@@agent7142 That's also sort of implied. The Sega Saturn American library is small compared to everything Japan got. I don't know the real statistic, but I don't think even half of its games got an NTSC release.
Sega Saturn + Japan-exclusive... yeah, you likely wouldn't have heard about it. I believe around 700-800 Saturn games are JP-exclusive, so that's around 75% of the entire library.
Had to be the Saturn! The PS1 wouldn't be able to handle those huge sprites, and the game would've looked blurry on the N64! Though, KBash was playing the PSP port in this video, and I am so glad the beautiful pixel art wasn't messed up with a smoothing filter or improper aspect ratio in that
“Princess Crown is the greatest game on the Sega Saturn, and while that may be a lie, I felt joy saying it making it true and beautiful anyway.” A+ line, perfect review
I appreciate that thing you said about Sexuality and Reactionary Views near the end there- that they aren't just the purview of right wing thinkers, and can pervade anybody's thoughts if they're not careful. I remember being on the Escapist forum back when the Dragon's Crown controversy happened, and one of my biggest memories was that in the middle of a flamewar thread, a younger guy just asked honestly, "If I like big breasts, is that bad? Am I a bad person?" and the silence was deafening; the people tearing the game apart had no answer for him, and the people blindly reacting to their criticism just wanted to indoctrinate him into their hate. We absolutely owe young girls to be unchained from the cosmetics and clothing industry, from all these invisible pressures that make them miserable and depressed... but we also owe it to young boys not to go so far in the other direction that we make their own sexuality out to be a barely-tolerated crime- there's nuance to be had! We are _so_ messed up about sex and it's a huge struggle right now. All that said! Thanks for another great review, I really loved seeing so many games I'd never seen before; you're right, the aesthetics are immaculate. What amazing works of art.
Your mentioning of fantasy artists brings to mind of my mom's old fantasy book covers, and one of her favorite pair of artits, Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell. They're a married pair that have made absolutely mesmerizing pieces over the years. They have an annual calendar that my brother and I buy for her every year for her collection, and she has been collecting them for long before we were born. So, I grew up seeing that art, and was always fascinated by how ethereal and gorgeous the figures in the images were. I've always had issues with body image, and still do in rough times, but I've always looked to inspired pieces like their work, and in the stuff you're covering with Vanillaware, and it helps me to get more comfortable with how my body is. Am I as bodacious as some of the women in these art styles? Totally not! But I can still see the beauty in those pieces, and in myself knowing that I'm just as beautiful in my own way. So, thank you for highlighting that with your talk throughout the video, and I'll be looking forward to the second part like I do with each new release!
I know this is a weird question but did Conan came from Boris Vallejo or were they inspired by it or is that just a concidence? Because it reminds me of art like Conan and Red Sonja. PS I do like Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell's art it's very cool and the details on these paintings like the backdrops and characters are incredible.
@@meowmeowmcpurrington2480 Conan the Barbarian is from 1932, so a lot older than Vallejo. The style is one that was popular with illustrators of pulp stories like Tarzan, Conan or Doc Savage after world war II, with Frank Frazetta probably being the biggest name in the sort of scantily-clad fantasy art world of the time.
The fact that Princess Crown doesn’t have an english patch to this day is a travesty. We’ve managed to make one for Sakura Wars but not for this?! Come on…
Of of the reasons is that someone said they were working on one, and in the romhacking community, you don't "one up" someone when they've claimed a project. The problem is that the guy who said he was working on it strung people along for SIX YEARS and then disappeared, killing any potential interest in the game.
Considering how many censors 13 Sentinels have to go through, I doubt the community wants an "official" translation + AI translators are a thing nowadays
@@Null_Experisyup,that an rule most people on translation community follow,only when the person that claimed the project allowed, or give the project to other that the stuff was allowed
"This is the first part of a 2-part series covering Vanillaware" YOOOOOOOOOOO instant-subscribe. I'm looking forward to the video and am so happy this showed up on my feed. I adore Vanillaware's titles and exactly as you put it is the perfect way to describe them -- decadent. I'm also going to need to figure out how to get Princess Crown going, because that game looks fantastic.
The memes about Vanillaware really do overshadow all the brilliance that they bring to the table. Looking forward to their new game AND the second part of this ;) (Also, when you paused to literally cook, I then had to pause the video and make my own pasta. Bro wasn't lying about eating being one of the 3 needs.)
I think Wackenroder on the Saturn was the first time i really took the time to use an online translation guide. I always thought it would ruin the experience, but it was fun as hell. That shit really opened my eyes.
Yup,people wondering how lot of older gamer was able to play untranslated Japanese game,i already said there was dozen of english walkthrough/translation guide even in early 2000s around
This might get overlooked or laughed at, but I gotta get this off my chest. For the past decade or so, I had steadily dropped out of gaming, partly due to depression and developing a cynical eye towards the gaming industry. I won’t go into what my issue was or still is, but the result of it was me forgetting what inspired me to take such an interest in games in the first place. When I was growing up, I had always stumbled upon older games that I could never get my hands on, but wound up fascinated by their style and gameplay. Games much like Princess Crown. KBash, for the last few videos, you’ve reminded me of some of the games that inspired me to want to be a game designer, and put into words what I loved about them and what caused me to care so much and want to learn from them, even if I could never play them. It’s a simple, perhaps a little silly and cheesy feeling, but I thought you deserved my thanks for reminding me what it was like to be happy in this medium.
I will forever respect George Kamitani for actually pushing back against Jason Schreier and ridiculing him thus giving us the dwarf muscle meme. also, KBash. hope you make a video on Fantasy Earth Zero
If you're still on a Vanillaware binge, it'd be great to see you cover 'GrimGrimMoire OnceMore' and '13 Sentiels: Ageis Rim' too, 'Unicorn Overlord' when it comes out, and maybe even 'Grand Knight's History' if you can find an english translation ROM. All of them are a more tactical take on gameplay, but with the classic vanillaware art we all know and love. edit: Just got to the end of the video. Glad to hear you're planning to cover these games from the sounds of it.
I remember trying the Japanese demo of Aegis Rim for a bit and remember the combat looking and feeling absolutely awful. Of course, I didn't read any text nor watched much of the cutscenes. Is it actually good past first impressions? Muramasa is one of my favorite Wii games, not to mention one of my favorite 2D action platformers of all times, so I had higher hopes, even if the game mechanics are different.
@@Hambs23The combat is basically the same all the game, so if you didn't liked it, you will still not like it. For me, it was "ok". Not bad but not engaging enough.
As a lifelong vanillaware fan, this video honestly gave me so much encouragement just in my own art. Knowing Kamitani's journey started with him pouring all his passion into something the world wasn't ready for honestly gives me the energy to keep on keeping on - thanks so much for this man - these videos are more important than you know!
Im glad people made this video though,since whenever i talked with other about Princess Crown,they seem to not know Kamitani works before his Vanillaware fame though,i loved PC games despite how short it was and it still in Japanese back then
Only Kbash can make me hype and emotional about a game i’ve never played. Princess Crown looks incredible, it’s the type of game i surely would eat it up so much as a kid. Guess i’ll ressurrect my psp and check it out later.
Was introduced to Vanillaware with 13 Sentinels, which quickly became one of my favorite games ever. Playing through Odin Sphere Leifthrasir right now. Super stoked for Unicorn Overlord!
Odin Sphere was my introduction to VanillaWare, and one of my favorite games of all time. 13 Sentinels was my personal game of the year. Glad to hear someone else experiencing and enjoying these masterpieces!
One of your best videos yet. Having only played Muramasa and 13 Sentinels, the history of vanillaware really fun to learn about. Can't wait for part 2.
You deserve so many more subs Your ability to analyze games with a subtle eloquence and legitimate humor is top tier. Legit the best in the medium. Your probably everyone's favorite video game RUclipsr, favorite video game RUclipsr. At least you are in my heart.
It took nearly 10 years but it looks like someone hit the nail on the head on the "Dragon's Crown controversy." This is amazing video, it feels almost validating to have my every thought of Odin Sphere and Dragon's Crown put into a video of such high quality, and it's something I have to thank you for, your videos have been an inspiration, even your older ones you may hate but even so the way you approach art is commendable and I wish more people aimed their looks your way.
Unless I missed it, you didn't mention Muramasa's Shigurui difficulty. I don't remember whether or not it was called like this in game, but I recall calling it "Impossible difficulty". Your total hp becomes 1 for the entire game, but you gain your other stats normaly. It is indeed a lot more difficult than the other two modes, but if you block you don't take any damage, basically turning your Swords' durabilities into your HP. Surprisingly it works well with the combat, since you are so much more agile than your foes and don't lose a much progress if you die. And in all 3 difficulties it's worth it to grind the centipede boss for a quick max level once you unlock it. Other than that, I don't judge that Oni, I would nom Momohime if I could.
