Was this really censored?

[Mordeth Kai]

I hate censorship with a passion, and I’m usually quick to call it out. Now we’ve heard the game was censored, the devs stated ‘all sexual dialogue was removed’, they claimed to want to get as low an age rating as possible, they hired some artsy fartsy guy to redo portraits instead of the ero legend who did the original. Sounds cut and dry and yet I had misgivings. Mainly Maria not being put in a burka, but then there’s the lack of modesty shorts and other tell tale signs of modern censorship. So, against my better judgment I bought the remake on the switch and bought the original on my overpriced blu ray player. Things aren’t adding up.

First observation to make on comparing the two is that somewhere between 2/3’s and 3/4’ths of the story is just gone across the board. It doesn’t seem like sexual dialogue was targeted for removal so much as the story was gutted thoroughly and indiscriminately. If it was in a cutscene or there was any CG it’s all but guaranteed to be removed. Dialogue that wasn’t removed was cut in half, often losing important context. They didn’t just remove the two scenes with Toni and she wasn’t the only one to have her introduction removed almost completely, I mean Dylan is just dead instead of trying to hijack the MC’s tank ffs. Also, there is sexual dialogue when romancing characters, meaning the devs statement about removing it is a lie.

Then there is the ability to look up characters skirts, the original blocks the camera from going too low while the remake does not. Then there’s jiggle physics, if they exist in the original I haven’t noticed them while in the remake the girls do plenty of bouncing in combat.

I don’t think this is a case of censorship but rather content being cut across the board rushing the game out the door before it’s even half finished. I also suspect that the statements about censoring the game may be a case of the suits demanding it and the people doing the actual work ignoring the orders. It just doesn’t add up.

[Hentaika]

There is big difference between small fanservice you mention(pantyshots etc) and what the game used to be.
'Sexual dialogue' you mention in remake is pretty much as roundabout as it gets, so it doesn't count either, the most straightforward one is probably the gay thing with bartender, but the gay stuff is currently 'meta', so people close eye on such mentions.
What they cut out is pretty much most of the content that is instant age rating spike.
They did cut out TOO much, agreed.. but it is what it is I would say.

It's indeed censored and it's indeed done rather poorly. I did mention it multiple times that most characters pretty much lose nearly all their scenes entirely, losing most reason to really care for them.

Only the main story remained intact pretty much.
On a positive note - the art is something you can get back again in NG+.

While it's true money issues may have been partly it(I mean making remake to begin with is an obvious cash grab, you don't want to spend more than you plan to earn with little effort) - best seen by some locations missing.. it's not entirely money either for sure.

The original game barely ended up getting age 15+ rating, while the remake easily got 12+ rating.
The CGs were pretty big deal for sure, surprised they actually managed to pass in some scenes as 15+.

[SolarFlare0013]

Metal Max Xeno Reborn is a censored copy of Metal Max Xeno. A lot of dialogue and the like have been removed. In fact I remember clearly in Xeno you had to make a shield for Iron Base to protect it from Catastropus but that gets skipped over in Reborn. Another example is when you find Toni. In Reborn she is laying on the ground. But in Xeno she is stuck in a web with barely anything to cover herself with. And then later in Xeno when Toni turns Yokky down Maria comforts him and they both go to her room. So all in all, Reborn is basically a demo for Xeno.

[Hentaika]

There is also the Cherboug plan which does nothing in Reborn from what I figured.

[SolarFlare0013]

Cherboug actually let's you find the Nephilim enemies. And that's it

[Hentaika]

Originally posted by SolarFlare0013:

Cherboug actually let's you find the Nephilim enemies. And that's it

You get that before the plan is done. The plan is originally supposed to do something else.. was it extra ending or something? I kinda forgot, been a long time since I played original.

[SolarFlare0013]

I'll have to go through it again on Xeno

[Hentaika]

Originally posted by SolarFlare0013:

I'll have to go through it again on Xeno

No, wait, the Cherboug plan WAS the shield you are talking about.. DERP'd badly, but just remembered how it went thanks to you mentioning shield now lol

[-=EDF=- Kouta Seto]

*sigh* It was "censored" yes, it has changed pictures ofc. but thats was a TRADEOFF for the rest of the improvements. Plus you can UNLOCK the old pics by BEATING THE GAME! (nope, not get a "fake" ending with one of the girls... they dont count, trust me.. i know XD laughed hard at the first thou wich i got after like 20 minutes already(Fastest JRPG ever XD))

So you want inferior gameplay,inferior looks, inferior overall story(If those games actualy have one that is XD i have yet to find it realy) for... basicaly couple CG's then go for it. Do it by all means. Not like this here remake was done for one purpose : Test if it would be posible to head for next gen consoles and release a new game there.... read the frelling dev interview about it!

And yes i belive a proper PS5 released new one will feature even better CG and girls as the artist of this game franchise is... a H artist! So yes, he will know the boundry that he cant cross but will still walk on it (Like Tsunako in Hyperdimension realy... dude knows exactls how far he can go with those CG (and there are uncensored ones in the handbooks in every Limited edition sooo dude draws those godesses nude regardless so i BET the same would happen in a new game of this here franchise IF it gets limited editions)

[Autism Bux]

Originally posted by Hentaika:

There is also the Cherboug plan which does nothing in Reborn from what I figured.

It gets changed to a pretty pointless electronic tracking device that's supposed to let Iron Base pinpoint the movements of the SoNs so they can track down Catastropus and see where their main base is... except it's staring you in the face at the beginning of the game over at Shinagawa Wharf and then you track it down to... Shinagawa Wharf where it simply returned to stare at Iron Base again. It was a very poor rejiggering of the plot when they could have cut the Cherbourg Plan out of the game entirely and it would make no difference, since it has absolutely no impact on actual play and the original was the plot-sensible goal of keeping Iron Base from being destroyed by what was meant to be a genuine threat.

in Reborn Catastropus just kind of comes and goes because it seems to enjoy gaslighting you.

