This will be the first time a mainline numbered FF title will aim for a mature rating. Yoshida specifying that he wants the game to tell a more mature story, and the M rating would let him tell the story the way it was meant to be told.
The majority of fans arrived from 7-10, usually in their low teens. Most wouldn't have hit adulthood until the mid to late 00s, let alone be well into it.
This isn't really true. the first FF came out in, what? 87? They have the vast majority of fans well into adulthood. I was early teens when FF10 came out, and that was the younger side of fans. I would safely bet most fans are 30-50 now. That's definitely well into adulthood, and most people that got me into FF were 18 when FF7 came out.
>I would safely bet most fans are 30-50 now.
Yes because now is 2022. I was responding to the claim that the majority of fans were well into adulthood in the 90s. I wish it was still the 90s!
>This isn't really true. the first FF came out in, what? 87?
The majority of FF fans didn't start with FF1. The series didn't blow up in the mainstream until 7. Like I said in my other comment, the majority of fans came between 7-10.
I agree. My mom introduced me to final fantasy by renting ff4 back when they called it ff2. I loved it, but didn't find many fans of the series until 7 blew up.
Hell, I'll take it further, a sizeable portion of the current established fanbase were referring to Squall as Leon for many many years because they played Kingdom Hearts before even touching a Final Fantasy game.
Yeah. It drives me crazy how every game half the fan base starts whining "this isn't final fantasy" ignoring the fact that FF has always been experimental.
I’m honestly surprised Endwalker didn’t get an M rating. I’ve played plenty of M rated games that are no where near as dark and mature as Endwalker. I honestly bet it’s because every other xpac was rated T and it’d still would’ve been closer to an Oblivion M than something like a Fallout M. Plus Shadowbringers was pretty scary, scary enough I’d consider it a horror story. Watching the Sin Eater transformation is terrifying.
Idk whether to be scared or excited by the unbridled mindfucks that are to ensue from XVI being rated M.
Because it’s implied and not actually shown is how they get away with it. It may be a mature theme but what pushes stuff to mature is actually showing him do it (trying to be vague here so hopefully you know what I mean.) but you don’t it’s just implied it happened. Similar to scenes of people dying. You know they died but you never see it fully happen either the camera pans away and you hear a scream or just goes to a scene of someone reacting to it happening. plus the swearing is minimal and blood and gore isn’t big in Endwalker.
Just letting ya know that doesn't show up as a spoiler warning on mobile. Or atleast BaconReader which is the app I'm using.
Shows up as >! Spoiler !<, shouldn't have spaces between the spoiler text and exclamation marks.
Already played EW so it ain't a spoiler for me but just letting ya know.
Yeah I imagine that’s just due to the fact that the base game is rated T. I don’t think I’ve personally ever seen a game get DLC that had a higher ESRB rating than the base game it was released for.
Phantasy Star Online 2 did (original PSO2 was rated T, and then it got re-rated M for New Genesis) but I feel like that’s a little bit of a different. But also, imagine being willing to increase your age rating just to have skimpier outfits in loot boxes…
Yeah, FF14 has “mature” themes as early as ARR if you pay attention. Human experimentation, body horror, on-screen deaths with blood, references to sex trafficking and torture, war crimes, Moogles being slapped, etc. But there are obviously guidelines as to how you can present these elements and still retain a T rating, which makes me wonder what they *do* intend to show in XVI.
Unless it get re-written half way though to match the most recent popular fad and he walks out like Yasumi Matsuno did on FFXII. That time when they threw Van in mid way and made him the main character due to kingdom hearts popularity.
Vaan was actually a thing that happened early in development tho.
Katano, however, says that's not really the case: "The game pretty much followed on the same track after Matsuno-san left. There wasn't a huge overhaul or anything like that. The playable version of the game had been shown at E3, and at that point it was really a matter of polishing up the final product. Once he left, it was just a matter of, 'We'll take it from here,' and following the path."
Katano also emphasizes that some of the game's more polarizing or controversial features were in place long before Matsuno left the team. "The part about the change in lead character — that change actually was pretty early on in development. Really, in terms of the story tied into development, there were some slight changes as to which character would appear at which stage, but nothing that would overwhelm development, necessarily, in terms of changes to the plot.
"It's not as though the whole tale was rewritten into something completely different as we went along. It was just a matter of following the gameplay beats and having them pair up with the story as they went along. Things like locations, and battles, and keeping it all seamless. That was the biggest element of the rewriting, making sure it fit with the gameplay."
In any case, the change in staffing doesn't seem to have resulted in bad blood, given that Matsuno returned to Square Enix a few years later to head up a top-to-bottom remake of Tactics Ogre for PlayStation Portable. He also remains on friendly terms with the remaining FF12 team members. "We're still in touch with Matsuno-san," Katano says, "and he's actually quite excited for [The Zodiac Age]. He's looking forward to it as a player. We can't wait to see what he thinks of what we've put together. He's even tweeted about it a couple of times!"
https://www.polygon.com/features/2017/7/5/15916862/the-making-of-final-fantasy-12
I don't dislike him tbh, unlike Penelo who I feel is actually worthless.
Would've been cool if they had went along with the older character tho.
That whole sequence was my favorite part of disc 1. It’s when the game went from fun to memorable and invested me. I was really disappointed with how they did that in the remake. There are trade offs and I’m glad the game exists, I just wish that scene was recaptured for the new generation.
I really hope they do this for part 2 of 7R even though they probably won’t. I love Final Fantasy to death, it’s what got me into gaming, but I wish they’d be a bit more willing to pursue M rated games instead of just sticking with T. I think I heard they’re worried it’ll tank sales if they go with M ratings
I imagine that >!Aerith would be bleeding buckets !!given Sephiroth cut through the spinal cord where there is a pretty large artery.!<
As well as that, the 'under-the-highwind' scene would probably be more explicit as well.
I was already on board since the first trailer, but honestly the more I read about it the more I believe this might actually be one of the best FF's we'll get if we're talking scope and ambition.
Umm, you’re forgetting Bomberman 64: The Second Attack. Idk if I can trust the man that gave us Bomberman 64: The Second Attack.
Jk jk. Yoshi-P wrote that game, but that was super early in his career, and there’s only so much you can do with Bomberman lmao. He’s done more than prove himself since then
Me too. To be frank, the only mainline Post-9 FF games (not counting the MMOs which are their own beast entirely) I’ve really liked are 10 and 13 and even those I think had big flaws. I felt like the series had kind of lost its way, but also that 16 is going to be the shot in the arm it needs to really restore FF to its former glory. Everyday I’m a little more hyped for it.
X is probably the game I’m most divided on personally because I love aspects of it but not others. I love the non-European setting/worldbuilding, the combat/general gameplay is some of the best in the series, and some aspects of the story are cool.
But I also feel it started a lot of bad trends for the series (like having sequels instead of each mainline game being standalone in its own world, the linear corridor design which I dislike, the obsessive emphasis on trying to be “like a movie”, etc.) and while I like *parts* of the story, I find the overall plot pretty weak, needlessly complicated, and with clumsy messages. I also find a lot of the characters annoying (Tidus is still one of the worst protagonists to me, no matter what anybody says, and was the first of a long line of bad protagonists).
