Skinship is out, says kotaku (new info on page 71)

[capmalachi]

If it has been removed then I will be very disappointed. Not because I had some bizarre urge to spend £30 just to poke a cartoon character in the face, but because it's very sad that Nintendo would be so happy to remove a perfectly harmless gameplay feature in a futile attempt to appease a vocal minority that probably wouldn't ever be pleased no matter what anyway.

I might not buy the game at all since I really don't want to support that kind of thing, and it's not like there aren't a million other things I can spend my £30 on anyway.

Naturally I'll be waiting for an actual confirmation either way though.

[Tsuky]

I personally would've preferred the feature to have never existed in the first place, since the effort could've been used to improve other parts of the game. But now that it does exist, I don't really care whether it's removed or not for the English release; gonna get the game anyway. But it would be pretty funny to see that after all this commotion, the feature is still in there, unaltered :P

[MMXZero]

Polygon is now reporting representatives have told them that it's being cut out.

I'm not sure how people feel about Polygon like how people feel about Kotaku but Polygon was actually at the event with the demo so...

Polygon is just as trustworthy as Kotaku.

When Bayonetta 2 was releasing, a Polygon writer tried starting a feminist movement against the game due to it's explicit sexual content. The movement didn't work out because the same writer had gushed over the original Bayonetta and had apparently called Bayonetta his "virtual wife" or something. Plus, Polygon was the only "major" site that gave Bayonetta 2 a bad review while everyone else was giving it a perfect score.

Polygon are also considered jokes by a lot of Nintendo fans because they said Mario Kart 8 would be the worst selling game in the Mario Kart series, while using a poorly thought out chart/graph to emphasize their point.

There is probably a few other things, but those two examples are the main reasons I don't visit Polygon's site.

[The Envoy of the Beginning]

You guys may want to check this out.

[Giga Man]

That's been discussed already. It's an old screenshot, and it's still unknown if that exclamation point is still in the game or not, and if it's in the game, it is unknown if it still means skinship.

[HTakara82]

That's been discussed already. It's an old screenshot, and it's still unknown if that exclamation point is still in the game or not, and if it's in the game, it is unknown if it still means skinship.

old as in 4 weeks old... that's not that old.

but yeah, it's still possible that they could replace skinship with something else. As Skinship events was the only thing that prompts for the exclamation mark.

[Roxachronc]

Well we all know that the thing that really pisses off most people is that they could have used the time they took to create Skinship into other things, now if only they could take out forging in PvP battles...

 

The feature never should have existed in the first place.

 

Nohr and Revelation need so much improvement and no excuse for why all characters don't have around the same number of supports .

 

Skinship is a waste of time, money and resources that should have been spent elsewhere.

I should just have quoted this, lol.

 

MODEDIT: no you shouldn't have, that would have been spam, also don't doublepost

Edited January 27, 2016 by Integrity

[Light Master]

OH MY GOD!

Both for the news and the amount of replies in this topic!

[The DanMan]

Honestly, I suspect that if skinship has been removed, it's probably for money reasons. I mean, most of the VAs are no names and were clearly hired to save money so I wouldn't be surprised if skinship being cut was due to Treehouse simply being too cheap to bother.

I mean the RD localization team couldn't be bothered to translate the extended script that was in the JP version, this seems like a lesser version of that. Of course this is assuming Kotaku is correct.

I'm recognizing quite a few of the VA's. Having to go non-union meant they probably resorted to a few up-and-comings over from the anime dub world.

And please; localization methodology has changed in the past 9 years. I doubt money is the biggest reason.

[Tolvir]

You know, I really like what Sakurai said on the matter a few months back. For those who don't know he is a pretty big Fire Emblem fan. He has played since the first one came out. It is a bit of a long one, but what he says is very relevant.

I recently took a look at user reviews for Fire Emblem Fates, and what stood out to me was the overabundance of comments saying “I don’t need this; I don’t need that, either,” especially in comparison to reviews of other titles.

One such feature users commented on was the ability to invite your companions into your house and stroke their heads and faces to raise your affinity level. Basically, you bring them into your room—regardless of whether you’re married or not—and give them a rubdown. Even I chuckled to myself the first time I played: “What is this, Pokémon? Nintendogs!?” Some reviewers, however, went one step further and said, “We don’t need this!”

I’m not a big fan of dating sims myself, so I can’t say I don’t understand their disinterest to a certain extent. At the same time, however, the feature in question doesn’t have any impact on one’s ability to complete the game, so if it bothers you so much, then don’t use that feature.

