Fire Emblem Fates Will Have “Controversial Dialogue” Changed In The West

Nintendo World Report recently revealed that Nintendo of America will change some of its dialogue in the upcoming western release of Fire Emblem Fates, according to a recent statement. [Thanks, Nintendo Everything.]

“In the version of the game that ships in the U.S. and Europe, there is no expression which might be considered as gay conversion or drugging that occurs between characters,” Nintendo of America said in a statement to Nintendo World Report.

The conversion in question is from a support conversation with the female character Soleil (shown above,) who appears to be attracted to women in the game, so much so that it starts becoming a distraction and according to the character, prevents her from being a “strong and cool girl.” If you go as a the male protagonist and pair up with her, her drink gets spiked with a “magic powder” at a later point in her support chain which causes her to see all females as males, and vice-versa, and was done under the implication that her recovery wouldn’t work if she knew what was happening in advance, but he lets her know afterwards and even apologizes for the way he went about it.

And keep in mind that this magic powder was used simply to help her from getting too distracted from girls, and had nothing to do with any kind of relationships in the game. In the end, the potion’s effect runs out, and she goes back to being normal. Due to the nature of the story, a lot of people got the wrong idea after reading bits about the quest.

There’s been plenty of confusion behind the story, but you can check out more about it here. This wouldn’t be the first time Nintendo runs into issues regarding sexual orientations in the Fire Emblem series, with a notable example being the absence of gay marriage in Fire Emblem Awakening, not to mention the heat they got for not including same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life. However, keep in mind that Fire Emblem Fates does include same-sex marriage, but they are likely just removing this dialogue to avoid any further backlash.

You can read more about the story in detail over at Nintendo World Report.

Fire Emblem Fates will release in North America on February 19, 2016 for Nintendo 3DS. A European release date has yet to be announced.