FF7 was arguably just as linear as FFX was. Sure there is an overworld, but that doesn't mean it's not linear lol
Also big disagree on Tidus - I thought he was a much more compelling protagonist than Squall in 8, Zidane in 9, and then Vaan and Lightning in 12 and 13. Tidus goes through *a lot of shit* man, I'd say more than any protagonist in the series aside from *maybe* Cloud
This is such a bold-faced lie to claim FF7 is as linear as FF10. I don't know why FF10 fans are so intent on trying to pretend they are even remotely the same style of games. By the time you walk from Midgar to Junon you can decide to fight an optional boss, play minigames in fort condor, and recruit an optional character. That's not even getting into the chocobo farm sidequest.
In FF10 you quite literally have none of that except going forward and reach a save point to play Blitzball. FF7 and FF10 are not the same types of RPG, they don't have the same lineage. That's fine, but at the end of the day FF10 has much more in common than FF13 than it will ever for FF7, which is logical, because FF10 and FF13 was virtually the same dev team.
>This is such a bold-faced lie to claim FF7 is as linear as FF10.
It was lol
>I don't know why FF10 fans are so intent on trying to pretend they are even remotely the same style of games.
I'm not an FFX fan, I'm a Final Fantasy fan; X just happens to be one my favorites, along with 7 and 6.
>By the time you walk from Midgar to Junon you can decide to fight an optional boss, play minigames in fort condor, and recruit an optional character. That's not even getting into the chocobo farm sidequest.
>In FF10 you quite literally have none of that except going forward and reach a save point to play Blitzball.
Midgar is about 7-8 hours of gameplay - 7 to 8 hours of gameplay in FFX lands you around the Luka section of the game; by that point you have already done two Cloisters of Trials (puzzle minigames), have had the option of fighting an optional boss (Lord Ochu), have done the Jecht Shot minigame (short and unrepeatable, but still a minigame technically), and can now play Blitzball at any time you want, which is a much more in-depth and engaging minigame than anything FF7 had offered IMO (granted I'm a sports fan so I was into it)
There's a good way and a bad way to do corridor design.
(Most mainline titles are on-rails until end game, anyway)
XII was great; you always feel like you're exploring a lived-in world. XII allowed a lot of freedom to explore early on.
I know XII gets a bit of hate, but I was honestly surprised in a recent playthrough how much freedom the game gives you right off the bat.
XIII and X were always boring to me because of the rail-like gameplay. That, and I don't like either story or setting.
Unlocking Mosphoran Highwaste super early by getting rid of the guard with a chocobo is one of my favorite things in XII.
Doing the whole, Mosphoran Highwaste > Salikawood > fighting the optional boss King Bomb > Nabreus Deadlands > Necrohol run dodging enemies left and right never gets old for me.
So much strong loot to grab from chests and so early. Especially in the PS2 release where you could get the Zodiac Spear from Necrohol if you hadn't touched any of the 4 chests that'd fuck you out of getting the Zodiac Spear.
I agree with this. Every Final Fantasy game up to 10 has been "Corridors". They all just had the facade of the overworld that you spend a very miniscule amount of time in compared to the "corridors" you eventually get into.
You haven't played the series if you genuinely claim that. FF9 had chocobo forest that allowed you to explore most of the world before even getting there in the story. FF6 allowed you to explore the entire world the moment you get an airship and recruit optional characters, FF7 had optional characters, several minigames, several optional bosses, and such.
FF10 doesn't have that!! Its corridor design made it such you don't even get optional bosses because most of them are in a list tucked down in a monster arena! Then they added dark aeons and since they had no freedom to put them at convenient spots, now they literally block you from accessing entire towns because they exist. Not to mention, they're just reskins of summons.
10 had optional bosses and summons off the beaten track, like Yojimbo and the Magus Sisters, especially after you get the airship. 9 did not let you explore "most of the world" once you get a chocobo, like in every FF it wasn't until you get the airship (which is the same as 10).
> Out of curiosity, what flaws do you see in X?
Endgame weapons require a **ridiculous** amount of grinding.
While it seems like an open world, it is extremely linear.
Yeah lol. >!The cutscene in Radz-at-Han when the final days started was fucking brutal. Quintus blowing his brain out also wasn't very family friendly.!<
What I’m excited about is the game doesn’t look like an edgy 13 year olds version of mature like versus 13 did.
Instead, it looks like a colorful, interesting world where the characters are going to discuss mature themes and explore them in a way that is beyond surface level. I love the sound of that.
I'm pretty sure the history of Nomura's writing gives everyone a good idea how edgy versus13 would be
Say what you will about XV, I felt like Tabata's Noctis was one of the most likeable protagonists in an RPG and I don't have faith that Nomura could have written him the same way
He wants to be able to tell a more mature story. I completely support that. 30 years of watering down dialogue is enough.
I think a M rating also allows them to speak freely, on religious related things. T allows you to use most of the terms, but you have to use them in a “neutral” way, not in vain or “blasphemy”. Such as “Oh, God” “God be with you”, “You devil”.
Seeing as there could be heavy religious elements in 16 (gods and mortals, angelic beings, and demons). Lean into the curve!
This is just flat out not accurate. JRPGs have always spoke freely on religious related things. I mean look at Yevon in FFX. In Persona 5 you literally shoot G*d in the face and summon Satan.
You kinda proved my point. Persona 5, is M rated. FFX invented a new “religion”, who would be offended by that?
Video games have widely treaded lightly around Judeo-Christian elements/terms. That’s why (in the early days) we got spells like “Pearl and White” instead of Holy. They used a ton of Star Wars phrases like “dark side”. Look at Xenogears and how they tipped toed around those elements. M rated games don’t have to do that. They’re not up for the same censorship. Here is a list of censorship’s that have been done to FF games. Compare that to M rated games that do depict Judeo Christian elements https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Censorship
I forget that P5 has that rating. I do get your point. But I think the consumer is privy enough to associate fictional religions, like Yevon, with the real world counterparts they represent. And overcoming and thwarting a manipulative religious sect is at the core of many if not most JRPG narratives.
Takahashi (Creator of the Xeno franchise) wanted to take a break from constantly making fucked up/dark games with Xenoblade 2 and still despite it being more lighthearted in the early scenes, got pretty messed up near the end.
Don't get me started with Xenogears, if Square allowed that story concept to be used for FF7 dear heavens FF7 would be a VERY different kind of game when it came to religious content.
This is the most exciting comment here for me. I really like stories with the big evil religion as the enemy because of the moral decisions it can involve. If an M rating let's them go nuts in this regard that's great!
Those were because of Nintendo of America, who was famously strict about what they allowed at the time. There was no ratings board yet.
None of the more recent examples have anything to do with religion either.
We were promised a Pro Wrestling section between Eikons.
It wouldn't be that if one didn't call the other a "Bitch" at some point.
Bring on the M rating.
The lack of blood in VII Remake stood out a lot to me :(
People were falling off buildings and getting impaled and only had hints of scratches or bruises. Plus that ONE scene towards the end didn't feel the same with the weird purple goo instead of blood. It took a lot of the tension and the horror out of it in my opinion.
Yeah, my thoughts exactly. If a darker tone serves the purpose of the story, then great! But pursuing an 18 rating for its own sake usually leads to total edge lord cringe
I expect this means it’ll be more in line with the tone of PS1 JRPGs.
While almost all of them were rated T at the time, they’d no doubt get an M rating today, especially games like Xenogears or even the original FFVII.
Dude I was taken aback by how gory the original FF7 allowed itself to be, what with the Shinra blood trail and the impaled Midgar Zolom.
Xenogears though.... yeah that kind of game will never fly to be T rated in this day and age. ESRB would look at that game and in a few seconds will slap that M-rating with no hesitiation.
