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Anyone else worried about Ghost of tsushima being made by American development company?

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seroun

seroun

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Oct 25, 2018
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I was extremely worried when Capcom decided to put rural Spain in their Resident Evil saga, and I was when From Software decided to make a place similarly-looking to gothic Europe for their Souls games. /s

Also, the stuff OP said about Horizon, yikes. I think Sucker Punch and Sony have enough tools to make Ghosts of Tsushima respectul towards the japanese. It's not about a being a certain colour when doing something (I don't think Sucker Punch is only full of white, american people) but being informed of how to do that something respectfully.
 
nib95

nib95

Contains No Misinformation on Philly Cheesesteaks
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No. If people only made art or entertainment based purely on their own narrow culture, ideals or views, the world would be a very boring place.

Also, I love how you've only listed Sony games. Because Sony are the only one to do what you're speaking of lol.
 
Tyaren

Tyaren

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Oct 25, 2017
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No. The game is goig to be fine, there are countless games being made about countries/cultures and times that a majority of the developers working on the game don't come from themselves. And it's not just games, it's common in any media. If they are approaching it with good intent and common sense, there'll be no issues at all. I trust Sucker Punch to approach it exactly like that.
 
cvxfreak

cvxfreak

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Oct 25, 2017
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I don't think the historical or cultural authenticity of GoT as an American-made game will have a material impact on how enjoyable it is for most players.

I also wouldn't draw comparisons between GoT Japanese-made games that take place in the West. The West has been able to represent itself to the world on its own terms for centuries, a privilege that no other part of the world has enjoyed.
 

Deleted member 17184

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Loudninja said:
geekculture.co

Geek Interview: Exploring Ghost Of Tsushima With Game Director Nate Fox | Geek Culture

Sucker Punch's Ghost of Tsushima has been impressive, but talking with Game Director Nate Fox left us even more excited about samurai action.
geekculture.co geekculture.co
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Thanks for the info! I wasn't as worried as the OP, but this is something I didn't know about. Folks here don't need to be passive-aggressive to show they're not concerned. There are cases of bad cultural appropriations, but this doesn't seem like one of them.
 
Mecha

Mecha

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Oct 25, 2017
2,479
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I hate this topic. I think any studio should have the liberty to explore different cultures and themes in their games with respect. They could have mistakes and misinterpretation but a 'local' studio could have them too.
 
Dec

Dec

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Oct 26, 2017
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Cats_Schrodinger said:
Is there some huge problem with H:ZDs world? Maybe I'm uneducated but what seems to be the problem? I haven't noticed anything.
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Never said there was a problem, but they didn't use the term "brave" because a robot told them to "be brave" they used the term because of the culture they used as inspiration. If there is no problem, there is no need to make this narrative leap to explain it.

As a native american I don't have a problem, I only have a problem when someone tries to deny the connection at all.
 
Naga

Naga

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There's a discussion to be had about this for sure, but it seems that it'll be dismissed quickly no matter what.
There's historical accuracy, and there's a western take on it. Like The Last Samurai, it can be both. Or like Nioh (or more) is a japanese take on history.
It's historical fiction (like AC or others), which is perfectly fine depending on how it's marketed.

Some interesting threads about it:



iCham said:
Anyone else worried about Metal Gear Solid being made by Japanese development company?
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I don't think Kojima ever implied MGS was even close to historically accurate. You missed the point.
 
hey it's that dog

hey it's that dog

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Reizzz said:
For Horizon even with context it's borderline "Cherokee princess". Like saying "all we got left after the calamity are these old adverts of other races dressing up in regalia". Maybe my concern is the lack of indigenous games that could tell a similar yet more representative tale.
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You want indigenous people to create a game with a multimillion dollar budget video game telling the tale of humanity's battle against robot dinosaurs? Or you're saying you want a game about indigenous people that features a more homogenous group that is more specifically representative? Would there still be robot dinosaurs and AI destroying humanity?
 
Tiago Rodrigues

Tiago Rodrigues

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thefollower said:
This thread OP gives me these vibes all over:
e0hypbwr8e411.jpg
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This is Twitter in a print screen basically.
 
IvanSlavkov

IvanSlavkov

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Oct 27, 2017
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RestEerie said:
Dear OP...

please don't look up the credits of the Assassin's Creed games...especially those that's set in the west.......

Ubisoft Shanghai is like...doing many of the grunt work for many of Ubisoft's games.

Also, what about FROM Software then? They are a japanese studios....and the souls games are as 'western' fantasy as they come.

Kojima and MGS?

Any thoughs of Miyamoto and his creation, an italian plumber?

