When Japanese anime-ish exports moved from the 00's to the 10's.That's a surprising amount of detail for a shot of a dude copping a feel. Imagining a worker stressing over the finger placement, the framing of the shot, and how her body reacted upon impact is wild to me.
When did the Valkyria Chronicles series get so messy?
sexualized men said:
Damn it. Why do you use a freaking mini skirt in a war?
All hope is lost, anime won.
It's more denial than anything else. If they admit they're exploiting women they have to take both ownership and responsibility for that. Much easier to just pretend it's not a problem or not happening (or "happening less", as if frequency was the only issue, frequently attempting to redirect discussions about its normalization), in spite of the extreme cognitive dissonance.I think a lot of guys don't realize this, because they never see men filmed as sexy sexy meat to lust after, so they assume something that looks vaguely similar must be the equivalent. But there's really not an equivalent, because the closest thing is read entirely differently 99% of the time.
...Those skirts have been proper military attire since the first game outside of maybe Lancers IIRC.
Lol right. I thought they used a skirt + pants combination, but it seems that it was a skirt + whatever it's called that cover their hips to shoes.Those skirts have been proper military attire since the first game outside of maybe Lancers IIRC.
I feel like that armor is pretty close to being decent though. Like I did this quick mock up by just swapping some colors:
If you made the "chest plate" thing fully cover the upper chest, and didn't make the butt a separate color, it would go a long way.
at least you don't need to pay for dlc to get garbage like this:
Casual sexism and groping (which is a crime) is awful, and in fictional armyland, entirely unnecessary. Even worse is playing it off as if this criminal is just some prankster. Its only purpose is to normalize the objectification of the female cast, and it has succeeded, given your own response.I'm not sure I get all the "OMG! Welp! Preorder cancelled" replies. I mean I get the whole pervy dude trying to cop a feel only to be whacked by the girl and for it to happen again and again is a really REALLY tired trope in Anime. I just don't get how a single scene can ruin the whole thing but then maybe it's because I'm not familiar with the franchise. Is the lady a main character and the perpetrating male just a one-off NPC? How else would you depict a guy like that?
Casual sexism and groping (which is a crime) is awful, and in fictional armyland, entirely unnecessary. Even worse is playing it off as if this criminal is just some prankster. Its only purpose is to normalize the objectification of the female cast, and it has succeeded, given your own response.
And this sort of shit happens multiple times throughout the game.
Visually the game is stunning, with the character and environment design equalling the films of Studio Ghibli. Nothing brought this point home for me more than the design of Ni no Kuni II's female characters, however. The women and girls Evan encounters out in the world, as well as those that join his kingdom and his party, are all dressed in a way that makes sense and are treated as equals for the duration. There's no arbitrary hot spring scene, there's no older male character that's constantly hitting on a younger female character, no ridiculously sexualised outfits and no bizarre story quests involving maid costumes. Ni No Kuni II is above all that. Not once did I roll my eyes or cringe at the treatment of any of its female characters. There was even one side quest in the kingdom of Broadleaf (the most technologically similar to our world) where three weapon-loving women were discussing how hard it is to be heard in the workplace, and how they've adopted militaristic language as a way of getting ahead. When compared to other JRPGs and indeed a lot of Japanese games in general, Ni No Kuni II is feminist as hell and I love it.
Man, I really hope the game is selling well to prove the other Japanese devs that you don't need pandering to sell your games.
Same. Which means it probably isn't. Especially when it comes to The Merch...Man, I really hope the game is selling well to prove the other Japanese devs that you don't need pandering to sell your games.
Wait, they haven't pushed this shitty "mechanic" beyond the mobile game, have they?Olivia showing off a classic spine-busting 'let's focus on arse and tits and thighs' pose/costume, now with added 'clothes disintegrate when unit takes damage' effect too.
Sounds like it from this thread:Wait, they haven't pushed this shitty "mechanic" beyond the mobile game, have they?
It's an equippable skill that allows you to break opponents armor for defense and resistance reductions, but it also makes you vulenerable to armor break. Iirc the declothing is an optional feature if it's any consolation.I'm curious to see if it inspires the same sort of hyperbolic fanaticism as Xenoblade 2...
Wait, they haven't pushed this shitty "mechanic" beyond the mobile game, have they?
