Fire Emblem Fates Cuts Petting From English Version

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

-Slash-

...I am not going to comment on all those nitpicking comments because I have far better things to do with my timeso I'll just comment on the ones that caught my interest. Like this one:

If the dropoff is consistent then why did Blazing Sword sell on par with Path of Radiance or Radiant Dawn?

It didn't; according to your beloved VG Chartz numbers (which again, are inaccurate), it was far higher-selling overall than either of the Radiant titles worldwide. The series was in a steady decline due to lack of interest from the fanbase. Intelligent Systems themselves said that Awakening was their go big or go home title, which is why they brought back the marriage systems from Seisen no Keifu and why there was more of a focus on Supports.

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/05/25/fire-emblem-awakening-was-almost-the-last-game-in-the-series/

Heck, supports being cut from Radiant Dawn and Shadow Dragon earned those entries a ton of flak. And considering how you pop on over to Gamefaqs to find transcripts of ALL the support conversations from every entry, it's clear those are beloved systems that the fandom wants. And maybe I would continue this conversation and take you seriously...if you then did not face plant at the finish line with this:

Oh, well I guess like Sacred Stones its because people are losing interest in the franchise.

Thats how this goes, right? Can't chalk it up to any other potential factors, such as cutting up each campaign into two separate games and people not willing to take any more of that exploitative crap from Nintendo, have to chalk it up to disinterest.

And this:

I guess we should add a minigame where we grope Samus' booty in the next Metroid. I mean, if it sells its good, right? Hell, lets make that the primary mechanic, screw all that action bullshit. While we're at it the next Game of Thrones season should cartoon characters because those are popular with the kids. Free market is love, free market is love, all hail the unquestioned god of money, for which there is no equal.

Yes, glossing over how your VG Chartz numbers peg Fates as only being 10,000 units behind (which is false, considering how you can see the official Famitsu numbers and see it sold HIGHER than Awakening in Japan), glossing over how the campaigns are bought at a discounted price via DLC, and then devolving into a mean-spirited strawman argument. That is not how you persuasively write.

 

[MatthewTheDark]

I'd like to say that while this kind of silly feature being removed won't really kill it for me, I am finding the censorship and content cutting a bit disheartening.

Personally, I think the fact that it got cut in NA was the part that pissed me off. If a dev takes a bit out of a game from the start, then fair enough. It was an artistic choice. But when a team decides to cut out parts of the game for only certain parts of the world, that's when I start getting a little pissed. We can't be progressive if we mindlessly censor games just because someone might find it offensive.

The NES is 30 now. Nintendo has been "censoring" content since it came to our shores. Nintendo did this because they made a deliberate choice to be a toy, to market to kids.

Where was the outrage? For that matter, is it wrong for Nintendo to have done that?

Because I feel Nintendo should be taking a couple more risks if they want to even have a ghost of a chance at being relevant in the upcoming years. Going into mobile gaming won't be enough. If they continuously cripple their content and don't start making the choice to be a games company rather than making the "Nintendo is for kids" joke a self-fulfilling prophecy, they will surely drown under the competition. Because as much as Nintendo wants to act like they aren't, their systems are still competing against Microsoft's and Sony's and not being competitive will be the death of them.

Is it really censorship if you do it on spec?

Granted, this news doesn't seem to be entirely trustable, it being Kotaku and all, but at this point, are you really going to be shocked if this pans out true?

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

You know Japan localizes Western games in much the same way we localize their games, right? Only real difference is that they tend to focus on our gratuitous ultra-violence. The circular saw in Until Dawn, decapitations in Dead Rising, the nuke in Fallout 3...

And yet, no panic from our devs, far as I can tell.

I don't know, I find it troubling that Japanese Saints Row fans were censored out of the ability to murder people with a giant purple dildo.

A flaccid giant purple dildo. Its still a dildo, and quite stiff at that. So, basically a a strap-on. The horror, changing it from a big, floppy dildo to a big, stiff dildo intended for strap-on harnesses.

That's not due to the Japanese being uncomfortable with penises, erect or flaccid, as they march through the streets with giant penises and snack on candy ones during their spring fertility festivals. This censor came from the fact that sexual imagery in media has to be censored in Japan.

 

[cthulhuspawn82]

Something isn't not happening just because someone says it's not happening. Especially when that someone was too out of touch for even this website.

One should probably make sure one's own views comport with reality before accusing others of being out of touch.