The way you approached the topics, especially at the end of the Dragon's Crown segment shows an amount of care on display that's really inspiring. I don't think it's everyone who'd be willing to delve into issues like sexual dimorphism in such a delicate way. Really glad you did this. B)
Always love when Kbash does another deep dive on a series and lays some historical secrets bare. and screams on the top of his loungs....it tingles my brain when he does that
Hey man, great video, I love hearing your thoughts on interesting little games I've never heard of. I just wanna say, I know lots of youtubers say (and I believe them) that their more negative, loud and angry content gets more views, and I don't know if thats the case for you, but I feel like a lot of your more recent content is much more positive and calm, and is more often on games you really enjoy and have lots of great thoughts on. I really like that trend for this channel and I just want to make it known that such content is where I think your creation process shines. Keep up the good work!
real, i discovered kbash with his drakengard video (has the funny scream) and stayed for the more positive reviews (Steambot Chronicles, Nioh, NieR duology, this, etc...)
i love how despite me not knowing half of the old JRPGs and obscure franchises, there’s always thousands of comments with crystal clear, intact memories and comprehension of the studios work, or the franchises smallest details. insane how much love there is for everything no matter how small.
How has Princess Crown never gotten an English patch. This is a CRIME. Having finished the video now, I 100% agree with the idea that art should be allowed to art with as little restriction as possible. Some limits are necessary, to criticize is as much of a right as making the art itself, but to demand a work be censored or destroyed because it offends is truly profane.
Vanillaware is a company that I have nostalgia for from my youth even though I was always too embarrassed by Dragon's Crown to ask for it as a kid lol. Glad to see you covering their great games. Hope my comment helps the video's performance.
The game industry definitely needs studios like Vanillaware around. I first learned about them from playing the ps2 version of Odin's Sphere. I never got to play Muramasa because I didn't have the system for it. I grew to LOVE Vanillaware and along with my goal of playing every mainline Atelier game, I want to play every Vanillaware game I possibly can. The era you talked about with hand drawn sprites and backgrounds are my absolute favorite. I also dearly love pixel art so the absolute boom its seeing in indie games greatly pleases me. Also interesting look into art and literature and how it can inform a person's style in creating a video game. That's a unique analysis that I don't often get.
FINALLY! I've been dying for someone to make an in-depth retrospective on Vanillaware games. I've only played Muramasa, but it's hands down one of my favorite games of all time.
I've never really touched most of Vanilla Ware's library, but I DID supremely love 13 sentinels. Looking forward to you getting there, and I appreciate the look back to what I have missed!
This one really hammers home how your style of tackling a franchise or catalogue back to back really can enhance it to high heaven and back. Such informed opinions!
I’m one of the two people interested in trying Princess Crown out. I’m currently playing 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim as of watching this, which is my first Vanillaware game and I am enjoying it thoroughly! Eagerly awaiting your follow up video.
I really appreciate your take on Dragon's Crown's... Ahem, art. An actually mature take on sexuality in video games is refreshing. Also, getting upset over *those* sprites is, at least to me, kind of ridiculous? There are serious issues with female representation and a dude who was drawing porn at 14 is your problem? Can't we cut a man slack and focus on bigger, systemic issues in the medium?
i have never once understood the criticisms about kamitani's art, its goregous. i havent played all VW games but the ones i have played, odin sphere, muramasa, 13 sentinels, dragon's crown are all immaculate and deserve attention.
My introduction to Vanillaware was 13 sentinels. From jump it felt like the game was built different. The aesthetic was peak, the combat niche, the story split among 13 protagonists and some of the most unique story telling I've ever experienced. The game wasnt out to be a worldwide hit, it was made vision first, executed sublimely and sent out to exist on its own merits. The second I finished 13 sentinels I picked up Odin sphere. Similar energy. The games industry doesn't deserve Vanillaware and I hope they're here for many years to come
KBash I just realized I've been watching you for almost half a decade at this point, since I was trying to wheel back to find a department heaven video of yours and in that moment it dawned on me. Always loved the videos, even if I've been too poor to ever be a patron. Maybe after finally graduating and getting this degree, but it's been a very, very long 5 years. Been very glad that throughout this I've been able to watch your videos along the way.
Always love seeing GC get shouted out. That man is criminally undersubbed for the quality he puts out. Also, I really enjoy all the Vanillaware I've ever played, and desperately wish Unicorn Overlord was coming out on something I own.
This video popped up in my recommendations and I had to watch it since Vanillaware are one of my favourites devs. A week later I've binged almost all of your videos. Just wanted to say your stuff is great and I love the longer essay-style videos, you've really evolved over time into your own style and voice, some of the best bits are where the games have sentimental value or speak to you in a personal way - like in the WoW video and Steambot Chronicles. The only video I've not watched yet is Xenogears because I want to play it first, but I'll be back!
Hi Kbash, just wanted to say I loved hearing your insights into this series of games. Coming at it from a literary and art analysis standpoint was very interesting. Learning about the different art movements and how they can be interpreted with vanilla ware was a great insight
Okay I get it. I get the criticism that making an evil sexy-witch version of your child protagonist is kind of weird. But that *has to be* better than thousand-year-old-dragon-loli, right? At least it's two different points in a person's life that you're designing!
Vanillaware is the epitomy of S U M P T U O US. I remember the buzzfeed-esque reaction to Dragon's Crown's fan service, missing the point that everything is hypersaturated and detailed to an absurd degree
I'm sorry, but journos complaining about sexy women have never ever ever ever had a valid point, and no amount of comparison between real life celebrities and cartoon characters will ever change that. Women overwhelmingly want to play attractive characters, these characters are often designed by women. Putting aside the artistic integrity argument (and the fact that one of the bigger journalists prominently involved in this discourse has been recorded on stream having an insane mommy-told-me-i-can't-look-at-this-yet panic attack when confronted with sexy imagery in a game), the fact that the creator proved that his own work presented men similarly and then was attacked for homophobia proves that this was never about sexism, but about something fundamentally anti-human in this ideology
A couple of things: • The minor criticism of Muramasa here from the perspective of playing Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir first is a bit odd and ignores just how much of a MASSIVE improvement Leifthrasir was over the original. I think it's fair to argue that Leifthrasir is so good because Muramasa came out first and allowed Vanillaware to hone their ability to make a satisfying combat system. • On the media uproar over the way women have been depicted in Dragon's Crown, I'm not convinced that exaggerated character designs have that much of an effect on young people's self esteem. Certainly it has vastly less effect than the very real social media influencers who flaunt sex and wealth constantly. Personally, while some of the designs don't appeal to me, I find them gratuitous in a more "horny teenager" way that's far more comical than it is offensive, and to me at least, hasn't gone so far as to distract from the overall great artistry.
Vanillaware is peak comfort, I wish I could erase the memories of playing these games from my mind so I could play them again like it was the first time. And before I forget, Kamitani never did nothing wrong, gaming "journalists" are the biggest cancer that has ever appeared on the world of vidyas. Polical activists have used games as an excuse to push their rotten agenda.
I'm gonna be very honest I was fairly young when I initially saw dragon's crown, like 14 or 15 or so And back then, the only reason I wanted to try it out was because of the "funny booby ladies" and not much more... I didn't have a playstation 3 or 4 and so the game just slipped into the back of my mind... Around 1 or 2 years ago, I dabbled in ps3 emulation, and since I didn't have interest in the big bombastic 3D cinematic games (I mean look at my pfp, it's a 2D rayman, I love 2D art), this game popped into my head and I went on to play it... I quickly fell in love with vanillaware I played 13 sentinels, odinsphere and recently grimgrimoire and the craziest thing is, it all started because I saw a character with breasts... This is what's crazy, it's appreciation for something once you grow up You go from desiring something because it gives you short term satisfaction, like food, flashiness or sex, to desiring something that fills your mind with creativity, art, great stories and greater themes, wonderful style and gorgeous attention to detail. So even if those journalists might have thought that the sexualization was "ruining this generation", I think the fact that this game's sexualization led to me trying out a game that changed my whole perspective on art, I think that's better than whatever the fuck including more vapid representation and reduced risqué material could ever do So thank you Vanillaware, for hooking me with a dumb, juvenile desire, and leading me to an artistic world I never would have ever looked at. And thank you Kbash for taking another look at dragon's crown and giving the topic of sexualization a genuine look.
You handled the topic of sexuality in art much better than i would have. Whilst sexual censorship has always been present, i find it extremely annoying that more and more people feel the need to criticise and censor pieces of art purely on a reactionary basis. They try to make arguments on the moral and social impacts of such body portrayels, whilst completely ignoring the context in which the art exists - far removed from any kind of realistic bodily expectations/commentary. These people very much have an axe to grind and aim to shame and restrict artistic expression to what suits their own vision. And whilst i understand feeling uncomfortable with extremes, why do the same people not feel the need to comment on male representions, varying between godly physiques like Hercules, and shambling visages like Hunchback of Notradame? People can distinguish between reality and fiction from an early age, which is why these classic figures haven't posed issues for men's self image. If we censor all of these artistic portrayels and leave ourselves with only social media icons and celebrities for comparison, i believe body standards will only get worse. And lets be honest, if admiring big honkers was a crime, then 99% of humanity should be behind bars.
