While the English version of Fates still includes many relationship-building activities by way of robust castle functionality, Nintendo confirmed to me that petting is 100 percent out. A rep explained while also defending the original intent of the Japanese version:
“Yes, that is the case. You might have heard somewhat misinterpreted or exaggerated information about the Japanese original game, but even in the Japanese original version, we have not included any features which are considered inappropriate in Japan.”
I asked Nintendo for more information about specific changes—especially in regard to Soleil and other romances that take potentially localization-unfriendly turns—but Nintendo didn’t want to spoil specifics. They did, however, once again offer that making changes in the name of localization is not unusual, and that it’s happened with many of their games in the past.
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