often for 25 years now.Yeah Mystic Quest is a really weird game that I love a lot. I think a lot of it has to do with the battle music. :P
So I resumed Xenoblade 2 today and just got to the "Blushy Crushy" scene in Chapter 3. Good God is it awkward. And from what I've gathered from this thread, it gets worse in Chapter 4? Even worse is my sister decided to come out and watch what I was playing for a little bit at the very moment and she's like.
I mean usually when we watch anime we just poke fun and laugh at ridiculous fanservice scenes but this genuinely pissed her off especially the fact that the choice in this scene is basically "Yes" or "Absolutely!" She liked Nia though. I think this solidified my decision that I'm not going to be so quick to preorder the next game.
I feel that the video games medium as a whole is at a turning point. It's about to step out of its adolescence and entering adulthood. This shift is taking a long time though, and is needlessly being hindered especially by Western male bro and Japanese otaku culture.
I actually just witnessed the cutscene earlier today. Yeah, Tora is easily one of the worst JRPG character ever. I can't believe that there are people who consider Xenoblade 2's cast as 'Best JRPG Cast Ever'.