I do have a grasp on reality, and "they" certainly are coming for our games. What else would you call it when an innocent fellow drugs a digital lesbian and softly pets her hair just to have the PC police kick in the door like the Spanish Inquisition and shout, "Right, you there, stop that. That's not allowed. We dont want it, so nobody can have it."

And I expect to see the argument that this wasn't forced. That Nintendo or whoever chose to remove these things. But there is a difference between a developer who says, "Petting people is highly offensive to me, I dont wish to have it in my game." and a developer who says, "I like petting people. I would very much like to put it in my game. But I know there are a few, very radical types out there her are quite put off by the concept. I dont want to risk triggering them and facing their "consequences", so I should probably take the petting out."

 

[Hades]

snip

What about us fans who DO welcome these new additions? Don't our voice matter at all? "We Fire Emblem fans"-argument doesn't really mean anything when there are just as many different fans as there are individuals in the world.

I believe I said there were fire emblem fans who wanted such feature but the point I was making was that the narrative of the anti censorship crowd is flawed. Their depiction is that Fire emblem fans are ''losing out'' but rarely do I hear those people admit the feature was very controversial in the Fire emblem fanbase itself. They imply that this is yet another case of the fans being left out in the cold to appeal to sjw who don't even care about the game. This is flawed because the most criticism comes from those who do care about the game and are long time fans.

I wouldn't worry about the opinion of Fire emblem fans who welcome the new features not being listened to. Even without skinshipping Fates seems to take much more after Awakening and the features it brought in. And I'm fine with most of it. Out of the new features its only Skinshipping I'm fiercely opposed to out of principle. Any other complaints about being to much like Awakening that I could have are about the question on whether its handled with competence which pair up for example is and the children mechanic...not at all actually. For the most part the fans of the new path fire emblem is taking seems to be winning. With Awakening saving the franchise that's a pretty fair deal.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Spoiler: Spoiled instead of quoted since he's on my ignore list

What else would you call it when an innocent fellow drugs a digital lesbian and softly pets her hair

Dear god that sounds like the behavior of a serial killer. Is it possible to phrase this in a way that sounds creepier? I think we should try.

What else would you call it when a totally harmless guy like myself drugs an imaginary lesbian while calmly petting her?

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Because I feel Nintendo should be taking a couple more risks if they want to even have a ghost of a chance at being relevant in the upcoming years. Going into mobile gaming won't be enough. If they continuously cripple their content and don't start making the choice to be a games company rather than making the "Nintendo is for kids" joke a self-fulfilling prophecy, they will surely drown under the competition. Because as much as Nintendo wants to act like they aren't, their systems are still competing against Microsoft's and Sony's and not being competitive will be the death of them.

The funny part of this statement is that it's been used for over 20 years now.

Nintendo does what Nintendo has always done. Make money, localize games, and be declared dying.

 

[SquallTheBlade]

Spoiler: Spoiled instead of quoted since he's on my ignore list

What else would you call it when an innocent fellow drugs a digital lesbian and softly pets her hair

Dear god that sounds like the behavior of a serial killer. Is it possible to phrase this in a way that sounds creepier? I think we should try.

What else would you call it when a totally harmless guy like myself drugs an imaginary lesbian while calmly petting her?

Fiction?

 

[Frankster]

But I would have liked that stupid minigame.

Silly Stricken, it doesn't matter if you would have liked to have it, other people have deemed it inappropriate/silly/laughable and thus your preferences don't matter.
What, you think you're an adult capable of making your own decisions regarding the media you want to consume?
Please, do you even rape culture? You're just so used to being catered to that removal of things you want is only to balance out the privilege you've had all this time. (in case it wasn't obvious yes I'm joking, I just found it incredibly telling that a dude who is quite happy to write epic tldr paragraphs in reply to everyone, had no answer to your simple one sentence statement)

Personally I'm still a bit annoyed Mortal Kombat X toned down the T and A, with the devs going on record as saying it was to be more "sensitive". It's a shame, I quite like T n A with my gore and extreme violence, they paired nicely together. Well no matter, at least I can still murder women in horrible ways, so long as their breasts ain't jiggling, it's all cool.

I'm also annoyed at R.Mika's butt being hidden during her ass slapping animation because I liked that special and it was really a fine' ass. Her special doesn't even do a proper muscle buster anymore Guess spreading opponents legs was too much.
But then you had that one thread where people were gleefully going on about how awesome that change was and how people who wanted it are to be laughed at, was one of the most circle jerkiest threads I've had the displeasure of reading.
Guess I'm on the wrong side of history on that one, ah well, I'll console myself with my privilege.

