Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake: Difference between revisions

→‎Censorship controversy: Extremely politically biased and borderline misleading language littered this section and compromised the objectivity of the article. "Common sense definition of man and woman"? Really? Don't inject your own politics where they don't belong, your personal beliefs are not "common sense". This is the Dragon Quest wiki, not Twitter; talk about your feelings elsewhere.
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(→‎Censorship controversy: Extremely politically biased and borderline misleading language littered this section and compromised the objectivity of the article. "Common sense definition of man and woman"? Really? Don't inject your own politics where they don't belong, your personal beliefs are not "common sense". This is the Dragon Quest wiki, not Twitter; talk about your feelings elsewhere.)
Tag: Reverted
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The game has been strongly criticized for the censorship of the female [[Gadabout]], female [[Warrior]], and the male [[Monster Wrangler]]'s clothing prior to its release, altering the classic designs to expose less skin in order to comply with the [https://www.cero.gr.jp/en/ Japanese CERO ratings board]. The ratings board has grown increasingly strict in its regulations in the decades since the original release of the game in 1988, with the censorship being mandated in order for the remake to secure a rating of '''B''' and be legally sold to children. Fans noted the censorship of the [[boss troll]]'s lip colour in preview footage shown on June 18 2024, wherein the giant's lips were changed from pink to green and it's nose was altered to be significantly smaller, though the change in the colour of the lips were already present in its appearance in ''[[Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince]]''.
The game has been strongly criticized for the censorship of the female [[Gadabout]], female [[Warrior]], and the male [[Monster Wrangler]]'s clothing prior to its release, altering the classic designs to expose less skin in order to comply with the [https://www.cero.gr.jp/en/ Japanese CERO ratings board]. The ratings board has grown increasingly strict in its regulations in the decades since the original release of the game in 1988, with the censorship being mandated in order for the remake to secure a rating of '''B''' and be legally sold to children. Fans noted the censorship of the [[boss troll]]'s lip colour in preview footage shown on June 18 2024, wherein the giant's lips were changed from pink to green and it's nose was altered to be significantly smaller, though the change in the colour of the lips were already present in its appearance in ''[[Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince]]''.


The removal of gendered language during the character creation process has also been criticized. This was first revealed during June 2024 in the 32nd issue of Weekly Shonen Jump where the Hero and Heroine's full art was revealed, referring to the two as  "looks A" and "looks B" despite the artwork clearly depicting the two as a man and woman respectively. Matching voice actors were cast for their battle dialogue as well, with [[Nobuyuki Hiyama]] and [[Yūko Minaguchi]] for the Japanese dub and Toby Laurence and Jenna Sharpe for the English dub. A trailer shown on August 27th would show this peculiarity extending to the party members as well, where their sex was replaced with "appearance A/B". The change was further criticized when it was revealed that the English script still uses proper terms when referring to characters in-dialogue, such as the appearance B [[Thief]] Samantha being referred to as a woman by Healizah when giving her a makeover, making the alteration totally pointless.
The removal of gendered language during the character creation process has also been criticized. This was first revealed during June 2024 in the 32nd issue of Weekly Shonen Jump where the Hero and Heroine's full art was revealed, referring to the two as  "looks A" and "looks B" despite the characters being male and female in the story. Matching voice actors were cast for their battle dialogue as well, with [[Nobuyuki Hiyama]] and [[Yūko Minaguchi]] for the Japanese dub and Toby Laurence and Jenna Sharpe for the English dub. A trailer shown on August 27th would show this peculiarity extending to the party members as well, where their sex was replaced with "appearance A/B". The change was further criticized when it was revealed that the English script still uses gendered language when referring to characters in-dialogue, such as the appearance B [[Thief]] Samantha being referred to as female by Healizah when giving her a makeover, defeating the purpose of the alteration.


