Tom

I think if Konami had actually tried in those games' prime, they most likely would've gotten stonewalled by the western branch of at least one console maker, if not all of them, given how very intent they were on filtering localized releases to match certain agendas, especially Sony all the way through the early PSP days. They probably ought to have at least tried for 4, even if that would be a sub-optimal introduction to the series in some minor narrative ways, but yeah. I know Brooktown High initially was more or less pitched as Operation Localize Tokimemo 1 and, boy, if only Konami had stuck to that plan... 😩

That's genuinely reassuring to hear! My frustration with the western side of things has long been with Bioware ever being positioned as somehow on the cutting edge of that stuff to begin with, so it's nice to know there's finally another developer taking point on that end of things for people to study from. 😌

And yeah, the doll smashing remark is just eye-rolling in general and speaks to how little this guy has studied other schools of thought on this stuff. What also got me was just the idea that making characters romanceable in a game somehow compromises their integrity or agency to be more than just objects of affection that have to be inherently designed to be pandering. Like... that's not how it works in healthy relationships in the real world??? I latch onto the characters I do in the games that I play precisely because they're themselves first and foremost and not just because they have a flag I can trigger to make them like me. It's astounding how closed-minded some designers are in this arena even after all these years.