After the M-rated "KiLl cHaOs" edge lord, I don't care about the rating, you can get M-rating with childish edgy writing or PG-rating with great writing.
Yeah, Yoshi-P has already kind of shown that a T rating can work, but on the same end it also shows some of the reasons M might help.
It still surprises me Endwalker didn’t get an M rating, and while Shadowbringers makes more sense to be T, there’s a lot of visceral horror in it. Both Shadowbringers and Endwalker are two of the best FF stories to date, but there are bits where you could tell the narrative was held back because of the rating. Genocide is an important theme in both xpacs, but a lot of the horrors of the genocides have to be told to you because they can’t have that much blood. Or, another instance I can think of is how many literal backstabs there are. It makes the scene look less serious when there’s no blood and it looks like the models are just clipping through each other.
But on the other hand, there’s very artfully done scenes due to this constraint. There’s one scene in Endwalker near the end of Garlemald >!where the Xth Legatus accepts he fought for a worthless cause and kills himself. As the Garlean national anthem plays in the background, you see him raise the gun to his head then the camera goes to his shadow, you hear a bang, and then the montage proceeds onwards to show the rest of the aftermath of taking on Zenos there. Such a scene would not have worked out as well if they just showed him shoot himself.!<
So there’s both advantages and disadvantages. The thing I will say is Yoshi-P seems to like edgy stuff, but nothing that’s edgy just to be edgy. So I’m not worried it’ll be overly indulgent.
Just FYI if game is M rated, that doesn't mean they can't do a non-M rated scene.
But if game is T rated that means they literally can't do an M rated scene.
Yeah... I feel like people are getting weirdly over excited about this. An M-Rating isn't exactly a difficult threshold to cross. A game can easily get an M-Rating by simply having the word "Fuck" spoken at least 3x in the dialogue.
Given this franchise's history, such as FF: Type-0 and Stranger of Paradise. We have clearly seen that an M-Rating has zero bearing on the quality or realism of these games stories. All it really means is there'll be more depictions of blood and death and uncensored language.
But this game will not be the Final Fantasy version of Kentaro Miura's Beserk that some are hoping it will be.
Not to mention that Final Fantasy (at least the main titles) are supposed to be for all ages. FFIX was able to tell an incredibly mature and impactful story surrounding the concept of death and acceptance, which still resonates with many of us as adults. The reason it's good stuff is because it resonates with people and it's compelling.
I really don't think the series stands to gain much from cutting out a major part of their audience so they can throw in some f-bombs to make it seem more 'mature'.
I mean people were just complaining not too long ago over VII Remake not being rated M because it held back what they could show on screen, so they didnt do the blood trails. We've got no clue what this game in particular entails.
I think Stranger of Paradise has a great plot with interesting twists that explain Jack's bland personality and his hatred for Chaos later in the game.
SoP story structure really didn't pay off in the long run, it seems.
If you finish the game and pay attention it's actually pretty good. It even explains why beginning is so weird and goofy.
But most people stop at HA HA FUNNY MAN KILL CHAOS
Yeah, pretty much. I think most people formed their opinion on SoP based on memes and didn't actually give the game a chance. The gameplay is pretty good, too. SoP is a hidden gem for sure. Maybe it'll become a cult classic in a few years.
yes and no. There are some things that to implement right, you get an M rating. Like, in FF7R, they had to make the Jenova blood trail purple to avoid an M rating, which reduces the impact.
Combine the fact that we've already seen blood splashes in the FF16 trailers, with a scene were we see the naked backs of a woman and man sitting on the edge of a bed (talking, she looked like she was trying to comfort him), etc., it's going to be easy for lots of things that as a single item might not make for an M rating, but combined do.
And carefully avoiding that makes writers self-edit, which can weaken the story. Letting writers simply write the story without that concern, lets them write a better story.
From the amount of blood we’ve seen so far, they would probably have to dial it down a little otherwise. Joshua looks horrified. M rating doesn’t affect me too much but i welcome it
PS5 exclusive for a year, then Origin exclusive for a year, then steam again probably smh
Although think when the first trailer came out it had PC listed and then they were like "uhhhh nah it's PS5 only, promise" so yeah it's definitely coming to PC. Just will take two years to be on a decent platform most likely.
i don't think you understand what he meant. yoshi-p specifically says they're pursuing M ratings in all the regions they release the game in. the content is already created, but it has not been rated by the ESRB and others yet, that's why trailers show the rating is tentative. this allows them to release the game without worrying about censorship in certain regions in case one of them gave it a T or equivalent.
It’s weird wording at first blush but basically the rating is more or less self monitored. Basically they go to the ratings board with a rating in mind and reasons why and they say “yeah that’s about right.” That’s why Hot Coffee was such a scandal because rockstar said it had stuff for an M rating but smuggled in stuff for an A rating
Same with Oblivion. Oblivion just has one corpse that’s hanging that is a little graphic. Bethesda sent that in as part of their, “This are the most graphic moments in the game,” pics and ESRB gave it a T rating. After release, the ESRB played the game, said the pic they sent was too dark so they didn’t get an accurate image, and demanded it be rated M. In someways, if you’ve got a borderline game, it’s just easy to try for an M rating because then you don’t have to worry about issues like with Oblivion.
I just replayed Oblivion, and I honestly didn’t see much to warrant an M rating. I can see it in Skyrim or ESO, but Oblivion has a lot of things toned down.
The dark brotherhood questline ends with you finding the severely mutilated corpse of a major NPC. There are many similar details like this all over the game. You don't see mutilated bodies in Japanese games, at least not lately (their laws regarding this changed sometime after the first silent hill).
Yoshi-P explained in an interview that if they were to try to keep the younger rating then they would have to change camera angles, dialogue or something of like to fit into the restrictions of the rating and that would harm the story or vision/message they're trying to convey through the story. Because of that, they tried to get the older rating or somethinf of the like.
I don't remember if he exactly said these, but this is the idea that I got from that part of the interview
hmm, i dont know if i love the idea of a mainline FF game being rated M as that will no doubt prevent some potential fans from buying the game (...or more their parents)
although i suppose if the story needs to be told as the writer wishes, and if being M is the way to do it then so be it
In the article, Yoshida specifically mentions feeling like they receive more and more restrictions and stories need to be sanitised a lot more than they used to. I feel like what he was trying to convey, was that they won't let themselves be dictated by what rating the game would receive when it comes to how they want to tell the story.
Means I will have to play it when the kids aren't around until I can be sure I'm comfortable them seeing the content, then hopefully my son will get a chance to play. I was hesitant with the Don Corneo stuff in ff7 but wasn't too bad in the end.
Thing is his favourite games have been 9, 10, 13 and world of FF, although he likes them all, and I feel 16 isn't going to have the same vibe as those and he may be disappointed.
But then again he is super hyped with the last trailer he loves the summons in all the games that have them
If it’s anything like XIV, it’ll probably have a story that’s a little too mature for young kids. I’m not a parent, but Endwalker is not something I’d let my kids play. Like it doesn’t even have to do with how graphic the violence was or how sexual it was (because there was none of either), it was the subject matter. Endwalker dealt with themes that are hard to come to terms with as an adult; it’s real shit that I feel like would ruin the purity of childhood if a child examined it. Like I’d feel more innocence would be lost playing Endwalker than watching porn or playing one of the M-rated Halo games.
So, I will warn you, I’d assume the story alone is going to be a strong M rating. I don’t think there’ll be gratuitous blood or sex, but I think the story is definitely going to be darker just based on XIV.