[Mordeth Kai]

Here's the thing, the MC's backstory is just gone, no mention of his mother dieing, barely any mention of his mentor, Dylan is just a corpse, no scene where he tries to hijack the MC's tank, no punching Yokky for being a drunk idiot. Major scenes that are completely inoffensive but important to the story are gone. The story is hacked to pieces across the board, sexual or otherwise. I'm not seeing a clear pattern where sexual things were singled out and targeted for removal, everything got chopped regardless of the content. Just compare the two games intros, the story is just... gone.

This is just my own conspiracy theory, but I think there may have been infighting between the suits at kadokawa (or maybe the head director, I dunno) who wanted it censored and westernized and the devs working on it going 'no' and the end result was getting rushed out the door not even half done. It's just my theory, but it's the impression I get. Could be off my rocker, but I think something like that may have happened.

Edit: Just got Iticca in the original, all the girls had their assets nerfed. Yeah, my theory is wrong. I guess it makes more sense to chalk the remake to incompetence and stupidity. I'm genuinely curious as to what the hell happened behind the scenes, but we'll probably never know.

[LukanGamer]

y sadly true soon everything will be censored like you see in those twilight or w/e stuff, that are meant to be a extreme non actual possible thing.

[Mordeth Kai]

Originally posted by Autism Bux:

Originally posted by Hentaika:

There is also the Cherboug plan which does nothing in Reborn from what I figured.

It gets changed to a pretty pointless electronic tracking device that's supposed to let Iron Base pinpoint the movements of the SoNs so they can track down Catastropus and see where their main base is... except it's staring you in the face at the beginning of the game over at Shinagawa Wharf and then you track it down to... Shinagawa Wharf where it simply returned to stare at Iron Base again. It was a very poor rejiggering of the plot when they could have cut the Cherbourg Plan out of the game entirely and it would make no difference, since it has absolutely no impact on actual play and the original was the plot-sensible goal of keeping Iron Base from being destroyed by what was meant to be a genuine threat.

in Reborn Catastropus just kind of comes and goes because it seems to enjoy gaslighting you.

I was genuinely confused by the Cherboug stuff in the remake, and not just because tracking a walking skyscraper made no sense, or the fact that they could look out the window and see it across the street doing nothing... menacingly.... for reasons. They end it with some lines about getting it done overnight so I rest a day, nothing happens, I rest 7 days, nothing happens, I beat the game and still wonder wtf did it even do?

The original's story might not be on par with games like Nier or Xenosaga but at least the story was cohesive and made sense and had me invested. At least the characters (and vehicles) feel like more than different skins to try out. The remake fails at almost everything, the pacing is gone, most of the progression is gone, the story is gone, the content is mostly gone, it's only real positive is the lack of random encounters.

On a side note, the original mentioning Noah going evil after getting internet access is pure gold for anyone who remembers microsofts AI saying 'hitler did nothing wrong' and 'f* my robot p*y' after a getting on the internet. The whole 'it wanted to stop global warming' shtick is vastly inferior to 'we gave it internet access, now it thinks humanity was a mistake', its the moment where it all clicks.

[Autism Bux]

Basically they turned the game into a weird sandbox with the distant haze of a plot and setting attached to it that still appears like some kind of phantom, utters several cryptic syllables and then vanishes again leaving you confused.

What I really don't understand is that the original game already had Hunter mode after first clear, so if you REALLY wanted to remove all of the plot-gating, cutscenes and dialogue; you could just do that and you'd still keep all of the content, mechanics and actual challenge. I think this game exists for people who would never like Metal Max Xeno in the first place. Even character animations were changed, like literally every character's unique run cycle and idle animations. I kept getting thrown by Toni's masculine power stride until I booted up my copy of Xeno again and remembered why it seemed so out of place.

But, I mean, hey; 9/10 from some internet clickhole. That must mean it's working.

[Delphinus]

My issue is really not the censorship but all the stuff they remove from the game content wise. Example on steam version Dylan is found dead somewhere you take him back to the base and revive him. At first that seems fine. But then you see console version the way you meet him it so much better. You find him half lalive and when you get close to him he points a gun at your face which make far more sense.

Many many many things they change that makes no sense why they did this >_> In my opinion they probably did this appeal to more players but fans of the game are like wtf bro why you do this o_O

Now I want play console version more than this version -_-

[Sir Nilbog]

Originally posted by Hentaika:

There is big difference between small fanservice you mention(pantyshots etc) and what the game used to be.
'Sexual dialogue' you mention in remake is pretty much as roundabout as it gets, so it doesn't count either, the most straightforward one is probably the gay thing with bartender, but the gay stuff is currently 'meta', so people close eye on such mentions.
What they cut out is pretty much most of the content that is instant age rating spike.
They did cut out TOO much, agreed.. but it is what it is I would say.

It's indeed censored and it's indeed done rather poorly. I did mention it multiple times that most characters pretty much lose nearly all their scenes entirely, losing most reason to really care for them.

Only the main story remained intact pretty much.
On a positive note - the art is something you can get back again in NG+.

While it's true money issues may have been partly it(I mean making remake to begin with is an obvious cash grab, you don't want to spend more than you plan to earn with little effort) - best seen by some locations missing.. it's not entirely money either for sure.

The original game barely ended up getting age 15+ rating, while the remake easily got 12+ rating.
The CGs were pretty big deal for sure, surprised they actually managed to pass in some scenes as 15+.

I never played the original but this version doesnt even sound worth it with all the cut content.