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Ni no Kuni 2 announced for the PS4 - "PS4 Console Debut", Level-5 Pub/NB for West
- Thread starter Acquiescence
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I don't remember, what happened last time?
SolidSnakex
Member
He seems pretty hung up on the Evan's gender not being immediately noticeable. But that isn't really uncommon for kids.
I want to say pre-orders over-allocated cancelled and \ not fulfilled then what seemed like truckload of them appearing on auction sites with heavily marked up prices.
zeopower6
Member
What I remember is that there was a HUGE scandal about The Last Guardian's protagonist and why it couldn't be a girl. x_x; I guess the fact that Ueda wanted a girl originally got overshadowed in the long run.
http://gamerant.com/the-last-guardian-hero-changed-from-female-to-male-tao-49228/
Yeah, I'm wondering if he's never seen old portraits of young princes because they look just as ambiguous as Evan with very similar hairstyles. I'm assuming that's what Evan's character design is based off of.
His argument is that Evan's gender may have been changed to a boy for sales reasons. If this were true, they would have changed the design as well to be more masculine. So I don't believe it for a second.
As has already been pointed out numerous times in this thread, there are many examples of historical royal children who have hair and dress similar to Evan's. So it's not without some precedent and it's not just some weird anime or japanese thing, as I can see a lot of commentators imagining.
And at what point are articles like this on the verge of being insensitive to gender issues when we live in an era where LGBTQ+ children, and in particular trans children or those with non gender conforming appearances, are finally starting to gain some widespread acknowledgement in our society and who are in need of understanding and support?
I feel like the author so confident that Evan should have been a girl is very dismissive of these issues.
Exentryk
Member
Yup. Like I said earlier... it will be magical.
KimonoNoNo
Member
I don't see anything wrong or inconsistent with Evan being for want of a better word a bit "Girly". It's refreshing it's not rescue the princess for a change and it's pretty obvious that Roland is being set up as a role model to help guide Evan to be a great king by the end of the game.
I immediately thought of Little Lord Fauntleroy when I saw the trailer. I dont understand the 'girl' comments considering its anime + young prince.
The Japanese title is even 'Little Prince'. I'm positive they used the movie for inspiration.
ULTROS!
People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Maybe he expected Evan to be a bald space marine.
airmangataosenai
Member
The same thing actually crossed my mind when I watched the trailer and realized it was a boy. At the same time I also recognize that their reasoning might not be as stark as they assume: Evan is presented as a weak lead in need of protection. The way we would interpret such a female character in the West under the current climate would probably draw just as much if not more negative attention. Either way, I feel Ni no Kuni is far from lacking positive female representation even if those characters aren't technically the main lead in either game.
Breakfast at Noon
Member
Any news on the first coming too ps4?
SolidSnakex
Member
I'd also argue that if they were concerned about gender then they'd also be concerned about their being a child in the lead. In the west in particular there's much more of a hang up on that than in Japan. I really can't think of a recent AAA game from the west where you don't play as an adult. Whether they be male or female. I think Japan is much more open to not only that but female leads as well.
I get where he's coming from in the sense that it would suck if Evan was intended to be a girl but was changed to a boy for sales purposes. We've had situations like that before. Swery stated that the lead character in Dead Premonition was intended to be a woman, but he was given overseas input about how it would be a better idea to make the lead a man. And the original concept for True Crime: Hong Kong (which eventually turned into Sleeping Dogs) had a female lead, but Activision apparently straight up told the developer that they weren't publishing a game with a female lead. But in both of those cases the gender of the main character is unmistakable. As you said, if they changed his gender then i'd think that they'd do something to make it much more obvious that he's a boy. The type of person that would get upset over playing as a female character would probably have an issue with playing with a character whose gender on appearance is ambiguous.
Acquiescence
Member
Stop posting pictures of creepy ass kids, you're ruining the thread.
Newtype-001
Member
Hope the overworld theme will be as GOAT as the first one
Nope, the best you can hope for rn is for it to be put on PS Now.
Nope, the best you can hope for rn is for it to be put on PS Now.
Breakfast at Noon
Member
Lol.
But really, there were a few people here saying they weren't getting the game due to the kids design, and here on out NnK2 threads will be filled with annoying Quiet=Chico type debates when its pretty clear what Level 5's intentions were. The whole conversation is annoying as hell.
Napalm_Frank
Member
I for one want to talk about the burning issue of racism towards rodents in these games. How come they are always the bad guys?
nelsonroyale
Member
NX version is reasonably likely. A PC version is a very slight possibility. I don't think an Xbone version is likely, but given how the game did better in the West anything is possible.
TheChillyAcademic
Member
Yeah music is god tier!!
Roland's VA though...hmmm
Roland's VA though...hmmm
That would be my only complaint. The AI was consistently getting slaughtered while my controlled character was doing just fine. I actually enjoyed collecting the creatures.
Ultra Magnus
Member
If it comes to the pc.......Day One
In regards to the collectors edition debacle when NNK 1 dropped, I recall there being a lot of issues with Namco Bandi's store, or the E-commerce ordering system from what they were calling it, having a glitch the accepted too many orders over their actual stock and some other stuff. I luckily received my copy of the Wizards Edition and got a free copy of the magic book months later when I triple dipped to buy the greatest hits version since I wanted to own each copy available. I preorder get it day one and intend to do the same for this titles collectors edition whatever it may be. This is assuming they have one for NNK 2. I'm guessing they will but would more than likely take a few extra precautions to not have an ordering issue repeat.
Moebius vibes.
Dead Prince
Banned
I bet battle system will be akin to final fantasy XV. actually Birth by sleep.
my body says xv though.
my body says xv though.
Eolz
Member
Dead Prince
Banned
no. it's for this thread.
Napalm_Frank
Member
I can't even imagine how this game would end up having a BBS like battle system.
wanderjahr
Banned
Good lord. It has got to be exhausting to be incensed at everything. Can we just see the game out in the wild before it's written off as disenfranchising?
YankeeDonB
Member
Puss in boats was with me to the end. Swarthy little cat bastard.
It's a shame Level 5 storytelling is pretty bad, I'll be nowhere as good as The Twelve Kingdoms.
I agree actually. Evan looks so much like a girl i actually thought he was. And i really liked the thought since you don't usually get many little girl protags you can directly control as the main hero.
I don't mind the same world map as long as there are many new dungeons/towns on it. revisiting the same towns will be disappointing.
YankeeDonB
Member
Hadn't thought of that. A big part of the joy of the first for me was exploring the map, so hope they mix it up somehow.
Napalm_Frank
Member
I think the world map will be the same shape but it will be radically different as seen with DDD being much bigger. Some random forest in the first one could be an important location ect, the volcano could be dead and a whole different kind of dungeon, maybe even city now.
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