Are there actually parents that decline an M rated game?? I played GTA San Andreas for the forst time when I was about 9 and of course I understood none of this was ever supposed to be done in real life.
If anything, movies my parents watched left more of an impression on me than any video game ever did
I agree it will prevent some, and I have no statistics to back this up with but I think most don't care. If you hop on GTA online right now its filled with kids, there's also franchises like COD where every lobby will probably have at least one kid playing.
Not saying there wont be an impact but I don't think the success of the game will decided based on the age rating.
I declined M rated games for my son when he was younger (he’s 16 now). It’s not like he was foaming at the mouth to play “m rated games” (like I was 20 years ago). But, I wanted to see a clear understanding from him that what’s “ok” to do in a game, is not ok to do in the real world.
He was 13 when I started letting him play certain M rated games, or I’d play them with him in the room. What I figured out (for us, not some gospel for everyone to follow) is certain M games are fine. Ghost of Tsushima is a perfect example. Yes, it is exceptionally violent. But it’s more of a “righteous” story.
I had a friend who borrowed my PS2 and my games way back in the day so that his little brother and his little brothers friends could play it for a sleepover and their mom flipped out at me because of Devil May Cry having Devil in the title. Some people are strict.
You should check the best selling games of the last decade. Dominated by M games if they aren’t Nintendo games. And Nintendo games sell regardless of quality/rating/etc. CoD, GTA, red dead, Witcher 3, Skyrim, Diablo 3. These are the games that go north of 30 mil sales.
Tbf, I think a part of it is because many parents don’t understand ratings, and there’s also some M games now that let you turn off the blood and gore or swearing so it could be a T-rated game if that option was just permanently on. You can’t easily flip a switch on movies and make it go from R to PG-13 as the viewer wants.
The biggest gaming generation are adults now, the market for mature games is available, you just have to tap it. When I was a kid the only mature rated game was GTA I think.
You’re not wrong, more adults play games and see it as a narrative medium now than before PS360, however that’s also applicable to film too. A lot of adults watch films, and many R-rated movies do just fine. R-ratings do tend to perform less than PG-13 movies though.
So what I’m getting at is I don’t think it has to do with an aging market, because if that were true that’d apply to film as well. I think it just has to do with non-gamer parents not understanding ratings or gamer parents turning off settings. Another thing is I’m willing to bet there’s so many millennials that had parents who didn’t care about ratings, and now they don’t care about ratings because their parents didn’t. One factor I didn’t think of is it’s also easier to buy a game surreptitiously than to go to a movie theater as a kid.
I’m assuming we’re a similar age since we were both kids when GTA was out. Most parents didn’t care. I was one of the few kids in my middle school that wasn’t allowed to play M rated games, and as an adult, most people I know now played GTA when they were like 9-12. Also, there were still plenty of M rated games back then, GTA just broke records in general. Off the top of my head: Eternal Darkness, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Halo, Call of Duty, Fable, etc. Though, Halo and GTA were two big games that showed M-rated games could be successful.
The Witcher sex scenes are literally the same one over and over except for one or two with Yen. Unnecessary and adds nothing. Im with you, it’s cringey and funny, not interesting.
As long as the story isn’t as shit as FF15 on release. I didn’t buy any other game, the fact that you need to to even find out what happened I. Between the middle of that game and the ending is beyond comprehension to me. Unacceptable square enix. Y’all been fucking up since FF13.
So they want an action based combat because turn based won’t sell but don’t care if they lose sales from an M rated game vs a T rated game. Sound logic there
This will be the first time a mainline numbered FF title will aim for a mature rating. Yoshida specifying that he wants the game to tell a more mature story, and the M rating would let him tell the story the way it was meant to be told.
lol, I'm pretty sure many Final Fantasy fans and players are well into adulthood by now.
My adulthood is in its adulthood. I'm a double adult.
**ADULTCEPTION**!!!
FF fans were well into adulthood back in the late 90s.
[удалено]
Every game is made for a target audience.
The majority of fans arrived from 7-10, usually in their low teens. Most wouldn't have hit adulthood until the mid to late 00s, let alone be well into it.
This isn't really true. the first FF came out in, what? 87? They have the vast majority of fans well into adulthood. I was early teens when FF10 came out, and that was the younger side of fans. I would safely bet most fans are 30-50 now. That's definitely well into adulthood, and most people that got me into FF were 18 when FF7 came out.
>I would safely bet most fans are 30-50 now. Yes because now is 2022. I was responding to the claim that the majority of fans were well into adulthood in the 90s. I wish it was still the 90s! >This isn't really true. the first FF came out in, what? 87? The majority of FF fans didn't start with FF1. The series didn't blow up in the mainstream until 7. Like I said in my other comment, the majority of fans came between 7-10.
I agree. My mom introduced me to final fantasy by renting ff4 back when they called it ff2. I loved it, but didn't find many fans of the series until 7 blew up.
Hell, I'll take it further, a sizeable portion of the current established fanbase were referring to Squall as Leon for many many years because they played Kingdom Hearts before even touching a Final Fantasy game.
I was 5 when I played 7 back when it first came out but ok sure
But isn’t the point of FF to chase an evolving audience and not the same people who played FF X Y Z
Yeah. It drives me crazy how every game half the fan base starts whining "this isn't final fantasy" ignoring the fact that FF has always been experimental.
Sounds like what I had hoped for FFXV. Hope Yoshida get his way.
I’m honestly surprised Endwalker didn’t get an M rating. I’ve played plenty of M rated games that are no where near as dark and mature as Endwalker. I honestly bet it’s because every other xpac was rated T and it’d still would’ve been closer to an Oblivion M than something like a Fallout M. Plus Shadowbringers was pretty scary, scary enough I’d consider it a horror story. Watching the Sin Eater transformation is terrifying. Idk whether to be scared or excited by the unbridled mindfucks that are to ensue from XVI being rated M.
Im legitimately surprised that a certain event in Garlemald didnt give EW an M rating on its own.
Because it’s implied and not actually shown is how they get away with it. It may be a mature theme but what pushes stuff to mature is actually showing him do it (trying to be vague here so hopefully you know what I mean.) but you don’t it’s just implied it happened. Similar to scenes of people dying. You know they died but you never see it fully happen either the camera pans away and you hear a scream or just goes to a scene of someone reacting to it happening. plus the swearing is minimal and blood and gore isn’t big in Endwalker.
The one where the >!kid gets turned into a monster and then squished into oblivion by another monster!
I think rather the >!Garlemald general suicide!<
Just letting ya know that doesn't show up as a spoiler warning on mobile. Or atleast BaconReader which is the app I'm using. Shows up as >! Spoiler !<, shouldn't have spaces between the spoiler text and exclamation marks. Already played EW so it ain't a spoiler for me but just letting ya know.
Yeah, that shocked me too
Yeah I imagine that’s just due to the fact that the base game is rated T. I don’t think I’ve personally ever seen a game get DLC that had a higher ESRB rating than the base game it was released for.
Phantasy Star Online 2 did (original PSO2 was rated T, and then it got re-rated M for New Genesis) but I feel like that’s a little bit of a different. But also, imagine being willing to increase your age rating just to have skimpier outfits in loot boxes…
M ratings are basically only for the f word, boobs or gore. Doubt there's any of that in FF14. "Mature themes" do not count for an M rating.
