Here's Exactly What Has Changed With Fire Emblem Fates' "Skinship" Petting Mode

Oh thank goodness. They kept the feature in tact, just without rubbing. it's basically just like the Barracks in Awakening now.

Right on.

I'll take it, they kept the important individual character features and removed some of the "superficial" sounds and some of the risky dialogue. It is obvious that it has been changed even if you look at it solely in the english version, but this is a really good compromise.

Who are these games aimed at, apart from the Japanese teenager?

Both videos are pathetic, really, and I think this publicity will result in lost sales. How old are these cartoon characters ment to be?

If they didn't take away the benefits that this feature brings to the gameplay, I honestly couldn't care less about petting removed.

Thank god that trashy, degrading feature is gone from my Fire Emblem. Fire Emblem has never been about stupid stuff like that, and the people who complained about it's removal have probably never played a Fire Emblem game and hopefully never will. Glad they kept the benefits, though.

People are still going to complain nonetheless, since they won't be able to creepily caress their virtual waifu. I mean, it's the whole point of the game right?
...
What do you mean it's a tactical RPG

Thank god I've got Nintendo to baby me

How come it's okay to rub our pokemon, but not our girlfriends in fire emblem? It's pretty much the same thing as petting our pokemon in X and Y. So why was it removed? Personally I'd much rather rub my girlfriend's boobs than my pokemon.

@Bryon15
http://img.memecdn.com/pokemon-amie_o_2413021.jpg
XD

That English dialog is kind of cringy. Wish they kept the Japanese.

@FierceRagnar I'm moderately sure that marriage, children and incest have been featured in the SNES games as plot and gameplay elements - precisely the reason why they were not officially localized.

Or are you one of those people who thinks the (entirely skippable) queerbaiting and eugenics aspect made Awakening less of a strategy game?

but... I want to pet them ... ._.

damm, the first video is disgusting, the "orgasm" face on a game aimed for kids and teens (you're an adult with teens habits! get over it) it's sick.
Glad it's gone

Woah....that's some real matured stuff Nintendo was trying there for that mini game! Its actually a bit....creepy.

For once, I think Nintendo of America censored it right this time. Hey, I'm not complaining either way. Its just that I don't often see Nintendo games do stuff like this and I'm used to it.

Could be worse. Still seems like a bit of a needless change, but you still get what's going on, and get the benefits. Good enough.

<.< >.> ...In fact, now you're left to your imagination as to what's happened to improve the relationship...

@Mogster
The problem is that it doesn't mean that the feature was never there in the latest Fire Emblem game. It was there in the Japanese version and as things are continuing, it probably will be there in the next game >.<

And that is what I dislike more, the way Intelligent Systems has been continuing the series with these "extra" features (not the core strategic FE gameplay which is still fine). And no censorship will change that.

I am not hoping for FE remakes from now on...

More importantly, when's it coming on in Europe?

Sounds like they improved it. Original feature is creepy as hell.

@Dezzy Yeah!!!???

What the heck was this stuff in there for in the first place? Who gets off on "petting" people's faces with a plastic pen anyway?

I don't remember any of this crap in Fire Emblem on consoles!

I for one am glad that ridiculous petting feature is removed.

I'll let you know how I feel. I feel it's ridiculous that time is spent on implementing such a feature in the first place, and double ridiculous that they should find reason to not even let people have it.

If you need to rub something while you play this game, just rub your "you know what"

Booo

So... yeah. Why did they feel the need to change it again? Seriously. Same exact thing only without rubbing a stylus on the touch-screen. Was it really so HORRIBLY OFFENSIVE (mainly to people who were never going to buy the game in the first place, let's be honest) that it was worth the time and effort to block off the actual skinship part?
Pointless censorship at its finest ladies and gentlemen.

@Mogster My exact thoughts.

So it's even more pointless now? Could've just gone with the same old barracks stuff from before, but I guess people wanted the Live2D animations.
But anyway, Fire Emblem is no longer Fire Emblem but a shell of a game that happens to have the Fire Emblem name. So really, does it matter what features it has and doesn't have? The games won't be as good as they used to be anyway, so what harm is there in shoving in whatever weird feature they want?

Sounds good to me. Still get to build relationships, just without a dumb rubbing mini-game.

@Annoying_NPC I feel like your not grasping that different cultures find different things acceptable.

The "petting" game looks a bit too much in the original video. Just think of the amount of times you'd be rubbing multiple characters in order to improve relationships? I'd rather spend those minutes leveling up my squad etc.

@Mogster
1up for you!

I felt weird enough petting Pokemon in Pokemon X, and especially after seeing a video of it in action, I'm plenty happy to see that it's not a feature in the localized Fates. I don't think rubbing characters would in any way add to my experience with the game, and the sounds and looks were frankly just creepy to me. No loss as far as I'm concerned.

