Upskirt Danger Caused Sex Change in Ico's The Last Guardian

[Jumplion]

Pretty stupid argument. The designer thought to change the character because he thought that if the player had to climb half the game the main char should fit that part of the gameplay - a young boy, still a child vs. a young woman, more grown-up than child. Which one is more likely to climb things all the time? The skirt thing was probably just a joke. It's both a legit and imho good decision.
Still:

Fumito Ueda is pretty much the only real damn developer that's thinking about every aspect of his game as he sees fit, like an author or an artist.

That is just wrong.

Yes, thank you enlightening me with your vast knowledge and explaining to me just exactly how wrong that statement was. I had never thought of it that way, as "just wrong", so I am ever so thankful for your enlightening statement.
[/clear_sarcasm]

Fumito Ueda is pretty much one of the only developers out there with some artistic balls. So people are angry that a slightly older girl was initially an antithesis to the creature's strength, so he changed it to a male child, presumably weaker in some aspects, as the new antithesis and people are crying "sexist!" about it?

You should be happy that he's even considering the concept of an antithesis at all! Contrast is important, people! [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1924-Shadow-of-the-Colossus]

 

[El Poncho]

Putting her in trousers is a good idea.

(when everyone was saying pants I forgot about how Americans say it so it seemed worse for a few seconds!)

 

[TheAmazingHobo]

Thank you. You are awesome.

No, YOU sir, are awesome. I should just my previous posts and just say "*Refer to Jumplion*".

Tell me when you start making out,
I have a camera and paying customers.


Aside from that: Why are people so eager to assume the WORST POSSIBLE reason for his decision ?
Dude made some awesome games, cut him some slack.
It´s not like he is some kind of commited sexist or social deviant or, even worse, Japanese or something like that.

 

[Jumplion]

Thank you. You are awesome.

No, YOU sir, are awesome. I should just erase my previous posts and just say "*Refer to Jumplion*".

I will vehemently defend this game and Team ICO, but I am always open for debate and arguments about stuff. The thing is, people think of Team ICO games like any other, but you can really analyze them very well, and analyzing them just enriches the experience of the games (for me, anyway).

You can't think of every painting in the same regard, or every movie the same way, or read every novel the same way. You shouldn't do that with the "artsy" games either, especially Team ICO games. While Fumito may be flattered by the "art" label [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.234692-Shadow-of-the-Colossus-Director-Flattered-by-Art-Label] but doesn't know why they regard it as such, that doesn't change SotC or any other Team ICO game's artistic integrity. I know I'm sounding like a huge "artsy" snob right now, but regardless, I love Team ICO and will defend them as much as I see fit.

 

[magicmonkeybars]

Games need more female protagonists! I demand a lady in pants!
...Wow, I really just wrote that...

It might be better to demand boys in skirts

 

[Scarecrow]

I read the headline and initially thought "wow that's pretty progressive for a Japanese developer. Usually they are all for the upskirt fan service". Then, as the article points out, I realized he could've just put her in pants...

And any shred of respect I had was dashed when I read the bit about choosing a female character as the natural antithesis to a strong creature.

So if this guy prefers to have a guy than a girl wearing pants, then so be it. He's pretty awesome for it. How many Japanese developers stop and say "...I don't want my female to have upskirt issues. At all."? I wonder if there's any other developer this awesome. [/fanboyism]

So he&s awesome because he views women as simply being weak rather than sexually objectifying them?

Women in Japan don't generally wear pants, and little girls especially don't. It's not a matter of chauvinism or anything, it's simply the way their culture is. It wouldn't even think to most Japanese people to question is, in their minds it's no different from men not wearing skirts.

See, this is a culture that understands something that the US frequently seems to miss: it's okay for genders to be DIFFERENT, and that doesn't automatically make them unequal in some way.

P.S. Thanks

thank you for the insight.

As someone that lives in Japan, I'd like to let everyone know this is not true. Plenty of women here wear pants. Japan may have different expectations of each gender than the West, but this is not one of them

How different are the expectations? I have heard a lot about Japans cultrue, but I don't whats true and whats made up.

