Explain The Controversy

[✟Masked Aristocrat✟]

Hi, I've briefly perused the controversy behind this game, which was apparently evoked by previous features being removed, or something along those lines, but I feel like I'm out of my depth, as I wasn't even aware of this games existence until today. Summarily, can someone elaborate on the controversy, what did they remove, why were said features removed and is there any possibility of playing the game how it was prior, or is the game now changed permanently?

[Unionac]

Originally posted by ✟Masked Aristocrat✟:

Hi, I've briefly perused the controversy behind this game, which was apparently evoked by previous features being removed, or something along those lines, but I feel like I'm out of my depth, as I wasn't even aware of this games existence until today. Summarily, can someone elaborate on the controversy, what did they remove, why were said features removed and is there any possibility of playing the game how it was prior, or is the game now changed permanently?

Here's as far as I know of some of the features that were removed or altered:

-Original Digital Artbook removed, replaced by a more censored version
-A couple of voice lines removed, related to Peacock and another character.
-Soviet Announcer removed. This one is one of the most stingy ones, for the fact that it was a kickstarter reward that was added into the game when the game was owned formerly by Mike Z and Alex Ahad.
-Armband removed from Parasoul's Egrets because apparently it evoked the presence of a certain moustache'd man regime. The uniforms still remain the same though, making it a half arsed censoring attempt.
-The censoring of Big Band's backstory scenes, specifically the one in which he got brutally beaten to death. This was a big Robocop reference that the developers removed because of 'Racial violence'. The officer's death had nothing to do with his race, it had to do with the fact that he refused to play ball with the corrupt mafia of the city, the Medici's.
-The censoring of pantyshots from Filia, one of the characters in the game. This point has been used by the pro-censorship crowd a lot to try to paint the disgruntled fanbase as a bunch of horny weebs and pedos, ignoring all of the points summarized above.

Motive? We honestly do not know. At first we thought it was because they wanted to make their way into EVO 2023, but seeing as how they didnt get into the main game roster of the year, it could have been anything. There are theories that range from the new devs trying to ruin the original artistic vision of Mike Z and Ahad, or trying to get that sweet Enviromental, Social, Governance money from companies like Blackrock and some of its cronies.

Any possibility to change this? Barely. The new devs have proven to be very anti-mod. In some cases, changes to the cutscenes can be reverted via the use of mods or older builds, but the sprites themselves cannot be edited, their censorship remaining in place.

But I believe that the worst offender of this part was the fact that the developers didnt leave a single avenue of debate or discussion when it came to the update itself. Like someone who believed that they were always in the right, no discussion or debate was allowed, and as such, the ones that were against the update were only able to voice their discontent in the forums here. To make matters even worse, recently Steam hid all negative reviews as 'off-topic', with some suspicion lead towards the pro-censorship crowd for mass reporting the reviews, or even the developers themselves requesting said reviews to be basically hidden from plain sight.

I hope this has explained a lot of issues, and I look forward to helping out in any other questions that might arise.

[e-dood]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/245170/discussions/0/3810658214741448307/

This post helps a bit was well as the above post.

[Sharp299]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2996261658

[RGS]

If they don't reverse the changes, that people have already explained to you in this thread, there's nothing stopping them from altering the game further.

After all, the community voice is what prevents changes of this kind to happen, most of the time the devs care about what the players say, if they just ingnore it they will set an incredibly dangerous precedent.

[greenraven22]

Originally posted by ✟Masked Aristocrat✟:

Hi, I've briefly perused the controversy behind this game, which was apparently evoked by previous features being removed, or something along those lines, but I feel like I'm out of my depth, as I wasn't even aware of this games existence until today. Summarily, can someone elaborate on the controversy, what did they remove, why were said features removed and is there any possibility of playing the game how it was prior, or is the game now changed permanently?

The people currently removing content from the game aren't actually the original developers. The original dev has been Johnny Depp'd off of Skullgirls and is currently in court trying to get back ownership of the game.

That's the shortest version of the controversy.

[RGS]

Originally posted by greenraven22:

Originally posted by ✟Masked Aristocrat✟:

Hi, I've briefly perused the controversy behind this game, which was apparently evoked by previous features being removed, or something along those lines, but I feel like I'm out of my depth, as I wasn't even aware of this games existence until today. Summarily, can someone elaborate on the controversy, what did they remove, why were said features removed and is there any possibility of playing the game how it was prior, or is the game now changed permanently?

The people currently removing content from the game aren't actually the original developers. The original dev has been Johnny Depp'd off of Skullgirls and is currently in court trying to get back ownership of the game.

That's the shortest version of the controversy.

If we want to get specific, the creators were the ones who left(were forced to go).

Mike the main programmer and Alex the main designer.

[1.2M | Missingno.]

Most of the original team is still there. To claim these aren't the original developers when there were there from the start is a lie.

[RGS]

Originally posted by HI♪ Missingno.:

Most of the original team is still there. To claim these aren't the original developers when there were there from the start is a lie.

If we go by the actual ones who created most of it and were integral to the game creation.

Then they no longer are in the team.

[MONSTERDROID]

Originally posted by HI♪ Missingno.:

Most of the original team is still there. To claim these aren't the original developers when there were there from the start is a lie.

The creators of the game are gone, all that is left is their hired hands that tossed them out.

[Kyrion]

Originally posted by HI♪ Missingno.:

Most of the original team is still there. To claim these aren't the original developers when there were there from the start is a lie.

We can assume that quality of the coffee served at the office did not change I guess?

[1.2M | Missingno.]

I'd say the new season has all been up to par, yeah. If anything, production values have gone up, Annie's VFX stands out to me.

[RGS]

Originally posted by HI♪ Missingno.:

I'd say the new season has all been up to par, yeah. If anything, production values have gone up, Annie's VFX stands out to me.

On a design level everything was already done by Alex.

[1.2M | Missingno.]

Only the character design. Actually bringing it to life with moveset, mechanics, animation, VFX, story mode, etc is all the development team. It's not like Alex singlehandedly made the whole game years ago before he left and they're just releasing his work now.

[RGS]

Originally posted by HI♪ Missingno.:

Only the character design. Actually bringing it to life with moveset, mechanics, animation, VFX, story mode, etc is all the development team. It's not like Alex singlehandedly made the whole game years ago before he left and they're just releasing his work now.

Story mode aside, with the writers I assume, everything you mentioned is quite replaceable.

If they already have the orientation, an above average worker of each field should suffice to keep up the quality.

[1.2M | Missingno.]

What an incredibly ignorant statement. You don't know a damn thing about game development, do you?