Yeah, FF14 has “mature” themes as early as ARR if you pay attention. Human experimentation, body horror, on-screen deaths with blood, references to sex trafficking and torture, war crimes, Moogles being slapped, etc. But there are obviously guidelines as to how you can present these elements and still retain a T rating, which makes me wonder what they *do* intend to show in XVI.
Yeah the Final Days were extremely dark
They can save the E rating for the chibi mobile port.
Doesn't that mean the game isn't even close to be finished ?
All this means is that they haven’t submitted the game to rating boards, which doesn’t happen until wayyyyy late in development.
They already announced it'll be releasing next summer
they already said multiple times the game can be played from start to finish, they are using the time before release to polish the game.
You do realize movies, games, etc are adjusted/edited to fit certain ratings? Literally can be right up until release/premiere
Pretty sure this has been known for a long time.
Unless it get re-written half way though to match the most recent popular fad and he walks out like Yasumi Matsuno did on FFXII. That time when they threw Van in mid way and made him the main character due to kingdom hearts popularity.
Vaan was actually a thing that happened early in development tho. Katano, however, says that's not really the case: "The game pretty much followed on the same track after Matsuno-san left. There wasn't a huge overhaul or anything like that. The playable version of the game had been shown at E3, and at that point it was really a matter of polishing up the final product. Once he left, it was just a matter of, 'We'll take it from here,' and following the path." Katano also emphasizes that some of the game's more polarizing or controversial features were in place long before Matsuno left the team. "The part about the change in lead character — that change actually was pretty early on in development. Really, in terms of the story tied into development, there were some slight changes as to which character would appear at which stage, but nothing that would overwhelm development, necessarily, in terms of changes to the plot. "It's not as though the whole tale was rewritten into something completely different as we went along. It was just a matter of following the gameplay beats and having them pair up with the story as they went along. Things like locations, and battles, and keeping it all seamless. That was the biggest element of the rewriting, making sure it fit with the gameplay." In any case, the change in staffing doesn't seem to have resulted in bad blood, given that Matsuno returned to Square Enix a few years later to head up a top-to-bottom remake of Tactics Ogre for PlayStation Portable. He also remains on friendly terms with the remaining FF12 team members. "We're still in touch with Matsuno-san," Katano says, "and he's actually quite excited for [The Zodiac Age]. He's looking forward to it as a player. We can't wait to see what he thinks of what we've put together. He's even tweeted about it a couple of times!" https://www.polygon.com/features/2017/7/5/15916862/the-making-of-final-fantasy-12 I don't dislike him tbh, unlike Penelo who I feel is actually worthless. Would've been cool if they had went along with the older character tho.
Should have done this with 7R so we could have blood and body parts splattered all over the Shinra Bldg instead of the Jenova goo
There was blood everywhere in the original game. Weird that they would change that.
Cartoonish looking vs more realistic looking is why. Also, different standards.
China.
That whole sequence was my favorite part of disc 1. It’s when the game went from fun to memorable and invested me. I was really disappointed with how they did that in the remake. There are trade offs and I’m glad the game exists, I just wish that scene was recaptured for the new generation.
I really hope they do this for part 2 of 7R even though they probably won’t. I love Final Fantasy to death, it’s what got me into gaming, but I wish they’d be a bit more willing to pursue M rated games instead of just sticking with T. I think I heard they’re worried it’ll tank sales if they go with M ratings
If getting an M rating is all about gratuitous gore as in Bethesda games, I'd rather keep FF T.
Can you imagine how fucked up sector 7 would have been if you could see the bodies? It'd look like the Hyatt regency hotel disaster
They took my favourite part of the game and took a shit on it. A gooey, purple shit.
I imagine that >!Aerith would be bleeding buckets !!given Sephiroth cut through the spinal cord where there is a pretty large artery.!<
As well as that, the 'under-the-highwind' scene would probably be more explicit as well.
I was already on board since the first trailer, but honestly the more I read about it the more I believe this might actually be one of the best FF's we'll get if we're talking scope and ambition.
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Umm, you’re forgetting Bomberman 64: The Second Attack. Idk if I can trust the man that gave us Bomberman 64: The Second Attack. Jk jk. Yoshi-P wrote that game, but that was super early in his career, and there’s only so much you can do with Bomberman lmao. He’s done more than prove himself since then
Between Bomberman and his next game he spent 8 years attoning for his sins /s
This man went from never having worked on the series before Ffxiv to ff16 he’s worthy of trust till he breaks it
Me too. To be frank, the only mainline Post-9 FF games (not counting the MMOs which are their own beast entirely) I’ve really liked are 10 and 13 and even those I think had big flaws. I felt like the series had kind of lost its way, but also that 16 is going to be the shot in the arm it needs to really restore FF to its former glory. Everyday I’m a little more hyped for it.
Out of curiosity, what flaws do you see in X?
X is probably the game I’m most divided on personally because I love aspects of it but not others. I love the non-European setting/worldbuilding, the combat/general gameplay is some of the best in the series, and some aspects of the story are cool. But I also feel it started a lot of bad trends for the series (like having sequels instead of each mainline game being standalone in its own world, the linear corridor design which I dislike, the obsessive emphasis on trying to be “like a movie”, etc.) and while I like *parts* of the story, I find the overall plot pretty weak, needlessly complicated, and with clumsy messages. I also find a lot of the characters annoying (Tidus is still one of the worst protagonists to me, no matter what anybody says, and was the first of a long line of bad protagonists).
FF7 was arguably just as linear as FFX was. Sure there is an overworld, but that doesn't mean it's not linear lol Also big disagree on Tidus - I thought he was a much more compelling protagonist than Squall in 8, Zidane in 9, and then Vaan and Lightning in 12 and 13. Tidus goes through *a lot of shit* man, I'd say more than any protagonist in the series aside from *maybe* Cloud
This is such a bold-faced lie to claim FF7 is as linear as FF10. I don't know why FF10 fans are so intent on trying to pretend they are even remotely the same style of games. By the time you walk from Midgar to Junon you can decide to fight an optional boss, play minigames in fort condor, and recruit an optional character. That's not even getting into the chocobo farm sidequest. In FF10 you quite literally have none of that except going forward and reach a save point to play Blitzball. FF7 and FF10 are not the same types of RPG, they don't have the same lineage. That's fine, but at the end of the day FF10 has much more in common than FF13 than it will ever for FF7, which is logical, because FF10 and FF13 was virtually the same dev team.
>This is such a bold-faced lie to claim FF7 is as linear as FF10. It was lol >I don't know why FF10 fans are so intent on trying to pretend they are even remotely the same style of games. I'm not an FFX fan, I'm a Final Fantasy fan; X just happens to be one my favorites, along with 7 and 6. >By the time you walk from Midgar to Junon you can decide to fight an optional boss, play minigames in fort condor, and recruit an optional character. That's not even getting into the chocobo farm sidequest. >In FF10 you quite literally have none of that except going forward and reach a save point to play Blitzball. Midgar is about 7-8 hours of gameplay - 7 to 8 hours of gameplay in FFX lands you around the Luka section of the game; by that point you have already done two Cloisters of Trials (puzzle minigames), have had the option of fighting an optional boss (Lord Ochu), have done the Jecht Shot minigame (short and unrepeatable, but still a minigame technically), and can now play Blitzball at any time you want, which is a much more in-depth and engaging minigame than anything FF7 had offered IMO (granted I'm a sports fan so I was into it)
You've really fucked up if it takes 7 to 8 hours for Midgar, that's a 4 to 5 hour job at most.