Say you buy a boxed lunch and it happens to contain a variety of foods, including one you hate. Even if you love everything else about the meal, are you going to single out the one food you dislike and lambast the entire meal for it? What about the people who happen to love that food? Is a meal only worth it insofar as it caters to your each and every preference?

Developers include all sorts of bonus features simply because they want to provide a little something extra for the fans. Even if one were to remove these bonus features from the game, it doesn’t mean that would “make room” for something else. That isn’t how it works.

If you approach game development with a demerit-based mindset, it doesn’t leave much room for anything extra, and games become pretty dry—and that’s just no fun.

Even Smash Bros. is one big ball of bonus features, jam packed with unnecessary content. “I don’t need this; I don’t need that, either,” some may say. To take an extreme point of view, everything aside from Free-for-All Mode is technically “unnecessary”: all the items, all the Final Smashes, all the stages aside from Final Destination. But if you were to take all of those extra features away, all you would be left with is a bare-bones, niche-market game.

I think there are some people who actually want that sort of game. There’s something appealing about a minimalist approach. But I think it’s painfully obvious Smash Bros. is not being marketed toward that niche market. I’ve intended to create a fun and exciting party game—the exact opposite. I mean, parties themselves are “unnecessary” to begin with. That said, there’s plenty of value in a game jam-packed with extra content.

And while some people demand the removal of various “unnecessary” features, there are also plenty of others who feel the exact opposite about the same content. I think it’s perfectly fine for a game to include a variety of content, even if some of those features appeal to others more than yourself.

The bonus features used to plump up a game are admittedly not designed with all users in mind. People are going to play the way they find the most enjoyable, and some users find more enjoyment in certain features than other people do. At the same time, games are a form of entertainment, so I sincerely hope people realize that “user abstinence”—not using unwanted content—is also a valid option.

From a developer’s point of view, I suppose it’s better not to force users to play these extra features in order to beat a game. Making users play a bunch of minigames only invites unwanted criticism, and I think that makes sense.

However, so long as that bonus content isn’t integral to completing a game, I think developers should be free to create what they like. After all, even if you don’t use a certain feature, someone else out there might absolutely love it.

[Berret]

First you won't let me marry Gunter now I can't grope him. GG Nintendo.

But seriously, I don't really care much. Although I do wonder if the thing with your spouse stays, and if it was removed what are we going to get in place of it? These 3 weeks feel like they are going to take forever.

[ambush spawns]

Too bad this cut content isn't resulting in a sooner release date,,

[Book Bro]

I love Sakurai as much as anyone but that's not how it works.

Games are the sum of their parts. If there's a bad mode or feature it affects my impression of the whole, even if I can ignore it. If there was an optional waifu lap dance mode I would think it was stupid and made the game worse. If there's a bad board game in Smash Bros it affects how I feel about the product as a whole.

I'm not disagreeing that developers should be free to make whatever they want, but consumers are free to criticize even optional content. Saying "why don't you just ignore it" is redundant because I'm sure the people complaining would have done that on their own.

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/42xhlw/corrins_italian_name_different_censorship_for/

There might be more censorship in the European version.

If you wait for it, I will post my own translation of that Nintendo of Italy letter.

Long story short, we will probably not get homosexual marriage due to the recent controversies with the Vatican.

[Fyras4]

If this turns out to be true...though break for the people that wanted the feature.

I sincerely don't mind it; I wasn't planning on using it either way. I like to get my relationship upgrades the old way, in battle, bathing in the blood of my ene--anyway....perhaps they didn't entirely remove the feature too...I mean, they could always make it so you can just pet/touch/whatever your spouse or your kids...I mean, that wouldn't completely remove it and would probably be a better compromise for those who want it...except you know, being restricted to your husband/wife and kids (which makes more sense than the whole army to be fair).

Edited January 27, 2016 by Fyras4

[The DanMan]

https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/42xhlw/corrins_italian_name_different_censorship_for/

There might be more censorship in the European version.

If you wait for it, I will post my own translation of that Nintendo of Italy letter.

Long story short, we will probably not get homosexual marriage due to the recent controversies with the Vatican.

My biggest takeaway is that there won't be any form of Roy amiibo compatibility for certain.

[capmalachi]

Long story short, we will probably not get homosexual marriage due to the recent controversies with the Vatican.

Ok, well if that's true then I'm definitely not buying the game.

[EJ107]

https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/42xhlw/corrins_italian_name_different_censorship_for/

There might be more censorship in the European version.

