Boss boobs

Graphic quality isn't really relevant to the discussion imho. It's more theme and presentation. So long as quality fits the desired theme and the suspension of disbelief is not shattered; the graphics are fine.

To be fair, the overall quality presented to us feels more like the top of what a PS3 or 360 could push (based on Tales of Zestiria); which isn't necessarily bad. There are some things in the demo that the PS3/360 would choke on.

That's probably where the problem lies with Vepar. He seems to be more like a sore thumb and it feels like the theme and presentation shifted with him which can hurt the immersion. It's not about tig ol bitties or color scheme; but more of a shift of artistic direction with designing him that seems incongruous to the rest of the demo. Perhaps that's on purpose, perhaps the whole point is that he be otherworldly and "does not belong" to the game's perception of reality.

(Curse the lack of multiquote.)  While it is arguably unfair of me to make an accusation like that without evidence, even half-sarcastically as I did, I'm frankly not swayed by IP addresses - not when anyone creating multiple accounts in rapid succession would be likely to have adequate foresight to spoof their IP, and when two "guests" post the same sentiment literally within one held breath of one another and then disappear forever.  I'll stick by my guns on this one.

8-4 gets special resentment from me because they are absolutely notorious for taking it upon themselves to censor the games they localize, changing dialogue and outright modifying visuals in an effort to sanitize whatever happens to offend them.  It is absolutely no secret that they do this, so they are a permanent red flag with me, and if I'd bothered to research them before backing MN9, I'd be slightly richer today.  In the case of MN9, which had literally nothing to censor, we can at least thank 8-4 for that game's hamstrung dialogue and its oh-so-topical jibe about "ethical journalism."

I wouldn't be surprised if IGA regrets holding that particular questionnaire, and that we won't be getting another that impacts the game's design.

asterra I'd like to see some of your research that points to 8-4 butchering localization like you're talking about. It's a bit off topic, but please PM me if you're willing.

I see no problem with the shader and, upon verifying with screenshots of the boss and level, dont see any black outlines that are obscenely larger than the others. maybe a little bigger sure but it all looks rather slim. As for the colors, I see them as a god send. so many games utilize dark, gritty, dull colors or colors that are rather normal compared to reality. It's nice to see something is vibrant and bright, almost like a crystal refracting light, in a game that will undoubtedly have gothic and horror elements. This game is also not even intended to be released until 2017 so concerns, like the lines appearing too thick on the boss, can be corrected by then. Lastly, at the end of the day, the final decisions lie on Iga and his team and its quite possible these developers have plans to make all the pieces come together nicely.

Not going to bother with PMs if there are others already willing to discuss it here.  It's topical enough.

If you want specifics on what 8-4 gets up to, probably the best way to go about it is find their wiki, locate the list of games they've localized, and Google each one along with "8-4" and "censored".  Being perfectly honest, the censorship problem 8-4 has is really the least concern most people have with them; their translation efforts get far worse condemnation.  Lazy, expurgated, stilted, filled with memes and references that never existed.  The day someone steps in to compete with 8-4 directly is the day they go out of business.  But back on topic, let's look at their recent history.

Azure Striker Gunvolt: In addition to doing a p***-poor translation that got a lot of negative feedback (so much that Inti Creates essentially apologized for using 8-4 again for ASG2), 8-4 instigated the push to cover the protagonist's navel and remove their ponytail.  In the end, fan backlash prevented this from occurring anywhere except the box art.

Xenoblade Chronicles X and Fire Emblem Awakening: Evil bathing suits covered up, among other things.  Most authoritative source I could find said Nintendo gave 8-4 free reign / encouraged censored localization and okayed what they came up with.

Mighty No. 9: A marvelous gem from this game was already posted above.  Somewhere in the game is a bit of dialogue from a reporter which mentions "ethical journalism."  If you're unfamiliar, this topic was under special scrutiny a few years ago when MN9 was a new item, although the culmination of the controversy (Gawker/Kotaku's semi-bankruptcy) is more recent.  8-4 evidently could not help attempting to poke fun at a side of the argument with which they were opposed, even though their hired job was to do a good and accurate localization.  Meanwhile, it is worth pointing out that 8-4 are the ones who were responsible for getting the notorious (and ultimately, belatedly fired) community manager their job.  Poor Inafune had no idea what he was getting himself into.

Having 8-4 attached to Bloodstained would be the kind of nightmare that would gut my enthusiasm for the game.  "We decided to change these textures to show a little less skin.  We got rid of physics in certain areas.  This bit of dialogue was too racy.  We also threw in some recent memes, like the one about giggling while wearing a Chewbacca mask.  Trust us, Igarashi - we know what foreign countries will like."

I'll be honest, censorship and bad localization is something that worries me but even if some outside company screws iga's vision we already have a budding mod community to fix it. Maybe we could just start a topic about censorship in general and watch 50 pages of people screaming lol, just kidding.

No offense, but it seems to me that your request for information on 8-4's activities was more in rhetoric than in earnest.  If you want more information, you're going to have to Google; if you're not interested, as I suspect, you won't, and that's that.  Here's a freebie answer to your first question.

But let me be clear about one thing: 8-4's presence would be, to me, like a taint.  Even if the game ended up fundamentally unaltered, how would I know?  History serves that 8-4 works in little tweaks that serve the purposes of their special narrative, sometimes effectively without the developer's knowledge or consent.  Would you expect Inafune and Inti Creates to truly be aware of the politically-driven message behind the "ethical journalism" quip in MN9's English translation?  Certainly not without having the "joke" explained in detail.  No, the localization was left in 8-4's hands and they made the decision that they made.

You assume rhetoric of me unjustly. (Edit: I actually used a rhetorical question, so I can understand partly why you respond the way you have. Sorry about that bit.)

You use "let me Google that for you" after starting with "no offense"?

Earlier when you said Aizu apologized for using 8-4. Here's what he said:



That's not an apology for using them. You are twisting your information to suit your opinion you have for a company I have respect for.

They have two Castlevania titles under their belt, and one of those is controversial for how much boobs are a focus for. (Wow this topic is now on topic again.)

asterra, Let's agree to disagree.

Edit: I haven't had my yet. Sorry if I seem too eager to not continue arguing with you. "Let me Google that for you" just really pissed me off. Under circumstances maybe I could have found it funny. (If things are funny, they're generally OK.)

Troll harder.