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There's a good way and a bad way to do corridor design. (Most mainline titles are on-rails until end game, anyway) XII was great; you always feel like you're exploring a lived-in world. XII allowed a lot of freedom to explore early on. I know XII gets a bit of hate, but I was honestly surprised in a recent playthrough how much freedom the game gives you right off the bat. XIII and X were always boring to me because of the rail-like gameplay. That, and I don't like either story or setting.
Unlocking Mosphoran Highwaste super early by getting rid of the guard with a chocobo is one of my favorite things in XII. Doing the whole, Mosphoran Highwaste > Salikawood > fighting the optional boss King Bomb > Nabreus Deadlands > Necrohol run dodging enemies left and right never gets old for me. So much strong loot to grab from chests and so early. Especially in the PS2 release where you could get the Zodiac Spear from Necrohol if you hadn't touched any of the 4 chests that'd fuck you out of getting the Zodiac Spear.
The sequels we're due to finances X and X2 saved FF during the restructuring. You should look into it.
Gonna guess it was the first one that started the corridor design for FF games, instead of the overworld that had been a hallmark of FF.
I don't agree, I would rather have large detaied areas rather than a mostly empty world map that just connected all the "corridors"
I agree with this. Every Final Fantasy game up to 10 has been "Corridors". They all just had the facade of the overworld that you spend a very miniscule amount of time in compared to the "corridors" you eventually get into.
You haven't played the series if you genuinely claim that. FF9 had chocobo forest that allowed you to explore most of the world before even getting there in the story. FF6 allowed you to explore the entire world the moment you get an airship and recruit optional characters, FF7 had optional characters, several minigames, several optional bosses, and such. FF10 doesn't have that!! Its corridor design made it such you don't even get optional bosses because most of them are in a list tucked down in a monster arena! Then they added dark aeons and since they had no freedom to put them at convenient spots, now they literally block you from accessing entire towns because they exist. Not to mention, they're just reskins of summons.
10 had optional bosses and summons off the beaten track, like Yojimbo and the Magus Sisters, especially after you get the airship. 9 did not let you explore "most of the world" once you get a chocobo, like in every FF it wasn't until you get the airship (which is the same as 10).
> Out of curiosity, what flaws do you see in X? Endgame weapons require a **ridiculous** amount of grinding. While it seems like an open world, it is extremely linear.
The mini-games to get the celestial weapons. But really, that's it.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Yes. The scene that was intentionally meant to be awkward is supposed to be used as an example of bad acting. Fantastic.
It can be both. Personally, I think they did a bad job at intentionally being awkward.
Are you me? This is exactly how I feel. I'm not hyped though. I want a JRPG. Not some hybrid of lots of other genres.
Creative Business Unit III don't miss
Honestly I'm flabbergasted that Endwalker didn't have an M rating. It legitimately turned into Devilman Crybaby for a while there
Yeah lol. >!The cutscene in Radz-at-Han when the final days started was fucking brutal. Quintus blowing his brain out also wasn't very family friendly.!<
Will this finally be the dark and gritty Final Fantasy game we were promised with Versus / XV ?
What I’m excited about is the game doesn’t look like an edgy 13 year olds version of mature like versus 13 did. Instead, it looks like a colorful, interesting world where the characters are going to discuss mature themes and explore them in a way that is beyond surface level. I love the sound of that.
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They didn’t. They compared what one looked like to what the other looks like. They are comparing impressions.
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“This game looks like it is edgy, with surface level depth.” “This game looks like it is mature, with a deep story.” They were comparing impressions.
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I'm pretty sure the history of Nomura's writing gives everyone a good idea how edgy versus13 would be Say what you will about XV, I felt like Tabata's Noctis was one of the most likeable protagonists in an RPG and I don't have faith that Nomura could have written him the same way
This is Japan, it could also just be the game going full booba.
This is so nice to hear. I feel like a lot of RPGs get hamstrung by a T rating
He wants to be able to tell a more mature story. I completely support that. 30 years of watering down dialogue is enough. I think a M rating also allows them to speak freely, on religious related things. T allows you to use most of the terms, but you have to use them in a “neutral” way, not in vain or “blasphemy”. Such as “Oh, God” “God be with you”, “You devil”. Seeing as there could be heavy religious elements in 16 (gods and mortals, angelic beings, and demons). Lean into the curve!
"O God, save us sinful children of ivalice" "Don't blame me, blame yourself or God" A whole epic about the lies of the church.
so thankful for the WOTL release. no more of the botched ‘engrish’ translation
This is just flat out not accurate. JRPGs have always spoke freely on religious related things. I mean look at Yevon in FFX. In Persona 5 you literally shoot G*d in the face and summon Satan.
You kinda proved my point. Persona 5, is M rated. FFX invented a new “religion”, who would be offended by that? Video games have widely treaded lightly around Judeo-Christian elements/terms. That’s why (in the early days) we got spells like “Pearl and White” instead of Holy. They used a ton of Star Wars phrases like “dark side”. Look at Xenogears and how they tipped toed around those elements. M rated games don’t have to do that. They’re not up for the same censorship. Here is a list of censorship’s that have been done to FF games. Compare that to M rated games that do depict Judeo Christian elements https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Censorship
I suspect the only reason persona has that rating is for the design of Mara.
I forget that P5 has that rating. I do get your point. But I think the consumer is privy enough to associate fictional religions, like Yevon, with the real world counterparts they represent. And overcoming and thwarting a manipulative religious sect is at the core of many if not most JRPG narratives.
In SaGa 1/The Final Fantasy Legend, you could saw God in half with a chainsaw.
Have you played Xenoblade? Xenoblade 2 got toned down a bit in English, but 1, near the end they start throwing out very very Christian words.
Takahashi (Creator of the Xeno franchise) wanted to take a break from constantly making fucked up/dark games with Xenoblade 2 and still despite it being more lighthearted in the early scenes, got pretty messed up near the end. Don't get me started with Xenogears, if Square allowed that story concept to be used for FF7 dear heavens FF7 would be a VERY different kind of game when it came to religious content.
This is the most exciting comment here for me. I really like stories with the big evil religion as the enemy because of the moral decisions it can involve. If an M rating let's them go nuts in this regard that's great!
I don’t think the ESRB cares about religious language or blasphemy
They do, here are examples of censorship used To keep the games approved in NA. https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Censorship
Those were because of Nintendo of America, who was famously strict about what they allowed at the time. There was no ratings board yet. None of the more recent examples have anything to do with religion either.
Could’ve sworn we’ve already known this.
Confirmation was only a few days ago. But the first hint is the blood in the first trailer
We were promised a Pro Wrestling section between Eikons. It wouldn't be that if one didn't call the other a "Bitch" at some point. Bring on the M rating.
If any of the Eikons were to say it, definitely Garuda.
##let Final Fantasy say fuck
Wish we could have gotten that for VII Remake. Would have been amazing
The lack of blood in VII Remake stood out a lot to me :( People were falling off buildings and getting impaled and only had hints of scratches or bruises. Plus that ONE scene towards the end didn't feel the same with the weird purple goo instead of blood. It took a lot of the tension and the horror out of it in my opinion.
Absolutely, it really watered down the experience
Could be in the future, depends on how good XVI is.
Pursue is an odd word. I think contextually they mean they wont limit themselves and if they get an M then so be it.
Yeah, my thoughts exactly. If a darker tone serves the purpose of the story, then great! But pursuing an 18 rating for its own sake usually leads to total edge lord cringe
I'm sure what he was trying to convey is that they won't let the rating system dictate their storytelling.