DANG IT, I WANT TO FONDLE MY WAIFU

But... but... how is a generation of helpless nerds going to learn how to court women through gentle caresses now?

https://www.change.org/p/nintendo-do-not-censor-fire-emblem-fates-for-it-s-worldwide-release

I've seen more news articles about this weird stuff than all the awesome stuff this game has going for it (not this site's fault, it's just everywhere). If i wasn't already a fan, hearing about a game that seems to be about petting your imaginary cartoon girlfriend would not sound interesting to me.

@TheJackal A petition won't help, they've already censored it.
Personally, I think people are getting WAY too wound up over this.

Far too much short sighted rage from people with these localization changes.

@Bryon15 If we really need to explain to you the difference between girlfriends and pets, I feel sorry for any woman who ever has to interact with you.

@FierceRagnar marriage and having kids has always been a thing in Fire Emblem games. Go back and look at the first couple games in the series. Picking good spouses was KEY to making the second half of the games remotely manageable when you had to start playing with the child crew.

Whether you like it or not, it was a mini game and i suppose its difficulty improve during the game. It was always better than clicking on a single button. Now the "improve relationships" feature is rendered completely useless, they should have better made it autoleveling with the xp points.
Too bad censorship is only widening the cultural gap, yet another forthcoming meme we will not share

@TheJackal HAHAHA! Yeah...good luck with that...

What the F did I just watch, Not buying it.

Oh yeah I wasn't buying it to start with anyways since I don't care for the Fire Emblem series and also because I don't own a 3DS console.

Still extremely unhappy about this, but... whatever. Nintendo's not going to change it back now, and at least the Live2D art wasn't entirely wasted. I'll weigh my anticipation for the game (which is considerable) against my annoyance with Nintendo (which is also considerable) and see which one wins out when I get my SE later in the month.

@mowerdude Ouch dude, careful with that edge. Also, no one cares.

I don't know… I think the petting video is hilarious and I would have gotten quite a lot of good chuckles out of it.

What a shame it's gone. Awakening had some powerful dramatic moments, but it also had its share of silly support dialogue as well, and that did not, in any way, detract from the game's more serious themes.

So no Japanese audio? No petting? If I wanted to play a boring Western game, there are plenty of other options available. The relationship-building aspect of the game is one of the key reasons why I was looking forward to it. Sure, the battling's fun and all, but the character building makes those battles feel all the more immersive and rewarding. Well, that seems to have gone out the window. -.-

Meh, I still hate it when changes are made during localisation because it's deemed not appropriate.

However, I've calmed down from when I first heard they were changing content. The changes made to Fates so far are unlikely to alter my decision of whether to buy this.

So they have removed a rubbing mini game. SO WHAT!! This is a tactical RPG not Warioware touched.

The story not changed, the gameplay hasn't changed, the graphics and relationship building haven't changed.

Talk about making a Mountain out of a molehill.

i still don't care for this thing, why was it in this game is still beyond me. imo while I don't care for this mini-game, I'm glad that it's gone (heck, at least, it in the freaking game, people, be glad they didn't completely remove it. )
other then this. I plan to get the game soon

@LinkSword Seem's like you care because you responded.

Also What I don't get is why alot of people is complaining about this it really isn't that bad of a change. I guess it's just like all the people complaining about Twilight Princess HD not having Wii motion controls just pointless complaining nonsense.

@The_BAAD_Man
It definitely has been blown WAY out of proportion. I mean, I'm really upset about it, but really, it's a super minor thing. People buy Fire Emblem games for the tactical RPG gameplay, not for a waifu dating sim.

@Adamario
LOL hilarious.

Devil's Third, Xenoblade Chronicle X, Final Frame: MoBW, and now Fire Emblem Fates. All recent games that get more buzz on the localization process than the gameplay itself which is left completely unchanged.

Still better than localization in the early days, in which case I mean games that NA and/or EU never receive at all. Some people uses the same intensity for a game getting canned for a minor game change like a on/off switch.

@Adamario I said something similar a while back. Amazed that they don't understand this most basic of concepts. Petting pets and petting people. One of those is not normal, hence this 'debacle'.

Fire Emblem's become such a weird otaku-centric waifu game nowadays... -_-'

@mowerdude

I agree.
People complained when it was revealed that Fates had the petting game and other features that supposedly turned the game into a "waifu sim".
People complained when the female characters were revealed to be too busty and had scenes showing zoomed in breasts.
People complained when it was revealed the traditional weapons limited usage numbers were removed.

Now people are complaining that the very "WAIFU" stuff they complained about is being toned down and/or removed.

People have no right to complain about the lack of Wii controls in TP HD, after they riled against it in 2006 as the most vile thing to happen to gaming ever!.

We can't have anything nice anymore

@Bryon15
Oi! Watch your language!
This isn't youtube.

@Adamario "Whips and chains belong in the bedroom not in the circus"~Peta

It's partially too late to save grace. People are going to refer to FE Fates as "That Nintendo game where you grope women and children" just because of all the coverage it's gotten.

@Mogster Good God I sure do love it when people who didn't have anything to do with something call it "theirs" with no sense of humility

@FantasiaWHT Boom. Right to the heart of the issue.

