Square Enix made headlines recently following a small snippet of gameplay footage for their upcoming Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the second of three partial installations that aim to desecrate the legacy of the cult classic.
The reasoning behind the headlines isn’t surprising, the footage in question features Tifa and Aerith at the beach wearing modest swimsuits.
Although it’s clear that the upcoming game continues to diverge from the original by implementing more censorship, some individuals on social media seized the rare opportunity to praise the only attractive female character in recent memory in AAA gaming by raising questions about whether Square Enix has moved away from Western ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) policies by portraying Tifa and Aerith in modest swimsuits.
Despite the fact that Tifa’s breasts are still pitifully small in comparison to her original design and the fact that there is absolutely zero jiggle physics present throughout the small snippet of beach footage.
However, for those skeptics who held a sliver of hope that Square Enix had changed their ways, the release of a game update to the first installment of the remakes, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade update incorporates censorship upon Tifa’s cowboy outfit.
Bottom: After Patch
A game update for Intergrade weighing in at around 5GB was released today in preparation for the launch of Rebirth on the 29th. The update is available on all major platforms includes the Sony PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles, and obviously the PC release.
The patch notes officially mention only one change: “Fixes to several bugs” without providing specific details on the fixes. However, several users have already noticed a significant change, particularly in Tifa’s outfit worn during the brief snippets of the Nibelheim flashback.
The addition of a black undershirt, aligning with the costume alterations for the upcoming Rebirth, can be viewed in various ways. However, it’s clear that this is an example of deceptive censorship.
Updating a four-year-old game to ensure “continuity” by concealing Tifa’s cleavage, especially after the character received viral attention on social media for wearing a bikini, an event that is canonical in Rebirth highlights Square Enix’s stance on the so-called male gaze.
Square Enix remains unchanged, having fully embraced the Western influence of ESG, leading to self-censorship and adherence to the woke agenda. Fortunately for consumers, every project apart from the Final Fantasy franchise has been a resounding failure for the company, particularly in the realm of mobile gacha games and of course Forespoken.
https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/sustanability/
Square Enix persists in tarnishing their legacy, undermining the only franchise that still generates a stable income for them. They lead unsuspecting consumers astray by teasing a bit of fan service, only to retract it through the censorship of a four-year-old game via a game update just days before the release of the next installment.