On September 28, an interview between [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP_tD58w6io Denfamico Gamer]'s NAZ CHRIS and Yuji Horii and [[Kazuhiko Torishima]] would be held commemorating the 2024 Tokyo Game Show, with Horii and Torishima representing [https://www.j-wave.co.jp/original/maadspin/ radio station Tokyo M.A.A.D. SPIN] through their radio program "Yubo & Mashirito 's Koso Koso station". The interview pretained to the HD2D remake of ''III'', the ongoing scandal regarding the game's censorship prompting NAZ CHRIS to ask Yuji Horii about the changes directly, specifically for the female Warrior. Horii revealed that the changes were due to the strict age ratings regulations, stating that even just showing too much skin would raise the game's rating and prevent the game from being sold as an all-ages product as ''Dragon Quest'' had been in the past. NAZ CHRIS replied by saying the game is simply a work of fiction for the players to immerse themselves into, to which Horii agreed and stated that he doesn't understand what the problem is either<ref>NAZ CHRIS: あとすごい話題になってた。そのコスチュームとか、当時とそのままなのかどうなのかみたいなのがありましたよね。 また...
On September 28, an interview between [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP_tD58w6io Denfamico Gamer]'s NAZ CHRIS and Yuji Horii and [[Kazuhiko Torishima]] would be held commemorating the 2024 Tokyo Game Show, with Horii and Torishima representing [https://www.j-wave.co.jp/original/maadspin/ radio station Tokyo M.A.A.D. SPIN] through their radio program "Yubo & Mashirito 's Koso Koso station". The interview pretained to the HD2D remake of ''III'', the ongoing scandal regarding the game's censorship prompting NAZ CHRIS to ask Yuji Horii about the changes directly, specifically for the female Warrior. Horii revealed that the changes were due to the strict age ratings regulations, stating that showing too much skin would raise the game's rating and prevent the game from being sold as an all-ages product as ''Dragon Quest'' had been in the past. NAZ CHRIS replied by saying the game is simply a work of fiction for the players to immerse themselves into, to which Horii agreed and stated that he doesn't understand what the problem is either<ref>NAZ CHRIS: あとすごい話題になってた。そのコスチュームとか、当時とそのままなのかどうなのかみたいなのがありましたよね。 また...
堀井: まあね、あのいろいろ規制もあってね。露出しすぎちゃいけないとかね
堀井: まあね、あのいろいろ規制もあってね。露出しすぎちゃいけないとかね
NAZ: あそこまあちょっとあんまり深掘りする気はないんですけど。いいのにだってフィクションだけど、その中にあ、主人公ってあなたが入って冒険するっていうことでいいじゃないと思うんですけど、違うんですかね?
NAZ: あそこまあちょっとあんまり深掘りする気はないんですけど。いいのにだってフィクションだけど、その中にあ、主人公ってあなたが入って冒険するっていうことでいいじゃないと思うんですけど、違うんですかね?
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鳥嶋: コンプラっていう名のね。やっぱりね、ある種のね。なんだろうな、絶対神と言うべき善の名を借りた悪みたいのがあるよね。あの全員が不快感を覚えないなんてことはないわけだって、株不快はこういうことを覚えるどうこうでもいいわけよ。だって綺麗、汚いとかさ、善悪って人それぞれ感じ方があるわけじゃんで物事はやっぱり。根っこにあるのは、やっぱり絶対やっちゃいけないことだけ。いくつかそれをさえやらなきゃといいじゃないって、そういうのがないわけだから、やっぱりあの欧米英米の方から欧米の方から来てる?</ref>.  
鳥嶋: コンプラっていう名のね。やっぱりね、ある種のね。なんだろうな、絶対神と言うべき善の名を借りた悪みたいのがあるよね。あの全員が不快感を覚えないなんてことはないわけだって、株不快はこういうことを覚えるどうこうでもいいわけよ。だって綺麗、汚いとかさ、善悪って人それぞれ感じ方があるわけじゃんで物事はやっぱり。根っこにあるのは、やっぱり絶対やっちゃいけないことだけ。いくつかそれをさえやらなきゃといいじゃないって、そういうのがないわけだから、やっぱりあの欧米英米の方から欧米の方から来てる?</ref>.  


