@Miraglyth That's a good point, given that all of this is speculation to begin with. There's no real evidence as to why they changed anything. I don't necessarily think it's the easiest thing for them to respond to, but it could put some stuff to rest. But I also feel like most of it is so trivial that we could survive without knowing either.

@ApollosAmour said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

@Miraglyth That's a good point, given that all of this is speculation to begin with. There's no real evidence as to why they changed anything. I don't necessarily think it's the easiest thing for them to respond to, but it could put some stuff to rest. But I also feel like most of it is so trivial that we could survive without knowing either.

Yet the shit gets flung around like a reces monkey on holiday... Its barbaric and not only that luna treats this subject like idolizing a god... Censorship in all its forms needs to stop being discussed period... As you said "I also feel like most of it is so trivial that we could survive without knowing either.

@Blade-Syphon said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

@Miraglyth said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

Before continuing, I should say I've completed the portion of Episode 4's story quests we have so far (up to chapter 4). I've watched the deleted scene and to me it kind of builds on character relationships. It's not in ways that couldn't be assumed anyway, but considering Episodes 1-3 often felt like they were skipping pages of character interaction I wonder if I'm just used to gaps in writing to the point that removing a scene doesn't feel out of place?

Naw - you simply have the right of it. The scene that was removed in Episode 4 offered very little in the way of character building outside of generic anime JRPG bath-time talk (That is, devolving within two minutes into mindless groping and boob size comparisons).

The way some people were speaking, you'd be remiss for thinking that it offered some deep dive into Khori or Hitsugi's past, or Al's childish behavior...but ah...it didn't.

As others have said - nothing of value was lost with the removal of the scene. It was likely removed due to the characters in it being under aged, and Sega and Microsoft both not really wanting to deal with any kind of backlash that might come from that.

That’s your opinion! What also I cannot stand is that some people are narrating the censored content to entice curiosity! Agenda baiting tactic once again!

I am also surprised Sega is allowing certain people to continue the manipulation and misrepresentation.

@Teufel666 said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

I think I remember someone on the forums a while back saying something about the hit boxxes being effected by the height restriction... That'd be the only legitimate arguement someone could make for wanting to make a small character. On that note... Does the height effect the hit-box at all? I'm a giant Cast... So if that's the case... I guess I'm screwed. lol

Sorry to get to this so late. Height affects hitboxes (definitely), hurtboxes (maybe), and combat QoL. The Double Saber PA where you throw your saber like a buzzsaw (Deadly Archer in JP) has the sweetspot dependent on your character height. Shorter characters have it closer to you, to where you can basically use it in melee combos. I searched for info on hurtboxes and got a hit saying that some attacks might miss you if you're short. Same page also claims that it affects auto-lock priority on enemy parts due to being closer to certain parts. Finally, your height affects piercing ranged attacks in that your firing line starts from a different point, meaning it affects lining up weak points or just enemies in general.

Really though, global is so overtuned for current content that the only ones that should really matter are Deadly Archer's range and the lock on priority. You're going to be using iframes for defense and any groups that you'd want to line up weak points on are probably bosses, meaning you'll likely have to jump anyways. It might have been an issue if we had the proper balance, but as is you can just shoot trash mobs in the feet and oneshot them. So for combat purposes it essentially comes down to whether Deadly Archer loses a possible followup or lacks the range to reach a certain spawn pattern as a result of the changes, since the lock on is going to be garbage no matter what.

I can make fun of the current state of this thread too, is it too late to do that?

But seriously though...

@Teufel666 said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

That'd be the only legitimate arguement someone could make for wanting to make a small character.

Plenty of people who are shorter IRL are complaining and other games let you make shorter characters including not just the "lolicon/shotacon" ones like Lalafell, Gnomes and that race in Terra as there's also Dwarves in WoW (and probably Warhammer Online), female Miquo'te and female Au Ra) but let's just pretend these facts don't exist.

Let's also ignore the fact that the maximum height was also limited, which is entirely nonsensical.

@MasterDarkwingz said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

Japan's been worried about anime censorship as well, considering the infamous text changes of Crunchyroll and of Funimation.

Netflix, CR and Funi kind of have a bit of a case-by case monopoly if you count all the exclusives each being monoploized (and no, being on other platforms such as VRV and HBO max doesn't change this fact, just ask the Robotech fanbase), as well as something of an oligopoly. Most of the biggest anime are exclusive to these platforms. This problem simply does not exist in the video game industry.

Also Lalafell can wear suggestive outfits on FFXIV's western release and so can gnomes in WoW so this really is 100% apples and oranges.

Japan went and passed legal changes to fight for anime/manga anti-piracy rights, so I wouldn't be surprised if video games would be their next target.

