vn release Gahkthun of the Golden Lightning released!

[Suzu Fanatic]

Key factor for the decision is the lack of shown male or female genitalia. I'd bet big money Steam won't touch anything of that level anytime soon.

[littleshogun]

So Gahkthun will uncensored on Steam apparently. Interesting but maybe it's understandable since I just checked the CG using sagaoz save, and as Suzu Fanatic said it didn't show anything like genitalia, although my statement earlier regarding censorship was based on how big the boob were compared to Yurirei though (And based on CG from Mangagamer site). Then as of now I remember Sakura franchise and 'you know what featured there', it suddenly made sense in regard of uncensored. I think maybe Liar-soft game will be the first one who got all uncensored release on Steam if some of them translated, as long as it didn't show genitalia (Probably). Anyway, if for some reason some of the user here still want to buy it from Steam even though they already owned it, go to Steam store and purchase it from there.

[Fred the Barber]

14 minutes ago, littleshogun said:

censorship was based on how big the boob were

I actually laughed out loud at this idea. You have to understand, the Steam guidelines that prevent content are going to be pretty specific. Basically think of it as a straightforward checklist that the game developer fills out to ensure they meet the requirements, rather than the result of a human actually playing the game and making a judgement call (this is impractical for many reasons, not the least of which is that said human might simply not see a large portion of the game). Seeing as "this game does not depict exposed breasts larger than 90 cm" isn't one of those checkboxes, it's not surprising at all to see it get a Steam release.

[MercyZombie]

I haven't read Gahktun yet but if it is anything like Inganock then it doesn't hugely surprise me that they can go uncensored on steam. The h-scenes there at least were not more explicit than something you find in a typical Hollywood movie.

Anyway, I really hope it sells well. This is probably the deciding moment whether we get more from this particular series or not.

[littleshogun]

@Fred the Barber I see, guess I learned another new thing in regard of Steam censorship. Well, at least Japan developer now should find a way to work around for Steam I supposed. Also with this Steam release I hope that many new gamer will interested in Gahktun (And visual novel in general), which from the opening song it was quite good (And maybe there were some people who interested with handsome 72 years old Nikola Tesla out there, especially woman).

[Suzu Fanatic]

6 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

Seeing as "this game does not depict exposed breasts larger than 90 cm" isn't one of those checkboxes,

I dunno bud, it depends if that group (which shall remain nameless, to preserve peace in the topic) ever gets its hands on valve.

[Decay]

6 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

I actually laughed out loud at this idea. You have to understand, the Steam guidelines that prevent content are going to be pretty specific. Basically think of it as a straightforward checklist that the game developer fills out to ensure they meet the requirements, rather than the result of a human actually playing the game and making a judgement call (this is impractical for many reasons, not the least of which is that said human might simply not see a large portion of the game). Seeing as "this game does not depict exposed breasts larger than 90 cm" isn't one of those checkboxes, it's not surprising at all to see it get a Steam release.

You say it's straightforward, but it seems that Valve was reluctant to allow Gahkthun on Steam until the ESRB gave it an M rating. So there's definitely a human element involved in the decision making process.

[Suzu Fanatic]

3 minutes ago, Decay said:

You say it's straightforward, but it seems that Valve was reluctant to allow Gahkthun on Steam until the ESRB gave it an M rating. So there's definitely a human element involved in the decision making process.

I didn't know the ESRB rated it - In fact, for some reason I thought MG was backing away from them. But I might be mis-remembering stuff.

[MercyZombie]

20 minutes ago, Suzu Fanatic said:

I didn't know the ESRB rated it - In fact, for some reason I thought MG was backing away from them. But I might be mis-remembering stuff.

Well if they are going to try to get it released on steam anyway then there is no point trying to avoid the ESRB

Edit - Nevermind, I was under the delusion that you had to have your game rated by the ESRB to get on steam, like on consoles. Turns out I was wrong. You may now begin judging me.

Edited April 16, 2016 by MercyZombie

[kingdomcome]

15 hours ago, Rooke said:

Seeing as most people in the VN community interested in Gahkthun have already got it,

Except meee! Just purchased it since it's also 15% off.

[Decay]

They were dissatisfied with the ESRB process when they had eden* rated. With that one's Steam release, it was an unnecessary procedure that only served to delay things and it also cost them money to do so. Simply because minori demanded it. 

This is a very different situation, and they seem to be now open to using the ESRB to their advantage with these kinds of edge cases.

[CatSoul]

On 4/16/2016 at 0:25 AM, Fred the Barber said:

I actually laughed out loud at this idea. You have to understand, the Steam guidelines that prevent content are going to be pretty specific. Basically think of it as a straightforward checklist that the game developer fills out to ensure they meet the requirements, rather than the result of a human actually playing the game and making a judgement call (this is impractical for many reasons, not the least of which is that said human might simply not see a large portion of the game). Seeing as "this game does not depict exposed breasts larger than 90 cm" isn't one of those checkboxes, it's not surprising at all to see it get a Steam release.

The ESRB does have a questionnaire like that, but not quite as dramatic.

I used to play around with their auto rating tool before they quietly removed it for exposing too much about their process, and if you have sex scenes in your game the ESRB will get nosy about them. If the dialogue is sexually explicit, how much skin is shown, etc. Showing breasts/buttocks in sex scenes got an M rating unless it was frequent. Gahkthun's scenes were infrequent enough to get the M.

According to this tool, penis/vagina was an automatic AO, no matter what context it was shown in, so I don't know what bribe money Rockstar's got where they've shown peen twice in the GTA series.

[Decay]

Their auto rating tool isn't what they use to actually determine ratings, but to give you an idea of what your game might be rated. Penises and vaginas being an automatic AO in the tool doesn't mean that the actual ratings board gives that stuff an automatic AO. There was some old politician's dong in TLAD, right? I forget which other GTA game had it. It's surprising that Rockstar went there, but it's also super non-sexual so I'm not surprised the ESRB gave it a pass.

That said, any VN that has that will have it in a sex scene, so... yeah, that's an AO practically guaranteed. 

[Dark_blade64]

12 hours ago, CatSoul said:

The ESRB does have a questionnaire like that, but not quite as dramatic.

I used to play around with their auto rating tool before they quietly removed it for exposing too much about their process, and if you have sex scenes in your game the ESRB will get nosy about them. If the dialogue is sexually explicit, how much skin is shown, etc. Showing breasts/buttocks in sex scenes got an M rating unless it was frequent. Gahkthun's scenes were infrequent enough to get the M.

According to this tool, penis/vagina was an automatic AO, no matter what context it was shown in, so I don't know what bribe money Rockstar's got where they've shown peen twice in the GTA series.

Twice? There was a whole town full of them.

[Canicheslayer]

On 14/03/2016 at 11:09 AM, Decay said:

Incidentally, chapter 9 was my least favorite chapter in the game.

Just finished Chapter 9. Same as you, now...

Spoiler

Unfortunately, this chapter was very short and felt very botched...I'm really disappointed because the "possessed" Gate of Hell (one of the finest works of the "true" Rodin ) was an excellent idea.