Big news for Fire Emblem fans: "skinship" is still in the game! Sorta...
EDIT (10/02/2016): Review copies have disproven the original rumor. Read more here.
Good news, for everyone who was upset about the removal of the petting minigame in Fire Emblem Fates. Despite the Kotaku report stating that the petting game has been removed from Fire Emblem Fates, the assets are still being put to good use. In fact, the feature is unchanged from a superficial perspective. However, a big part of the minigame has been removed: the actual petting.
During a 2 hour stream of the game, Polygon captured the skinship feature's replacement in this 2 minute clip (below), demonstrating what the changes to the minigame actually are.
Instead of the usual petting minigame, the "invite ally" function now leads to a single character entering your room and talking to you with a brief Live 2D animation. These animations have been left completely untouched, and from what we can tell the dialogue is the same as the original Japanese version (minus the 4 minute petting sessions, and being dubbed in English). While I don't like being that guy (who am I kidding, I love being that guy) but I totally called this.
While some might still grieve the loss of their waifu/husbando petting simulator, at least they can rest assured that they will still be able to have an intimate conversation with them. The scene is still pretty cute, and I for one am relieved that I won't have to sprain my wrist trying to pet over 30 people in Revelation just to increase support ranks and get minor buffs.
What do you guys think of the change? Will the middle ground option done by Nintendo's American localization team satisfy you? Vote now on my official Twitter poll or leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
David Fisher
Author, GameSkinny columnist, and part-time childhood destroyer. David W. Fisher (otherwise known as RR-sama) is a no B.S. reviewer and journalist who will ensure that you get as close to the facts as humanly possible!
Source youtu.be
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MathenautFebruary 6, 2016, 11:34 amAlot of things done wrong overall.
First, it's awkward that kotaku and polygon were the only ones to break this.
Secondly, as expected, they weren't really accurate and caused alot of controversy. Nintendo could have done very little to save alot of heartache and they didn't bother.
Ultimately, it's kinda underwhelming. If they had just stated this from the beginning, there likely would not have been much backlash. At this point, the topic has been dragged into the conversation of general pointless censorship of NA releases.
I wouldn't be surprised if people doubled-down on being mad as a result of this. -
But it's "localization!" ;)
Yeah, Nintendo definitely should've stepped in to clarify exactly what was going on. You'd think they would have done so via the official website at least, but instead they let it fester instead of cleansing the wound left by Polygon and Kotaku's inaccurate statements. It seems (from my research) that the rep they talked to was a mutual friend, so it's likely that the conversation-like question led to an inaccurate, informal answer - and that's poor reporting.
Chances are they did it just for views.
At this point, I wonder how it'll effect sales - and if the change will bring back anyone. Hopefully it does, because I really don't want this to be the last NA Fire Emblem release. -
I'm still torn on if I wanna try or not.
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Well if you are here for Fire Emblem, the game's 100% intact. If waifu/husbando petting was what you're after, then don't get it. If you just wanted the intimate conversation dialogues, this will do nicely. :)
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I wonder if this will be enough for people to come back to the game... I also wonder what would've happened if Kotaku simply didn't break the news, and then people found out about this. Isn't it technically false reporting that they stated that this was removed completely though? Every other company pretty much confirmed that it was being replaced, not completely cut out.
