Let’s get straight to the point, for once. I feel like a reprobate for liking and recommending a game about torturing teenage girls for the gamer’s sexual pleasure, so I’m taking down all my posts about Criminal Girls. I still like the game a lot – revisionist history can only go so far – but I don’t want to be involved in anyone’s decision to buy it, so I’ll keep my thoughts to myself.
I played a lot of dungeon crawlers in 2011, and Criminal Girls was my favorite of the lot. Compared to the others it was short, it had simple, straightforward dungeons, the challenge level was just right, the suggestion-based battle system never got old, there were a lot gamer-friendly features like instant warps back to camp and, most of all, I loved the cast of characters, loved their individual personalities, loved watching them grow, loved watching them interact. What I did not love were the torture minigames, but I was able to hold my nose enough to enjoy the rest of the game.
Now, it hasn’t happened very often, but occasionally a game I play that I think will never get localized does get localized. I think it’s only happened to Unchained Blades and Ragnarok Tactics so far, and in both cases when I heard the announcement I was like “What, really?” then it came out and it was like “Hey, cool” and that was the end of that.
With Criminal Girls on the other hand, the whole censorship thing with NISA and their “This game is bad and you should feel bad” attitude towards the contents got me thinking, is the game really all that bad? And if I’m honest with myself, the answer is “Yeah, kinda.” The execution may be more silly than sensual most of the time, but the idea behind the game is pretty reprehensible once you think about it.
“But that’s no call to delete all your posts!” you say. Maybe. But I feel better this way.
“When we start self-censoring the terrorists win!” Maybe. But I feel better this way.
“Ah come on, it’s just a game.” Definitely. But I feel better this way.
“This is pretty sudden.” It’s been bothering me for a while. My choices were Delete/Ignore/Rewrite. I went with Ignore for a while, but now I just want this thing off my chest.
“This is really selfish of you.” I’m sorry. You can vent in the comments if you’d like. The posts are gone for good, though.
I totally understand your position. I would lie if I said that I’m not eargerly awaiting that game, but I would also lie if I said that I’m not anxious about the torture gimmick. I have the nauseous feeling that it will turn out to be bothersome at best and mortifying at worst, and will be in all cases an unwelcome interruption of the natural flow of dungeon crawling. And if these minigames involve motor skills, then I’m definitely going to hate them.
At any rate, the way Criminal Girls go straight for shock value and claims attention in the most unsavoury way is pretty unpleasant. It’s nearly like the game is forcing you to take a moral stance on its content, and I resent it for that. It also makes little sense from the more general point of view of game design. Why not make a purely erotic game, if titillation is what they were after? Why spoil a perfectly competent dungeon crawler with a gimmick that has nothing to do with dungeon crawling whatsoever? That’s a waste of good gaming material, if you ask me. Oh, well.
Anyway, I’m buying it still. Let’s hope for the best!
It holds up well as a normal, simple dungeon crawler so it’s a good purchase for the most part. I suppose all the moral unease is why NISA took the wise step to rename ‘punishment’ to ‘motivation’. That way you can pretend what you’re doing is consensual versus the outright torture it was in the original.