At least there's an option to turn it off, though I think that actually bothers me more? It's like the developers saying "we know this is problematic, but we're going to include it anyway".Sounds like it from this thread:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/fire-emblem-warriors-awakening-dlc-to-release-22th-march.31100/
I mean, that's EXACTLY what they've BEEN saying.At least there's an option to turn it off, though I think that actually bothers me more? It's like the developers saying "we know this is problematic, but we're going to include it anyway".
The majority of those works feature female protagonists or co-protagonists.Ghibli Spoilers?Kiki's Delivery Service (requires the titular character to abandon her home and parents for plot reasons at 13 years old), Mononoke Hime (real parents literally abandon MC as a baby to save themselves, surrogate wolf mom is murdered), Spirited Away (parents damseled, turned into pigs which is the motivation for the protagonist), Grave of the Fireflies (dual parental figure abandonment of mom and aunt leading to both protagonists dying), Totoro (mom is damseled in the hospital as the motivational force for the protagonists)... do I need to go on?
I don't really give their adaptations of other works a pass either - in the case of the Diana Wynne Jones books (Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Sky - the latter isn't adapted by Ghibli yet, their Laputa is something totally different), the source material has plenty of parental death and familial/surrogate familial abandonment of the protagonists as a plot device.
Abandonment By/Death Of/Damseling Of Parental Figures As A Plot Device is everywhere, regardless of the gender of the protagonists. However, video game protagonists are overwhelmingly male, and the Ni no Kuni series is no bucker of trends in these regards as the main characters and their mascot characters are male or presenting as such. I find the entire "Where are the parents?" trope irksome.
I see. Not quite the "feminist" take I was expecting. Not your fault and it's more an indictment of the current state of JRPGs, but it's depressing that "treating its female characters like normal people" is what it takes for a JRPG to be "feminist". :(
Is it? I'd argue that, when they're putting that sort of thing out without comment (and the option to turn it off) they're saying "there no problem with this".
I don't know why that would "worry" you that much, especially in the context of this thread which is about irritating and/or harmful sexist stereotypes. To each their own, but as far as JRPG clichés go, I find this one to be pretty damn harmless, to be honest.(
Is it? I'd argue that, when they're putting that sort of thing out without comment (and the option to turn it off) they're saying "there no problem with this".
Because the first game's entire plot revolves around a fridged woman and the second game seemingly has one fridged within the first ten minutes, in both cases to drive and grow the male characters of the games.
I agree, the whole "missing parents" thing is mild. I was trying to make some kind of point about how it becomes the classic sexist trope when you apply an everyday "harmless anime cliché" to their video games, because their video games have male protagonists.
Fridging and Damseling are pretty gross sexist tropes and extremely common and harmful in my opinion, but everyone has different ideas of what needs to be done away with first. I'd prefer "all of it".
Anyway, I'm dropping it since I don't want to potentially derail.
I really appreciate all the replies on my thoughts, everyone.
(And I totally agree about that review being disappointing. It is the lowest bar that a lot of games still manage to trip over and mess up, constantly! Ni no Kuni 2 was an excellent chance to have a female main character and they threw it away.)
That's Evan, the King of Ding Dong Dell and one of the main protagonists. I believe the game genders him as male, but I've been dodging and skimming a lot of the coverage to avoid any major story spoilers.I thought the blond girl with cat ears was the main character, judging the marketing material. Am I wrong?
This is hugely disappointing. I really liked the first game and was hoping 4 was going to be closer to that. Still interested in it but my hype is stilled a little..at least you don't need to pay for dlc to get garbage like this:
Man, I really hope the game is selling well to prove the other Japanese devs that you don't need pandering to sell your games.
I see. Not quite the "feminist" take I was expecting. Not your fault and it's more an indictment of the current state of JRPGs, but it's depressing that "treating its female characters like normal people" is what it takes for a JRPG to be "feminist". :(
Demon's Souls, Bloodborne :PHa yeah perhaps I got your hopes up too much. It really is true though, depressing as it may be, that for a JRPG to do the bare minimum (maybe a bit more than the bare minimum), it really stands out. I honestly can't think of any other Japanese game that is completely devoid of so many of the cliches and problems we've discussed in this thread.
Very true, Resident Evil 7 was pretty good too I guess.
More and more Japanese developers are paying attention to their western audiences, games like Nier: Automata and Yakuza 0 have put the spotlight on entire franchises that people in the west didn't really know about.This thread, which it's existance I love, and love how it's been going strong since day one, has really put one thing into focus for me:
We (as a culture, not Resetera) can make progress and change the narrative in America when it comes to misogyny and sexism in America (and maybe other areas such as Europe and Australia), we are doing this right now as a culture (maybe too slowly for our liking, but it's happening).
