I'm still pretty peed that anything was censored but at least you're making an effort to make( I don't know if you're actually doing it yourselves) a patch.
Just in the future if you can't bring something over without censoring because It it'll back to hurt you legally, you probably shouldn't bring it over.
@Tototo: But nothing will change if you abide to stupid “decency” laws. The publishing of erotic fiction is the best way to foster a culture of tolerance. People adapt fetishes that they never dreamed of enjoying. It makes them more receptive to ideas outside of their mental comfort zone.
Demanding 4Kids to not localize anything they'll end up censoring results in decreased censorship (because likely another company will license the property and release it uncensored). Demand JAST USA not to localize anything that they'll end up censoring results in increased censorship (because no other company is likely to license the property, thus the entire game ends up censored rather than just parts of it). It's a choice between two evils. You can blame JAST for crumpling too easily to vague legal threats, but the fact is that the game was censored as soon as JAST decided the content was not legally permissible. No amount of customer backlash will ever change their minds on that.
People need to realize that this is a morally grey issue, even if we start from the premise that censorship is a fundamental wrong. JAST appears to be making an effort to ensure that interested customers get access to the unaltered content. As long as they sincerely strive to ensure any censored releases have the content reinstated in a timely fashion, I won't hold the censorship against them. Depending on how it's handled, one could view the censorship as a desirable service: they're stripping out content that could cause legal problems in the US and/or other nations when transported through the mail, and allowing it to be surreptitiously reinstated after authorities are no longer paying attention. They're essentially providing eroge laundering services free of charge. :P
Agreed! Not only that, but censorship is major concern for all these artists in Japan, too. Do you think all these talented people enjoy painstakingly putting pixelated garbles in their works that they spent hours drawing diligently? No, no one in the world would enjoy seeing their talents are being defaced by their own hands but hey they gotta do it cause law is law! You either abide by it to maintain the civility of the society or you get punished for breaking it. When it comes to following the laws, the Japanese people will always choose the former option! Beside no one wants to be fined thousands of dollars (yens) for a stupid mistake that they can easily fix.
This form of restriction in artistic integrity also brings the best in artists because the artists find new and improved method to portray their talents. They introduce new form of style and fetishes that they know will overcome the censorship. They will design their products in such way that it targets wider audiences, even though the audiences are fully aware that the products are censored. This form of practices why we have soooo many different varieties of fetishes in the hentai genre. Constrains and restrictions on talents often time bring the best of everything!
Just few more weeks until we see this gem is released…unless of course another delay is in order! 
@Dogma, the game already has a "blue effect" that's used a few times, we mainly employ this during a few additional scenes. The overall effect is very nice I think, and as we've said many times, if you object to it you can patch the game. Our goal is to not have that much actual visible scat in the shipping game. Considering this is the only way to get this game into the hands of fans.
@Dark_Shiki, another aspect of this is, we've got staff members who might potentially quit if we forced them to "suck it up" and be associated with certain themes. We have to consider this when we make these decisions. Thought of another way, since we're removing the Japanese "censorship" (the mosaic), you're getting a product that's 99.9% less censored than the original, which every fan has played in Japanese. And there will be a patch available...
I should point out again if I've not that Will and Sei Shoujo have been involved in this project from the start, and in fact it was Will who asked us to do the game, though certain content couldn't be shown in a wider U.S. release. It was their suggestion to change the title, to advertise properly that it's the "International edition." If we didn't work with Will in this way, the game wouldn't ever be brought out, and Will incidentally needs the money, since all package games are declining in Japan like crazy.
Can't wait to get the game out. Just a little longer...
I updated the J-List description since the artbook is actually 62 pages (the interview required us to add more).
http://www.jlist.com/product/JAST007
Hey Peter, for the Limited Edition, on the J-List page, it says this:
"Also, customers who preorder the limited edition package version will get the download edition of the game sent free the day the game ships. So preorder now!"
So, those who ordered the Limited edition, do we get the download code on the day of the game is released or when it is shipped…like week later?
Thanks for your clarification! Glad to hear that things are progressing smoothly!
Anyone know where I could get the patch for this when it's released? Also hoping to find the Shiny Days patch too.
Really looking forward to this 12 page interview!
The code will likely be e-mailed to you once the purchase goes through.
Though I'm currently having problems with access to my J-list account and awaiting a reply to my support ticket.