I think this video made it clearer to me, I think one of the reasons I love your videos is because you incorporate a deep love for and knowledge of art history and literary history into them. As someone with a similarly strong passion for art history, to see video games analyzed as legitimate pieces of romanticist art in their writing, presentation, and themes, is hugely interesting to me.
I remember seeing a review for Odin Sphere on Xplay, and they really focused on how repetitious going through the game 6 times was. That review really colored my opinion of it poorly and I feel like I get constantly reminded how much I missed out because of it. If only I could find Leifthrasir somewhere somewhat affordably 😅
Kamitani being so criticized for character design while at the same time being acknowledged as having the most creative and unique female character designs is just so typical of western gamers. Is it truly sexist to acknowledge the existence of attractive women or are we just being weird puritan taste-police looking for problems where they don't exist?
Man, vanilla. It's one of my favorite studios and I don't even know About the controversies...jornos are just creating drama get some engagement, jorno opinions don't not have value
George Kamitani is a HERO and when he releases his next beat em with adult themes i will make sure i buy it on every platform to make sure he makes "boobillions". The man is out here making Michaelango and Raphaelesque paintings and the game journalists say its SMUT?! HAVE these men no CULTURE? no imagination? no appreciation for the human body? He is an artist and all of his games are a piece of art. Games journalists don't deserve you George, please ignore these haters and know that there are people out here that will support you 100%. Some people don't like suggestive characters, but if I'm gonna play a game for hours of my life, why not have the eye candy?! These characters are stylish and as you mentioned in your video, provoke emotion and passion. I bought Unicorn Overlord, not because I love tactics rpgs, but because i want to give George as much money as possible to make the next "Booba Lisa", the next "Sistine Chest-pel", his next "The Three Graces". He is a visionary and I am here for it. Call me a coomer if you want, but we are funding the projects every red blooded man in his heart knows he enjoys. Don't be ashamed brothers! Life is only so long! Don't let these game journalists repress you as they have repressed themselves! Also great video, i was criticizing the game journalists at the time, however KBash, your opinion is more level headed (even though i will still say some of the art you may have mentioned may be gross is still in my opinion a beautiful work of art).
I don’t really think the issue is whether fanservice or smut is art. Its moreso the decades of bad female representation + mostly fanservice for guys, which isn’t really the artist fault. It’s the equivalent of for years, having male guys wearing skimpy speedos and having characters as flat as a board, or 2d note personalities meant to appeal to females. There’s nothing with it, eyecandy for eyecandy sake is valid. Its just if thats all you see, you get tired of it. (that’s not even mentioning realword issues which can make it even more sour.) aka ( eye candy good, just make it where everyone gets some candy) and throw in good character rep for both sides lol.
@@SolLang-hk2rs "Dream boy" media directed at pleasing female fantasies has always been prevalent in Japan. It's not imported because American women don't consume it. They're too busy shaming men for consuming media directed at pleasing their fantasies. Same way they don't support female sports, but whine that female athletes have to be paid the same as male superstars. Or how they blame men for their body image issues when they are the main consumers of the lifestyle and fashion media that pushes those flawed body image ideas on them.
The fact that it requires thousands of words in a philosophical essay format simply to justify the presence of sexy ladies in a videogame says a lot about the world nowadays. If anything, game journalists are not despised enough.
damn. played odin sphere on the ps2 emu like, years ago. and while it undoubtedly gave me a few new kinks, i think its also the thing that really made me thing about one story having multiple sides depending on who tells it. and also that its worth paying short hairy people to make you food because goddamn can italians coo-
Man just started a new playthrough of Valkyrie Profile (game i discovered because of your video) and now i want to try princess crown and odin sphere, not fair, you cant keep selling me on every niche game out there. Awesome work as always❤
"Think of the children! And their body image!" is no different from "Think of the children! DND is satanic!". Nobody makes these complaints when real male actors take "enhancers" and go through unsafe diets/workout regimens to reach extreme physiques in record time. It's solely an inherently fallacious excuse for the woke sex-haters to bash the rare forms of sexual expression they don't approve of. They loved it when Baldur's Gate 3 lets you do things with bears, and hated it when drawings show skin, unless they're the ones making these drawings. "How dare you draw your kid character like that! I'm going to go draw shipping art of that character with other kid or adult characters anyway, but still!"
In general I liked this video, but the problem I have with the way you talk about the sexualisation in Dragon's Crown bothers me. My personal contention with the horniness of Dragon's Crown isn't so much that it's there, but that it's very unequal. There's a lot of women just being draped over the screen in passively sexual positions and I haven't really seen anything of the sort involving men at all, though I admittedly haven't played the game myself. I just don't think that portraying women as passive sexual objects while not doing that with men is progressive at all; it's still quite sexist, just not sex negative. 🤷
This gets a 200% bonus for dropping IPAT's video on Princess Crown...good memories. edit: But i beyond disagree with the assessment that fictional characters asthetics/looks will drive someone to hate themselves...especially when your example compares a (clearly) fantasy female against "youtubers" who are living flesh and blood people...so, YES, those girls who viewed those real people who are good looking, are going to compare themselves...because it's a literal living example and it happens everyday The difference here, again, is what is REAL and what is FANTASY. The cover models on Maxim, Celebrities, Fitness experts, beauty fashionistas, etc are REAL people who have achieved REAL results to their looks. It is palpable and "obtainable"...but the question to those "without" is: "how?" And for those who cannot fathom the answer or have tried and failed and have let that failure consume them to the point of dispair...that's where 'this problem' starts to occur. There are other factors that weave into that problem as well...such as upbrining by parents/guardians, social circles and even society; to which those can conflict with each other and have thier own separate "values" between every person. But that's a long wall of text to explain i wont do, but the end of the day fact is: REAL things have more of an actual impact to people than FANTASY things...and in the case Fantasy begins to hold more weight in a persons life than Reality...there is something much deeper wrong going on in thier lives and mind; and help should be found ASAP to find the root of that.
Clicked into this video *so* d*mn fast! Vanillaware has been one of my faves since GrimGrimoire’s release. Had to hunt down a copy of the game - luckily their subsequent games weren’t so hard to come by! (Surprising, given Odin Sphere released like one month later) Looking forward to watching the rest of your deep dive!
The only thing I hate about Dragons Crown was the music. GOSH it was such a let down when literally every other Vanillaware had EARGASMIC level of soundtrack, and then there was the 'comparitively' crappy music of Dragons Crown.
Man, stylized art is about pushing the limits of everything, not just the "accepted." As a man, I would look at the fighter in Dragon's Crown and think, "Man, I wish my chest was 8 times wider than my head." It's like looking at Bugs Bunny and saying that it's a terrible depiction because children will think all bunnies should talk. That aside, this was a great video, and I enjoyed your coverage of this awesome hidden gem of a developer.
Regarding the body issues problem with the depiction of women in Dragon’s crown, I don’t understand why this is the big takeaway from the controversy. Dragon’s Crown has some of the biggest body varieties when it comes to the female form, and they are all depicted as beautiful and sexy. Does it have the big chested bimbo? Yes. She is allowed to exist. But it also has the Squat grinding athletic type, and even the “normal girl” aesthetic with the elf, who proves that boobs and butts aren’t the only physical features a girl can have. Everyone has toes! And hell, if you’re gonna talk about little girls comparing themselves to the beauty standards of Dragon’s Crown, they don’t even have to. Tiki’s arguably the ho- If anything the male body type is put through a magnifying lense, almost every male save for the wizard and the little shota thief are absolutely jacked to a nigh impossible degree, and even disregarding that, they excluding the villains, are absolutely symmetrically beautiful in the face department. I’ve talked about how the Fighter is like a Frankenstein of fantasies ensuring that any woman gets something out of him. He’s not your average male fighter at all, and you could say that all the male and female designs in Dragon’s Crown are far more diverse than the actual cookie cutter Barbies and Kens STILL found in American movies and games. How the hell is a guy supposed to compete with Ryan Gosling?
The ultimate difficulties in Muramasa and Odin Sphere fuckin' rule In Muramasa, you only have 1 HP, and breaking your sword deals like 6 damage so you have to get through fights without ever breaking your swords or missing a parry. Your swords' energy becomes your life bar, and you have to skirt every encounter on the edge of a razor. It's one of the only 1-hit-kill difficulties I've ever finished because of just how awesome it is and how tangibly it changes the way you play. Not worse, only more interesting.
