The Curious Case of Cold Steel III's Censorship and My Issue and Non Issue with it.

[Crimion]

Hello,

I was looking into both sides of the argument to see if the game was censored or not. I want go into the issue I have and what I don’t have. Because the issue I have I feel is not being properly addressed.

Now if anyone says "Where's the evidence?" of this censorship; the lady named Moet on the stream seemed to admit it, at least to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZxvQibUr3I

We try work around thing that might be a liiiitle sexist in Japanese and try to make it culturally appropriate for our audiences.

It's the "sexist in Japanese" part of the quote that really bothers me. Not the puns or the jokes in Japanese. I get it; it will be lost in translation. This is why I’m not bothered by puns, etc. It’s the nature of the localization. More on that later why I don’t have an issue.

The “culturally appropriate” quote though is a very dirty phrase in some circles because it’s an excuse to add non equivalent things where it doesn’t belong; and it could mean anything. It could be even used to remove mini games like in the English version Fire Emblem Fates, because people in the west won't understand head patting. That's why it's dubious and to add on top of that NISA’s reputation precedes them.

Regarding localization. Here's an interesting read on a blog, which explains the nature of localization. There are some good points here. [blog.esterior.net] It also features a video by That Japanese man Yuta that you need to watch too about how you can’t exactly translate another culture’s humour. It is something to consider before moving on.

The blog does bring up a good point for an example: How do you translate from English to Japanese the meme "Hoes Mad"? And you probably can't.
I suspect this is why they call it a "localization" and not a "translation" to cover themselves legally.

There are people who hate localization in general but seem to praise XSeed (if you don't and hate them both, that's fine because you're consistent and that’s your preference). But XSeed did localizations too. For example in Trails in the Sky Estelle says “Holy Stregas” a few times. In the Japanese version she does not say this at all. But it is something Estelle would say because she loves and likes to collect Strega brand sneakers. I personally like that addition because it’s within line with the character. Not to mention the more famous empty chest quotes. I saw no huge complaints about Xseed’s localizations and about these things. I did like Xseed’s localizations and I don’t think I would have liked it as much if they didn't do what they did. I think that’s what Eric and Moet mean when they say they can add something on.

Going back to the quote of the stream.
Here’s an example and I’m NOT calling Moet this, it’s an example -I will admit a harsh one:
It's like talking to a murderer who did his time (NISA's bad reputation) and he said "I did it” and he is over a body but you can't find the weapon; the "victim" is dead; but you can't figure out if the "victim" died from the murderer or died from natural causes. Now would you trust the murderer? He did seemingly admit to the deed and has a history of it; but that’s all you have.

I’m going to be really charitable and say she badly misspoke; but it does sound like what a really annoying modern western feminist trying to impose what she thinks is appropriate; the type of thing that seems to be rather rampant in entertainment these days that I find rather repugnant and causes everything to be of poor quality.

What if I changed “Sexist” to “Heretical”? Would you have an issue now? It now sounds like something like what an evangelical in the 90’s would say when he was trying to censor games. The same type of mentality who when the clergy took control in the dark ages of Europe; chiselled off the pen1ses of great Roman works of art, defiling them for future generations because they were offended by them. So please leave your real world politics at the door. Being offended is extremely subjective. It's not for you to decide; you're not my mum.

However there have been no complaints from anyone who has played both the Japanese and English PS4 versions. But the amount of text in these games is so colossal; it would be finding needle in haystack to find this "sexist in Japanese" quote. This is why I think she misspoke, but I have no confirmation.


I really love the heck out of these games and I’m invested into them. I want these games to age very well, even in the dialogue and not have it age like Ice Cream. Barring the graphics of course. I don't mind memes as long as they're timeless memes. Not something that is a dead meme like Ugandan Knuckles. But game references, movie references because a Japanese joke doesn't work in English. Yep that's fine.

But I’m a person who if he even gets a whiff of censorship, I’m out. If it’s a CG image or cutscene alteration – I will absolutely not support a game out of principle even if it’s one alteration and even a tiny one. Localizations on dialogue on the other hand can be iffy due the nature of it. I get that. I need a comparison of the image or text in the game to confirm for myself, where there is an issue.

So to NISA:

I will buy the game on GOG if I find what Moet or NISA clarifies is satisfactory. Currently you have not. All you have said is you abide by the translation choices.

So please clarify - preferably a comparison of the text of what Moet is referring to. Thank you.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

If you want to keep crying, Kitsune's fan translation is right over there ready and waiting for you.

I'll be enjoying the English dub thank you very much.

[Yürei]

Originally posted by Crimson Steel:

It's the "sexist in Japanese" part of the quote that really bothers me. Not the puns or the jokes in Japanese. I get it; it will be lost in translation. This is why I’m not bothered by puns, etc. It’s the nature of the localization. More on that later why I don’t have an issue.

The “culturally appropriate” quote though is a very dirty phrase in some circles because it’s an excuse to add non equivalent things where it doesn’t belong; and it could mean anything. It could be even used to remove mini games like in the English version Fire Emblem Fates, because people in the west won't understand head patting. That's why it's dubious and to add on top of that NISA’s reputation precedes them.

