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This Week in Games - Back, By Popular Demand...

First off is the art; if the level of quality is anywhere near the Witch on the Holy Night remake, the VN will be a stunner.

I agree completely with this week's article. People are so obsessed with Japan being this mystical place that avoids western works, when needs are needs regardless. There is an argument in Star Wars that the newest creators are trying to copy George Lucas, when Lucas was inspired by Mobius and French comic books, samurai films, and golden age science fiction novels. I think more people need to realize how globalized Japan and the world itself is. Is there any culture that only consumes their own content? Honestly, Americans(I say as I myself am one) are famous for avoiding foreign ideas and cultures like the plague. But I hope that idea is changing, and people can realize how Jrpg should not be seen Any different from any other rpg.

2) The game I see generally pointed to as "the first RPG developed in Japan" is The Black Onyx, developed by Bullet-Proof Software. The lead designer on the game and founder of the company? Henk Rogers, a man who was neither born nor raised in Japan.

RockSplash wrote:

I agree completely with this week's article. People are so obsessed with Japan being this mystical place that avoids western works, when needs are needs regardless. There is an argument in Star Wars that the newest creators are trying to copy George Lucas, when Lucas was inspired by Mobius and French comic books, samurai films, and golden age science fiction novels. I think more people need to realize how globalized Japan and the world itself is. Is there any culture that only consumes their own content? Honestly, Americans(I say as I myself am one) are famous for avoiding foreign ideas and cultures like the plague. But I hope that idea is changing, and people can realize how Jrpg should not be seen Any different from any other rpg.

It sounded like the article was making the point that "Japanese weirdness" some people complain about might have been inspired by western works so complaining about Japanese works being weird might just be making fun of yourself in the end. I don't know anyone who actually gets upset if Japanese media references American movies like Star Wars or Terminator. I see more complaints when Japanese-isms pop up in western works or even Japanese works themselves like the people the article mentions when people get upset Final Fantasy or Soulslike becomes "too anime" which is obviously a dumb complaint

there's a ton of weird xenophilia towards Japan as an "isolated nation unspoilt by Western influence". And this is just pants (besides, when these people say "Western", what they mean is "Jewish").

We're plugging through some of the side-quests in Xenoblade 3 now that we're out of the more "urgent" parts of the story. Also, I didn't know this, but apparently, is Juniper supposed to be non-binary? I never even noticed, but that's nice. I wish there were more to go on with Juniper because their story seemed a bit rushed, but I appreciate the effort on Monolith's behalf. Also, can we talk about Juniper's resemblance to Girl_DM?? Because I've never seen anyone else point it out, and I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

I think it's important to remember that the folks making stuff in Japan aren't just huge weebs

sit down, "there was no Tsukihime anime isn't funny anymore

Can confirm that the presentation is near-identical. (Not having the text sequestered in a little box at the bottom of the screen should become the new standard if it hasn't already.)

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We're plugging through some of the side-quests in Xenoblade 3 now that we're out of the more "urgent" parts of the story. Also, I didn't know this, but apparently, is Juniper supposed to be non-binary? I never even noticed, but that's nice. I wish there were more to go on with Juniper because their story seemed a bit rushed, but I appreciate the effort on Monolith's behalf. Also, can we talk about Juniper's resemblance to Girl_DM?? Because I've never seen anyone else point it out, and I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

I'm not too familiar with the term non-binary and what all it includes but if you are asking if they're one of those characters where their gender is unknown then that is correct. They are like Najimi from Komi-san or Crona from Soul Eater in that it's never revealed to the audience and we are left to wonder. Even the game itself is coded to hide the gender funnily enough while everyone else is given either male or female tags.

Other characters also make sure to use they/them pronouns for Juniper. I hadn't noticed that the first time around until someone else pointed it out.

FinalVentCard wrote:

Other characters also make sure to use they/them pronouns for Juniper. I hadn't noticed that the first time around until someone else pointed it out.

Not to undermine the earlier point, but actually nobody ever knowingly uses pronouns for Juniper. Everyone in Colony Tau flips over pronouns rather gracefully the entire time, usually substituting an epithet for the Colony Tau commander wherever a pronoun might be used. The whole "they/them" misunderstanding is primarily from one screenshot taken out of context (likely to prove a point) where Juniper is name-dropped in the same box as a plural "they" referring to Colony Tau, and also after that very first combat encounter (where the ambiguous "they" isn't restricted to Juniper alone). Not trying to invalidate anyone's identity, just a gentle reminder that "no pronouns" is also a legitimate pronoun preference (that nobody respects, apparently).

Personally, I think Juniper is just too slippery for either the gender binary or the binary-nonbinary binary.

Juniper is enby. Even their voice actor is enby. Hell, the game's code reveals they're enby as there are gender values for each character. Men are 0, women are 1, Juniper is a 2. Which is very funny as that is non-binary computer coding. They made a pun! So yes, it's not up for debate, Juniper is enby.