VanillaWare games are gems. Thirteen Sentinels and Muramasa being my favorites, it's just that I fucking despise how little they get promoted or advertised by Atlus USA. Thirteen Sentinels in particular hardly got ANY promotion here.
Vanillaware's games have never been my favorites. I've enjoyed them all, but there's always just enough jank, just enough padding, that they don't make it into the highest echelons of gaming for me. ...And yet. Every last one of them is completely unforgettable. They are utterly unrestrained celebrations of art and beauty, turning every aspect of reality up to 11 and distilling that reality down to only its most breath-taking aspects. Not a single concession made to subtlety anywhere. I can understand why that turns some people away, particularly when that same lack of restraint is applied to sexuality, but *man* is the result freaking beautiful.
56:08 > "It's not better than Odin Sphere's multiple kinds of combat… but it could easily be one of the greatest IN odin sphere, if retroactively inserted" So I should say I'm still watching but this was the core reason I actually was kind of hoping that odin sphere's contributions to the legacy would have been broken up into two parts- the original ps2 version of the game was far closer to princess crown than the remake. There's explicitly a scroll you can get in the tutorial section talking about how it's ideal to try and peel off enemies and fight them one-on-one rather than barreling down waves (something that the original POW meter mechanics greatly exacerbated). You can even kind of see this with how fast you do in fact 'careen' through odin sphere's maps? it was never designed to move that fast, lmao. Additionally there was a cap on the UI aesthetics as well- texts were simplified to just white letters on black screen rather than the lavishly rendered attic archive & the skill system was completely overhauled for leifthrasir. I haven't tried the classic version on ps4 to see if it truly preserved that original experience, but so much of leifthrasir's updated mechanics are wholly thanks to muramasa's playing around rather than the original ps2 version or even princess crown proper. Dashes and dives were introduced in Mura & carried forward to leifthrasir, honing the original, somewhat repetitive combat into that same fluid feel- which is why I felt OS's segment could have served the narrative of this lineage better by being broken in half. Seeing as OS was made in response to criticisms towards PC, then Muramasa was made in response to criticisms towards specifically PS2 OS. I know you kind of acknowledged something adjacent to this when addressing that leifthrasir is considered the intended version of the game, but i feel that's only truly accurate because of how muramasa was able to expand on how vanillware approaches combat, combos, and the high speed of those therein (& also i think this factors into the mention for a desire for muramasa to be more polished when in actuality leifthrasir is the polished one). PS2 OS sits perfectly in the middle of that line rather than feeling like it jumped too far ahead before doubling back, and almost serves as like a benchmark for vanillaware's progress & approach to aesthetic & mechanic pleasure. All that said tho, I'm still watching and having a good time! I like your thoughts about aesthetics and decadence a lot where this studio is concerned since those aspects soak thru these games like espresso thru a tiramisu, haha
I'm of the same opinion that the game industry should not lose Vanillaware; just their artistic style alone is worth protecting. I've played most of their games since Odin's Sphere and have gotten so used to identifying their art style that I knew Unicorn Overlord was a Vanillaware game even before I looked up the details lol Looking forward to Unicorn Overlord myself; haven't touched a tactics game since Vandal Hearts on PS1, so I hope the rust hasn't caked on too thick =P
I managed to try Dragon’s Crown’s multiplayer experience in the Vita. I was pretty excited to play it multiplayer for the first time and that excitement lasted all five minutes-until my fellow players started tapping on my character’s chest (you can imagine which character I was playing as) and they would not stop. I felt so uncomfortable I legit just turned off my vita cuz it was a new console and I didn’t know how to close the game.
I love Vanillaware's, or George's style. It's all so beautiful, yet always exaggerated, which is what cartoons are drawn to do. It kills me to this day that the sorceress design broke the internet. Why don't all the manly muscles offend anyone? I didn't crawl into a corner and weep at my reflection in the mirror. I play these games to escape reality, not have my surrounding reality try to ruin them for me. Can't wait for part 2 to see more about this amazingly creative studio.
great ass video, but lemme just say this to be pedantic It's Dungeons & Dragons Shadows over Mystara. Chronicles of Mystara is the collection edition that holds the two games (Tower of Doom and Shadows over Mystara) together
I remember feeling really sad for the way Dragon's Crown was trashed and i felt for George Kamitani... Sure, some of his art can be unconfortable to some people, but i don't think that unconfortable art should disallow it from existing.
I really wish they ported ANYTHING to PC. I feel like the console exclusivity is a deathspiral for them where they don't reach enough audience due to the limited release, which in turn limit their capacity for output.
I've loved vanillaware games since I was a young kid. The way that the games moved and looked was something I had never seen before and they still inspire my artwork to this day. Thank you for showing love to these video games.
I would call the Muramasa difficulty settings Easy mode and Hard Mode, because auto blocking and not dying so easy made this game easy for me, but the hard mode actually makes you learn the game, when to block, when to dodge, and the enemies' moves and patterns. So it's the difference between a mode that's slightly easier than normal mode, and a mode that's harder than normal mode. That's why I say it's Easy and Hard mode.
I can't translate so I've got no right to complain but WHY GOD WHY are people doing fan patches of games like castlevania and vandal hearts that already have offical western releases on Playstation while Princess Crown gets no love 😩
I think the issue I have most with people's takes on Kamitanis women is my overall disagreement that characters being sexualized automatically makes them weaker characters. If the characters themselves are shown to have their own personalities and morecto them beyond having big tits, I find people's criticisms to be more overreactions. Kamitani clearly likes showing off the human body and does it with more than just women.
The controversy of Dragon's Crown in hindsight is kinda funny to me because I was a teenager at the time and was very anti-sexualisation, thought anything with fanservice is just hiding the fact it's bad and I agreed with the stuff about designed by horny teenagers (ironic coming from someone that age). These days I'm much less against it, at most I'd hold it against something when it feels out of place but if it carries it as part of its identity then that's just part of the whole, nowadays I think it's entitled to judge what art an artist makes. If you don't like the subject matter, move on, not everything is made for me or for any specific individual bashing it and the audience it has seems silly to me, it's not actually going to cause some grand societal change for the worse or anything anyway.
Hey man thanks for these videos, I've actuall been buying every one of these games I can. So far I have Odin'e sphere, Unicorn Overlord. Dragon's crown and Aegis Rim just went on sale for 3 and 14 bucks, so I got those too. These games are just a visual feast and I love them!! thank you!
Princess Crown looks beautiful. How have I never heard of th-
"Sega Saturn"
That explains it.
Also never translated ;_;
@@agent7142 That's also sort of implied. The Sega Saturn American library is small compared to everything Japan got. I don't know the real statistic, but I don't think even half of its games got an NTSC release.
Sega Saturn + Japan-exclusive... yeah, you likely wouldn't have heard about it. I believe around 700-800 Saturn games are JP-exclusive, so that's around 75% of the entire library.
Had to be the Saturn! The PS1 wouldn't be able to handle those huge sprites, and the game would've looked blurry on the N64!
Though, KBash was playing the PSP port in this video, and I am so glad the beautiful pixel art wasn't messed up with a smoothing filter or improper aspect ratio in that
exactly my reaction because i would hv immediately played a game this attractive lol
My favorite thing about this channel is that every six months or so I get to see my new favorite KBash video.
How does he never miss
@@reillocbmiss? Heh. The word isn't even in his lexicon.
Please buy vanillaware games
Unicorn Overlord has been a joy to play
Here's hoping they can invest in ports to modern consoles or Steam. :)
Fantastic video, hope it reaches much higher numbers.
Half a million people already are loving unicorn. It’s great to see them finally get the spotlight they deserve.
Maybe if they were on any platform I own
unicorn overlord is doing much better than most vanilla ware
“Princess Crown is the greatest game on the Sega Saturn, and while that may be a lie, I felt joy saying it making it true and beautiful anyway.”
A+ line, perfect review
I appreciate that thing you said about Sexuality and Reactionary Views near the end there- that they aren't just the purview of right wing thinkers, and can pervade anybody's thoughts if they're not careful. I remember being on the Escapist forum back when the Dragon's Crown controversy happened, and one of my biggest memories was that in the middle of a flamewar thread, a younger guy just asked honestly, "If I like big breasts, is that bad? Am I a bad person?" and the silence was deafening; the people tearing the game apart had no answer for him, and the people blindly reacting to their criticism just wanted to indoctrinate him into their hate. We absolutely owe young girls to be unchained from the cosmetics and clothing industry, from all these invisible pressures that make them miserable and depressed... but we also owe it to young boys not to go so far in the other direction that we make their own sexuality out to be a barely-tolerated crime- there's nuance to be had! We are _so_ messed up about sex and it's a huge struggle right now.
All that said! Thanks for another great review, I really loved seeing so many games I'd never seen before; you're right, the aesthetics are immaculate. What amazing works of art.