 

[ProjectTrinity]

Thank you. You are awesome.

No, YOU sir, are awesome. I should just my previous posts and just say "*Refer to Jumplion*".

Tell me when you start making out,
I have a camera and paying customers.


Aside from that: Why are people so eager to assume the WORST POSSIBLE reason for his decision ?
Dude made some awesome games, cut him some slack.
It´s not like he is some kind of commited sexist or social deviant or, even worse, Japanese or something like that.

Sure I'll tell you when, but, who's paying to watch that? ' -'

EDIT: You know, I'm not sure what the reasons people are so eager not to think a little more about this...

Oh wait...I answered my own question.

 

[antipunt]

A girl wearing something other than a skirt not cool with the Japanese?

 

[ProjectTrinity]

Thank you. You are awesome.

No, YOU sir, are awesome. I should just erase my previous posts and just say "*Refer to Jumplion*".

I will vehemently defend this game and Team ICO, but I am always open for debate and arguments about stuff. The thing is, people think of Team ICO games like any other, but you can really analyze them very well, and analyzing them just enriches the experience of the games (for me, anyway).

You can't think of every painting in the same regard, or every movie the same way, or read every novel the same way. You shouldn't do that with the "artsy" games either, especially Team ICO games. While Fumito may be flattered by the "art" label [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.234692-Shadow-of-the-Colossus-Director-Flattered-by-Art-Label] but doesn't know why they regard it as such, that doesn't change SotC or any other Team ICO game's artistic integrity. I know I'm sounding like a huge "artsy" snob right now, but regardless, I love Team ICO and will defend them as much as I see fit.

Ironically, just before you came in, I went into an artsy rant twice here with alternative versions of what you wrote. lol I'm a big fan of Shadows of the Colossus (I like ICO, for having the guts to do what it did), and it's complete suckage for my favorite developer in gaming today get the sexist card played so casually/emotionally.

Surprised I was when you brought up the 'put on pants' argument. I'm surprised mods didn't try to desperately try to cross reference our IP addresses.

 

[TheAmazingHobo]

Sure I'll tell you when, but, who's paying to watch that? ' -'

I´m in Germany atm,
let´s just assume I´ll find someone.

 

[ProjectTrinity]

Sure I'll tell you when, but, who's paying to watch that? ' -'

I´m in Germany atm,
let´s just assume I´ll find someone.

Haha. Point taken! Make sure the camera is in HD.

 

[Cameron Sours]

Hehe you are all saying pants. Pants is British for panties.

So, yes, by all means put her in pants, and pants alone.

 

[Jumplion]

See, this is a culture that understands something that the US frequently seems to miss: it's okay for genders to be DIFFERENT, and that doesn't automatically make them unequal in some way.

And the effect of genders being different here is that the girl doesn't get to exist.

thats because its a character driven story not some rpg where they make it generic so any made up person can do it, the storyline was built around a character archetype (weak child) originally female, figured they didnt want pervs oggling a female and chose a boy due to the aesthetics of the world they had generated. This is a pre-industrial society and pretty much world over they had skirts more common then trousers (on females). And regardless of that, even today its more common to see a girl with a skirt then a girl in trousers or pants (As you americans call the ) apart from very specific situations. Yes girls wear trousers, but thats not the issue, or at least not a factor in why it was changed.

Good man, my army is steadily growing and growing...

[sup]AHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Team ICO rules[/sup]

 

[inkblood]

Im all for the whole pants thing, but Fumito strives for realistic fantasy yknow mythological creature move relisticly and act like actual animals. This ties to a female protaganist as this takes place in a older time. An ancient civilization. So to get that realism and since most ancient civs women wore skirts.

 

[Raziel_Likes_Souls]

Well, to summarise the thread:

Just put some damn pants on, oh, nevermind, that's a Japanese cultural taboo, uh, what's wrong with upskirt shots, this game is Japanese made, and why so gender swap.

That's pretty much everything I was going to say, already said by the entire forum.

 

[Julianking93]

Awww. That would have been cool to see a female character in this.

Just...put some fucking pants on her or something, for god's sake!