Torishima drew comparisons between the narrow-mindedness of modern-day age regulations to the religious zealotry of the Puritanical mindset of the past, and highlighted the difficulties of selling Jump magazine in America as an example. The content that was deemed perfectly suitable for eight year old children in Japan was mandated to be marketed as strictly for teenagers and older in America or legal action would be applied<ref>鳥嶋:その宗教的な概念からくるその清教徒の考え方って、アメリカにあるじゃない?彼らのコンプラの考え方って本当ない。狭いうんでだから、向こうでコミックスだけに、全部その年齢で。 あの, 区切ってやらなきゃいけない少年ジャンプの漫画だったらサーティーンアップ13歳以上じゃないと出せない。それは全部見てくれなきゃいけないで、それを訴訟が起きる。そのために保険も入らなきゃいけない。もうこんなね、バカな国とねやるの。</ref> Torishima declared that doing business with America was infuriating and even damaging to Japan itself by forcing the smaller nation to comply to such ridiculous laws, which Horii explained as being the reason for the removal of gendered language during the character creation process. Foreign meddling mandated the censoring of the words men and women and forced Horii to utilize the awkward workaround of appearance A/B, despite everything else in the game acknowledging the common sense differences between the two sexes. Horii wondered aloud who on Earth would ever complain about the use of such common words in the first place<ref>堀井: 主人公もね、男女選べるんだけど、男を女選ぶって書いていけないのねタイプ一タイプ二なのねねえそう男女誰が一体文句言うんだろうと思うんだよね。
Torishima drew comparisons between the narrow-mindedness of modern-day age regulations to the religious zealotry of the Puritan movement of early enlightenment America and England, and highlighted the difficulties of selling Jump magazine in America as an example, whereby content that was deemed suitable for children 8 and above in Japan was mandated to be marketed as strictly for teenagers 13 and older in the United States<ref>鳥嶋:その宗教的な概念からくるその清教徒の考え方って、アメリカにあるじゃない?彼らのコンプラの考え方って本当ない。狭いうんでだから、向こうでコミックスだけに、全部その年齢で。 あの, 区切ってやらなきゃいけない少年ジャンプの漫画だったらサーティーンアップ13歳以上じゃないと出せない。それは全部見てくれなきゃいけないで、それを訴訟が起きる。そのために保険も入らなきゃいけない。もうこんなね、バカな国とねやるの。</ref>. Torishima declared that doing business with America was potentially even damaging to Japan itself by forcing the smaller nation to comply with its stricter laws if they wished to sell in the US, which Horii explained as being the reason for the removal of gendered language during the character creation process. Despite his claim, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_Software_Rating_Board ESRB] does not rate games higher or lower depending on the decision to use or abstain from gendered language.
 
In light of Square Enix's decision to retire gendered language, Horii opt to refer to the two protagonists as "Appearance A/B", despite the protagonists being explicitly male and female within the story. Horii remarked that the player characters are intended to be either male or female, and that the refusal to acknowledge the characters' genders is confusing, wondering "who would complain about [the selection between male and female protagonists]"<ref>堀井: 主人公もね、男女選べるんだけど、男を女選ぶって書いていけないのねタイプ一タイプ二なのねねえそう男女誰が一体文句言うんだろうと思うんだよね。
鳥嶋: そうそうですね。
鳥嶋: そうそうですね。
堀井: うん, わからない。</ref>.
堀井: うん, わからない。</ref>.


This interview would be catapulted into the international news cycle thanks to X.com user [https://archive.is/ZqIaz Valute News] clipping the portion of the interview concerning censorship and providing English subtitles. The ripple effect of the post would draw significant attention from beyond the game industry's own news channels, leading to outlets such as [https://archive.is/fIRQw Forbes magazine] and [https://archive.is/qjpp9 Elon Musk] commenting on the situation and drawing even more attention to the censorship of ''Dragon Quest III''.
This interview would become the subject of controversy when [https://archive.is/ZqIaz Valute News], a journalist, clipped the portion of the interview concerning censorship, providing English subtitles. The spread of this post would draw attention from non-gaming news outlets such as [https://archive.is/fIRQw Forbes magazine], in turn drawing further attention to the censorship of the remake.


On October 3, Tokyo M.A.A.D. SPIN released an official statement regarding the viral interview, stressing the mistranslation performed by Valute News that turned Torishima's use the English word "puritanical" into the phrase "sex education". An English counterpart to the statement was also announced, but was formally delayed later the same day. Valute News would also release a formal apology for the error, and deactivated the account. Additionally, the Denfamico Gamer youtube channel has since been privated the video.
On October 3, Tokyo M.A.A.D. SPIN released an official statement regarding the viral interview, stressing the mistranslation performed by Valute News that turned Torishima's use the English word "puritanical" into the phrase "sex education". An English counterpart to the statement was also announced, but was formally delayed later the same day. Valute News would release a formal apology for the error, later deactivating the account. Additionally, the Denfamico Gamer YouTube channel has since privated the video.


==Credits==
==Credits==