Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake heads to Switch on Nov. 14th, 2024. As you know, the game includes a host of changes, tweaks and additions that were not found in the original game. Some of that pertains to character art and player choice, and select people involved with the project have shared some insight for those adjustments.
At TGS 2024, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii and former Shonen Jump editor Kazuhiko Torishima spoke about Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake at length, and that included discussion of some changes to character art. As you can see above, the female warrior has been adjusted, with shorts and an undershirt added to the design. Along with that, the original Dragon Quest III had players choose between male and female character options, while the remake has changed this to Type 1 and Type 2. Both Horii and Torishima expressed frustration and confusion over these reworks, placing blame on the United States.
Torishima: “There’s a religious concept from the West, especially in America, that influences their approach to sex education, right? Their approach to compliance is really narrow-minded. When selling manga in America, everything had to be categorised by age groups. Because there’s a risk of lawsuits, the company also has to get insurance. Doing business with such a ridiculous country is really frustrating. Because of that, Japan also gets negatively influenced.”
Horii: In Dragon Quest, you used to be able to choose between a male and female character. But now, you can’t choose between a man and a woman anymore. We have to label them as Type 1 and Type 2. I really wonder, who is even complaining about this?
To see the full discussion where these topics are covered, you can check out the video below.
UPDATE: Following this story making the rounds through various gaming outlets, other publications and even reaching as far as Elon Musk, the “KosoKoso Hōsō Kyoku” radio show, which is hosted by Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii and former Shonen Jump editor Kazuhiko Torishima, shared a lengthy statement saying their words and discussion was taken out of context. They say that some of their discussion was cut out completely, removing context, and they also say there were mistranslations that steer the narrative in an unintended direction. You can see the complete statement from KosoKoso Hōsō Kyoku below.
To everyone who regularly listens to “Yuubo & Mashirito’s KosoKoso Broadcasting Station”
Regarding the live broadcast “DenFami Live Streaming from Makuhari - Game Creators Special with Yubo & Mashirito’s Koso Koso Broadcasting Station” held on Saturday, September 28, 2024, some of the comments made by the participants have been mistranslated into English by a third party unrelated to the event on social media, and the comments have been spread with the incorrect translation.
Not only that, parts of the statements made by the participants have been deliberately cut out and quoted as if the speaker was expressing a negative opinion towards a particular ideology or belief, and have been spread in a manner far removed from the true meaning of the statements and the original content and message of the video in question.
Furthermore, the malicious videos and transcripts containing the above-mentioned citations have been spread across multiple YouTube channels and social media accounts. Furthermore, the videos, which still contain the incorrect English subtitles, and articles that use them as sources of information have spread and circulated not only within Japan but also overseas.
Mistranslation
- Correct: “Puritan”
- Incorrect: “Sex education”
We deeply regret that this situation has caused misunderstandings that were not intended by the speaker, and that it could undermine trust not only for the performers themselves, but also for all other parties involved. We strongly protest against the actions that have led to this situation. Therefore, we ask that you strictly refrain from disseminating articles based on mistranslations and arbitrarily cut-out videos that differ from the original content and message of the entire video. In light of the above, we also ask that you refrain from the following actions that are taken in a way that is disconnected from the speaker’s intentions and the original content and message of the video.
- Cutting out parts of a video without the speaker’s intention and spreading that video
- Incomplete transcriptions that cut out parts of videos and disseminating such transcriptions
- Disseminating cut-out videos and transcripts with mistranslated subtitles
- Arbitrarily extracting parts of a statement and quoting them as statements that support one’s own opinion in order to reinforce the legitimacy of one’s own opinion
In addition, please refrain from cutting out videos or comments within videos and disseminating them in a manner that ignores the context or nuance of the comments made, similar to the actions described above.
We would like to ask all game fans and viewers around the world to please be considerate of the above and cooperate with us.
Please note that this statement does not deny or prohibit all posts, opinions, or contributions that refer to this matter or the content of the broadcast.
October 3, 2024
Yubo & Mashirito’s Kosokoso Broadcasting Station
Add Comment
autumnalblake
7d agoIt's disappointing that they felt the need to make these comments.
sdsichero
7d agoThat's unfortunate. Hopefully this does not adversly affect things.
Why? Don't you want the devs to make the games they want? Are you pro-comity driven censorship?
the_crimson_lure
5d agoInteresting. While the subtitles did have some mistranslations and the translator definitely injected some personal bias when choosing phrasing, the overall conversation isn't being misconstrued.
It looks like someone temporarily forgot the internet means any statements made will go worldwide. And now they are panicking and going into damage control mode.
For anyone complaining about "censorship" though:
They didn't have to change any character designs.
They could have just rolled with a higher age rating for the game, and if need be not sell the game in countries that would not allow the original designs to remain intact.
(For all you complaining about U.S. attitudes towards nudity, there are much stricter countries out there.)
But instead they chose to make the changes, because a lower age rating in general means more sales. Not being blocked in certain countries means more sales.
You can talk all about the "true" and "unrestrained" vision of a creator, but the truth is games made by non-indie developers are a commercial product first and foremost. The bottom line and ultimate priority for everyone making the game (yes, including the creator with unrelenting pure vision that you idolize) is profit, not art.
anita_b.
5d agoThis has already been debunked as pure damage control, either orchestrated by the same W*ke American crowds who started calling the Japanese author a literal "Nazi" for not supporting the toxic gender-washing ideologies, or the publishers who are not happy about getting flak from both the DEI consultants at Sony and the normal, healthy people, their target audience that is, for bending the knee to these noisy SJWs.
styster
4d agoWell, I just watched the video, in the original Japanese. No, things weren't taken out of context - what the translation is saying is what they were saying. Pretty disappointing. They're entitled to their opinions, of course, but not a great look.
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