Anyways I've got no horse in this particular race as I don't own a nintendo device and won't be buying Fire Emblem regardless, but it's nice to see the familiar crowd you see in all these threads doing their usual thing.
Meanwhile one of my (female, I have to specify that otherwise it's a base dwelling neckbeard misogynist) friends who is massively into Fire Emblem is actually genuinely pissed at the removal of petting. But then she is also one of those weirdos who actually likes visual novel and dating sim style games, ha! Heck she even admitted to playing Rapelay and weirder stuff like Monster Girl, omg!!!!
Everyone point and laugh at her tastes and her wanting that petting mechanic She would also probably like that hypothetical dating sim game with Samus with ass groping mechanic mentioned above, heck I'd be vaguely intrigued by it too, she has a damn fine booty after all'.

 

[EternallyBored]

Because I feel Nintendo should be taking a couple more risks if they want to even have a ghost of a chance at being relevant in the upcoming years. Going into mobile gaming won't be enough. If they continuously cripple their content and don't start making the choice to be a games company rather than making the "Nintendo is for kids" joke a self-fulfilling prophecy, they will surely drown under the competition. Because as much as Nintendo wants to act like they aren't, their systems are still competing against Microsoft's and Sony's and not being competitive will be the death of them.

The funny part of this statement is that it's been used for over 20 years now.

Nintendo does what Nintendo has always done. Make money, localize games, and be declared dying.

Pretty much since the N64 Nintendo has been called dying or irrelevant. I'm all for criticizing the WiiU and Nintendo's missteps, but is it any surprise that they hold on to their family friendly message when the Wii shattered tons of sales records being sold on that image. Not to mention their near total lockdown on mobile gaming outside of smart phones. The massive sales success that is their Amiibos. Nintendo ain't perfect, but they've got a long way to go before they can really be called irrelevant to the modern video game market.

The silliest part is that after the WiiU, Nintendo is taking more risks, announcing the NX this year, getting into phone games, fixing up their online services to be closer to Sony and Microsoft in ease of use, stuff like the amiibos and actually making DLC not a pain in the ass to get for their systems. I seriously doubt a heavy petting mini-game is the kind of branching out that Nintendo needs to do to to stay competitive in this market.

In the end, I just think its a bit of a stretch to look at this as indicative of any sort of systemic failure on Nintendo's part, their family friendly image is still making them a lot of money at this point.

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

"They're not coming for your games."
- Jim, the Jimquisition

I wish I could edit video, just for that clip so I could use it when needed.

But as for this...I feel like I should screenshot every single page in this thread so that everyone who is in favor of this, or saying that "its fine" can never ever go back or try and dodge their position again.

It looks like you're jumping straight to silly outrage and ignoring that the reasoning people have matters to what their position actually is.

I'm just not sure I want to make that many enemies at one time.

Aha you support self-censorship then. You can never go back.

Because by saying this is fine, you have hereby and forever forfeited your right to EVER, EVER ***** about censorship EVER again.

Only insofar as you have forfeited the right to ever claim to be logical.

You have to understand that not everyone shares your rather extremist view of censorship. You're presenting a false dichotomy, as if the only way to ever be against some censorship is to be against it all. Sorry, but I'm not going to support child porn just to avoid offending some extremist sensibilities about censorship.

Some of us have more complicated views than just 'Censorship is evil' or 'Censorship is good'. Some of us actually have reasons we consider some instances bad and others utterly ignorable.

Because you're just proving that you WANT censorship and are okay with it - when you like it.

Not really, no. See when not viewed through an extremist lens the issue isn't just 'Is censorship good or bad'. Some of us have a bit more subtlety to our views.

When its okay and doesn't affect something YOU want. Because I'm 100% willing to bet real US dollars that some of the very same people in this thread saying this is acceptable or okay are the same people who if they found out the next Witcher or Fallout or Blizzard game had this kind of censorship (or censorship at all) would be incredibly irate and demanding it be changed or fixed, or at the very least voicing their extreme displeasure.

Imaginary bets don't prove anything. The people who act like a game company changing anything is the end of the world seem to be the people tha think this change is also the end of the world. People okay with this don't seem to be the ones who usually make a giant fuss over the concept that a company can change their product.

I do also hope you realize that thinking a change is bad is different from exploding in outrage over the concept that such a change could be made. There's more than one reason to think something is bad. In this case people don't think this is a bad change and understand that there is nothing wrong with the concept of making this kind of decision. People could complain about other changes because they think the change is a bad one while still recognizing that there's nothing wrong with the concept of a company choosing to change the details.

