@Barighm: I swapped around between each difficulty mode at different points (as I always do when reviewing any game that lets players change the difficulty on the fly.) It's an important thing to do when the option is there because it can completely change how the game needs to be played. Some modes can end up "working" better than others (as I touched on in the review.)
In CSH in particular, the easiest mode doesn't really give you reason to engage with a lot of the components that make it most interesting. Frankly, it's a little boring. Even the 2nd easiest mode is just a bit too soft. If I had only played it at that level I can't imagine I would have found much to praise in those mechanics.
@maneljoao: I'm just going to link a timestamped Youtube video here (a little NSFW) and leave it at that, because it's probably the most efficient way of showing exactly what I meant by tasteless.
@maneljoao: I absolutely stand by what many other commenters have said on this matter, and I'm not going to engage with the parts of your argument that boil down to "the way people feel about X is wrong" because you're as entitled to like gratuitous objectification as others are entitled not to, but I would like to clarify my stance on this as relating to Devilian.
Speaking only for myself of course, I don't necessarily mind it when the ladies in a game are hyper-sexy so long as the designs really earn it by leaning into that in a way that is aesthetically unique -- and ideally open that up to both sexes, because even if you're going to claim that the majority of the audience is men, don't assume they're all straight. TERA is a decent example of this. It does the sexy character shtick but it leans into it and often allows for scantily clad dudes as well, while the armour designs are super fanciful and interesting. They put some serious work into selling that sexiness, and I can absolutely appreciate that. By comparison, my problem with how female bodies are often displayed in Devilian is that it's the most bog-standard sexualization ever. It's not conceptually nor visually interesting, and essentially feels like an aesthetic checkbox was being ticked. My criticism here is as much that it's tacky and unearned as it is that it's just boring, as I mentioned near the end of the review.
And again, I say that as someone who really likes many of the skimpy armour designs in TERA. I'm not exactly looking down on this game from some boob-hating pedestal, even in the context of absurdly impractical MMO gear. Based on your first post where you pointed out that I am in fact a woman this might come as a surprise, but it honestly shouldn't. I promise, lots of female game critics enjoy a little artful objectification now and then, even while remaining willing to criticize it as part of a broader cultural concerns. We're humans, not sex-hating robots, and just like anyone else we can often see beauty and appeal in something even when there's a larger problem with it. I really love soda and a can every couple days won't kill me, but I'm not going to pretend it's healthy for me in a greater context, either.
Regardless, I mentioned the point knowing it would be a negative for many readers -- as it would have been for me if I were considering playing the game for the first time. If it doesn't bug you then that's great and it's very easy for you to ignore those parts of the review while also respecting the fact that it might be information other readers will appreciate having... And also understanding that even as a woman who writes about games I might have a slightly more nuanced position here beyond "boobs = bad!" :)
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