Quote Originally Posted by Lunaxia View Post
...yeah, I'm still going to go with the gaming company with twenty plus years of experience making games and exporting them abroad possessing better judgement when it comes to that decision over one guy on the internet. If they are willing to set up and fund entire teams whose job it is to convey the story in a way that is most effective and suited for their target audience, I assure you it's not simply to hurt your feelings.
This is a cop-out answer or response. SE's broader business interests are far beyond anything I'm qualified to comment on, but when it comes to doing something that a substantial portion of the fanbase is very clearly not happy with and are willing to call out and criticize, then that's something I'm able to do.

There are plenty of instances where a faithful translation of the game's content would have been sufficient, and the broader playerbase would have been none the wiser.

Source: just trust me on this.
Cop out response. The mere fact that this thread and others like it exist is proof positive of my criticisms, in addition to the admission of fault by the LOC team in how they handled Haurchefant, even acknowledging that they deprived the fanbase of experiencing a compelling and entertaining character.

They would have put it in because "creepy but harmless obsessive pervert making the main character(s) uncomfortable" is unfortunately a common feature in certain forms of Japanese media, but it continues to age like milk when it comes to Western audiences because of the increasing intolerance of that sort of behaviour on our side.
It's a comedic archetype that has existed and will continue to exist throughout all of Japanese media, and exists in multiple forms throughout Western media. It will continue to exist so long as the carefree debauchee continues to be funny, and it will continue to be amusing to people. The mere fact that people like you are seriously arguing in favor of suppressing this shows that you either have very little in the way of media literacy or can't separate fiction from reality, or you simply can't take a joke. Catering to and accommodating your insecurities are exactly what companies like SE should be avoiding because suppressing it ultimately does not and will not serve to influence anything real or consequential.

And looking back, it was a very clever decision for them to make given how much stronger those stances have become in recent years off the back of various movements, and it would have made the game look grossly archaic when FF has always tried to venture on the side of being more modern and connected to its international audience and having a wide appeal.
These 'various movements' have no place policing the contents of fictional video game worlds. They're no different than PETA making parody Pokemon games that compare the franchise with real-life animal bloodsport, or the Red Cross trying to get video games to follow the Geneva Convention protocols. They only serve to discredit and annoy, rather than actually influence positive changes that address real-world harms.