As for the topic at hand; the SJWs and whatever-the-fuck-wave we're on now feminism have won, or are now very much on the very edge of victory.

Awesome

They have gotten what they wanted - self-censorship in order to avoid the media shitstorm people like Sarkeesian and Chu are capable of kicking up.

Not really, no. You're missing any sort of evidence concerning Nintendo's motive in continuing their long tradition of localization changes.

There are still enough old guard and people my age who aren't buying this shit for there to still be a market, but I'm calling it right now; within one or two generations the SJWs will be in complete control and it will be diversity quotas, games being canned for not being "sensitive" enough or whatever other tripe they use to measure the "correctness" of art at that time.

Sounds pretty implausible. Also old guard... yeah sure.

And lest you not forget and come in try to call "hyperbole" and "overreaction" - we were assured that SJWs and their ilk were "no threat". That nothing would come of them.

I don't see the game being removed nor evidence that this change was due to the 'SJWs'.

And in less than two years we have a major US developer (Blizzard) getting caught trying to sneak through changes on one of their characters, while the lead Dev on another game has expressed a desire to change the designs of major characters to suit "modern" tastes (Metzen, on wanting to change the Dragon Aspects and possibly others).

You're missing the part where you show the SJWs did it. You seem to automatically preclude the notion they legitimately thought the changes would be good.

We have one developer not releasing their newest game in the US and Europe (Team Ninja, DoA) despite the game's predecessor's making the bulk of their profit overseas.

And the conspiracy even made them say that wasn't the reason, right?

And now we have Nintendo heavily censoring a game because of this.

What exactly qualifies as 'heavy' here?

The 'because' bit is rather suspect.

1 time is an anomaly. 2 times is a coincidence. 3 times is a pattern.

Does it need to be 5 or 6 before you're willing to admit to it?

Shit does that mean if I flip a coin and get heads 3 times in a row the coin is magic?

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Spoiler: Spoiled instead of quoted since he's on my ignore list

What else would you call it when an innocent fellow drugs a digital lesbian and softly pets her hair

Dear god that sounds like the behavior of a serial killer. Is it possible to phrase this in a way that sounds creepier? I think we should try.

What else would you call it when a totally harmless guy like myself drugs an imaginary lesbian while calmly petting her?

Fiction?

Joke?

 

[blackrave]

WTF is this shit? Hets and homos can't be turned gay or straight for fuck's sake.

Yes, but you do understand conversion therapy is a real thing that really happens and it costs real lives, right?

Doesn't mean it is good justification for such removal.

I mean XCOM 2 is taking out the air battles that the last one has and no one is upset over that.

WHAT??? They removed interception?
For fuck's sake this game turns more and more into UFO.

P.S.I guess you found one who IS upset about removal of interception. While it was simplistic in EU/EW I liked what LongWar team did with it and hoped that XCom2 will get even more complex and expanded interception. So much for that

It doesnt make sense though. The aliens won. They're here, on the planet, governing shit.
You're playing as a group of guerrilla rebels fighting against the establishment. What could you possibly be intercepting?

I haven't played this game yet, but as far as I know XCom HQ is located on mothership of some sort.
It could house several drones for:
1)Shooting down supply ships to quickly salvage them.
2)Shooting down troop ships to harass aliens.
3)Bombarding area before troops go in.
4)Defending said mothership in case it stays in one position too long and aliens send aircraft to shoot it down.
5)etc.
It could have been done, but yet again devs went lazy route and simply removed features :/

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I just saw Mundanemats video about it and he seems to take the not so uncommon stance of thinking skinship was removed because of a fear to offend those gosh darn social justice warriors.

Lets correct something here. It are not the social justice warriors who have the biggest reason to dislike this feature and they are not the ones who gain the most of this move. The ones with the biggest reasons to dislike skinshippings presence in Fire emblem are the traditional Fire emblem fans and they are the ones with the most to gain of Fire emblems excellent pedigree not being polluted. When people think of Fire emblem they should think ''oh, that founder of the turn based strategy genre with 13 great titles under its belt'' rather then ''Oh that game where you can pet shotas and lolis".

I have a big problem with this line of thinking. You're saying you are fine with a part of a game being removed because of what "people" might think.

But, who are these unspecified people? Why should we CARE what they think. Surely it wont be long time fans who'd think thus. It wouldn't be people who know much at all about what fe is. It wouldn't be the irrelevant to gaming normies as most of them still won't know what FE even is. Who exactly are we so afraid of being deemed as creepy by to be fine with this situation? The only ones left are nongamers with a shallow comprehension of what the game is who seek out things to be offended by so that they can "fix" gaming, people like the one who deemed a typical anime scene with a char who is a yuri trope as gay conversion therapy, ignorant to anime culture, Japan, just ignorant. They're the only ones left and I'm sorry but they're not worth altering games over.

