Bravely Default was released last month in Europe and had a demo released yesterday in the US. Since then some fans have noticed something odd in the localized version of the game. Two costumes were altered in the western release to make them less revealing:
The original Japanese costumes are shown on the right with the localized western costumes are shown on the left. The western release replaced one costume’s thong with a skirt while altering her top to show less cleavage; the other costume is composed of several belts worn up the character’s chest and stomach, which in the localization these were thickened so as not to show any skin. With Bravely Default’s job system the character’s costumes are tied to their class rather than tied to any particular character.
Other changes were also made in the localization, with several characters having their ages altered (from 15, 16 and 17 to from 18, 19 and 20 respectively) and some instances of sexual innuendo being removed as well. So far though it appears that the changes are all superficial and don’t affected the story at all.
This isn’t the first time a 3DS game has been subject to changes in localization for reasons of modesty. It’s well known at this point how an image of the character Tharja from the Fire Emblem: Awakening Summer Scramble DLC was edited to make it less revealing.
The game will release in the United States on February 7th.
How do you feel about this? Do you feel that these changes were warranted, or were they just needless censorship? Let us know in the comments, but please, keep it civil.
[Source Polygon]