Very well said (/written)! That's what's really missing and causing a lot of division, especially these days - nuance/ critical thinking.
Well said :D
are you a feminist
Your mentioning of fantasy artists brings to mind of my mom's old fantasy book covers, and one of her favorite pair of artits, Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell. They're a married pair that have made absolutely mesmerizing pieces over the years. They have an annual calendar that my brother and I buy for her every year for her collection, and she has been collecting them for long before we were born. So, I grew up seeing that art, and was always fascinated by how ethereal and gorgeous the figures in the images were. I've always had issues with body image, and still do in rough times, but I've always looked to inspired pieces like their work, and in the stuff you're covering with Vanillaware, and it helps me to get more comfortable with how my body is. Am I as bodacious as some of the women in these art styles? Totally not! But I can still see the beauty in those pieces, and in myself knowing that I'm just as beautiful in my own way. So, thank you for highlighting that with your talk throughout the video, and I'll be looking forward to the second part like I do with each new release!
I know this is a weird question but did Conan came from Boris Vallejo or were they inspired by it or is that just a concidence? Because it reminds me of art like Conan and Red Sonja.
PS I do like Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell's art it's very cool and the details on these paintings like the backdrops and characters are incredible.
@meowmeowmcpurrington2480 It looks like it's just a similar style! And shoutout for knowing about those two! Their artwork is something amazing!
@@meowmeowmcpurrington2480 Conan the Barbarian is from 1932, so a lot older than Vallejo. The style is one that was popular with illustrators of pulp stories like Tarzan, Conan or Doc Savage after world war II, with Frank Frazetta probably being the biggest name in the sort of scantily-clad fantasy art world of the time.
The fact that Princess Crown doesn’t have an english patch to this day is a travesty. We’ve managed to make one for Sakura Wars but not for this?! Come on…
Of of the reasons is that someone said they were working on one, and in the romhacking community, you don't "one up" someone when they've claimed a project.
The problem is that the guy who said he was working on it strung people along for SIX YEARS and then disappeared, killing any potential interest in the game.
@@Null_Experis he could at least release the stuff he has ready for people to finish
Considering how many censors 13 Sentinels have to go through, I doubt the community wants an "official" translation + AI translators are a thing nowadays
@@Null_ExperisThen fuck niceties. We only have a limited amount of time on this planet.
@@Null_Experisyup,that an rule most people on translation community follow,only when the person that claimed the project allowed, or give the project to other that the stuff was allowed
"This is the first part of a 2-part series covering Vanillaware" YOOOOOOOOOOO instant-subscribe. I'm looking forward to the video and am so happy this showed up on my feed. I adore Vanillaware's titles and exactly as you put it is the perfect way to describe them -- decadent.
I'm also going to need to figure out how to get Princess Crown going, because that game looks fantastic.
The memes about Vanillaware really do overshadow all the brilliance that they bring to the table. Looking forward to their new game AND the second part of this ;)
(Also, when you paused to literally cook, I then had to pause the video and make my own pasta. Bro wasn't lying about eating being one of the 3 needs.)
I think Wackenroder on the Saturn was the first time i really took the time to use an online translation guide. I always thought it would ruin the experience, but it was fun as hell. That shit really opened my eyes.
We all know that's a lie. You only play RE and RE clones.
You don’t need a guide to play Japanese og re games if you been playing them for years.
Yup,people wondering how lot of older gamer was able to play untranslated Japanese game,i already said there was dozen of english walkthrough/translation guide even in early 2000s around
old games really can't betray you. so true. Thanks for this excellent massive video of a studio that's still somehow an absolute gem
This might get overlooked or laughed at, but I gotta get this off my chest.
For the past decade or so, I had steadily dropped out of gaming, partly due to depression and developing a cynical eye towards the gaming industry. I won’t go into what my issue was or still is, but the result of it was me forgetting what inspired me to take such an interest in games in the first place. When I was growing up, I had always stumbled upon older games that I could never get my hands on, but wound up fascinated by their style and gameplay. Games much like Princess Crown.
KBash, for the last few videos, you’ve reminded me of some of the games that inspired me to want to be a game designer, and put into words what I loved about them and what caused me to care so much and want to learn from them, even if I could never play them. It’s a simple, perhaps a little silly and cheesy feeling, but I thought you deserved my thanks for reminding me what it was like to be happy in this medium.
Wow! Cool video with a lot of fun and interesting information. I really liked it.
30:16 Metal Spoon on a non-stick pan though?
I will forever respect George Kamitani for actually pushing back against Jason Schreier and ridiculing him thus giving us the dwarf muscle meme.
also, KBash. hope you make a video on Fantasy Earth Zero
wow, the entire closing bit about dragon's crown was fantastic. good work! very refreshing perspective.
If you're still on a Vanillaware binge, it'd be great to see you cover 'GrimGrimMoire OnceMore' and '13 Sentiels: Ageis Rim' too, 'Unicorn Overlord' when it comes out, and maybe even 'Grand Knight's History' if you can find an english translation ROM. All of them are a more tactical take on gameplay, but with the classic vanillaware art we all know and love.
edit: Just got to the end of the video. Glad to hear you're planning to cover these games from the sounds of it.
Did he touch on the Muramasa DLC at all? I think he mentioned it, but it would have been nice to seem him dive a little deeper into those
Didn't he say at the beginning of the video that's what he was doing?
I remember trying the Japanese demo of Aegis Rim for a bit and remember the combat looking and feeling absolutely awful. Of course, I didn't read any text nor watched much of the cutscenes. Is it actually good past first impressions?
Muramasa is one of my favorite Wii games, not to mention one of my favorite 2D action platformers of all times, so I had higher hopes, even if the game mechanics are different.
I wish Vanilaware game were available on PC, so that more people could play them!
@@Hambs23The combat is basically the same all the game, so if you didn't liked it, you will still not like it. For me, it was "ok". Not bad but not engaging enough.
The Dragon's Crown controversy was really really really stupid.
As a lifelong vanillaware fan, this video honestly gave me so much encouragement just in my own art. Knowing Kamitani's journey started with him pouring all his passion into something the world wasn't ready for honestly gives me the energy to keep on keeping on - thanks so much for this man - these videos are more important than you know!
Im glad people made this video though,since whenever i talked with other about Princess Crown,they seem to not know Kamitani works before his Vanillaware fame though,i loved PC games despite how short it was and it still in Japanese back then
Only Kbash can make me hype and emotional about a game i’ve never played.
Princess Crown looks incredible, it’s the type of game i surely would eat it up so much as a kid. Guess i’ll ressurrect my psp and check it out later.
Was introduced to Vanillaware with 13 Sentinels, which quickly became one of my favorite games ever. Playing through Odin Sphere Leifthrasir right now. Super stoked for Unicorn Overlord!
Odin's sphere was my first from them, I've been a diehard ever since.
Vanillaware it's just great. I almost own all their games and I'm just missing 13 sentinels and impatiently waiting for unicorn overlord
Odin Sphere was my introduction to VanillaWare, and one of my favorite games of all time. 13 Sentinels was my personal game of the year. Glad to hear someone else experiencing and enjoying these masterpieces!
One of your best videos yet. Having only played Muramasa and 13 Sentinels, the history of vanillaware really fun to learn about. Can't wait for part 2.
The script for these videos is always so good. Perfect balance between being serious and throwing jokes around.
You deserve so many more subs
Your ability to analyze games with a subtle eloquence and legitimate humor is top tier. Legit the best in the medium. Your probably everyone's favorite video game RUclipsr, favorite video game RUclipsr. At least you are in my heart.
A RUclips VG essayist’s favorite RUclips VG essayist is Matthewmatosis. That’s common knowledge.
It took nearly 10 years but it looks like someone hit the nail on the head on the "Dragon's Crown controversy." This is amazing video, it feels almost validating to have my every thought of Odin Sphere and Dragon's Crown put into a video of such high quality, and it's something I have to thank you for, your videos have been an inspiration, even your older ones you may hate but even so the way you approach art is commendable and I wish more people aimed their looks your way.
Unless I missed it, you didn't mention Muramasa's Shigurui difficulty. I don't remember whether or not it was called like this in game, but I recall calling it "Impossible difficulty". Your total hp becomes 1 for the entire game, but you gain your other stats normaly.
It is indeed a lot more difficult than the other two modes, but if you block you don't take any damage, basically turning your Swords' durabilities into your HP. Surprisingly it works well with the combat, since you are so much more agile than your foes and don't lose a much progress if you die.
And in all 3 difficulties it's worth it to grind the centipede boss for a quick max level once you unlock it.
Other than that, I don't judge that Oni, I would nom Momohime if I could.
