XIV has never been a game with an overtly romantic storyline like other FF games, but DT in particular seemed to almost dance around it in a way that past expansions haven't. It's hard to explain but I'm going to try and compare with the past
For Arcadion we have Eutrope and Howling Blade, who were lovers before Eutrope ran away. We never get a big couples scene or reconciling of their relationship. Hell, I don't even think they acknowledge each other directly about it, just talk about it through other characters, and if they did it was so minor I forgot. This is a woman who's willing to kill for her lover, and yet we never see so much as a teary eyed one-on-one reunion or hug. The culinarian quests have a couple's argument as a comedic hit, but they actually talk to each other about their relationship, even if it is with cheesy pet names.
Next we have Bakool Ja's birth. Teseel Ja is implied to be a mild delusional/yandere-type, obsessed with Zoraal Ja, but again they talk around it. He's implied to have slept with her for her reward and... that's it. Come on, we all saw her looking him up and down. No one considers Zoraal Ja having an affair/lover, or even mistresses, which isn't particularly abnormal for someone in that kind of position of power. Contrast this with basically every ARR Lala perv. Costa del Sol is swarming with "exotic dancers". I get that they were trying to avoid making Zoraal Ja seem like he was a perv but not even one joke about Bakool Ja having secret siblings? That's the exact kind of line ARR was rife with. Speaking of Zoraal Ja, we never touch on his parentage either. Bakool Ja Ja clearly did SOMETHING to have a son. An affair? Lovers, plural? A twisted science experiment? Look at Thordan, we never learn about Aymeric's mother but the gossip and scandal of the archbishop having an affair surrounds him. Dawnservants may not be celibate but surely there would be some gossip about his biological son.
I don't know, maybe I'm being weird about it, but the dancing around relationships is just so glaring to me. "Bastard" and "Affair" were blatantly called out in HW. StB has Magnai, side stories explicitly consider a romance between Hien and Cirina. Runar and Y'shtola got more intimate than the actual couplings in DT and he's basically shelved for good. Hell, RYNE AND GAIA are more physically intimate than Eutrope and Retsarra. Is there some kind of internal "no romance" mandates like SEGA has? Is it just the way things have always been? Am I going crazy?
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For Arcadion we have Eutrope and Howling Blade, who were lovers before Eutrope ran away. We never get a big couples scene or reconciling of their relationship. Hell, I don't even think they acknowledge each other directly about it, just talk about it through other characters, and if they did it was so minor I forgot. This is a woman who's willing to kill for her lover, and yet we never see so much as a teary eyed one-on-one reunion or hug. The culinarian quests have a couple's argument as a comedic hit, but they actually talk to each other about their relationship, even if it is with cheesy pet names.
Next we have Bakool Ja's birth. Teseel Ja is implied to be a mild delusional/yandere-type, obsessed with Zoraal Ja, but again they talk around it. He's implied to have slept with her for her reward and... that's it. Come on, we all saw her looking him up and down. No one considers Zoraal Ja having an affair/lover, or even mistresses, which isn't particularly abnormal for someone in that kind of position of power. Contrast this with basically every ARR Lala perv. Costa del Sol is swarming with "exotic dancers". I get that they were trying to avoid making Zoraal Ja seem like he was a perv but not even one joke about Bakool Ja having secret siblings? That's the exact kind of line ARR was rife with. Speaking of Zoraal Ja, we never touch on his parentage either. Bakool Ja Ja clearly did SOMETHING to have a son. An affair? Lovers, plural? A twisted science experiment? Look at Thordan, we never learn about Aymeric's mother but the gossip and scandal of the archbishop having an affair surrounds him. Dawnservants may not be celibate but surely there would be some gossip about his biological son.
I don't know, maybe I'm being weird about it, but the dancing around relationships is just so glaring to me. "Bastard" and "Affair" were blatantly called out in HW. StB has Magnai, side stories explicitly consider a romance between Hien and Cirina. Runar and Y'shtola got more intimate than the actual couplings in DT and he's basically shelved for good. Hell, RYNE AND GAIA are more physically intimate than Eutrope and Retsarra. Is there some kind of internal "no romance" mandates like SEGA has? Is it just the way things have always been? Am I going crazy?
Continue reading...