@Xenocity I think no motion controls in TP HD is the best option, you can play the original with motion controls on your Wii U if you want. Without TP HD, you can't play TP with a traditional control scheme on Wii U so traditional control scheme only makes the most sense.

@AVahne In what way is it "a shell of a game"? It still has all the tactical stuff Fire Emblem has always had.

@Grumblevolcano
The point is a good number of people are up in arms over the lack of Wii control options in TP HD, across the gaming sites and forums.

There is nothing wrong with including motion controls in TP HD as an option, for those who want it.

But Nintendo purposely didn't include it due to all the hate it received back in 2006.

The point is gamers are overreacting to everything recently, to detriment of the games.

(Actually I'd like Skyward Sword's, Sword controls to be an option in Zelda games. )

To be fair, the actual rubbing part was totally unecessary.

@Bryon15 Yo playa tone down the language you weirdo! What you said is very mean. Super mean in fact.People these days

I suppose this is unnecessary, but I do wonder to what extent do we tolerate western editing? In the case of Xenoblade it was alright because, I mean, it was a 13-year-old, but in fatal Frame the replacement of the bikini really butchered the writers' message.

So yeah, it's perfectly justified, but we can't just be apologetic about the matter either.

@Bryon15 Your Pokemon are akin to pets. They didn't moan or make suggestive comments when you petted them and most healthy same people assign no sexuality to their Pokemon so that really was like a virtual pet. These are virtual people. I'd think the difference is obvious.

This is creepy, and I'm glad it is taken out. People who like this stuff should not have a place in a free society, and should be kept away from Children.

Pokemon as many people said before is different as they are like animals.

@TwilightOniAngel Can't you see the irony in your comment. Hypocrite.
I think that calling someone a "weirdo" is super mean, and you should tone down that horrible language.
How would you like it if you were called a weirdo by a Hypocrite?

As everyone else is saying, this is weird, nonsensical, creepy, out of place, and a blatant artificial game lengthener and shouldn't have been in the game to begin with. NOA finally did something I agree with by removing it.

@Kylo_Ren "Can't you see the irony in your comment." That was the point idiot. I mean very smart talented random guy Thumbs up for you!

@FierceRagnar are you trying to tell me that the marriage system in Awakening isn't there for gameplay purposes? Did you not realize that in the second half of Awakening you use the children of your original units? Did we play the same game? Did you play the game?

That video was very.....disturbing. Good thing they took it out, for it has no place in a tactical RPG.

@Xenocity "People complained when it was revealed the traditional weapons limited usage numbers were removed."
People complained about that too, are there no limits?

Personally I mark that as a win since it was troublesome buying and restocking my best/favorite weapon over again in Awakening. Then again I play and support casual mode so my opinion don't hold much light as the "hardcore" fans.

Whatever I feel personally, I can absolutely understand taking it out. Can't speak for other countries, but the UK is re-evaluating its attitude to sexual abuse amidst high-profile allegations and the realisation that the problem is more widespread than ever thought before. True that this is a long, long way from sexual abuse, but including a petting feature like that in a game on a system owned by many children does make it incompatible with current poltico-social drives to limit exposure to anything that might be deemed inappropriate. These things are always in flux, but for now I think it's the right decision.

I thought the Tharja swimsuit modification in Awakening was an example of unnecessary censorship. However, I"m totally fine with Nintendo removing the creepy human petting mini-games along with the drug induced sexual attraction modification of one of the characters from the western versions of Fates. I always thought stuff like this is a bit line crossing in video games.

This is the last good SRPG series and people are complaining a childish useless feature has been removed. Please fanboys go away. You are destroying videogames diversity.

I thought the rubbing part was funny lol. I always had a problem when a game gets censored, edited, or whatever but this is no big loss. Anyways, I better go pre order. I didn't pre order Awakenings and couldn't find it in stores at the time so I bought it digitally taking up way too much space. I don't want to repeat this with Fates, so off to Gamespot I go.

@bitleman People are complaining that a feature has been removed, yes. Gaming as a whole is a childish and useless endeavor, yes. Censorship protects video game diversity? Hell no.

So basically they removed the mini hentai game out of it. That's sounds good to me!

That petting minigame was creepy. Pokemon amie its fine, you can equal that to when you come home, sit down to watch a movie and you Pet your act/dog if it wanders near you. But this was crodsing the line, It was creepy even by japanese standards. What in the world were IS thinking?

@Mogster sometimes people have to watch what they advocate for... Also, this kind of localization is dishonest regardless. I don't care if (a relatively small) group of people are offended, neither should anyone else. They (may have) removed a character for heaven sakes, just because some nimrod that cannot read Japanese decided to defame Nintendo.

@bitleman

Heh-heh, good point that that FE is the last great SRPG series. Sad but way too true. Many of my favz or all time are SRPGs and its great that Nintendo still supports this genre.