I am an ethnic chinese. Should i be worried that Netherealms, a western studio, created Mortal Kombat....a game rooted deep in Chinese mythology?

you gotta be better than that, OP.
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Fatality! :D
 
Diarrhea Day-Lewis

Diarrhea Day-Lewis

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Oct 27, 2017
20,761
No, because they've said they've had a lot of consultation work to make sure it nails the right tone/accuracy. Sure, errors can happen but I have faith in Sucker Punch.

I thought Life Is Strange 2 had a good, albeit over the top because it has to fit into a 10 hour game, portrayal of the experience of Mexican-Americans (as someone who has been married into a loving Mexican family for 15 years) in racist parts of the US. Sure, it could always be better but sometimes you have to play it and trust the dev to do their homework and consult those with first hand experience, if not have them on the team.

I don't know if Dontnod has Mexican Americans on their team, but from what I've seen as a third party to my loved ones lives it does convey some of the BS they have to put up with, which is good because it exposes people who don't know their issues to what other cultures are dealing with imo.
Reizzz said:
It feels weird to play Horizon:Zero Dawn with how blatantly it borrows from Indigenous people's history/current issues and even using terms as designations without understanding the real life context/implications.

The same with Detroit: Become Human.. I mean this has been discussed to death here but it's cringy and nauseating how it borrows black history in America even using black characters to confirm how "reliable" the android's experience is....
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I don't know about QD and GG, but there are stories of indigenous peoples and their plights, along with slavery, in all countries and cultures and while each have the same core oppression, I think it would be limiting to say a French studio can't use slavery as a game theme because not only does French history contain a lot about the slavery we Americans think of when we hear it, I'm sure they have their own histories with other forms of slavery and indentured servitude or modern day forms of slavery

as a person who doesn't belong to these cultures, you just have to get voices of the people most affected by these things and make sure they are represented as accurately as possible as a third party, because if you can make loads of unassuming Non-minorities better understand the issues facing "the other" than you've hopefully made the world a better place idk
 
RestEerie

RestEerie

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Van Bur3n said:
But of course. White people doing anything is, quite frankly, very strange.
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LMAO...i am ethnic chinese. I hereby give any western studios and devs to create a game based on chinese mythologies and history. It's not like any chinese devs are doing anything worthy on it anyhow.

Seriously, never google for chinese games made by chinese devs based on chinese myths & history. Us Chinese can't even develop a proper three kingdoms games to save our lives and we have to rely on the japanese (Koei) to do it for us.
 
Uthred

Uthred

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Oct 25, 2017
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It's based on an over the top fictionalised version of Japan, its explicitly a love letter to the chanbara genre. It's like worrying that a Japanese company making a game based on bodice rippers wasnt properly representing regency era England i.e. deeply stupid (also some Japanese devs should make that game).
 
AldabraRail

AldabraRail

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Odinsmana said:
There was a thread a while ago where a shocking amount of people thought it was problematic for a chef to specalise in food from a different country than their own, so this is not just a gaming thing.
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yeah, it's problematic because western chefs adopting the food of another culture and making a ton of money off of it with none of the blowback that comes with being a foreigner cooking foreign food sucks. I think very few people would say that western chefs (or game makers) should lay off of subject matter outside of their personal experiences entirely, but for them to use these influences without thinking about what it means in a larger cultural context can and often does reinforce toxic power structures
 
Yog-Sothoth

Yog-Sothoth

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Oct 1, 2018
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I'd be more worried if it was done by a Japanese developer because inevitably sooner or later fantasy elements would be added.
 
Uthred

Uthred

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tzare said:
No. Are we concerned when japanese developers use western topics for their games?
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Deeply. I am still waging my lonely crusade to bring the developers of Nioh to justice for presenting the main character as an Irishman named William Adams with a spirit called Saoirse. I believe it's violated my ethnic identity.
 
Naga

Naga

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tzare said:
No. Are we concerned when japanese developers use western topics for their games?
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Some are, weirdly enough.

Only reason to be "worried" is when a dev is saying their game is historically accurate and just puts in weird bullshit that either doesn't make sense or is just rewriting history (like Call of Duty likes to do).
I don't see the issue with historical fiction when it's presented as such (like AC or nearly every game out there).
 
Crossing Eden

Crossing Eden

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Oct 26, 2017
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I just sincerely hope that people don't think the game is in anyway historically accurate or an accurate portrayal of the era given the amount of revisionism they have in their premise and weaponry.

bonesawisready5 said:
I don't know about QD and GG, but there are stories of indigenous peoples and their plights, along with slavery, in all countries and cultures and while each have the same core oppression, I think it would be limiting to say a French studio can't use slavery as a game theme because not only does French history contain a lot about the slavery we Americans think of when we hear it, I'm sure they have their own histories with other forms of slavery and indentured servitude or modern day forms of slavery
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It is wrong to say that French studios should never tackle racism. However, it is not wrong to say that David Cage needs to stay the fuck away from racism as a topic in his stories.
 
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