La Pucelle Tactics Publisher Explains Alleged U.S. Censorship

Thanks to 1UP for its interview with La Pucelle: Tactics publisher Bill Swartz regarding alleged censorship to the PlayStation 2 SRPG from the developers of Disgaea, after an eToychest interview with the game's Japanese producer revealed: "We did take out a very few things we felt would cause problems in North America." Following sustained noises of discontent on the GameFAQs messageboards, it's explained: "Alloute wore cross earrings a few times and we took them out. We also removed a few other cross accessories and changed a handful of devices that looked like crosses (unless you looked carefully) to devices that looked a little less like crosses." Swartz laments: "There are well organized forces that work hard to punish software makers and sellers for what they consider religious transgressions", and clarifies the changes were "...not things that either carried meaning to the game's original audience or were in any way part of the substance of the game."

Comments

Re:explain please

[NNKK]

As a Christian, I can tell you they can practice in peace, and many of us do; as do many Jews, Muslims, etc. In fact, important parts of my personal religious beliefs are that religion has no place in government, and that trying to force religion on others is inexcusable.

I have no explanation for you about those that do try to force their beliefs on others. All I can say is please don't paint us all with the same brush.

For what it's worth, aside from it not being my place to tell a company what it can or can't put in a game, I find the controversy generated by things like crosses in games to be fundamentally ridiculous. People are ascribing far too much importance to objects that lack inherent meaning. If I could say one thing to the people that get so worked up over it, I would ask them why they seem so much more concerned about earthly objects than their relationship with God.

Well.

[SuiteSisterMary]

There's censorship, and there's localization. Don't confuse the two.

For example, where an American would say 'can you throw this in, to sweeten the deal,' the equivalent Japanese phrase would be 'can you throw this in, to add a little sexy blush to the deal.'

The first phrase would be a perfectly good translation of the second phrase, but not a transliteration. So which is the more appropriate? Depends on what you're going for.

Well, Christian symbology means more to the average North American than it does to the average Japanese, even the Christian ones. Actually, they tend to be pretty pragmatic; you see your Christian priest for this, your Shinto priest for that, and your local Budhist monk for the other.