If you wait for it, I will post my own translation of that Nintendo of Italy letter.

Long story short, we will probably not get homosexual marriage due to the recent controversies with the Vatican.

If that's true it will be a complete farce, since almost all Western European and Scandinavian countries have same sex marriage legalized far longer than America, and it's generally a non-issue here politically. The Netherlands has had same sex marriage since 2001.

Why would Vatican controversies have any sway over how a game is released in countries other than Italy? Here in the UK our own church has practically no power as an institution, let alone the Vatican.

If this is true then there will be a pretty large outcry coming.

[The DanMan]

If that's true it will be a complete farce, since almost all Western European and Scandinavian countries have same sex marriage legalized far longer than America, and it's generally a non-issue here politically. The Netherlands has had same sex marriage since 2001.

Why would Vatican controversies have any sway over how a game is released in countries other than Italy? Here in the UK our own church has practically no power as an institution, let alone the Vatican.

If this is true then there will be a pretty large outcry coming.

The last thing we need is for this game to appear on mainstream news for whatever reason. Great.

[BrightBow]

If that's true it will be a complete farce, since almost all Western European and Scandinavian countries have same sex marriage legalized far longer than America, and it's generally a non-issue here politically. The Netherlands has had same sex marriage since 2001.

Why would Vatican controversies have any sway over how a game is released in countries other than Italy? Here in the UK our own church has practically no power as an institution, let alone the Vatican.

If this is true then there will be a pretty large outcry coming.

If Italy actually has a problem with that, then it's possible that it will affect everyone because NoE usually releases the same version of their games all over Europe. Like, that gambling thing in Pokemon was only an issue in the UK, yet it lead towards every version of the Platinum edition in Europe being censored. There are countless examples of this kind of thing.

Edited January 27, 2016 by BrightBow

[RikuDawn]

My biggest takeaway is that there won't be any form of Roy amiibo compatibility for certain.

I mean it's already known that Roy isn't in the game. But there's the possibility Nintendo in Japan is planning a patch to add in support and this person just doesn't know about it.

[ThatDamnDuck]

If Italy actually has a problem with that, then it's possible that it will affect everyone because NoE usually releases the same version of their games all over Europe. Like, that gambling thing in Pokemon was only an issue in the UK, yet it lead towards every version of the Platinum edition in Europe being censored. There are countless examples of this kind of thing.

Wasn't that HG/SS?

I clearly remember playing in the casino in Pokèmon Platinum, and I played the IT version °°

Still, it's really a sad thing to hear.

It's not confirmed, sure, but it's still sad to think that this kind of censorship is a real possibility. That just shows how bigot Italy is to the eyes of the other countries. (not that they're wrong, but bigotry shouldn't interfere with games and other medias in any situation, much less if it's an international release of a Japanese game)

I honestly wouldn't care that much about skinship (provided they give us something else in exchange, since skinship gives support bonuses and certain accessories iirc), but I do care about the possibility of having gay S-Supports (hell, they even made it so that if you actually marry someone of your same gender, you lose one or two children, making it much less convenient than it actually should be).

...It's just not fair ;^;

Edited January 27, 2016 by ThatDamnDuck

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

I'd like to make a new thread about the European censorship issue, so I asked a mod if it's possible. Maybe we should not talk too much about it in this thread, I don't want American players to think same sex relationships are getting removed in their game too.

[BrightBow]

Wasn't that HG/SS?

I clearly remember playing in the casino in Pokèmon Platinum °°

Still, it's really a sad thing to hear.

It's not confirmed, sure, but it's still sad to think that this kind of censorship is a real possibility. That just shows how bigot Italy is to the eyes of the other countries. (not that they're wrong, but bigotry shouldn't interfere with games and other medias)

I honestly wouldn't care that much about skinship (provided they give us something else in exchange, since skinship gives support bonuses and certain accessories iirc), but I do care about the possibility of having gay S-Supports (hell, they even made it so that if you actually marry someone of your same gender, you lose one or two children, making it much less convenient than it actually should be).

...It's just not fair ;^;

The gen 2 remakes were they introduced a proper replacement with the game Voltorb but the European version of Platinum was the first were the gambling minigames were removed.

[Light Master]

It's funny, then the debate about skinship started, people say it has none importance and "hey it's optional"

Now, that's been speculated that might be removed, people get enraged and say it's a fundamental part in the game.

This whole mess gave a huge ERROR 404.

Look the bright side : they may gave a Waifu Flip to us instead :)

Edited January 27, 2016 by Light Master