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Persona 5 Royal To Be Censored In the West, Bigotry of Low Expectations for the Gay Community. Reddit Censors Gay Voices!

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I didn't want to junk-up any of the Persona 5 Royal threads with censorship talk, but people may want to be aware ATLUS USA reworked some of the game's content for the Western release. The news was revealed in two stories from Gamespot, with the focus largely be on the gay couple that hit on Ryuji. Whether there are further tweaks that veer more towards censorship isn't specified. Article links and relevant quotes are below.

Article 1: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/persona-5-royal-will-be-worthwhile-even-for-return/1100-6473781/

From speaking with senior project manager Yu Namba, who has played a major part of the series localization dating back to Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (2000), there'll be some changes to existing lines of dialogue in P5R. Specifically, we talked about the gay couple that would harrass Ryuji at certain points of the original game--they were "portrayed [as] more like predatory," as Namba put it. When I asked him about those scenes, Namba stated, "I think the community had a very strong response to that, and you saw that, and that was definitely altered for Royal."

As for how those characters and lines have changed, Namba simply said, "We made it [as if they're] being very strong enthusiasts for something they like doing. But it's not like they're on the hunt for some young boys or anything." It's clear that, like the fan base, those who worked on Persona 5's localization felt some type of way about it, too. Namba told me, "Our team members felt a little bit of awkwardness about when working on it," with regards to those moments in the original release. He also said it was no easy task to get the green light to make changes. He concluded, "We're pretty happy with what it is. It's not a significant change, but I think there's enough of a change that people who weren't comfortable going through that part in Persona 5 would feel better this time around."

Outside of those scenes, Namba also said that the team and voice cast went over a few existing lines from the original game in addition to delivering all the new Royal-specific content. While there have been gripes about the pronunciation of some names in the original game, Namba did say that the general pronunciation guidelines were kept, though they tried to make things more consistent across the game.

Article 2: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/how-persona-5-royal-and-the-series-has-evolved-for/1100-6473783/

There's still content that doesn't go over well for the audience. How much say do you have in whether or not that content makes it in the game? Do you have autonomy in terms of recognizing what won't play well and what to do with it? How do you approach that?

There were certain things in Persona 3, 4 and 5, especially now in 2020, where there would be a lot of talk about the things in those games. As a localization manager, I really cannot do too much about what has already made it into the game.

But in Persona 5, there were a few NPCs that, while we were doing the localization, our team members felt a little bit of awkwardness about when working on it. And with Royal, we were determined to see if we could do something about it at least localization-wise. On our end, it took a lot of effort consulting not just the production department, but talking with our marketing, and how they would feel about it if we changed how things were in Persona 5 to this new way--what would the public reception be, what the company would think, whether it would be okay if we do make the change.

Ultimately for Royal, we did go with it and I think we're pretty happy with what it is. It's not a significant change, but I think there's enough of a change that people who weren't comfortable going through that part in Persona 5 would feel better this time around.

Are you able to say exactly what it is? What part of the game that you were referring to?

So basically, I'm just going to say it right now there are these two gay men who hit on Ryuji. I think the community had a very strong response to that, and you saw that, and that was definitely altered for Royal.

Can you expand on how that was changed?

Unfortunately, those characters were portrayed [as] more like predatory. In Royal--I don't want to say we made it mild--but we made it [as if they're] being very strong enthusiasts for something they like doing. But it's not like they're on the hunt for some young boys or anything.



 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Apparently the gays can't be portrayed as assholes or predatory (sorry James Charles), like every other normal human being can. Acceptance is all about normalcy, innit? I guess not.

Reddit also censoring Gaymer's speaking out for not being, "the right kind of gay".

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Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
This is bullshit. People who are offended should just not buy it. I don't get why change any vision of a game makes it better.

All you need is a few ideological cunts who complain and get into positions of power, as we can see with this localization, and they won't be reprimanded because people will buy it regardless of its censorship, cherry picking when it is okay and when it isn't (as we can see from the other thread).
 

brap

Banned
Cool guess I won't buy it. Suck my straight cock Atlus. Hopefully there's a good version I can PIRATE because this shit tier company deserves 0 of my dollars. That goes for ALL of their games going forward censored or not. They won't get a cent from me.
 

