Honestly, after the whole “cringeworthy “Simper no Simping” localized rubbish that was Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, I’m not really surprised that Cygames continues to pander towards Californian audiences by cracking down on female “sexualization”.
This entire week has seen so many releases in the forms of once Japanese franchises such as SEGA’s Yakuza and Persona alongside Cygames’ Granblue Fantasy sanitizing themselves for politically correct western audiences through voluntary censorship and aforementioned fanfiction “translations” that deviate entirely off script.
No wonder Palworld continues to thrive in terms of sales, despite notable releases like Persona 3 Reload, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and now Granblue Fantasy: Relink being skipped by real consumers due to their obvious ESG compliance.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a 3D action RPG adaptation of the mobile RPG “Granblue Fantasy.” with single-player and multiplayer co-op options.Players assume the role of an airship crew captain as they set sail for the legendary island of “Estalucia,” rumored to lie beyond the skies.
Accompanied by a diverse crew, players encounter unique characters with distinct weapons, skills, and combat styles. Engage in deep battles utilizing systems like “Link Attack” and “Chain Burst” for coordinated attacks.
Another Granblue Fantasy video game, titled Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, was released on December 14th, 2023. Unlike “Relink,” Versus Rising is a 2.5D fighting game developed by Arc System Works.
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising faced its own set of issues, primarily stemming from intentionally botched localized “translations” that included references to Dora the Explorer and were filled with Western slang.
To compound matters, the translation itself subverted a scene where characters with dark skin complimented a woman’s beauty by describing her skin as “white as snow.”
The entire line was hilariously altered to “you ladies could stand to cash in on some vitamin D” instead. This change could be interpreted as either a sexual reference or a racial insult, insinuating that the women need to get a tan.
Given that this atrocious localized garbage released barely over a month ago, it comes as no shock to me personally knowing that Granblue Fantasy: Relink continues this trend by arbitrarily modifying the designs of numerous female characters to appear less revealing / “sexualized” to suit the progressive palate of cancerous Californian audiences.
The game was released on Sony PlayStation 4/5 consoles and PC on February 1st. However, it didn’t take longer than a day for observant individuals to notice significant censorship.
Granblue Versus and Rising feature the same censored costume designs, but both games also offer the original, uncensored costumes as free options, allowing players to choose which outfits they prefer to use.
However, Granblue Relink does not provide the previous outfits for players to switch to, making it clear that this is indeed a case of censorship. Additionally, Relink shares the same CERO & PEGI age rating classification as the other games, so there is absolutely no reason for Cygames to enforce these costume designs on players other than to cover up female characters.
You’ll mainly notice differences when it comes to undergarments, with characters such as “Zeta” seen above now includes spats underneath their short skirt.
The same also applies to characters like Djeeta, Ferry and Cagliostro whose panties have been replaced with black spats underneath their costumes.
While this censorship may seem minor compared to other studios, such as miHoYo reducing breast size in Zenless Zone Zero, the definition of censorship remains the same. Whether it’s immediately noticeable or not, the intentional decision to change from panties to less revealing spats is still censorship.
In certain gameplay situations, you can visibly notice the undergarments of these characters. However, to send the point home the character Narmaya has had her entire outfit drastically changed to cover more of her skin and be far less enticing.
Within the Steam community forum thread, there is significant discourse regarding the censorship, with many individuals taking a rational approach by opting not to purchase the game due to its censorship.
However, there are also fewer individuals expressing satisfaction with the censorship, stating that they “love spats” or that “modders will fix it,” or simply mentioning that “someone I know is buying the game.”
I absolutely detest these types of individuals. Those who willingly pay for goods and services that have been systematically altered to cater to the sensitivities of individuals who would never consider purchasing the game in the first place only enables this behavior and makes the entire censorship crusade even more unbearable.
If these companies refuse to cater their products to their true core audience, it’s evident that they don’t value your money. So, why would you pay for it? Exercise some self-control and refrain from purchasing censored garbage.