The way you approached the topics, especially at the end of the Dragon's Crown segment shows an amount of care on display that's really inspiring. I don't think it's everyone who'd be willing to delve into issues like sexual dimorphism in such a delicate way. Really glad you did this. B)
Q
I just noticed your channel wasn't linked in the description. Did he forget or did you not want it linked?
@@GigaMan91 Oh I didn't notice but nah i didn't ask to be excluded :0
edit : fixed !
This is one of your best videos to date. I have never played any of these games, but I guess I need to find a way to play them now.
Always love when Kbash does another deep dive on a series and lays some historical secrets bare.
and screams on the top of his loungs....it tingles my brain when he does that
The passion oozing from this video is palpable and truly a goated love letter to Vanillaware. I might cook some food today
Hey man, great video, I love hearing your thoughts on interesting little games I've never heard of. I just wanna say, I know lots of youtubers say (and I believe them) that their more negative, loud and angry content gets more views, and I don't know if thats the case for you, but I feel like a lot of your more recent content is much more positive and calm, and is more often on games you really enjoy and have lots of great thoughts on. I really like that trend for this channel and I just want to make it known that such content is where I think your creation process shines. Keep up the good work!
real, i discovered kbash with his drakengard video (has the funny scream) and stayed for the more positive reviews (Steambot Chronicles, Nioh, NieR duology, this, etc...)
K bash this is an absolute banger of a video. It’s so clear how far you’ve come as a writer, especially in the last year. Your videos are a true treat
i love how despite me not knowing half of the old JRPGs and obscure franchises, there’s always thousands of comments with crystal clear, intact memories and comprehension of the studios work, or the franchises smallest details. insane how much love there is for everything no matter how small.
How has Princess Crown never gotten an English patch. This is a CRIME.
Having finished the video now, I 100% agree with the idea that art should be allowed to art with as little restriction as possible. Some limits are necessary, to criticize is as much of a right as making the art itself, but to demand a work be censored or destroyed because it offends is truly profane.
I feel like I instantly understood everything more when my heart skipped a beat at the prospect of a "Princess Crown 4"
Vanillaware is a company that I have nostalgia for from my youth even though I was always too embarrassed by Dragon's Crown to ask for it as a kid lol. Glad to see you covering their great games. Hope my comment helps the video's performance.
The game industry definitely needs studios like Vanillaware around. I first learned about them from playing the ps2 version of Odin's Sphere. I never got to play Muramasa because I didn't have the system for it. I grew to LOVE Vanillaware and along with my goal of playing every mainline Atelier game, I want to play every Vanillaware game I possibly can. The era you talked about with hand drawn sprites and backgrounds are my absolute favorite. I also dearly love pixel art so the absolute boom its seeing in indie games greatly pleases me. Also interesting look into art and literature and how it can inform a person's style in creating a video game. That's a unique analysis that I don't often get.
FINALLY! I've been dying for someone to make an in-depth retrospective on Vanillaware games. I've only played Muramasa, but it's hands down one of my favorite games of all time.
Loved the video, really made me want to play Dragon's Crown and try out Odin Sphere again.
Top-tier channel and creator, always an instant-click.
I've never really touched most of Vanilla Ware's library, but I DID supremely love 13 sentinels.
Looking forward to you getting there, and I appreciate the look back to what I have missed!
This one really hammers home how your style of tackling a franchise or catalogue back to back really can enhance it to high heaven and back.
Such informed opinions!
Sad that they hate PC
I’m one of the two people interested in trying Princess Crown out. I’m currently playing 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim as of watching this, which is my first Vanillaware game and I am enjoying it thoroughly! Eagerly awaiting your follow up video.
I really appreciate your take on Dragon's Crown's... Ahem, art. An actually mature take on sexuality in video games is refreshing. Also, getting upset over *those* sprites is, at least to me, kind of ridiculous? There are serious issues with female representation and a dude who was drawing porn at 14 is your problem? Can't we cut a man slack and focus on bigger, systemic issues in the medium?
i have never once understood the criticisms about kamitani's art, its goregous. i havent played all VW games but the ones i have played, odin sphere, muramasa, 13 sentinels, dragon's crown are all immaculate and deserve attention.
My introduction to Vanillaware was 13 sentinels. From jump it felt like the game was built different. The aesthetic was peak, the combat niche, the story split among 13 protagonists and some of the most unique story telling I've ever experienced.
The game wasnt out to be a worldwide hit, it was made vision first, executed sublimely and sent out to exist on its own merits.
The second I finished 13 sentinels I picked up Odin sphere. Similar energy.
The games industry doesn't deserve Vanillaware and I hope they're here for many years to come
KBash I just realized I've been watching you for almost half a decade at this point, since I was trying to wheel back to find a department heaven video of yours and in that moment it dawned on me. Always loved the videos, even if I've been too poor to ever be a patron. Maybe after finally graduating and getting this degree, but it's been a very, very long 5 years. Been very glad that throughout this I've been able to watch your videos along the way.
Always love seeing GC get shouted out. That man is criminally undersubbed for the quality he puts out. Also, I really enjoy all the Vanillaware I've ever played, and desperately wish Unicorn Overlord was coming out on something I own.
The fact that there are no Dragon's-crown likes available on steam still is an effing shame.
👍
What do you mean with that? What are you looking for?
Might "sword of the vagrant" be something you would want?
Yeeessss. My man kbash played the good stuff now. I'm glad you touching vanillaware
This video popped up in my recommendations and I had to watch it since Vanillaware are one of my favourites devs. A week later I've binged almost all of your videos. Just wanted to say your stuff is great and I love the longer essay-style videos, you've really evolved over time into your own style and voice, some of the best bits are where the games have sentimental value or speak to you in a personal way - like in the WoW video and Steambot Chronicles. The only video I've not watched yet is Xenogears because I want to play it first, but I'll be back!
Hi Kbash, just wanted to say I loved hearing your insights into this series of games. Coming at it from a literary and art analysis standpoint was very interesting. Learning about the different art movements and how they can be interpreted with vanilla ware was a great insight
Okay I get it. I get the criticism that making an evil sexy-witch version of your child protagonist is kind of weird. But that *has to be* better than thousand-year-old-dragon-loli, right? At least it's two different points in a person's life that you're designing!
Vanillaware is the epitomy of S U M P T U O US. I remember the buzzfeed-esque reaction to Dragon's Crown's fan service, missing the point that everything is hypersaturated and detailed to an absurd degree
I want these guys to remake Super Paper Mario.
Oh no... They gonna make princess peach peachy...
Overpowered.
over qualified
I think that'd be pretty terrible considering Kbash makes RUclips videos
Mechanically that sounds like fun, graphically Nintendo would never go for it.
I'm sorry, but journos complaining about sexy women have never ever ever ever had a valid point, and no amount of comparison between real life celebrities and cartoon characters will ever change that.
Women overwhelmingly want to play attractive characters, these characters are often designed by women.
Putting aside the artistic integrity argument (and the fact that one of the bigger journalists prominently involved in this discourse has been recorded on stream having an insane mommy-told-me-i-can't-look-at-this-yet panic attack when confronted with sexy imagery in a game), the fact that the creator proved that his own work presented men similarly and then was attacked for homophobia proves that this was never about sexism, but about something fundamentally anti-human in this ideology
A couple of things:
• The minor criticism of Muramasa here from the perspective of playing Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir first is a bit odd and ignores just how much of a MASSIVE improvement Leifthrasir was over the original. I think it's fair to argue that Leifthrasir is so good because Muramasa came out first and allowed Vanillaware to hone their ability to make a satisfying combat system.
• On the media uproar over the way women have been depicted in Dragon's Crown, I'm not convinced that exaggerated character designs have that much of an effect on young people's self esteem. Certainly it has vastly less effect than the very real social media influencers who flaunt sex and wealth constantly.
Personally, while some of the designs don't appeal to me, I find them gratuitous in a more "horny teenager" way that's far more comical than it is offensive, and to me at least, hasn't gone so far as to distract from the overall great artistry.
Vanillaware is peak comfort, I wish I could erase the memories of playing these games from my mind so I could play them again like it was the first time.
And before I forget, Kamitani never did nothing wrong, gaming "journalists" are the biggest cancer that has ever appeared on the world of vidyas.
Polical activists have used games as an excuse to push their rotten agenda.
I'm gonna be very honest
I was fairly young when I initially saw dragon's crown, like 14 or 15 or so
And back then, the only reason I wanted to try it out was because of the "funny booby ladies" and not much more...
I didn't have a playstation 3 or 4 and so the game just slipped into the back of my mind...
Around 1 or 2 years ago, I dabbled in ps3 emulation, and since I didn't have interest in the big bombastic 3D cinematic games (I mean look at my pfp, it's a 2D rayman, I love 2D art), this game popped into my head and I went on to play it...
I quickly fell in love with vanillaware
I played 13 sentinels, odinsphere and recently grimgrimoire and the craziest thing is, it all started because I saw a character with breasts...