Eh?
Then released being affected by personal opinions of staff members is still a thing?
Great... =_=
Animelover that's what I was thinking, if you aren't going to do your job properly you don't deserve to work in something like this.
Any update on Rightstuf’s listing for Starless? My keyword search still comes back with no results…
@Tototo
That’s hardly fair. You can’t get mad at them for not wanting their name associated with some of the content in Starless, and in an industry like VNs, it’s difficult to find people willing to work on nukige at all, so you should at least be grateful they’re doing this. It’s not fair to criticize them when they’re probably compromising even working on the game at all. I’m all for an uncensored patch to happen, and it’s pretty much confirmed at this point anyway. But don’t criticize people for not wanting their names on a product that includes scat, bestiality and gore for christ’s sake.
Tom-ahawk
I may have been a bit harsh but I don't think it's unfare. If you can't take an objective stance on thing as an translator, editor or whatever you may be on the team then you shouldn't be doing this sort of work.
I don't care what kind of content they're censoring, they deserve to be criticize for this.
It's one thing if you're scared the law will bite you in the ass and another women you're putting the personal feelings of of your team members over the quality of the product and what the consumer wants.
So other then Starless any one interested in other Empress works and anything you want JAST to pick up?
I'm hoping that DominancE gets a English release.
http://www.will-game.com/empress/DominancE/top.html
I'm also rally looking forward to Closed Game coming out later this year on the 26thJune.
http://www.will-game.com/empress/ClosedGAME/
They also have a NSFW preview here. http://www.getchu.com/movie/mp4/845491.mp4
@Murderous Int
I’m a huge Sei Shoujo/Empress fan, so I’d be happy to see any of his titles localized, It’d be incredible if JAST could get more out, but looking at how long it’s taken since Starless’ announcement, I fear it will be a long time before the next. If I had to pick one, I’d go for Lewdness next, but it sure would be awesome to see Closed Game get a somewhat close release, especially with how it’s looking.
Well currently my order would be DominancE>Lewdness>P/A>Cleavage.
More of the Empress titles localized the better. I'm just hoping Sei keeps bring his A game.
Hopefully Starless sells well enough and is well enough received to warrant JAST picking up more of the games like PP mentioned.
"with enough support we'll be able to bring more awesome Sei Shoujo titles to international fans."
Starless was a hella long wait but JAST have finally started pumping the pace on releases after a slow burn the past four years. So if they keep a good stream of releases it might be sooner then later if Starless gets the numbers.
If there's a possibility that they're just gonna end up censoring it I don't see a point in them bringing any of the other titles over.
Well Starless an't getting a censoring with the fan patch DLC. :P
Starless contains the most hardcore content of any of the Empress titles, so that hurdle is dealt with, be it a bit confusing and mixed messaging we are on a understanding of how this can work.
I appreciate the work JAST have gone to and after waiting four years they have made the best compromise to cater for their desire and the hardcore fans desire. \\0/
JAST have the license with Empress and being a Western Empress fan I already own the JP version and want more Empress titles localized in English and I would buy them if they did the same to what we are getting with Starless or if they were still in mosaic with the full content.
I'd rather see what Peter thinks after the sales on Starless and what he thinks of for the future of Empress products before decrying it will be censored so bring something else.
He would also need to check the game out first to even make that call.
Since what matter here most is sales and JAST an't doing no Moe Novel we are making a 18+ game now a all-ages game and a fuck you if you want a compromise.
Depending on the sale of Starless, I say bring DominancE first. I don’t want to spoil anything but DominancE was distant-yet-related-to-Starless sequel. Lot of people were pissed on how the protagonist just “ate” up the blow on Starless, so Sei provided some come back to counter-effect the dominatrix aspect of certain characters, which were related to Starless. Anyway, I would be really happy if they consider bringing most of Empress works. It would be a leap forward, if all goes well.
Having written that, I am not too happy about Closed Game. I was bit surprised to see the new trailer contains so many monsters in it. I wonder if they were focusing on making a Monster Park type of game, which was a damn good game, but I just don’t see Sei going all tentacle/monster/unearthly being and abandoning the traditional “boy meets girl, who works for a dominatrix chick, and then boy and girl end up eating each others poop” kind of games. But hey sometimes you gotta shift gear to get everyone’s attention once in a while, eh?