Japan's always been far worse about this, fair use isn't even codified there and I don't think it ever was. The only exception is if you funnel money into the copyright holders' pockets (which I guess YouTube CID is apparently useful for? I don't think that's true but a Japanese YouTuber once tried to claim as much when I pointed out they don't have the legal right to post copyrighted music, period)

@Archetype-Luna said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

Nothing with the first scene was incredibly explicit with Al. If anything the first scene just established Al's innocent nature even further.

Ugh I still can't believe people defend a scene where a newborn with the mind and body of a five-year old (also for the record, who he really is isn't relevant as not only was his true nature not properly revealed until later and even ignoring the fact that he is a completely separate person than who he originally was, this was during a point where he was still suffering from amnesia) accidentally gropes a pair of teenagers like it's not absolutely disgusting. It was removed for good reason people.

It was explicit, how is that not explicit? Groping (which by the relevant definition ("feeling up") is generally used in a non-consensual context) is considered sexual harassment and is illegal even in Japan. Depiction of it in media may not be illegal but it is explicit.

Merriam-Webster wrote:

Definition of explicit

1a : fully revealed or expressed without vagueness, implication, or ambiguity : leaving no question as to meaning or intent explicit instructions

b : open in the depiction of nudity or sexuality

Splitting hairs aside, there's simply no logical way you can ignore a character who is a child groping.

@Miraglyth said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

Read the first post of this topic and many of the responses make me feel sorry for Leonkh99

QFE. Don't feel sorry for Luna though because Luna is basically just asking for it at this point, I warned them several times to quit engaging RainGnyu.

@Blade-Syphon said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

@Miraglyth said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

Before continuing, I should say I've completed the portion of Episode 4's story quests we have so far (up to chapter 4). I've watched the deleted scene and to me it kind of builds on character relationships. It's not in ways that couldn't be assumed anyway, but considering Episodes 1-3 often felt like they were skipping pages of character interaction I wonder if I'm just used to gaps in writing to the point that removing a scene doesn't feel out of place?

Naw - you simply have the right of it. The scene that was removed in Episode 4 offered very little in the way of character building outside of generic anime JRPG bath-time talk (That is, devolving within two minutes into mindless groping and boob size comparisons).

The way some people were speaking, you'd be remiss for thinking that it offered some deep dive into Khori or Hitsugi's past, or Al's childish behavior...but ah...it didn't.

As others have said - nothing of value was lost with the removal of the scene. It was likely removed due to the characters in it being under aged, and Sega and Microsoft both not really wanting to deal with any kind of backlash that might come from that.

Thank you, bolded the most important part of your statement. They really just did not want to deal with potential backlash, because (and ESPECIALLY since the game is Global) there would be some kind of backlash or outcry. People complain about anything, at least nothing of importance was lost.

I will continue to disagree with the idea that nothing of value was lost. The removed scene adds to Kohri's obsession with Hitsugi and Al's innocent nature. Furthermore, it will likely cause later scenes that have a significant amount of character development and details on character relationships to be removed.

I saw nothing disturbing about the scene at all. It seemed similar to a child thrashing about while older siblings bathed them. He had no perverted intentions and you don't really see anything. Intentions should be key; there is a huge difference between a child accidentally touching breasts and someone intentionally groping someone's chest. Meanwhile, Kohri's outfit in chapter 4 of EP4 can actually be considered erotic with how it resembles a BDSM dominatrix outfit.

I absolutely draw the line at any story content being censored.

@Archetype-Luna said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

I will continue to disagree with the idea that nothing of value was lost. The removed scene adds to Kohri's obsession with Hitsugi and Al's innocent nature. Furthermore, it will likely cause later scenes that have a significant amount of character development and details on character relationships to be removed.

I saw nothing disturbing about the scene at all. It seemed similar to a child thrashing about while older siblings bathed them. He had no perverted intentions and you don't really see anything. Intentions should be key; there is a huge difference between a child accidentally touching breasts and someone intentionally groping someone's chest. Meanwhile, Kohri's outfit in chapter 4 of EP4 can actually be considered erotic with how it resembles a BDSM dominatrix outfit.

I am sorry but I strongly disagree because Luna approach to issues is to incite change through forum bandwagon. It started with SG, then hight and now censors content makes me wonder why so much effort. I understand the pro’s and con’s of these discussions but no solution is accepted even when both side benefits. Luna has a tendency to negate any fair solution that does not fall in his/her agenda and perception. I also have noticed that If the opinions of other perceptions of the censors content is with Sega, Luna tends mock their perspective with content that wasn’t censored as if he/she has a credit masters degree in philosophy and psychology in mental awareness just to strengthen his/her argument. Kind-of-reminds me of this........ https://youtu.be/hIdsjNGCGz4

If you didn’t know Luna! You not Will!