This is what's crazy, it's appreciation for something once you grow up
You go from desiring something because it gives you short term satisfaction, like food, flashiness or sex, to desiring something that fills your mind with creativity, art, great stories and greater themes, wonderful style and gorgeous attention to detail.
So even if those journalists might have thought that the sexualization was "ruining this generation", I think the fact that this game's sexualization led to me trying out a game that changed my whole perspective on art, I think that's better than whatever the fuck including more vapid representation and reduced risqué material could ever do
So thank you Vanillaware, for hooking me with a dumb, juvenile desire, and leading me to an artistic world I never would have ever looked at.
And thank you Kbash for taking another look at dragon's crown and giving the topic of sexualization a genuine look.
You handled the topic of sexuality in art much better than i would have. Whilst sexual censorship has always been present, i find it extremely annoying that more and more people feel the need to criticise and censor pieces of art purely on a reactionary basis.
They try to make arguments on the moral and social impacts of such body portrayels, whilst completely ignoring the context in which the art exists - far removed from any kind of realistic bodily expectations/commentary.
These people very much have an axe to grind and aim to shame and restrict artistic expression to what suits their own vision. And whilst i understand feeling uncomfortable with extremes, why do the same people not feel the need to comment on male representions, varying between godly physiques like Hercules, and shambling visages like Hunchback of Notradame?
People can distinguish between reality and fiction from an early age, which is why these classic figures haven't posed issues for men's self image. If we censor all of these artistic portrayels and leave ourselves with only social media icons and celebrities for comparison, i believe body standards will only get worse. And lets be honest, if admiring big honkers was a crime, then 99% of humanity should be behind bars.
I think this video made it clearer to me, I think one of the reasons I love your videos is because you incorporate a deep love for and knowledge of art history and literary history into them. As someone with a similarly strong passion for art history, to see video games analyzed as legitimate pieces of romanticist art in their writing, presentation, and themes, is hugely interesting to me.
I remember seeing a review for Odin Sphere on Xplay, and they really focused on how repetitious going through the game 6 times was. That review really colored my opinion of it poorly and I feel like I get constantly reminded how much I missed out because of it. If only I could find Leifthrasir somewhere somewhat affordably 😅
Kamitani being so criticized for character design while at the same time being acknowledged as having the most creative and unique female character designs is just so typical of western gamers. Is it truly sexist to acknowledge the existence of attractive women or are we just being weird puritan taste-police looking for problems where they don't exist?
Man, vanilla. It's one of my favorite studios and I don't even know
About the controversies...jornos are just creating drama get some engagement, jorno opinions don't not have value
George Kamitani is a HERO and when he releases his next beat em with adult themes i will make sure i buy it on every platform to make sure he makes "boobillions". The man is out here making Michaelango and Raphaelesque paintings and the game journalists say its SMUT?! HAVE these men no CULTURE? no imagination? no appreciation for the human body? He is an artist and all of his games are a piece of art. Games journalists don't deserve you George, please ignore these haters and know that there are people out here that will support you 100%. Some people don't like suggestive characters, but if I'm gonna play a game for hours of my life, why not have the eye candy?! These characters are stylish and as you mentioned in your video, provoke emotion and passion. I bought Unicorn Overlord, not because I love tactics rpgs, but because i want to give George as much money as possible to make the next "Booba Lisa", the next "Sistine Chest-pel", his next "The Three Graces". He is a visionary and I am here for it. Call me a coomer if you want, but we are funding the projects every red blooded man in his heart knows he enjoys. Don't be ashamed brothers! Life is only so long! Don't let these game journalists repress you as they have repressed themselves! Also great video, i was criticizing the game journalists at the time, however KBash, your opinion is more level headed (even though i will still say some of the art you may have mentioned may be gross is still in my opinion a beautiful work of art).
I don’t really think the issue is whether fanservice or smut is art. Its moreso the decades of bad female representation + mostly fanservice for guys, which isn’t really the artist fault.
It’s the equivalent of for years, having male guys wearing skimpy speedos and having characters as flat as a board, or 2d note personalities meant to appeal to females. There’s nothing with it, eyecandy for eyecandy sake is valid. Its just if thats all you see, you get tired of it. (that’s not even mentioning realword issues which can make it even more sour.)
aka ( eye candy good, just make it where everyone gets some candy) and throw in good character rep for both sides lol.
@@SolLang-hk2rs "Dream boy" media directed at pleasing female fantasies has always been prevalent in Japan.
It's not imported because American women don't consume it. They're too busy shaming men for consuming media directed at pleasing their fantasies.
Same way they don't support female sports, but whine that female athletes have to be paid the same as male superstars. Or how they blame men for their body image issues when they are the main consumers of the lifestyle and fashion media that pushes those flawed body image ideas on them.
The fact that it requires thousands of words in a philosophical essay format simply to justify the presence of sexy ladies in a videogame says a lot about the world nowadays. If anything, game journalists are not despised enough.
damn. played odin sphere on the ps2 emu like, years ago. and while it undoubtedly gave me a few new kinks, i think its also the thing that really made me thing about one story having multiple sides depending on who tells it.
and also that its worth paying short hairy people to make you food because goddamn can italians coo-
Man just started a new playthrough of Valkyrie Profile (game i discovered because of your video) and now i want to try princess crown and odin sphere, not fair, you cant keep selling me on every niche game out there.
Awesome work as always❤
ok so basically,
princess crown=demons souls
odin sphere=dark souls
muramasa=sekiro
dragons crown=elden ring
im ready for the hate comments
"Think of the children! And their body image!" is no different from "Think of the children! DND is satanic!". Nobody makes these complaints when real male actors take "enhancers" and go through unsafe diets/workout regimens to reach extreme physiques in record time. It's solely an inherently fallacious excuse for the woke sex-haters to bash the rare forms of sexual expression they don't approve of. They loved it when Baldur's Gate 3 lets you do things with bears, and hated it when drawings show skin, unless they're the ones making these drawings. "How dare you draw your kid character like that! I'm going to go draw shipping art of that character with other kid or adult characters anyway, but still!"
@36:07-.-You, this video, and any other time anyone complains about "objectification".
In general I liked this video, but the problem I have with the way you talk about the sexualisation in Dragon's Crown bothers me. My personal contention with the horniness of Dragon's Crown isn't so much that it's there, but that it's very unequal. There's a lot of women just being draped over the screen in passively sexual positions and I haven't really seen anything of the sort involving men at all, though I admittedly haven't played the game myself. I just don't think that portraying women as passive sexual objects while not doing that with men is progressive at all; it's still quite sexist, just not sex negative. 🤷
Dragon's Crown has an odd difficulty curve IMO
This just inspired/reminded me to get Odin Sphere! Thank you for making this!
Edit: Nevermind. Not on PC. Dang.
@@DaftSheepdamn odins sphere is so good too :/ sorry man
Emulation, numbnuts.
If you don’t have a console, just emulate the ps2 version. The art style holds up at lower resolutions and the game deserves your attention, trust me.
@@Pimpgamer101btw the ps3 version runs shockingly well too, but if you have a weak cpu and ram then yeah ps2, go ahead
This video just made February a good month.
This gets a 200% bonus for dropping IPAT's video on Princess Crown...good memories.
edit: But i beyond disagree with the assessment that fictional characters asthetics/looks will drive someone to hate themselves...especially when your example compares a (clearly) fantasy female against "youtubers" who are living flesh and blood people...so, YES, those girls who viewed those real people who are good looking, are going to compare themselves...because it's a literal living example and it happens everyday
The difference here, again, is what is REAL and what is FANTASY. The cover models on Maxim, Celebrities, Fitness experts, beauty fashionistas, etc are REAL people who have achieved REAL results to their looks. It is palpable and "obtainable"...but the question to those "without" is: "how?" And for those who cannot fathom the answer or have tried and failed and have let that failure consume them to the point of dispair...that's where 'this problem' starts to occur.
There are other factors that weave into that problem as well...such as upbrining by parents/guardians, social circles and even society; to which those can conflict with each other and have thier own separate "values" between every person. But that's a long wall of text to explain i wont do, but the end of the day fact is: REAL things have more of an actual impact to people than FANTASY things...and in the case Fantasy begins to hold more weight in a persons life than Reality...there is something much deeper wrong going on in thier lives and mind; and help should be found ASAP to find the root of that.
Clicked into this video *so* d*mn fast! Vanillaware has been one of my faves since GrimGrimoire’s release. Had to hunt down a copy of the game - luckily their subsequent games weren’t so hard to come by! (Surprising, given Odin Sphere released like one month later)
Looking forward to watching the rest of your deep dive!
Beautiful video Kbash, just like you.
You should totally check out and do a video on George Kamitani most latest game 13 sentinels aigis rim
Fantastic video man, putting actual words to how ive felt about Vanillaware games for years.
