Fire Emblem Fates‘ English localization will lack the ability to “pet” your teammates using the 3DS’s touchscreen.
Recently, Nintendo announced that a controversial scene in Fire Emblem Fates featuring what some perceived as “gay conversion therapy”, was being removed from the western release of the game. Some applauded Nintendo for its decision, while others lamented it, as they wanted to play the game in its original, un-altered form. Well for those of you in the latter camp, I’m afraid I have some bad news, as Nintendo has just announced another feature being cut from the English release: character petting.
In the Japanese version of the game, players can “stroke” characters using the 3DS’s touch screen, causing some of them to react with rather suggestive dialogue. It was used as a way to improve your relationship with various characters, in order to mimic the physical contact involved in real-world relationship building.
However, in what is no doubt an effort to avoid any kind of controversy, Nintendo has firmly told Kotaku “Yes, that is the case [that petting isn’t in the English version]. You might have heard somewhat misinterpreted or exaggerated information about the Japanese original game, but even in the Japanese original version, we have not included any features which are considered inappropriate in Japan.”
When asked about any further localization changes, the Nintendo representative declined to answer, saying it didn’t want to spoil specifics, but stating that changes in localization are very common among all of Nintendo’s games.
Fire Emblem Fates‘s English version releases for 3DS on February 19, in the form of two separate versions: Birthright and Conquest, with a third, Revelation, coming March 10
Source: Kotaku
