[FGO JP Event] The Eight Dog Bowmen at the Southern Sea

[Sesto]

Yeah, if it was just events only and we didn't have multiple jp chapters + random jp heroes showing up frequently in other chapters, it'd be easier to stomach.

That said, I've always wished we could get more events centered around other regions. Like GudaGuda but with the Greeks, or something like that. Even Circe's event, despite being very small, was great. But this desire is less an issue with jp-centric events and more an issue with the terrible gag events like the Servantverse stuff. I'd take endless Japanese wank if it meant everything related to the servantverse was deleted from the game.

[Delastogos]

While the Japanese Servant concentration is more or less high and it certain instances, kinda safe, it's not something that bothers me too much.

Sure, i would like more Servants from different parts of the world more often, but even then it doesn't have to be an obligation because regardless of that, there's always gonna be duds in an ever increasing cast of characters like FGO's. It's also a matter of how much you care of the certain isms the inject into the characters inherent to otaku/doujin culture but it's rare when a character is simply boring.

I too did feel a weird sense of pride when Don Quixote was released and so much love was poured into him, but i think i care about more how good the writting is more than anything else as representation has never been high in my priority list when liking a character.

Ultimately, what I'm trying to say here about representation is that I don't care that much about where a Servant is from, but I don't want more Billy the Kids and Geronimos. They're a cowboy and a Native American, two categories exotic enough to count as original just for existing, so being a cowboy and a Native American ends up becoming their only character traits. I'll gladly take not being represented over being represented like that. Lampião is my ideal choice of Brazilian hero to be included in FGO, but if most of his profile sections are dedicated to explaining what cangaço is, I don't think it'll be worth it.

I'd say LB1 did kinda make Billy more interesting in general but Gernonimo's case is a sad one indeed.

[Deathhappens]

When Western creators do chauvinism: How culturally insensitive of them, why aren't they more diverse.

When Japanese creators do chauvinism: It's just natural they write what they know! It's a Japanese game! What did you expect?

Ah, Type Moon fanbase, never change. Or better yet, do.

"Western creator chauvinism" still covers at least half a dozen different cultures, whereas Japanese creator wank typically covers the culture of three small islands that never even invented their own alphabet.

edit: I didn't read, shame me.

[Kirishima]

Whatever the case may be, I am absolutely sure that the many fine Brazilian folk over here on BL will have plenty to say about Nasu's respect and representation of other cultures after LB7 rolls around.

I'm brazilian and have no idea who i'm supposed to look forward to if TM ever does Brazil, lol.

But in general I do not care about historical figures as much as I care about just straight up OCs and original takes so anything goes for me.

[Miyazawa_Lulu]

I too did feel a weird sense of pride when Don Quixote was released and so much love was poured into him

I feel you there. I honestly expected Avicebron/ibn Gabirol to remain the one and only Iberian peninsula rep so it (pleasantly) caught me by surprise.

I suppose expecting nothing in that regard is what makes me care more about a Servant being interesting to me design and/or writing-wise rather than about their cultures of origin.

[Coggy]

I liked Constantine before he was added to the game.

Micheal... my love...

I actually do unironically like event Michael/Constantine more than in Traum, simply because he's just kind of your bro who's really sad about what happened to his nation, which was epic.

[Byegod]

Yeah, if it was just events only and we didn't have multiple jp chapters + random jp heroes showing up frequently in other chapters, it'd be easier to stomach.

That said, I've always wished we could get more events centered around other regions. Like GudaGuda but with the Greeks, or something like that. Even Circe's event, despite being very small, was great. But this desire is less an issue with jp-centric events and more an issue with the terrible gag events like the Servantverse stuff. I'd take endless Japanese wank if it meant everything related to the servantverse was deleted from the game.

I would agree that part of the issue is when a region has always 'random jp hero vs more appropriate figure' and sometimes it feels there is no point for the character to be there.

And on the cynical part, I would argue my cynicalness is that I see some lore/justification is only there just to create a exception to japan/arturian stuff having lots of magic for there mythological/folklore periods. Which is how I always saw the island excuse for arturian myth and japan. Now you could argue the better decision would have been to never put a actual explicit date on the age of gods fading to allow wiggle room, but they did.

And I feel this is a fundamental axiom with a lot of the arguments where if your not starting or thinking from that place then your not gonna get the viewpoint, do you just accept a explanation or are you the type to think there is a subtext or bias to create a reason to do that.

[Malgos]

Basically, the Japanese-centered events are intended as a sort of "fanservice" for the Japanese fans. With perhaps the misplaced thought that this is what they want more so than all the foreign stuff they get fed in the Main Story.

So you think it's potentially a misplaced thought that the Japanese might be more hyped for Servants from their country? If so I'm somewhat inclined to agree, since I remember people noting how certain Servants like Merlin trended on twitter and while I'm sure that the same is true for Servants from their country I also think that given how Fate's origin is Fate/Stay Night that most people probably are just interested in interesting characters given how the only Servant there was Kojiro and he wasn't even "the real deal". Then again Grand Order has been, probably, growing over the years with people playing that only played Grand Order so maybe those would expect more of a focus on Japanese Servants.

