So glad to see you doing this again --BUT-- you didn't read the whole topic, did you? Kamitani --HAS-- put a lot more Artistry into the game other than huge-boobies! Just look at all the other art-forms represented in the game. From Disney to Biblical. There's a reference to Fantasia and Peter Pan. The Tower of Babel is in there. There's pop-cultural references to Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the TITans... Schreier ignored all those things to make his "point" and focused SOLELY on the boobies. Being a "professional" writer and saying "Dude? What are you like 14?!" is what caused the backlash to start. His moral high-ground and almost comical indignation, then his follow up where he tried to martyr himself after Kamitani sent the (now infamous) 3 dwarf response. It's now evolved past the initial bickering into so much more... It's kind of become a mess.
There's so much more to discuss on this, but another time...
Sprite based games, fantasy games, side-scrolling brawler games have all practically gone the way of the dodo, all for the sake of publishers putting out Call of Killzone: Bald Space Marine Ops 38... and that's where MY biggest concern lies!
The alternative to big-boobed heroines, as suggested in the GameSpot topic, is to give every game a complete character customization option... I don't like THAT option either. Would BioShock: Infinite have the same effect, story and vision-wise, if Booker had a clown-face and afro, weighed 350 pounds, wore a pink tutu and combat boots? No.
Game developers often have a story to tell or a vision they want to express. Dictating how they do that... Errr... What's next? Movies where you can change the look and sex of the actors? Football games will need to have both male and female cheerleaders of every race, body-type, height and weight to try and please EVERYONE...? Won't work...
Sports fans have expectations when they watch a game of what the cheerleaders will look like and they are fine with it. People who don't watch sports aren't going to care WHAT they look like. The market for games of the type Dragon's Crown is (male, fantasy-gamers) pretty much expect Conan the Barbarian, Raistlin the Mage, Morgana the Sorceress and maybe an Elf-Archer or two... If you don't like that type of game or the imagery in it, simply play something else and let those who like that and WANT that do THEIR own thing.
My original intention for posting the GS topic was to introduce the Controversy, Drama, and frankly, the Boobies, cause that's what draws the crowds, then slowly turn it into an information topic about Dragon's Crown to try and drum up interest in the game.
Any press (even bad press) is good for tiny companies like VanillaWare, and to THAT end, the topic was VERY successful.
I never intended to get into the debate side of things (and I didn't in the topic) but what it's evolved into has kind of made that difficult.
I don't know if I'm going to be able to express this well enough or not, but I'll try:
Seems these days video-game journalists and websites are becoming a dime a dozen. You have a few of them that stand (for better or worse) above the crowd. Greg Kasavin in his day. Jeff Gerstmann and his whole GS and Giant Bomb blow-up. Jim Sterling and his troll/rant videos, reviews and stories.
Who gets fired... Who comes out of the closet... Who gives what popular game an inflated or lower than the average score...
It almost seems like EVERYONE is trying to do something to become relevant and increase their "celebrity" status. Make themselves the center of a "controversy" maybe, as in this example...
I don't trust Schreier's intentions with his reaction. If he honestly, truly and sincerely BELIEVED anyone was going to take those boobs SERIOUSLY and not know FULL-and-WELL they are exaggerated to the point of being comical... I don't know. I just don't buy it. NO ONE can be that naive!
If a game includes a character in blackface, you wouldn't say "But the rest of the game's not racist!" This was addressing a specific aspect of the game.
The thing is, the "PC gone too far" complaints preceded the additional comments from Schreier. The dismissal was not that the condemnation was too immature, it was actually the opposite -- that it was taking things too seriously. Albeit I could be misunderstanding the objections.
Also, no, I can't honestly say I can firmly believe the design of the character is intentionally comical. It's a variant of Poe's Law. There are so many examples of absurdity in a non-satirical light that this is indistinguishable. Is Ivy from Soul Calibur 4 "exaggerated to the point of being comical"?
My primary issue has little to do with the specific game in general, but the levied counter-criticism that merely suggesting this kind of design is obnoxious is some assault on our freedoms or artistic license. That and that cracking a joke, however uncreative, when it something you've just described as a comical exaggeration, is worthy of backlash in the first place.