@Fath
Gaming as a whole is useless and childish? You kiddin' me? The average age for a gamer is 30-37 (depending on the source). I think there's more than enough evidence to suggest that gaming is now a movement that can no longer be dismissed as "just for kids".

We need a talking point on localization @Damo.

@bitleman ahem, you are destroying videogame diversity.

Just waiting for that release date Nintendo EU Let me know when the official UK store has the limited edition up for sale! I'll be there straight away

@Fath you just gotta be trolling, do you really believe "gaming is a childish endeavor".

Some people are seriously complaining about the lack of waggle controls in TP HD? A cheap version with waggle controls already exists!

Im ok with it just as long as the game is as good if not better than Awakening.

@TwilightOniAngel Sure it was, it just shows how immature you are. You're the scum of the Earth, and I don't have to waste my time on Trolls like you, all I can say is get a life instead of calling people offensive names on a Nintendo website.

Of course, people thought the scenes would be completely removed.

Nice to see we will have this. The petting thing was weird to begin with.

Let's face it, it sounds completely weird and definitely something that would not have been considered as a feature had it been developed in any country besides Japan. It's not a surprise that it's been taken out, but at least the rest of it was left alone.

@Kylo_Ren You say you don't waste time on scum of the earth aka trolls.Hence the name ONI. But you just wrote all that towards me.How does that work sir? Stop Being So Sensitive..This Is Just The Internet.

Does anyone know why they aren't making it dual audio? Now I have to double dip for the whole trilogy.

@TwilightOniAngel
I may be sensitive, but I hate it when people call other people names.

@Kylo_Ren "and I don't have to waste my time on Trolls like you"

The moaning and such as you rub them in the original is cringey as hell

@ultraraichu
You may like it.
But it doesn't stop the fact that there has been a major uproar at every turn with this game and TP HD.

@Annoying_NPC Yes, it is that horribly offensive, and I'm certainly glad I can still get the benefits without dealing with this stuff when I buy the game.

I may actually get the game now.

People really overreacted to this. You can survive without petting waifus, and if you still want to, I'm fairly certain there are other ways than FE

Apparently, the suggestive language (sometimes between siblings) that come as a result of the petting wasn't the problem. I like this change. I think this is good. But for the life of me, I cannot comprehend why on Earth Nintendo of America has such a huge problem with face touching.
Potentially incestuous relationships are fine as long as there's no face touching.

Eh, fine with the change. Any creepiness aside, I hate games that make me turn the touchscreen into a scratch-off lottery ticket. Looking at YOU, Star Fox Command...

It could be worse

@FierceRagnar Glad to read I am not the only one who liked the first character-designs style (FC/SFC era) and the next one (GBA).
I was not fond of the DS remakes redesigns from Shirow of Dominion/GitS fame. And this mangaka who works on FE since Awakening delivers characters who are too "modern" (for a medieval fantasy).
Note: but I like what he drew for Bubuki Buranki (a CGI anime who started last month)

@Ryu_Niiyama I never saw this news, where did you read it?

But... Hinata..

Does that means everyone is okay with NoA "streamlining" more games from now on? Cool.

I dont think that was changed because it would offend anyone, I think it was changed because outside of Japan people will think this is weird. I mean, I'm not creeped out by it, its more just comical than anything else. However, I think it would be better if the overly sexual tones were taken out. I used pokemon amie, its fun to see how they react, I love that volbeat shakes his butt, it shows their personality. "Petting" or whatever could be a cool way to interact with characters and learn personality, but with a human it maybe shouldn't be so sexual. Maybe some other type of interaction. Anyway, in the US most people would just think this is weird.

I'm glad they removed it, it's weird and adds nothing to the gameplay. I'm surprised anyone wants to do it, seems needlessly time consuming for something weird. Just get that Senran Kagura Bust game if you're into this stuff, i think you can rub them in that game.

If your 3DS is below a certain firmware you can just get the japanese version and the fan translation, I won't help but know that it is an option.

I wonder if anyone here that thinks this is creepy has ever touched a woman, rhetorical question I don't need your ego protecting replies.

Not going to effect me because I'm not buying the game but I find it hilarious that some people find this offensive. It's like the mere fact that GTA exists drives some people up a damn wall. Don't like the feature? Don't use it. I wouldn't if I was buying the game and it was in there but still, if some people want to use if for whatever reason, who gives a damn? The stupid sh*t people get their panties in a bunch over these days is beyond ridiculous. All the dumba$$ery that takes place in the world and people cry over things so easily avoided. I wish people got half as angry over broken a$$ $60 games as they do over stuff like this. But no, you get p*ssed that your $60 purchase is full of bugs or has an online component that's screwed to hell and you're 'entitled.' Gamers need to get their heads out of their backsides.

It just saddens me that extreme violence is so prevalent in western games, yet anything to do with affection or sensuality makes people uncomfortable. It's a strange thing that I don't think I'll ever understand.