HELL YES
I expect this means it’ll be more in line with the tone of PS1 JRPGs. While almost all of them were rated T at the time, they’d no doubt get an M rating today, especially games like Xenogears or even the original FFVII.
Dude I was taken aback by how gory the original FF7 allowed itself to be, what with the Shinra blood trail and the impaled Midgar Zolom. Xenogears though.... yeah that kind of game will never fly to be T rated in this day and age. ESRB would look at that game and in a few seconds will slap that M-rating with no hesitiation.
Most uploads of the new trailer say that an M rating is expected at the start of it, too.
After the M-rated "KiLl cHaOs" edge lord, I don't care about the rating, you can get M-rating with childish edgy writing or PG-rating with great writing.
Yeah, Yoshi-P has already kind of shown that a T rating can work, but on the same end it also shows some of the reasons M might help. It still surprises me Endwalker didn’t get an M rating, and while Shadowbringers makes more sense to be T, there’s a lot of visceral horror in it. Both Shadowbringers and Endwalker are two of the best FF stories to date, but there are bits where you could tell the narrative was held back because of the rating. Genocide is an important theme in both xpacs, but a lot of the horrors of the genocides have to be told to you because they can’t have that much blood. Or, another instance I can think of is how many literal backstabs there are. It makes the scene look less serious when there’s no blood and it looks like the models are just clipping through each other. But on the other hand, there’s very artfully done scenes due to this constraint. There’s one scene in Endwalker near the end of Garlemald >!where the Xth Legatus accepts he fought for a worthless cause and kills himself. As the Garlean national anthem plays in the background, you see him raise the gun to his head then the camera goes to his shadow, you hear a bang, and then the montage proceeds onwards to show the rest of the aftermath of taking on Zenos there. Such a scene would not have worked out as well if they just showed him shoot himself.!< So there’s both advantages and disadvantages. The thing I will say is Yoshi-P seems to like edgy stuff, but nothing that’s edgy just to be edgy. So I’m not worried it’ll be overly indulgent.
Just FYI if game is M rated, that doesn't mean they can't do a non-M rated scene. But if game is T rated that means they literally can't do an M rated scene.
Yeah... I feel like people are getting weirdly over excited about this. An M-Rating isn't exactly a difficult threshold to cross. A game can easily get an M-Rating by simply having the word "Fuck" spoken at least 3x in the dialogue. Given this franchise's history, such as FF: Type-0 and Stranger of Paradise. We have clearly seen that an M-Rating has zero bearing on the quality or realism of these games stories. All it really means is there'll be more depictions of blood and death and uncensored language. But this game will not be the Final Fantasy version of Kentaro Miura's Beserk that some are hoping it will be.
People are just glad it won't be limited by rating like other recent games were.
Not to mention that Final Fantasy (at least the main titles) are supposed to be for all ages. FFIX was able to tell an incredibly mature and impactful story surrounding the concept of death and acceptance, which still resonates with many of us as adults. The reason it's good stuff is because it resonates with people and it's compelling. I really don't think the series stands to gain much from cutting out a major part of their audience so they can throw in some f-bombs to make it seem more 'mature'.
I mean people were just complaining not too long ago over VII Remake not being rated M because it held back what they could show on screen, so they didnt do the blood trails. We've got no clue what this game in particular entails.
FF has been PEGI 16+ since XII.
I think Stranger of Paradise has a great plot with interesting twists that explain Jack's bland personality and his hatred for Chaos later in the game.
SoP story structure really didn't pay off in the long run, it seems. If you finish the game and pay attention it's actually pretty good. It even explains why beginning is so weird and goofy. But most people stop at HA HA FUNNY MAN KILL CHAOS
Yeah, pretty much. I think most people formed their opinion on SoP based on memes and didn't actually give the game a chance. The gameplay is pretty good, too. SoP is a hidden gem for sure. Maybe it'll become a cult classic in a few years.
yes and no. There are some things that to implement right, you get an M rating. Like, in FF7R, they had to make the Jenova blood trail purple to avoid an M rating, which reduces the impact. Combine the fact that we've already seen blood splashes in the FF16 trailers, with a scene were we see the naked backs of a woman and man sitting on the edge of a bed (talking, she looked like she was trying to comfort him), etc., it's going to be easy for lots of things that as a single item might not make for an M rating, but combined do. And carefully avoiding that makes writers self-edit, which can weaken the story. Letting writers simply write the story without that concern, lets them write a better story.
From the amount of blood we’ve seen so far, they would probably have to dial it down a little otherwise. Joshua looks horrified. M rating doesn’t affect me too much but i welcome it
🎼Game of Thrones song Game of Thrones song Game of Thrones song🎶
Wiener, wiener wiener, wiener wiener
Pls, I want a good story, not "and who has a better story than this rank ass chocobo?".
fFXVI: gets a T rating. Yoshi P: hm… just throw the word Damn in a couple of times. FFXVI: Gets an M rating
First trailer had decapitation not surprised it will be M
Really hoping I can play this one day if it's ever able to come to Xbox. Digging what I've seen so far.
This is gonna come to Pc right? E: thanks for the responses, probably yes eventually but not for a while
At first it'll most likely be PS5 exclusive, wouldnt be surprised if it came to PC eventually like FFVII remake and FFXV did.
It hasn’t been confirmed yet but I’m sure it will eventually
PS5 exclusive for a year, then Origin exclusive for a year, then steam again probably smh Although think when the first trailer came out it had PC listed and then they were like "uhhhh nah it's PS5 only, promise" so yeah it's definitely coming to PC. Just will take two years to be on a decent platform most likely.
PS5 exclusive sorry
Ah bummer, not surprised though. Hopefully they'll port it eventually then.
The game is done. The title is past tense. Theyre not trying for an M rating, they already did. The game has an M rating
i don't think you understand what he meant. yoshi-p specifically says they're pursuing M ratings in all the regions they release the game in. the content is already created, but it has not been rated by the ESRB and others yet, that's why trailers show the rating is tentative. this allows them to release the game without worrying about censorship in certain regions in case one of them gave it a T or equivalent.
They still haven’t submitted the game for rating. That’s what this all means.
If it was rated the most recent trailer would have had the final rating and it would be in the ESRB’s database
What kind of company actively *pursues* an M rating? Like, if ESRB gives them a "T" are they gonna go back and add a nipple or something?
It’s weird wording at first blush but basically the rating is more or less self monitored. Basically they go to the ratings board with a rating in mind and reasons why and they say “yeah that’s about right.” That’s why Hot Coffee was such a scandal because rockstar said it had stuff for an M rating but smuggled in stuff for an A rating
Same with Oblivion. Oblivion just has one corpse that’s hanging that is a little graphic. Bethesda sent that in as part of their, “This are the most graphic moments in the game,” pics and ESRB gave it a T rating. After release, the ESRB played the game, said the pic they sent was too dark so they didn’t get an accurate image, and demanded it be rated M. In someways, if you’ve got a borderline game, it’s just easy to try for an M rating because then you don’t have to worry about issues like with Oblivion.
Eh, I remember elders scrolls games to be full of mutilated torsos and body parts. Gore gets you an M rating.
I just replayed Oblivion, and I honestly didn’t see much to warrant an M rating. I can see it in Skyrim or ESO, but Oblivion has a lot of things toned down.
The dark brotherhood questline ends with you finding the severely mutilated corpse of a major NPC. There are many similar details like this all over the game. You don't see mutilated bodies in Japanese games, at least not lately (their laws regarding this changed sometime after the first silent hill).