This reeks to me of old timey nerd insecurity but there's nobody making fun of us left any more so it is doubly dumb.


The thing about sjws btw is that they created a climate where nintendo felt pressure to self censor, not that they actually asked about it in this specific case. That's what Mat was saying. The fact that old time fans also complained is kinda irrelevant to nintendo sadly, comforting as it is to think they listened. Sadly, they tend to not listen to old fans of not very successful series, as history shows.

 

[EternallyBored]

I mean XCOM 2 is taking out the air battles that the last one has and no one is upset over that.

WHAT??? They removed interception?
For fuck's sake this game turns more and more into UFO.

P.S.I guess you found one who IS upset about removal of interception. While it was simplistic in EU/EW I liked what LongWar team did with it and hoped that XCom2 will get even more complex and expanded interception. So much for that

It doesnt make sense though. The aliens won. They're here, on the planet, governing shit.
You're playing as a group of guerrilla rebels fighting against the establishment. What could you possibly be intercepting?

I haven't played this game yet, but as far as I know XCom HQ is located on mothership of some sort.
It could house several drones for:
1)Shooting down supply ships to quickly salvage them.
2)Shooting down troop ships to harass aliens.
3)Bombarding area before troops go in.
4)Defending said mothership in case it stays in one position too long and aliens send aircraft to shoot it down.
5)etc.
It could have been done, but yet again devs went lazy route and simply removed features :/

I don't think it really counts as lazy if you remove an unpopular feature and replace it with other features. The entire strategy map is now its own layer where you choose destinations, rewards, missions, and spend time as a resource by travelling and gathering things in various countries and zones, also the base defense mechanic can be done multiple times if your ship gets found instead of the first game just having them shoot down a satellite. From everything I've seen it's a much deeper strategic depth and complexity than the interceptions from 1 where it was just watching two ships fire at each other and popping a consumable every once in a while.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Didn't we just do this in another thread...? About the same game, no less.

Meh. I lament the loss. Mainly because the best part, for me, about Awakening was the dialogue/relationships/character interaction. I didn't much care for the combat.

But, hey, fuck me, right?

Used copy from Gamestop it is.

Anyway, I'll never support the removing of a video game feature. Best to just default it to "off" and let the player decide to turn it on. Everyone wins and everyone is happy... or at least they should be.

I wish more companies would just do this. It's a nice compromise. Hell, they do it with some VNs by throwing in a "No Adult Content" option or, alternatively, General Audiences and Adult versions of the game.

Here's an idea.

Make it free DLC. So people who want it can just download it and play as they like while people who don't can just not.

...Is that too reasonable of an option or something?

Or is this, as I suspect, a simple case of "I don't like it, so fuck you" and little else?

Is it leftover conservatism or liberal regression? You decide, ladies and gentlemen.

Same shit, different cause.

But then you had that one thread where people were gleefully going on about how awesome that change was and how people who wanted it are to be laughed at, was one of the most circle jerkiest threads I've had the displeasure of reading.

Welcome to the Escapist. Enjoy your stay.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Didn't we just do this in another thread...? About the same game, no less.

I believe the other thread you're thinking about is focused on drugging Soleil. This one is about the pokemon amie styled minigame where you can rub, and poke allies in various stages of dress through the touch screen.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

I guess we should add a minigame where we grope Samus' booty in the next Metroid. I mean, if it sells its good, right? Hell, lets make that the primary mechanic, screw all that action bullshit.

Actually, that sounds good. I'd love a dating sim with Samus, Palutena, Lucina and other Nintendo girls. Where can I contribute to this?

Yeah, let's just add groping mini-games to every mainline Nintendo series. Insure no child ever experience the same joy we did playing these games for the sake of our own sexual gratification. And while we're at it, let's get Rob Liefield to do the art! And Frank Miller to write them all!

Seriously, why are people arguing for the dark ages but with extra tits?

 

[TheMigrantSoldier]

This looks like a marketing move more than anything. Apparently, the petting feature was considered weird by players, even in Japan. it could potentially be off-putting for would-be customers.

It's also ridiculously out-of-place with how they're selling the game. An epic tale of war, divided loyalties, dark secrets, and... super creepy face massages. Huh.

I don't care much for the cut, since it's not an integral part of the game. There are other ways to build supports in My Castle so NA players aren't really missing anything.