The only thing I hate about Dragons Crown was the music. GOSH it was such a let down when literally every other Vanillaware had EARGASMIC level of soundtrack, and then there was the 'comparitively' crappy music of Dragons Crown.
Man, stylized art is about pushing the limits of everything, not just the "accepted." As a man, I would look at the fighter in Dragon's Crown and think, "Man, I wish my chest was 8 times wider than my head." It's like looking at Bugs Bunny and saying that it's a terrible depiction because children will think all bunnies should talk.
That aside, this was a great video, and I enjoyed your coverage of this awesome hidden gem of a developer.
Regarding the body issues problem with the depiction of women in Dragon’s crown, I don’t understand why this is the big takeaway from the controversy.
Dragon’s Crown has some of the biggest body varieties when it comes to the female form, and they are all depicted as beautiful and sexy. Does it have the big chested bimbo? Yes. She is allowed to exist. But it also has the Squat grinding athletic type, and even the “normal girl” aesthetic with the elf, who proves that boobs and butts aren’t the only physical features a girl can have. Everyone has toes!
And hell, if you’re gonna talk about little girls comparing themselves to the beauty standards of Dragon’s Crown, they don’t even have to. Tiki’s arguably the ho-
If anything the male body type is put through a magnifying lense, almost every male save for the wizard and the little shota thief are absolutely jacked to a nigh impossible degree, and even disregarding that, they excluding the villains, are absolutely symmetrically beautiful in the face department.
I’ve talked about how the Fighter is like a Frankenstein of fantasies ensuring that any woman gets something out of him. He’s not your average male fighter at all, and you could say that all the male and female designs in Dragon’s Crown are far more diverse than the actual cookie cutter Barbies and Kens STILL found in American movies and games. How the hell is a guy supposed to compete with Ryan Gosling?
The ultimate difficulties in Muramasa and Odin Sphere fuckin' rule
In Muramasa, you only have 1 HP, and breaking your sword deals like 6 damage so you have to get through fights without ever breaking your swords or missing a parry. Your swords' energy becomes your life bar, and you have to skirt every encounter on the edge of a razor. It's one of the only 1-hit-kill difficulties I've ever finished because of just how awesome it is and how tangibly it changes the way you play. Not worse, only more interesting.
VanillaWare games are gems. Thirteen Sentinels and Muramasa being my favorites, it's just that I fucking despise how little they get promoted or advertised by Atlus USA. Thirteen Sentinels in particular hardly got ANY promotion here.
Vanillaware's games have never been my favorites. I've enjoyed them all, but there's always just enough jank, just enough padding, that they don't make it into the highest echelons of gaming for me. ...And yet. Every last one of them is completely unforgettable. They are utterly unrestrained celebrations of art and beauty, turning every aspect of reality up to 11 and distilling that reality down to only its most breath-taking aspects. Not a single concession made to subtlety anywhere. I can understand why that turns some people away, particularly when that same lack of restraint is applied to sexuality, but *man* is the result freaking beautiful.
56:08 > "It's not better than Odin Sphere's multiple kinds of combat… but it could easily be one of the greatest IN odin sphere, if retroactively inserted"
So I should say I'm still watching but this was the core reason I actually was kind of hoping that odin sphere's contributions to the legacy would have been broken up into two parts- the original ps2 version of the game was far closer to princess crown than the remake. There's explicitly a scroll you can get in the tutorial section talking about how it's ideal to try and peel off enemies and fight them one-on-one rather than barreling down waves (something that the original POW meter mechanics greatly exacerbated). You can even kind of see this with how fast you do in fact 'careen' through odin sphere's maps? it was never designed to move that fast, lmao. Additionally there was a cap on the UI aesthetics as well- texts were simplified to just white letters on black screen rather than the lavishly rendered attic archive & the skill system was completely overhauled for leifthrasir.
I haven't tried the classic version on ps4 to see if it truly preserved that original experience, but so much of leifthrasir's updated mechanics are wholly thanks to muramasa's playing around rather than the original ps2 version or even princess crown proper. Dashes and dives were introduced in Mura & carried forward to leifthrasir, honing the original, somewhat repetitive combat into that same fluid feel- which is why I felt OS's segment could have served the narrative of this lineage better by being broken in half. Seeing as OS was made in response to criticisms towards PC, then Muramasa was made in response to criticisms towards specifically PS2 OS.
I know you kind of acknowledged something adjacent to this when addressing that leifthrasir is considered the intended version of the game, but i feel that's only truly accurate because of how muramasa was able to expand on how vanillware approaches combat, combos, and the high speed of those therein (& also i think this factors into the mention for a desire for muramasa to be more polished when in actuality leifthrasir is the polished one). PS2 OS sits perfectly in the middle of that line rather than feeling like it jumped too far ahead before doubling back, and almost serves as like a benchmark for vanillaware's progress & approach to aesthetic & mechanic pleasure.
All that said tho, I'm still watching and having a good time! I like your thoughts about aesthetics and decadence a lot where this studio is concerned since those aspects soak thru these games like espresso thru a tiramisu, haha
I'm of the same opinion that the game industry should not lose Vanillaware; just their artistic style alone is worth protecting. I've played most of their games since Odin's Sphere and have gotten so used to identifying their art style that I knew Unicorn Overlord was a Vanillaware game even before I looked up the details lol
Looking forward to Unicorn Overlord myself; haven't touched a tactics game since Vandal Hearts on PS1, so I hope the rust hasn't caked on too thick =P
I managed to try Dragon’s Crown’s multiplayer experience in the Vita. I was pretty excited to play it multiplayer for the first time and that excitement lasted all five minutes-until my fellow players started tapping on my character’s chest (you can imagine which character I was playing as) and they would not stop. I felt so uncomfortable I legit just turned off my vita cuz it was a new console and I didn’t know how to close the game.
I love Vanillaware's, or George's style. It's all so beautiful, yet always exaggerated, which is what cartoons are drawn to do. It kills me to this day that the sorceress design broke the internet. Why don't all the manly muscles offend anyone? I didn't crawl into a corner and weep at my reflection in the mirror. I play these games to escape reality, not have my surrounding reality try to ruin them for me. Can't wait for part 2 to see more about this amazingly creative studio.
great ass video, but lemme just say this to be pedantic
It's Dungeons & Dragons Shadows over Mystara. Chronicles of Mystara is the collection edition that holds the two games (Tower of Doom and Shadows over Mystara) together
I remember feeling really sad for the way Dragon's Crown was trashed and i felt for George Kamitani...
Sure, some of his art can be unconfortable to some people, but i don't think that unconfortable art should disallow it from existing.
Alright, FINE, I'll buy the damned booba games.
👍
I really wish they ported ANYTHING to PC. I feel like the console exclusivity is a deathspiral for them where they don't reach enough audience due to the limited release, which in turn limit their capacity for output.
I've loved vanillaware games since I was a young kid. The way that the games moved and looked was something I had never seen before and they still inspire my artwork to this day. Thank you for showing love to these video games.
I would call the Muramasa difficulty settings Easy mode and Hard Mode, because auto blocking and not dying so easy made this game easy for me, but the hard mode actually makes you learn the game, when to block, when to dodge, and the enemies' moves and patterns. So it's the difference between a mode that's slightly easier than normal mode, and a mode that's harder than normal mode. That's why I say it's Easy and Hard mode.
I can't translate so I've got no right to complain but WHY GOD WHY are people doing fan patches of games like castlevania and vandal hearts that already have offical western releases on Playstation while Princess Crown gets no love 😩
I think the issue I have most with people's takes on Kamitanis women is my overall disagreement that characters being sexualized automatically makes them weaker characters. If the characters themselves are shown to have their own personalities and morecto them beyond having big tits, I find people's criticisms to be more overreactions. Kamitani clearly likes showing off the human body and does it with more than just women.
I think Dragon's Crown also draws from Guardian Heroes !
Plus, Katimani was also I think a character designer on Capcom's D&D games?
The controversy of Dragon's Crown in hindsight is kinda funny to me because I was a teenager at the time and was very anti-sexualisation, thought anything with fanservice is just hiding the fact it's bad and I agreed with the stuff about designed by horny teenagers (ironic coming from someone that age).
These days I'm much less against it, at most I'd hold it against something when it feels out of place but if it carries it as part of its identity then that's just part of the whole, nowadays I think it's entitled to judge what art an artist makes. If you don't like the subject matter, move on, not everything is made for me or for any specific individual bashing it and the audience it has seems silly to me, it's not actually going to cause some grand societal change for the worse or anything anyway.
Hey man thanks for these videos, I've actuall been buying every one of these games I can. So far I have Odin'e sphere, Unicorn Overlord. Dragon's crown and Aegis Rim just went on sale for 3 and 14 bucks, so I got those too. These games are just a visual feast and I love them!! thank you!