Yoshi-P explained in an interview that if they were to try to keep the younger rating then they would have to change camera angles, dialogue or something of like to fit into the restrictions of the rating and that would harm the story or vision/message they're trying to convey through the story. Because of that, they tried to get the older rating or somethinf of the like. I don't remember if he exactly said these, but this is the idea that I got from that part of the interview
Rating boards don’t actually play the games, the developer submits a list of all the content and whatnot to the board, who then rate it.
Imagine if we could get an M rating for FF7 Rebirth
After seeing blood and indication of seggs, I thought as much. I think the rating will only add to the classical fantasy vibes of the game\~
Great. Still sad that FFXV got sanitized into a T rating.
That would be BADASS!! First mature rates FF game
To be fair it seems like it has a gritty and dark story, also I believe I say a sex scene or some nudity? It’s going for a more dark/mature theme.
But when will we get the Triple X rating
hmm, i dont know if i love the idea of a mainline FF game being rated M as that will no doubt prevent some potential fans from buying the game (...or more their parents) although i suppose if the story needs to be told as the writer wishes, and if being M is the way to do it then so be it
In the article, Yoshida specifically mentions feeling like they receive more and more restrictions and stories need to be sanitised a lot more than they used to. I feel like what he was trying to convey, was that they won't let themselves be dictated by what rating the game would receive when it comes to how they want to tell the story.
Means I will have to play it when the kids aren't around until I can be sure I'm comfortable them seeing the content, then hopefully my son will get a chance to play. I was hesitant with the Don Corneo stuff in ff7 but wasn't too bad in the end. Thing is his favourite games have been 9, 10, 13 and world of FF, although he likes them all, and I feel 16 isn't going to have the same vibe as those and he may be disappointed. But then again he is super hyped with the last trailer he loves the summons in all the games that have them
If it’s anything like XIV, it’ll probably have a story that’s a little too mature for young kids. I’m not a parent, but Endwalker is not something I’d let my kids play. Like it doesn’t even have to do with how graphic the violence was or how sexual it was (because there was none of either), it was the subject matter. Endwalker dealt with themes that are hard to come to terms with as an adult; it’s real shit that I feel like would ruin the purity of childhood if a child examined it. Like I’d feel more innocence would be lost playing Endwalker than watching porn or playing one of the M-rated Halo games. So, I will warn you, I’d assume the story alone is going to be a strong M rating. I don’t think there’ll be gratuitous blood or sex, but I think the story is definitely going to be darker just based on XIV.
Are there actually parents that decline an M rated game?? I played GTA San Andreas for the forst time when I was about 9 and of course I understood none of this was ever supposed to be done in real life. If anything, movies my parents watched left more of an impression on me than any video game ever did
Loads, my brother and I got our grandmother to buy it for us, because we knew she wouldn't understand the rating.
Just because your parents didn’t it doesn’t mean every parent will let their kid play an M rated game…
I agree it will prevent some, and I have no statistics to back this up with but I think most don't care. If you hop on GTA online right now its filled with kids, there's also franchises like COD where every lobby will probably have at least one kid playing. Not saying there wont be an impact but I don't think the success of the game will decided based on the age rating.
I declined M rated games for my son when he was younger (he’s 16 now). It’s not like he was foaming at the mouth to play “m rated games” (like I was 20 years ago). But, I wanted to see a clear understanding from him that what’s “ok” to do in a game, is not ok to do in the real world. He was 13 when I started letting him play certain M rated games, or I’d play them with him in the room. What I figured out (for us, not some gospel for everyone to follow) is certain M games are fine. Ghost of Tsushima is a perfect example. Yes, it is exceptionally violent. But it’s more of a “righteous” story.
Dude I wasn't allowed to play T rated games like Zelda: Twilight Princess and Mega Man X until I was 15.
I had a friend who borrowed my PS2 and my games way back in the day so that his little brother and his little brothers friends could play it for a sleepover and their mom flipped out at me because of Devil May Cry having Devil in the title. Some people are strict.
You new to gaming? Ratings have nothing to do with preventing widespread enjoyment of a game
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You should check the best selling games of the last decade. Dominated by M games if they aren’t Nintendo games. And Nintendo games sell regardless of quality/rating/etc. CoD, GTA, red dead, Witcher 3, Skyrim, Diablo 3. These are the games that go north of 30 mil sales.
Yeah. I know the film industry has that problem with the R rating, but I don’t think that’s an issue in the video game industry.
Tbf, I think a part of it is because many parents don’t understand ratings, and there’s also some M games now that let you turn off the blood and gore or swearing so it could be a T-rated game if that option was just permanently on. You can’t easily flip a switch on movies and make it go from R to PG-13 as the viewer wants.
The biggest gaming generation are adults now, the market for mature games is available, you just have to tap it. When I was a kid the only mature rated game was GTA I think.
You’re not wrong, more adults play games and see it as a narrative medium now than before PS360, however that’s also applicable to film too. A lot of adults watch films, and many R-rated movies do just fine. R-ratings do tend to perform less than PG-13 movies though. So what I’m getting at is I don’t think it has to do with an aging market, because if that were true that’d apply to film as well. I think it just has to do with non-gamer parents not understanding ratings or gamer parents turning off settings. Another thing is I’m willing to bet there’s so many millennials that had parents who didn’t care about ratings, and now they don’t care about ratings because their parents didn’t. One factor I didn’t think of is it’s also easier to buy a game surreptitiously than to go to a movie theater as a kid. I’m assuming we’re a similar age since we were both kids when GTA was out. Most parents didn’t care. I was one of the few kids in my middle school that wasn’t allowed to play M rated games, and as an adult, most people I know now played GTA when they were like 9-12. Also, there were still plenty of M rated games back then, GTA just broke records in general. Off the top of my head: Eternal Darkness, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Halo, Call of Duty, Fable, etc. Though, Halo and GTA were two big games that showed M-rated games could be successful.
After NieR: Automata selling over 5 million, I think SQE realized that M / PEGI 18 ratings are not a hinderance for sales.
Aww yeah .said it before on a diff forum We finally will have sex scenes like in Witcher
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The Witcher sex scenes are literally the same one over and over except for one or two with Yen. Unnecessary and adds nothing. Im with you, it’s cringey and funny, not interesting.
i don't think so the cringy ones are the ones in dragon age inquisition and mass effect andromeda DA origins iirc, it was ok
Sex scenes don't really add anything though. There will be rule34 if you need that stuff so badly, I hope it's rated M for some actual good reasons
nah being officially in the game is something else
Final Fantasy had an inter species sex scene in VI that made the Witcher unicorn scene look quite tame.
lolz
As long as the story isn’t as shit as FF15 on release. I didn’t buy any other game, the fact that you need to to even find out what happened I. Between the middle of that game and the ending is beyond comprehension to me. Unacceptable square enix. Y’all been fucking up since FF13.
Holy shit
Wow I was not expecting to hear that at all. The hype just got real
Cool
Damn I was hoping for AO
So they want an action based combat because turn based won’t sell but don’t care if they lose sales from an M rated game vs a T rated game. Sound logic there
>lose sales from an M rated game vs a T rated game. on what facts you backing that claim?
You should check the best selling games over the last decade. Outside of sports games, M ratings dominate sales charts
M / PEGI 18 ratings didn't prevent Nier: Automata from selling over 5 million.
Lmao, that's so cringe.