However japan is a totally different beast. Sure, we can point out the ridiculous shit in games from Japan, but what's that going to do to this thread in the long run? You can find examples of this crap in practically every single game, movie, and tv show in Japan. They are decades behind us when it comes to this topic (and that feesl like I'm being generous with the time frame).
So do we just become an echo chamber complaining about a mono-culture we can't influence, or should we stick to discussing games coming English speaking sources where we as a shared cultural-social group can make strides and influence the way the conversation goes in a real way?
I love watching These games get torn apart, but I'm sitting here thinking, oh, this will never end will it? Would the conversation continue longer on Resetera if we focus on western games that can feel the actual backlash?
For the record, I am in no way saying to give Japanese developers a pass (or mainly anime based ones), and I don't want to seem defeatist, but could More of a focus help the larger conversation?
I feel that while it's true that we probably won't have any influence in how those japanese games are made (and even then, I think there's a silver of hope that we could in some cases, depending on the circumstances), discussion on these things can spark other more immediate changes too. Like you say, we as a culture have a problem with female objectification and misogyny in general, and a more direct impact that these conversations can have is changing the perspective or """"educating"""" fans of these games that may not realize that the stuff they consume has harmful elements to them, and IMO even just opening the eyes of a handful of people with these is more than worth the effort.This thread, which it's existance I love, and love how it's been going strong since day one, has really put one thing into focus for me:
We (as a culture, not Resetera) can make progress and change the narrative in America when it comes to misogyny and sexism in America (and maybe other areas such as Europe and Australia), we are doing this right now as a culture (maybe too slowly for our liking, but it's happening).
However japan is a totally different beast. Sure, we can point out the ridiculous shit in games from Japan, but what's that going to do to this thread in the long run? You can find examples of this crap in practically every single game, movie, and tv show in Japan. They are decades behind us when it comes to this topic (and that feesl like I'm being generous with the time frame).
So do we just become an echo chamber complaining about a mono-culture we can't influence, or should we stick to discussing games coming English speaking sources where we as a shared cultural-social group can make strides and influence the way the conversation goes in a real way?
I love watching These games get torn apart, but I'm sitting here thinking, oh, this will never end will it? Would the conversation continue longer on Resetera if we focus on western games that can feel the actual backlash?
For the record, I am in no way saying to give Japanese developers a pass (or mainly anime based ones), and I don't want to seem defeatist, but could More of a focus help the larger conversation?
At least there's an option to turn it off, though I think that actually bothers me more? It's like the developers saying "we know this is problematic, but we're going to include it anyway".
Nah Dary is right. "Turn this off if you don't like it, but we're still gonna objectify the hell out of you for creepos to wank to" is still a fucking shitty message.But that option atleast gives you the choice of not having it forced on you, and those that enjoy it can consume
I mean I can kinda see where your coming from but I would think options to make the game cater to multiple groups is always the best
More and more Japanese developers are paying attention to their western audiences, games like Nier: Automata and Yakuza 0 have put the spotlight on entire franchises that people in the west didn't really know about.
I don't think that it's a conversation that should stop, especially when the conversations on Japanese games in this thread are often started by someone (presumably not Japanese) coming in to defend these ridiculously sexualised games/characters.
More and more Japanese developers are paying attention to their western audiences, games like Nier: Automata and Yakuza 0 have put the spotlight on entire franchises that people in the west didn't really know about.
I don't think that it's a conversation that should stop, especially when the conversations on Japanese games in this thread are often started by someone (presumably not Japanese) coming in to defend these ridiculously sexualised games/characters.
Nah Dary is right. "Turn this off if you don't like it, but we're still gonna objectify the hell out of you for creepos to wank to" is still a fucking shitty message.
More and more Japanese developers are paying attention to their western audiences, games like Nier: Automata and Yakuza 0 have put the spotlight on entire franchises that people in the west didn't really know about.
I don't think that it's a conversation that should stop, especially when the conversations on Japanese games in this thread are often started by someone (presumably not Japanese) coming in to defend these ridiculously sexualised games/characters.
More and more Japanese developers are paying attention to their western audiences, games like Nier: Automata and Yakuza 0 have put the spotlight on entire franchises that people in the west didn't really know about.
I don't think that it's a conversation that should stop, especially when the conversations on Japanese games in this thread are often started by someone (presumably not Japanese) coming in to defend these ridiculously sexualised games/characters.