Personally, I like Nintendo because they're wholesome, but my sensibilities are more in line with Nintendo of Japan than NoA or (sadly) NoE - I don't think they'd put anything in a game if it was morally wrong. NoA's recent censorship of Project Zero/Fatal Frame, Xenoblade Chronicles X and Fire Emblem Fates seems unnecessarily prudish to me, rather than there actually being anything unwholesome about the games in their Japanese form.

I just want to know how much of the game budget went into those models/animations. For such a minor, side thing, it seems like they paid a pretty penny for those. I'm glad to see some of the weird-fanservice junk getting removed from the game, not that that will improve the core gameplay mechanics. Awakening was definitely a case of a series, more or less, selling its soul for popularity, but now it seems like the series is just going off the deep end. I'll remain cautiously optimistic, about the series, but I get the feeling I'll be stepping off.

@Rei http://nintendoeverything.com/no-dual-audio-in-fire-emblem-fates/

I'd already imported white kingdom/birthright but figured since I got the SE in the US I wouldn't need the rest of them. Guess not.

After seeing the video I'm really happy they changed it. I totally did not need to have a minigame where you poke Tharja and she makes bedroom noises in the middle of my strategy RPG.

@GoomyLife The same can be said for the folks that freaked out because it was in there in the first place. Calling it waifu simulator while ignoring the fact that the tactical gameplay was not only still in place but was still the focus of the game because, you know, it is a FE game.

Why is it creepy when Nintendo does it but not when Sega do it?

Meanwhile, the Vita version of Dead or Alive Extreme 3 allows you to jiggle and squeeze the characters' breasts using the touch screen.

The girl in the top video looks like such a creep pfft. I know people don't usually call girls a creep but that fits her imo

@DarthNocturnal
Yes the game tried to be a bit anime-ish with many stereotypes found in generic anime interspersed with character archetypes that have always been a part of Fire Emblem. This combined with the fact that the support system now has to end at marriage for everyone.

And I found the combat to be toned down in comparison to the older games. The game spammed units to make us lose instead of slightly more intellgent maps, pair up was broken (but necessary on Lunatic) although they fixed that this game, and Fates removed weapon usage. Light magic is pretty much gone as well.

Pair that with these "extra" features that really don't belong in a FE game. Although as I said, just because they were removed in the overseas release doesn't remove the fact that it was there in the original game and might be a part of the franchise (ugh) from now on.

I will probably get the game after a year or two after I finish my current games to see how the combat has been improved from Awakening, my main request. I might just finish my Radiant Dawn hard mode run till then.

I will totally be satisfied if they make a remaster (not remake!) of the Tellius series a la TP HD and release it on Wii U. With the stat boosts and support transfers intact. And maybe put the extended script (hard mode) in RD this time round.

Damn, people are really get worked up over this. They just removed a part where you rub something for a few seconds. Hardly something to care much about. I guess people aren't mad about the feature that was removed, but the just the fact that something was removed at all. In that sense, I do agree that removing features is lame.

The fact of the matter is that this feature has no impact on the game at all. Unless rubbing a virtual woman was really that important to building a relationship in a game to someone, I see no reason to complain here. Honestly, this is just a side activity from the main game. While marriage and relationships have been important n Fire Emblem, "touching" them has never been. It's about making them work on the battlefield and interact with each other.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

@Malachite
She is totally supposed to be creepy. She is inspired from an equally creepy character in Awakening. Yes they re-used 3+ designs in this game.

@R-L-A-George seems to me based on this thread a relatively small amount of people think this feature should exist/be in the localization. Hm. Considering the amount of people who come out against any 'censorship' in these threads, I wonder where this fits in your narrative?

@Coldpancakes I'm against the changes because I don't want the kind of people that think "I don't like it, so nobody should!" deciding what does and doesn't go through localization. I could care less if what's happening is "cringey" or "creepy" because I'm playing a 3DS game featuring anime characters and cheesy dialogue about friendship and bonds and war. I'm not playing this in public or while the family is around, I'm playing it when I'm alone with nothing to distract me so I can take in the whole experience or with friends that also enjoy this stuff for fun and discussing all the stuff we did in our playthroughs.

@BRAINFOX I'm with you there, if only because the recent string of censorship is starting to cause problems with escalating tensions, as people in this comment section seem eager to point out. And that says nothing of what they'll be censoring out in the future. (clarification edit: in future games, I doubt anything more will be censored out of this game, but then again I'm not really following it)

I don't care either way about the minigame itself, for only one reason: I'm not really into Fire Emblem. That said, I do hope it stays a feature in future releases, if only to make people tired of seeing it censored out and finally put an end to said censoring, which should open a path to less censorship overall.

@Ryu_Niiyama Don't know. Nintendo being Nintendo I guess. Japanese audio for FE is a MUST! Things aren't looking good for Genei Ibunroku #FE...

@sonicmeerkat Well these kind of features are moslty enjoyed by otakus. And we all know otaku means in japanese "alpha males super experienced with women".