Pretty much this, if anything the person sounded more racist than actually caring if it offended anyone.

Also, lets not forget how bad Fates translation was when they reduce a support to "Rawr Rawr Rawr". I mean seriously, they couldn't think of anything else?

[Crimion]

Originally posted by Val the Moofia Boss:

If you want to keep crying, Kitsune's fan translation is right over there ready and waiting for you.

I'll be enjoying the English dub thank you very much.

Nice one. You didn't even read my post did you? When did I say anything about the dub? Spastic.

[Rucent]

k cool, nothing was censored though.

[Serphs]

You deserve to miss out on a good game because of your ignorance.

[明星ヒマリ]

Originally posted by Val the Moofia Boss:

I'll be enjoying the English dub thank you very much.

The English dub sucks, don't even bother.

[明星ヒマリ]

Start learning Japanese.
English localization is always under threat from silly censorship since humor/joke hurts their fee-fees even if it's not offensive at all.
Make them all bankrupt, no mercy.

[Fedposter]

Peep these images for more examples of NISA ruining games they work on.
https://imgur.com/trx3vuC
https://imgur.com/SDV0Cah
https://imgur.com/byolPTF

[Machias]

Played both versions, didn't even notice a thing. The game is already out for 3 months and no one thought it was censored until they pointed it out. Minor text alteration isn't a big of a deal if the intention of the said text is the same.

[Hyuver]

Originally posted by Supreme Officer:

Start learning Japanese.
English localization is always under threat from silly censorship since humor/joke hurts their fee-fees even if it's not offensive at all.
Make them all bankrupt, no mercy.

Unfortunately not everyone has the amount of time and resource to do that, even if I could read Japanese I'd just end up buying the NISA version anyway.

Why? Well beside the price, I also want my game to be preservable for foreseable future, so far digital distribution on PC is the way to go. I used to own a PS3 and it broke down when I am no longer playing it, I end up paying $100 so my nephew could play it whenever he came by, and that hit me hard, because I must pay $100 for a console that I never gonna use again, when it comes to PC, if my PC hardware broke down even if it cost me $500-600 to replace I could justify it as necessity, since I use it to do way more stuff than just gaming.

[darji]

Originally posted by Machias:

Played both versions, didn't even notice a thing. The game is already out for 3 months and no one thought it was censored until they pointed it out. Minor text alteration isn't a big of a deal if the intention of the said text is the same.

Even when you do not play both versions when you listen to the actual stuff that is being said in Japanese and the translation you can see often changes. . But again this is also because of the localisation. I needed to play the whole 80 hours game again to be sure since I never really had attention of this issue before. So you do not think about it much.

[Serphs]

Originally posted by darji:

Originally posted by Machias:

Played both versions, didn't even notice a thing. The game is already out for 3 months and no one thought it was censored until they pointed it out. Minor text alteration isn't a big of a deal if the intention of the said text is the same.

Even when you do not play both versions when you listen to the actual stuff that is being said in Japanese and the translation you can see often changes. . But again this is also because of the localisation. I needed to play the whole 80 hours game again to be sure since I never really had attention of this issue before. So you do not think about it much.

It's ironic to want to try extra hard to find something to be angry about when there was nothing wrong the first time. But those snowflakes am I right?

[Orbus]

Exactly. I hate censorship as much as anyone but in this case people are getting mad over minor things nobody would even notice without being directly pointed out to them with side by side comparisons... or combing through 80 hours of gameplay and text literally looking for things to get mad about.

For something that's been out for months already, if the changes really were this egregious we surely would have heard about them before now, right?

[Moxx]

Bruh, this game features blatant sexual assault and a ton of implied sexual harassment. There are so many sexually charged jokes in this game that it honestly starts to get old. Elise's pining for Rean is an extremely taboo subject here in the west. Every last part of this was kept in the localisation 100%, it's all there. I know this because I spent 150 hrs of my life combing the entire script.

They aren't trying to moralise or judge, one would think that if that's what they were doing, they wouldn't allow you to buy dlc that features swimsuits for underage characters.

The translator was talking about making the stuff make sense in a context that we as English speakers understand and relate to. She was NOT talking about using this game as a trojan horse to shove her world view down your throat.

Everything is there:

Great localisation

Lewd swimsuit costumes if that's your thing.

High quality PC port

[Wauxx_]

Originally posted by darji:

Originally posted by Machias:

Played both versions, didn't even notice a thing. The game is already out for 3 months and no one thought it was censored until they pointed it out. Minor text alteration isn't a big of a deal if the intention of the said text is the same.

Even when you do not play both versions when you listen to the actual stuff that is being said in Japanese and the translation you can see often changes. . But again this is also because of the localisation. I needed to play the whole 80 hours game again to be sure since I never really had attention of this issue before. So you do not think about it much.

Imagine playing 80 hours just looking for something to be angry about.


You are exactly like the "sjw"s or maybe even worse, cause sjw dont care about the thing they are trying to be mad, you care about the game (Or at least its what it seems) and still want to be angry.

LOL