Kobayashi himself said it.
Source:
https://www.siliconera.com/sengoku-...-on-how-to-make-action-games-appeal-to-women/
Just so we understand Kobayashi correctly, his goal was:
> Make action games appeal to women, without "resorting to gender stereotyped games".
Ways to achieve this, according to Kobayashi:
> Remove the blood and gore that the series is known to have, because "
girls don't like that".
> Make a "
nice, sweet guy" [Nero] because "
most girls like [that]", also "
tone him down a bit" and "
make him more of a smart type" for the same reasons.
But then, per Tatsuya Yoshikawa, Yuichiro Hiraki, Hiroyuki Nara, and Bingo Morihashi:
> Decline ideas where Nero is actually depicted as a "Sherlock Holmes-type" and switch out of calling him Rodin because that's
too smart. Give him a simple name with simple reasoning. Also make him "
a violent character, one brimming with power" and given a "
momentary spark of rage, brutality, and insanity", because previous depictions of "
refined, noble nuance" in his character was
not well-received by the team -- ironically making the end result "
someone like the Hulk".
> Make Dante buff, while saying "
girls probably won't be into [big overly muscular guys]". In fact, be so concerned about the men's features, primarily Nero's, seeming "
delicate by Western audiences" that multiple adjustments are made to Nero's physique to make him "
more muscular" and "
beefy", then settle on giving him a physique similar to DMC3 Dante, who
looks like this. Instead of just
toning Dante down so Nero would look less slender in comparison, or something.
> Make the women in the game serve no purpose to the plot and bland in character but tick all the sex-appeal boxes. Gloria "
is sexy, and that’s pretty much it. She really wasn’t necessary". Kyrie is "
cookie-cutter", "
not very memorable", "
created almost as a goddess" but
"is reasonably tall, sensual, and [has] huge breasts" as "
a matter of course". Lady's design emphasizes "
the fact that she’s not wearing a bra" and "
The monitor at my workstation constantly had either Lady’s cleavage or short shorts displayed, because I was working on those aspects the whole time…" All because "
Female characters play very important roles, so even when they don’t appear much, you’ve got to work hard on them" and "
That’s just how it is when it comes to sex appeal".
Destroying characterization for the sake of sex appeal = appealing to women.
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