_Justinian_

Gold Member
So let's see...

A high school student, "HIGH SCHOOL" student, who is 16 or 17, also an 11th grader, can date a full-fledged doctor, a news reporter that likes to drink, a fortune teller that works in an adult district at night, and one of his teachers who shows up to his place in a maid outfit, but what these people are choosing to be offended or worried about are two effeminate men chasing a high school kid?
 
So let's see...

A high school student, "HIGH SCHOOL" student, who is 16 or 17, also an 11th grader, can date a full-fledged doctor, a news reporter that likes to drink, a fortune teller that works in an adult district at night, and one of his teachers who shows up to his place in a maid outfit, but what these people are choosing to be offended or worried about are two effeminate men chasing a high school kid?
His name: Emmanuel Macron (could be him). Welcome to the real world.
 
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Paltheos

Member
I need more context to feel strongly any particular way.
I want to know what exactly about them made Atlus' staff feel uncomfortable though.
Just a couple gay people going in too hard though? Ok, whatever.
 
So let's see...

A high school student, "HIGH SCHOOL" student, who is 16 or 17, also an 11th grader, can date a full-fledged doctor, a news reporter that likes to drink, a fortune teller that works in an adult district at night, and one of his teachers who shows up to his place in a maid outfit, but what these people are choosing to be offended or worried about are two effeminate men chasing a high school kid?
When I was 17 and in high school, I dated a 27 year old nurse who was separated from her husband. Art imitates life.
 

_Justinian_

Gold Member
When I was 17 and in high school, I dated a 27 year old nurse who was separated from her husband. Art imitates life.
And in the U.S. today, if it was a girl that was 17 and you were the 27 year old nurse, you'd be arrested and put on a sex offender registry (whether people agree with that or not is another matter). But my point is, why are they giving these group of people special privileges?
 
And in the U.S. today, if it was a girl that was 17 and you were the 27 year old nurse, you'd be arrested and put on a sex offender registry (whether people agree with that or not is another matter). But my point is, why are they giving these group of people special privileges?
It's a fucking video game, none of these people are real. Your life isn't effected in any way shape or form. Go download SETI@home and at least contribute something to humanity before your heart explodes from video game induced high blood pressure.
 

_Justinian_

Gold Member
Then why are we even here talking about this then? We're here to have a discussion, are we not?
 
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I'll buy it anyway because I'm not a "farnagoth™" who gets his panties in a twist because a single fucking scene got changed to avoid hurting the loose asshole of REEEEEEE/twitter/plepit any further.
Reminds of the whole Tales of Berseria fiasco God that was such a shit show.
 

brap

Banned
I'll buy it anyway because I'm not a "farnagoth™" who gets his panties in a twist because a single fucking scene got changed to avoid hurting the loose asshole of REEEEEEE/twitter/plepit any further.
Reminds of the whole Tales of Berseria fiasco God that was such a shit show.
Nah, you're just a pathetic bootlicker who supports garbage and gives companies an excuse to keep doing this shit in the future you little manchild consumerist whore. Can't skip a game? Can't buy it used? Pathetic /v/irgin.
 

Gargus

Banned
While I detest censorship, I’m not going to get outrage about it until I see a side by side comparison. So when P5R launches next month, I hope someone compares them here.

So censorship is ok as long as you don't think it's too bad?

That's the attitude that let things slip to where we are now. Too many people let censorship happen simply because it didn't effect them personally or it didn't bother them at that moment instead of being offended at any censorship at all no matter how big or small.

When it comes to censorship there should be no middle ground. Either it's all ok or none of it's ok. Either there is no censorship and every game is allowed to have whatever vision it's creators want, or every game should be censored so it doesn't offend a single person. You don't get to pick and choose.
 
"Muh censorship"
Like I said i'm gonna buy it anyway, i just hope the Japanese VA is on disc this time around and the new additions don't mess the pacing/story.
Nah, you're just a pathetic bootlicker who supports garbage and gives companies an excuse to keep doing this shit in the future you little manchild consumerist whore. Can't skip a game? Can't buy it used? Pathetic /v/irgin.
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