It's funny. When I linked the video of the original Japanese footage, I was yelled at a lot because of how "disgusting" it was. And now here we are, with NintendoLife itself doing the same in my stead. Man, I thought that there were many more torches and pitchforks when it came to a totally innocuous petting minigame!

I'm glad Nintendo at least showed the 3D models with honesty, instead of cutting the sequences altogether.

@crystalorbie I hear ya. The main reason I'm bummed about it being removed is the loss of trying to come up with the context for these characters coming into Corrin's room for a face rubbing. I could just imagine Corrin faking an assassination attempt to get Xander's attention and burst into his room only to hear "Enjoy your face rubbing bro." before the minigame starts and Xander just stands there taking it with an annoyed look on his face.
Lack of dual audio also sucks because the Japanese have an all star dub and we get barely any word on who's voicing who.
@bitleman There is also a massive amount of female otaku as well and many subdivisions of it too. I remember the director (or maybe writer) of Persona 2 Innocent Sin mentioning that Jun was included as a possible love interest to pander to the fujoshi crowd.

@AlexSora89 I feel like the main reason people are siding with the changes is because of news outlets making it seem like they are right to do so. I remember the Fatal Frame V bonus costumes change had "Out with the smut" or something like that as the article tagline on here and people were acting like it was unlike a Tecmo Koei game to ever have something like that even in a Nintendo published game looks at Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge.

http://33.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls6vrtnhHC1qafrh6.jpg

@whodatninja
Ouch. I just found out that the game is not Dual Audio unlike Awakening.... Why... why!! First Xenoblade X and now this...

And as you said, bad news for the Genei Ibun Roku #FE localization -_-

@R-L-A-George @Turbo857 We slay foes and monsters, perform dazzling feats of acrobatics and puzzle-solving, save princesses and paupers, go on all sorts of adventures both serious and storybook, and at the end of the day, haven't moved from our seat, haven't impacted the world in the slightest, and as often as not, haven't even talked to another human being.

Gaming is a profoundly useless endeavor - and if that's how we like to spend our time after a long day at work paying the bills, there's nothing wrong with that! But in that light, all attempts at damning a game as childish or frivolous are moot - a petting minigame in an SRPG holds no more or less intrinsic importance at the end of the day than any other part of that game or any other. If it's enjoyed, that's enough, and who am I, you, or NoA to pass judgement on what people enjoy?

This news doesn't make the censorship any more acceptable or any less irritating. Sure it was a slightly weird, and funny feature, but that's the type of thing that makes Japanese games interesting - you get stuff that would never be included in a western game. Sometimes it's something great sometimes not, but I can't understand why anyone would actually be celebrating the removal of content from a game and the white washing of its cultural identity.

@Kevlar44 : You can't rub them in that game.

@Ryu_Niiyama : It depends on the contracts doesn't it? Sometimes the Japanese Voice actors have contracts saying their voice can only be used in Japan. Maybe that's how it was this time, or maybe the games are just so much bigger they don't have any space. I don't know.

Funny. I'm 95% positive Xenoblade's censorship reduced sales but this one might have actually increased them. People really hated this feature.

This seems to be one of those weird internet things. Reading through the comments, there are more people saying "It's silly how many people are outraged about this" than people actually being outraged about this.

@Dezzy I know right? I've seen hardly anyone who was upset on this article. Like at least 70%(I'm sure it's more like 85% or higher) are all for the removal. It was a bit different on another website I visited though.

Huh. Yeah, seeing the reaction on websites that aren't Nintendo-centric actually leads credence to the Nintendo fanboy argument. Here everyone is in agreement that it was good to remove it. Elsewhere people are a lot more split, though on the website I visited people are mostly just complaining about the lack of Dual Audio. It's funny the different bias you get in different websites. The other one was kind of weab so I wouldn't say they're not fanboys in their own way.

Thank goodness, now I can play the game fully without having to do this embarrassing cringey hentai crap. Getting the game for sure now.

boo!!! screw this censorship! i was gonna have fun being creepy in public with my 3ds on my lap screen facing away from me so they can see me stroking the old man. screw it i'm not getting the game anymore, too much bull. i'm okay without the gay cure thing but the full experience isn't there without petting and all the extra charges you gotta make just for alternate dialog(the paid paths and dlc from the beginning).

@TheLastLugia who plays games to be normal? especially in RPGs where we just select a move. even pac man is weird.

@Kylo_Ren you sure are awfully quick to claim that character as an avatar. ya don't see a way that being called weird could be a complement? there are so many people but so few ideas. screw blending in! the weird are those with courage to be interesting.
#fishmilkingtoothbrush

@FierceRagnar Are you actually serious? Judging by what you just wrote, I can pretty much see that you're not a veteran at all. Awakening and Fates aren't the first Fire Emblem games with marriage or children, and the support dialogues have always been an integral part of Fire Emblem. The games have always aimed to make you care about the characters and be as openminded as possible about features like marriage which make perfect sense in this kind of game. Sure, the petting minigame was horrible, but they didn't really have to remove it. They should just include an option to remove it when doing the my room interaction, if the player didn't want to see it.

