The past few weeks have been rough for fans of the upcoming Fire Emblem Fates trio, Birthright, Conquest and Revelation. Controversy has risen regarding translations and localizations regarding three characters in particular. Rhajat and Niles have been able to get out of the fray with little more than complaints at their localized names over Shara and Zero, but Soleil hasn’t been so lucky.
The short version is that the supports regarding Soleil and Male!Corrin were modified, to remove part of it which stated that Corrin secretly slipped a magic powder into Soleil’s tea, to help her get over her fear of being around cute girls. This has been interpreted as non-consent and if followed all the way through, can be interpreted as though Corrin is drugging Soleil to fall in love and marry him. This started incredible controversy and essentially formed a dichotomy within the fandom, and has impacted the opinions of gaming purists and homosexual equalists alike.
I would recommend readers to check out this article (by Serenes Forest translator Kirokan) that provides a well-researched analysis into the topic.
Further controversy seems to be arising from the recent article posted by Kotaku, stating that after an interview with Nintendo representatives, there is confirmation that the skinship feature will be removed in its entirety.
Skinship in Fire Emblem Fates is a support boosting mechanic that allows you to use your touchscreen to caress your army members from the neckline, up, with intent to boost support ranks and acquire otherwise hard-to-get items.
While the [ ! ] icon still remains on the My House within your My Castle, it’s questionable as to if this will be removed in its entirety and replaced with something else, or altered in a way that its title is simply unique from its previous one.
This confirmation came to Nathan Grayson of Kotaku, but was not posted, so it leaves a bit up to interpretation. I myself have sought out contact with several assumed voice actors in hopes to confirm or deny this.
On a lighter note, some new translation confirmations are well, confirmed. Videos have been released by GameXplain, ProJared and Polygon, covering Chapter 10 of Conquest and Chapter 13 of Birthright. Click the links above to check them out.
We have some not so out of the blue confirmations, such as:
• Saizou | Saizo
• Kazahana | Hana
• Tsubaki | Subaki
• Mozume | Mozu
• Kagerou | Kagero
• Ganz | Hans
We have some unchanged units, such as:
• Oboro
• Hinata
• Felicia
And we have some out of the park translations, such as:
• Crimson | Scarlet
• Yuugiri | Reina
• Tsukiyomi | Hayato
• Nishiki | Kaden
Class and Skill names have been changed up a bit as well, featuring such notable differences as:
• Pegasus Warrior | Sky Knight
• Youko | Kitsune
• Confined Defence | Natural Cover
• Eastern Heart | Camaraderie
Furthermore, some terminology has been confirmed, such as the official name of the reclassing item, recognized as the Parallel Seal, or perhaps the Marraige Seal, now known as the Heart Seal, and magical turrets referred to as Fire Orbs.
Lastly, wireless multiplayer mode, both local and online, has been confirmed.
Fire Emblem Fates is slated to release on February 19, 2016 in the US and other North American regions. Still no word on an EU release.
*screenshots provided by SF Admin VincentASM, SF User TohruAdachi, and the linked videos
