Today we'll be taking a look at Final Fantasy XV, the latest entry in Square Enix's long
running RPG series, and some of the ways it was censored in different countries.
Final Fantasy XV actually doesn't have too many regional differences around the world,
that is with the exception of one region - this being China, a country that has one of the
strictest stances on video game content in the world.
Square actually recently spoke about some of these changes that had to be made to the
Chinese version during 2018's Game Developers Conference - an annual meeting for video game
creators, focusing on learning, inspiration, and networking opportunities.
One way that the Chinese version had to be changed was altering the design of Shiva to
make her design less revealing.
As shown in this comparison, Shiva wears a skin-tight blue outfit in China and her skin
tone is also much less pale.
This was due to Chinese restrictions on content that could be seen as suggestive.
It wasn't just suggestive content though.
China also has a rather unusual stance on showing skeletons in games, due to a law that
bans the promotion of "cults or superstitions".
This means that enemies such as the Skeletons were redesigned in China in various ways.
As shown, the Skeletons were changed to goblin-like enemies.
There was even a change made to the Lich enemy, who had the face on its chest removed.
Censored Gaming has covered China's censorship of skeletons in the past and, as mentioned
in our feature video, skeletons are actually not straight up banned in China and you can
find skeletons in some Chinese games But, due to inconsistent decisions and confusion
over the rules, they will often get removed regardless.
However, did you know that these issues in China actually ended up affecting all regions
around the world in some ways too?
The game's director posted on the official forums back in October 2015, explaining how
an element of the game had to be toned down, due to "age rating criteria" in some countries.
To quote: "By the way, in Versus 13 Lucis was set as
a country of Reaper worship.
This setting is a violation of the age rating criteria for games in some countries, so we
cannot push these themes.
To replace these themes, we have a backbone setting of “black as a special colour.”
And I hope you will wait for more information to come on this."
Here, the director explains that Noctis's hometown Lucis originally worshiped grim reaper-like
deities.
However, due to restrictions, this was changed worldwide to the city having black as a special
colour.
The heavy use of black can be seen with things such as the clothes that many of the characters
wear.
Unlike the designs for Shiva and some of the monsters, it was most likely felt as too much
work to have to alter this theme for just one country and so all regions around the
world ended up being affected.
There's also been another change made worldwide, with this revolving around the outfit that
Prompto wears.
In the Final Fantasy XV Episode Duscae demo and other material seen before the final release,
a badge on his vest read: "It's a beautiful day now watch some bastard fuck it up".
This ended up being changed for the final release though, most likely over concern of
it affecting age ratings.
In the final version the badge now reads: "It's a beautiful day now watch some bastard
mess it up".
Interestingly, Square Enix collaborated with the real life clothing brand Roen and sold
real life versions of Prompto's outfit.
The real life version also uses the F word, despite it being change in-game.
Whilst that is it for the changes though, there are a few other points of interest in
the game that may have also been done to try and avoid age rating penalties or other restrictions.
For instance, the game's bestiary allows you to rotate the camera horizontally and vertically
on the monster's 3D models and zoom in.
Curiously though, there are a few exceptions to this.
You have free control over the camera for all but 3 of the models - these being Shiva,
Chadarnook and Melusine.
When viewing any of these models the camera will be locked in the same position and you
cannot change it.
All three are also at least partly feminine in nature, making the reason for the restriction
clear.
That's not all though, a similar lock was implemented to the Dossiers, which allows
you to view 3D models of the characters rather than the monsters.
Here you can freely rotate and zoom in on all male characters and non-humans, but for
all female characters, the camera is again locked in place.
Again, it's possible that this was done for age rating related reasons or other restrictions
but this is currently not known for sure.
What do you think of these changes made to the game?
Would you have been interested in the city of Lucis worshipping grim reaper-like deities?
And what do you think about the Chinese version?
Please let us know in the comments below and let us know what games you want us to take
a look at next!
And until next time, thank you for watching!