So glad to see you doing this again --BUT-- you didn't read the whole topic, did you? Kamitani --HAS-- put a lot more Artistry into the game other than huge-boobies! Just look at all the other art-forms represented in the game. From Disney to Biblical. There's a reference to Fantasia and Peter Pan. The Tower of Babel is in there. There's pop-cultural references to Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the TITans... Schreier ignored all those things to make his "point" and focused SOLELY on the boobies. Being a "professional" writer and saying "Dude? What are you like 14?!" is what caused the backlash to start. His moral high-ground and almost comical indignation, then his follow up where he tried to martyr himself after Kamitani sent the (now infamous) 3 dwarf response. It's now evolved past the initial bickering into so much more... It's kind of become a mess.
There's so much more to discuss on this, but another time...
Sprite based games, fantasy games, side-scrolling brawler games have all practically gone the way of the dodo, all for the sake of publishers putting out Call of Killzone: Bald Space Marine Ops 38... and that's where MY biggest concern lies!
The alternative to big-boobed heroines, as suggested in the GameSpot topic, is to give every game a complete character customization option... I don't like THAT option either. Would BioShock: Infinite have the same effect, story and vision-wise, if Booker had a clown-face and afro, weighed 350 pounds, wore a pink tutu and combat boots? No.
Game developers often have a story to tell or a vision they want to express. Dictating how they do that... Errr... What's next? Movies where you can change the look and sex of the actors? Football games will need to have both male and female cheerleaders of every race, body-type, height and weight to try and please EVERYONE...? Won't work...
Sports fans have expectations when they watch a game of what the cheerleaders will look like and they are fine with it. People who don't watch sports aren't going to care WHAT they look like. The market for games of the type Dragon's Crown is (male, fantasy-gamers) pretty much expect Conan the Barbarian, Raistlin the Mage, Morgana the Sorceress and maybe an Elf-Archer or two... If you don't like that type of game or the imagery in it, simply play something else and let those who like that and WANT that do THEIR own thing.
Super pink fashion games are awesome! Just sayin'.
My original intention for posting the GS topic was to introduce the Controversy, Drama, and frankly, the Boobies, cause that's what draws the crowds, then slowly turn it into an information topic about Dragon's Crown to try and drum up interest in the game.
Any press (even bad press) is good for tiny companies like VanillaWare, and to THAT end, the topic was VERY successful.
I never intended to get into the debate side of things (and I didn't in the topic) but what it's evolved into has kind of made that difficult.
I don't know if I'm going to be able to express this well enough or not, but I'll try:
Seems these days video-game journalists and websites are becoming a dime a dozen. You have a few of them that stand (for better or worse) above the crowd. Greg Kasavin in his day. Jeff Gerstmann and his whole GS and Giant Bomb blow-up. Jim Sterling and his troll/rant videos, reviews and stories.
Who gets fired... Who comes out of the closet... Who gives what popular game an inflated or lower than the average score...
It almost seems like EVERYONE is trying to do something to become relevant and increase their "celebrity" status. Make themselves the center of a "controversy" maybe, as in this example...
I don't trust Schreier's intentions with his reaction. If he honestly, truly and sincerely BELIEVED anyone was going to take those boobs SERIOUSLY and not know FULL-and-WELL they are exaggerated to the point of being comical... I don't know. I just don't buy it. NO ONE can be that naive!
Agreed. My new computer makes the editing process SO much easier too.
The thing is, the "PC gone too far" complaints preceded the additional comments from Schreier. The dismissal was not that the condemnation was too immature, it was actually the opposite -- that it was taking things too seriously. Albeit I could be misunderstanding the objections.
Also, no, I can't honestly say I can firmly believe the design of the character is intentionally comical. It's a variant of Poe's Law. There are so many examples of absurdity in a non-satirical light that this is indistinguishable. Is Ivy from Soul Calibur 4 "exaggerated to the point of being comical"?
My primary issue has little to do with the specific game in general, but the levied counter-criticism that merely suggesting this kind of design is obnoxious is some assault on our freedoms or artistic license. That and that cracking a joke, however uncreative, when it something you've just described as a comical exaggeration, is worthy of backlash in the first place.
Trying to remain coherent but the beers and BBQ have me drunk, full and tired.
This whole "controversy" brings out a few of my pet-peeves about modern day society (in the US):
Racism is wrong. Boobies are not.