@FierceRagnar I read. I understood. You have no idea what you're talking about. Shazzam.

@ancientlii ok?

@Coldpancakes just because they think it shouldn't exist, it doesn't mean they demand dishonest translations and the game to be censored. We all know, if the general audience doesn't like that feature. It will never be seen in future games. I think the intention "since it was popular in pokemon and people know these are fictional characters, why not fire emblem.". It's a weird goofy feature like the " hubba tester" in FE:A.

@Fath Useless how? 1. Most of us grew up on educational games. 2. People who play games work together better in the workplace, even if perfect strangers. 3. They keep your mind flexible and young, among other benefits.

All I want to do is pet my anime waifu!!! WTF NINTENDO?!?!?!? You could've made a dream come true....

Well, good to know. Still a bummer though, but I guess the game couldn't pass T rating if they included this, sooo... at the end of the day, I'll prefer Fire Emblem selling better by approaching wider audience. Dual audio is something I wished they kept though, I played Awakening twice, once with Japanese and the other with English, and I loved the different experience with both.

@FierceRagnar @Mogster

Uhh, I've played almost all of the Fire Emblem games, and though it hasn't been in most of them, marriage and children are definitely not new to the series. My personal favorite, 4, has a very basic children/inheritance system that I'd gladly take over the new stuff.

Other than that though, it's had a bunch of other, much worse content throughout the series. Why are marriage and children so bad compared to genocide, incest and murder? You know, the "traditional Fire Emblem" experience. Well, whatever. I don't get it, honestly, hahah. I don't mean to come off as rude, either, but you sound really silly to me when you look at it objectively.

On the article: I like the change, despite my issues with it, because the original system just creeped me out. I might buy this game after all.

I cringed sometimes while playing Stella Glow.

This is full on "what in the name of all things deep sky blue"...

But I completely respect it. If some people like petting waifus and are disappointed by the fact it's been stripped out, and decide to import a japanese copy, to each their own.

@zool Between -2 and -1 years old, yeah fictional 2D characters can have negative age.

@nsmon25 that's not correct

@zool Why? Does it defy some fictional law of physics and ageing? The whole point is that it is senseless to mix fictional story/rules/conventions/physics with the real world, unless you think jumping over turtles until and smashing them into walls is a rightful thing to do in the real world.

Does it defy some fictional law of physics and ageing?

The law of good storytelling. Doesn't matter if its a fictional story told through the medium of a novel, comic books, a movie, TV series or yes, even a videogame, physics and aging are things that are supposed to be relatable or else told what is different about them and why they are different within the fictional story itself.

Between -2 and -1 years old, yeah fictional 2D characters can have negative age.

How does that work within the confines of the universe the fictional characters inhabit?

unless you think jumping over turtles until and smashing them into walls is a rightful thing to do in the real world.

Its possible to do in the real world, and if those turtles stole your princess you're trying to rescue and will kill you if you don't kill them first, its perfectly a rightful thing to do.

@Bass_X0 But who said things were not being explained or suggested to being different from the expected in the nowadays real world? The moment you introduce some group of knights riding flying pegasi side by side with powerful spellcasters and some guy wielding a magical sword with the power to kill dragons... well, I expect that is hint enough to understand the rules of the world are different and you must engage on some suspension of disbelief.
And regarding our psycho plumber that decides to go genocide on half a kingdom just to interrupt on a whim an almost yearly diplomatic meeting between the rulers of neighbour realms, I think it is difficult to classify his actions as rightful.

Holy crap... I knew NL had some Puritans, but I didn't know NL was FLOODED with Puritans! I don't really care either way whether they leave it in or not, but like @Pod said, it's strange that they would expend time and resources on such a feature in the first place, and stranger still that they would just take it away after said expenditure of time and resources.

Overreactions on almost all sides here, I think. This "feature" is nothing new for DS gaming, yet here we are suddenly getting all up in arms about it in every which way. This strange little minigame is nowhere near on the level of things like Love Plus, which has a Cero "C" rating, age 15+, between their equivalents of the ESRB T and M rating. (Which even has holographic kiosks, real life Love Plus Hotels, and even... real life Love Plus weddings! Now that is wacky!)

The lack of mental toughness in this comment section is astounding, there are far worse things out there. Games like Manhunt deserve the monikers of creepy, disturbing, and cringey. This "feature" is strange, but I wouldn't equate it's description with one that is appropriate for games where you play as a psychopath. Such classic Puritan behavior in this comment section; that's far more disturbing to me than this little petting thing.

That petting thing is whatever. Whoever is offended needs to get a life.

@AlbertoC Stella Glow is selling very well.

@PlywoodStick I kind of knew that, LOL. However a majority still don't mind big breast. Look up the old talking points, you'd get a example of how this community is.

