Popular Twitter user “@Mondblut1984” reported that the video game Fire Emblem Engage went through alocation censorship“, which refers to multiple dialogues and situations that appear in the original Japanese version, do not appear in the Western localized version. According to the report, any romantic innuendos involving an underage character (according to the lore of the game) was completely removed or, failing that, modified.
Marriage has been a notable feature of recent video games in the franchise. Fire Emblem, starting from the fourth installment. Previous games had a variety of endings where it was mentioned that certain characters ended up getting married after the war or whatever the central conflict was, if the player put them together during their game. However, recently the marriage feature has appeared constantly, and it comes when two characters are always put together on the battlefield until they reach a certain “relationship level”.“.
However, although Fire Emblem Engage It has a “romance” system, it doesn’t have any marriage mechanics. Instead, the character Alear gives a “ring” to his chosen partner, but does not propose to them as in other video games of the franchise. This mechanic was retained in the localization, but in the Western version it has a slight change.
Regarding the dialogues, the user shared an example: The original phrase in Japanese writes: «Even if it’s too soon for us to be lovers, maybe we could be partners», while in the location it writes: «We succeeded, I guess we’re partners». This line is mentioned by Anna, an 11 year old character inside the video game.
«Anna’s Japanese line of dialogue implies romance, the Western one does not. This also explains why the trailers in English mention that there is hardly any romance… The localization team removed it because many, if not most, characters were considered too young for them.», explains the user.
«Another censorship regardless of location: underage characters don’t wear the ring on the ring finger, but on the middle finger. It is possible that Nintendo of America influenced the developers to implement this, so as not to give the symbolic impression of marriage.“, Add. However, it should be noted that the complaints drew a mixed reception on social media, with some criticizing the censorship decisions and others applauding them.
Fuente: @Mondblut1984 on Twitter via Sankaku Complex