Either way I just want interesting/cool/serious, plus whatever else I'm forgetting at the moment, Servants and don't really care where they are from or if they're from my country. So I can't really relate to wanting to see stuff from here. I suppose the only demerit is to that is that a lot of events are more on the joke side so I can't quite get invested as much, but that helps up saving for main story ones. Not that I really need help if I really set my mind to it like with Shirou.

[DelRey]

I would like to throw in a question from another angle, i am sure you all would be better equipped to answer than me.
Do you think that the felt lack of representation of other regions may stem from a lack of sources?
African mythology for example is really scattered due to the tribal nature and oral traditions. I like some Slavic /Baltic/Finnic Myths about gods but there is not that much that actually survived. In both cases a large amount of syncretism would be needed to create a proper mythological sphere there to work in. Thats my assumption tho and I like Age of Gods stuff.
Greek, Indian and arthurian mythos has a large corpus to work with, so representation of them is easy and a given. Due to being asian, the sources needed for any hero there seems close at hand. Taking Mandricardo as an example, what I understood he was a footnote in his story, but he was inside a large source to gather context from.

[Lily Emilio]

I would like to throw in a question from another angle, i am sure you all would be better equipped to answer than me.
Do you think that the felt lack of representation of other regions may stem from a lack of sources?
African mythology for example is really scattered due to the tribal nature and oral traditions. I like some Slavic /Baltic/Finnic Myths about gods but there is not that much that actually survived. In both cases a large amount of syncretism would be needed to create a proper mythological sphere there to work in. Thats my assumption tho and I like Age of Gods stuff.

It is a factor and a barrier true. However I do think that Nasu and co can fill in the "blanks" by looking into the surviving traditions of such cultures and try to make their own spin, I think it doesn't have to be 100% accurate as long as it has care and capture certain characteristics of said culture. If Eiichiro Oda was able to find the mythical figure Joyboy brought by West African slaves to the Caribbean from "Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were" and integrated said tale into a key part of One Piece, then I expect Nasu to also be able to find obscure figures like that. In fact, the lack of too detailed sources might also be an advantage for the writers to throw in more of their own spins on the subject, be it good or terrible. Sefar was one of such cases. Nasu turns that Fish god of Sefar painting into a huge turning point of the history of the world.

[astagadragon]

Overrepresentation of Japanese figures in a Japanese game, go figure...

I for one don't care one shit about where the Servants are from, I only care about their design or characterization. I don't really care if they're from my country/region/race/skin color whatsoever

[Kamera]

My reaction to that information

[Delastogos]

I feel you there. I honestly expected Avicebron/ibn Gabirol to remain the one and only Iberian peninsula rep so it (pleasantly) caught me by surprise.

I suppose expecting nothing in that regard is what makes me care more about a Servant being interesting to me design and/or writing-wise rather than about their cultures of origin.

Same.

It kinda makes you see each release more neutrally because it's directly tied to you but it's nice getting a Don case from time to time.

[Byegod]

Meanwhile the rainbow snake is a loli in a dead series and probably wont be treated as a super fucking ancient deity older than most of any other archeologically

[Reign]

a dead series

s-shut up ;_;

[Synaptic Star]

Alexa, play a requiem for Requiem.

[Ubergeneral]

I would like to throw in a question from another angle, i am sure you all would be better equipped to answer than me.
Do you think that the felt lack of representation of other regions may stem from a lack of sources?
African mythology for example is really scattered due to the tribal nature and oral traditions. I like some Slavic /Baltic/Finnic Myths about gods but there is not that much that actually survived. In both cases a large amount of syncretism would be needed to create a proper mythological sphere there to work in. Thats my assumption tho and I like Age of Gods stuff.
Greek, Indian and arthurian mythos has a large corpus to work with, so representation of them is easy and a given. Due to being asian, the sources needed for any hero there seems close at hand. Taking Mandricardo as an example, what I understood he was a footnote in his story, but he was inside a large source to gather context from.

No not really. There is enough to go off of and he can just make up a story about figures he finds. An event in FGO has one or two new servants anyways so he doesn't need a whole complete cycle of literature to pull from. Lastly servants don't have to be anywhere close to their time or location, example, Jin Ke in rome and Karna in America.

[Byegod]

Usually with sources, I feel like there is often a sudden dropoff in terms of how much knowledge/well known even within its own culture or country so I dont think it would make much of a difference on a macro scale? Like the stuff thats hard to find is usually also hard to find in the native language?

But dont take what im saying as gosple and its more experience on trying to find stuff on native stuff here in aus

[Kamera]

Spanish Missionaries after burning Aztec codices worth three millennia of knowledge: "Man why is it so hard to find Native sources in Native languages?"

[DelRey]

Usually with sources, I feel like there is often a sudden dropoff in terms of how much knowledge/well known even within its own culture or country so I dont think it would make much of a difference on a macro scale? Like the stuff thats hard to find is usually also hard to find in the native language?

But dont take what im saying as gosple and its more experience on trying to find stuff on native stuff here in aus

i am not so sure about that. going from what I know from our brazilian friends here, there are enough sources for brazilian folklore but none are avaliable in english for example. Of course the researchers could just request from native speaker, but seeing their German in Lobo and other servants makes me doubt they consult anything else than google translate