Bravely Default's Western release tones down its skimpier costumes

The Western localization of Nintendo 3DS title Bravely Default: Flying Fairy includes less-revealing versions of costumes, among other edits made to tone-down the game's more mature content.

[FRAKISTAN]

Welcome to America, We kill for a living and always say no to sex

[HelpfulGamer]

Woman's Freedom of Expression will not perish by this tiny attempt of western censorship!

[UltimateMaster]

Well, I don't say no to skimpy.
But in recent Japan made games, skimpy has been too big of a cliche.
Then again, so did a lot of PC exclusive games.

[thorstein]

Think there is a connection?

[Neckbear]

Polygon's comment section never fails to inflict physical pain on me from all the stupid.

[DragonKnight]

You mean you can stand to actually visit the site?

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

You have to deny their reality and substitute your own after dividing by zero, but it's possible...

[DragonKnight]

Damn, I wonder how many lives were lost to find that out.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

The battles in Star Wars and 300 were filled with less casualties...XD

[ArtificiallyYours]

Nothing to see here, censoring reality...

[CrossingEden]

I am completely fine with underage girls being covered up instead of wearing skimpy outfits. :D There's freedom of expression and then there's just being plain creepy while trying to appeal to creepy otakus.

[Neckbear]

But what about real life underage girls? They would wear some of the outfits seen here in public.

[Xof]

Have you not seen what the big JRPGs are that sell in the west lately? Ignoring the very different handheld market, most of the PS3 JRPGs are either marketed directly to the creepy otaku demographic (Atelier Anything, Neptunia Anything, etc.) or go out of their way to directly appeal to that demographic (Final Fantasy XIII-2/3, Anything NIS brings over, Tales Of, etc.).

And most of the time that "catering" is done by dressing up a prepubescent girl like a streetwalker.

[dcj0524]

As a pubescent boy i can say many of my female classmates dress like that.

[DragonKnight]

What defines underage? You can't make the claim that the Puritan West's definition of what age is considered an adult is the universal definition. Biologically, one becomes an adult once puberty begins and many cultures reflect that sentiment. What is underaged to you isn't what is underaged to all.

I am personally more disgusted with the double standard involving this kind of censorship than the actual censorship itself.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Biologically "adult" because of the changes just barely starting, doesn't mean adult either mentally or in growth.
Younger women, who are just starting or not all the way through their pubescent changes, are at higher risk of death from pregnancy due to their smaller size being unable to accommodate the birth process.
And in our society, there's no way a kid of younger than 18 is ready to be a mother, or in the case of males, a father, as a general rule.

Call the west Puritan and be insulted all you like by the double standard, that's your right.
But keeping hands off until 18, if not a little later, lets girls grow up fully in both body and sometimes mind.
Not a bad policy.

[DragonKnight]

Again, you can't make the claim of what is and what isn't an adult, even mentally. Development isn't a regulated, uniform process. It, like opinions, is subjective.

A claim can easily be made that a girl of 14 isn't mentally ready because of the society she lives in forcing the extension of childhood well into the physical maturing process.

And I'm not talking about girls going out and getting pregnant either. I'm stating that deciding that one age is the universal "adult" age is wrong and not based on any science but instead on Puritan sensibilities which, if you look back far enough, has some religious root somewhere.

Human history is a lot older than the "age of majority" rule. What do you think 14 year old girls were like even before the 17th century? Or 14 year old boys for that matter.

[Xof]

There are skimpy costumes?

Eww.... that's disgusting. Bravely Default character design looks makes women look more like potatoes than people.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

uh it not real

[Xof]

I know it's not real. Honestly, a depiction of a potato in a bikini is grosser than an ACTUAL potato wearing an ACTUAL bikini.

[bromtown]

Look, I'm all for a cheeky bit of T & A even if it's computer generated, but if you're disappointed you can't monk it off to this videogame anymore you need a psychiatric assessment and access to Pornhub or something. They look like Cabbage Patch Kids.

[DragonKnight]

That argument is so weak. How many people do you know that will wank off while playing a game?

That isn't the point. The point is the double standards and the social justice warriors trying to dictate what is and isn't right to express and inflict their morality on what should be a medium of pure expression without coddling people who can't separate reality from fiction.

[MegaRay]

I dont see the problem? Play the game and then go to YouTube and watch the customs lol

[Chrono]

It was Nintendo's decision to censor the Western version not Square Enix's.

[Inception]

Yep, just like Nintendo cencored Tharja ass in FE: Awakening.

But as always, only feminazis and beta male who blow up this topic like the end of the world. They will bring their pitchfork about 'underage girls' and 'skimpy outfit' on video games -_-

[DarkZane]

Yet in Japan, porn is censored.

[CLOUD1983]

I hope some1 hack 3DS as soon as possible because after UNDUB versions of JRPGs now we r in need of UNCENSORED versions also NA/EU make it a habit to ruin everything Japanese-made with horrible dubs & unneeded & annoying censors here & there, those companies who do that stuff there is no way in hell to get even a cents from me.

[tiffac008]

So they censor skimpy clothing on games but they allow Miley Cyrus to make MTVs with almost no clothes to speak of. :/

[Blacklash93]

Umm... Why is everyone thowing accusations around like this is something new? Localizations often meet censorship and they have for literally decades. The only group that you can pin this on are the companies involved in these decisions.

These kinds of changes are cultural and marketing considerations made by involved companies. Square Enix and Nintendo want to establish a T-rating to keep their sales demographics as wide as possible. They want to play it safe with their product, with their perceptions on what NA culture and predictions on how demographics will respond, at their own judgement.

Content like this is allowed in NA, but it mandates more mature content ratings in order to cater to popular parental concerns. If this game got an M-rating, the demographic angle narrows drastically. One one hand, children and adolescents will be largely blocked from any kind of purchase of the game. On the other, the game's aesthetics will not appeal to many adults. Then that mostly just leaves adult gamer JRPG fans, but they are possibly not enough to make the localization successful and are surely not going to provide optimal profits.

Like I said, this kind of thing has literally been happening for decades, not just in videogames, and the reason it happens remains the same.