@R-L-A-George Haha, well, I guess things like this really draw reactionary behavior out of the woodworks. I would have thought that after seeing things like Love Plus, a game entirely based around intimate activities, including "skinship", not to mention... fricking real life Love Plus hotels, complete with holographic projections of game data... I would have thought our reactions to this little minigame would be more muted by comparison to when we learned about Love Plus back when it first came out. Instead, our reactions have grown more virulent than ever!

It's a great Tactical RPG...I mean its a cool added feature and all I guess, but really does it matter...? I'm playing the game for the story and the game play and all the stuff I loved in Awakening. Call me not a real FE fan but whatever, I loved Awakening for multiple reasons.

I expect that is hint enough to understand the rules of the world are different and you must engage on some suspension of disbelief.

Even in such a fantasy world with dragons, how are some characters supposed to be -1 and -2 years old going by your earlier comment when they look like young adults? My suspension of disbelief seriously does not stretch that far by any means.

@PlywoodStick SJW have been pushing the moral panic crap and have a special kind of hatred towards Japanese devs/companies. People are also aging and becoming the worst of their own parents. They're a product of: "Think of the children, with good intentions but I don't want to take responsibility for my kid — while trying to raise everyone elses kid. I forgot, I live in America and I only care about my own freedom of expression."

@thejfh1999
[high five]

Shall we sit down to some lovely tea and crumpets while the rest of the Internet has a meltdown?

@Fee
There's always extremes to both sides, and generally speaking you'll see different bias on different sites, but anyone with consistently extreme opinions may as well be a fanboy in my book. Always always always in favor of what company X does, or always always always against everything company X does. And arguing the points, on either side, to the extreme.

Still, there's individuals here, as on any site, and everyone has a different view. I'm against the removal of this feature (I hate it when Nintendo tampers with my beloved franchises) but, Im not raging about it. I'm comfortable with this compromise, mostly because it's similar to The Barracks in Awakening and I wasn't all that fond of the feature to begin with. I stand against the removal on principal, but personally I'm not bothered by what's been done here.

@R-L-A-George
Yeah, the SJWs have been pushing this "Eroticism is bad" ethos across the Western World. They hate Japan because they won't play ball and (at the moment) are the last bastion against that. I feel people are becoming brainwashed and letting themselves be convinced that the most innocent things are offensive.

@Bass_X0 I'm gonna be semi-blunt.(Semi because I want to be more rude but it's against my code) You're really ridiculous for trying to argue with him about something like that.

@JaxonH I'm kind of like you. I don't like features being removed on principal but I don't really care either way. It's also not for "artistic integrity" or whatever I just don't like cowards. I might have bought this game but I was never that excited so I might not have. Something being removed isn't enough to make me skip a game unless I wanted the thing that was removed(like Xenoblade), and I actually didn't care about this feature. However, the fact that this game has managed to upset everyone for some reason or another. Dang. If it manages to be the best selling Fire Emblem game I'm not sure if I'll be upset, amazed, or amused. That said I'm not planning on getting it just because I'm not that into it. I'm very interested in how it'll do though. I actually expect it to sell pretty well.

@Fee then you hate artistic integrity and only want localization when it's a game you didn't like? Art is meant to be a little offensive to some people.

@R-L-A-George No. How did you even read that? I'm saying I don't care about artistic integrity and don't care how games are localized if I'm not interested in the game in the first place. For some reason you got hate out of indifference. I need to read my post again to see how that happened.

Ok I guess my wording was a bit weird but your interpretation was even weirder. I was saying I dislike when they remove features because it means they're cowards, and not because it goes against artistic integrity. However, even though I dislike it I don't care enough to skip the game unless it was something I wanted. (Like Lin's Bikini's, and the boob slider in Xenoblade, or even the swimsuits in Fatal Frame.) For example there's talk of changing the Honeybee Inn scene in FFVII remakes to avoid offending people. I don't like that they're changing something to avoid offending people, but I don't care much since it was just some gay(literally homosexual) male scene which never mattered to me in the first place.

@whodatninja I would hope with all the heavy emphasis on jpop in #FE that they would keep it dual audio. While the voice acting isn't a dealbreaker for me for FE:Fates (just means I have to buy all of it in Japanese as well) if they don't dual audio #FE I'll likely cancel my preorder. Likely importing the game this month anyway.

So now nothing was lost. Just your second screen will be abused less by hard long scratching from your "stylus."

A good call by NOA for sure.

_{Let's just drop the subject before it gets worse.-Morpheel}

@Morpheel Fair enough...

It's like their attempt to prevent sexual activity among young high schoolers, was to give them porn...... oh god thats a hoot. This is why I love Japan! XD

@RainbowGazelle
It has about half of the things that Fire Emblem has gained over the years. They've streamlined it to make it simpler for the mainstream while adding features to simplify the gameplay further, which isn't a wholly bad thing, but it makes the gameplay FAAARRRR less robust.

@BlueCosmos42 ha ha keeping character intact you must not know the damn pickle guy. i'm pretty sure he only say it twice in the jap game not as much like english version.