@Archetype-Luna said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

I will continue to disagree with the idea that nothing of value was lost. The removed scene adds to Kohri's obsession with Hitsugi and Al's innocent nature. Furthermore, it will likely cause later scenes that have a significant amount of character development and details on character relationships to be removed.

I saw nothing disturbing about the scene at all. It seemed similar to a child thrashing about while older siblings bathed them. He had no perverted intentions and you don't really see anything. Intentions should be key; there is a huge difference between a child accidentally touching breasts and someone intentionally groping someone's chest. Meanwhile, Kohri's outfit in chapter 4 of EP4 can actually be considered erotic with how it resembles a BDSM dominatrix outfit.

I'm going to have to agree, the intentions within the scene sound like a logical course of action for Al's inquisitive and literal blank mind.

But if you get past the spoiler of the fact that he was actually a copy of Hitsugi's other body, it's like he's not actually human, and is more of a Photon creature.

You can argue that the monster metaphor could also be considered inappropriate, but this game was initially translated and modified for NA, rather than the later Global.

Now, you can also argue that the UK's ban on certain types of anime themes that contain children could also be a driving force for deletion of the scene.

@Archetype-Luna said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

it resembles a BDSM dominatrix outfit.

I thought that's what they were going for...

@Archetype-Luna said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

I will continue to disagree with the idea that nothing of value was lost.

Come to think of it, was it lost in this instance? It's available online now, so anyone who hears about it and wants to watch it can. At this point it's kind of like 18+ patches developers provide for games when they're sold on stores that disallow mature content.

I don't think it makes much sense to argue that the altered speech bubbles or font is a materially important deficiency, or that the player character shown probably does not look like the viewer's character. Really with the video online and fully dubbed the only other difference is we don't get to see what happens with the other dialogue choice, and given most choices in story quests it probably gives one different Xiera line.

The scene even starts by declaring when it happens in the story. And while yes it would be convenient to provide it to players within the game while they play through the story, all it would take is a rebranding of the video as "Deleted Scene - After Dinner and a Show" to make that clear.

I am done! Going to report this to steam and ESRB! GMs are not removing this thread which leads me to believe they approve of certain people leaking censored content on their platform.

@RainGnyu Hiya!

Steam may not be able to help much on that end as even on their forums people are sharing said content so I wouldn't bother with them speficially.

As for the state of the thread, i'm indifferent to the game's censorship... I literally don't care and feel that its receiving a lot of attention compared to other actual problems which are not out of Sega's control. I wanted to try offering some potential reasons for why things were done as I felt things were very heated in the other forums and some potential reasons were being overlooked... the reasons were purely speculation but some things are better than nothing.

I do agree that much like all the other censorship threads, this one is getting out of hand but I just felt like I should make clear what the purpose of this thread was. Since like I said, I don't care for one if the game's censored or not, this thread was never a pro-censorship or anti-censorship thread but rather speculation on the "why" which many people have been clamouring for.

All of these issues would be sorted with just a 10 minute video from the developers explaining why they censored some content and changed others.

Literally all it would take is a guy from sega, sitting infront of a table, webcam on, microphone on, saying: We changed this because of X reason that would have affected Z and Y so we had to cut on Å and Ä.

Simple, easy to do.

@Leonkh99 said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

@RainGnyu Hiya!

Steam may not be able to help much on that end as even on their forums people are sharing said content so I wouldn't bother with them speficially.

As for the state of the thread, i'm indifferent to the game's censorship... I literally don't care and feel that its receiving a lot of attention compared to other actual problems which are not out of Sega's control. I wanted to try offering some potential reasons for why things were done as I felt things were very heated in the other forums and some potential reasons were being overlooked... the reasons were purely speculation but some things are better than nothing.

I do agree that much like all the other censorship threads, this one is getting out of hand but I just felt like I should make clear what the purpose of this thread was.

It certainly has gone off topic, much to the disappointment of those actually trying to converse.

If there was an option for paid DLC to purchase cut content at a ratio that only adults could pay for, then maybe it could adhere to the ratings board. (Here in America, at least.)

But, seeing as how Sony/Microsoft has a nickname as the new king of censorship, I don't think anyone here is actually expecting anything to happen.

@SleeprunnerInc said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

All of these issues would be sorted with just a 10 minute video from the developers explaining why they censored some content and changed others.

Literally all it would take is a guy from sega, sitting infront of a table, webcam on, microphone on, saying: We changed this because of X reason that would have affected Z and Y so we had to cut on Å and Ä.

Simple, easy to do.

Yep. Simple, if you don't account for pandemic schedule delays.

But then again, there's another chance that veteran fans won't be too pleased of the reasoning, regardless.