I appreciate Square Enix supporting LGBT rights in FFXIV.

[Rinhi]

the main villain being Mitron who we know definitively did have romantic feelings for her.

I don't think that's code for "Definitely 100% gay in canon" but there's definitely intentional romantic subtext there

...which also exists for mitron and gaia, even more so considering she promises him that 'they'll meet again' as she's rejecting her destiny of being an ascian
this also could very well mean that she's harbouring feelings for him, hell, it's even more spelled out than any possible feelings for ryne she might have

[Axxion]

wow, can this be closed at this point? For those that do not know. The op is a known troll. they create topics like this all the time. Notice how often that he commented on this post. Look at the time when this "randomly" shows up again. they are legitly doing this purpose just to rile people

[Sclair0]

...which also exists for mitron and gaia, even more so considering she promises him that 'they'll meet again' as she's rejecting her destiny of being an ascian
this also could very well mean that she's harbouring feelings for him, hell, it's even more spelled out than any possible feelings for ryne she might have

Yeah, that's definitely explicit in the text. I'm not trying to get into any shipping wars. Just saying that people who say there's literally no romantic framing of Ryne and Gaia aren't correct. There's loads of conventional romantic framing techniques at play.

[SuperSxyNerd]

Does anyone remember a time when games could just be games without political or social motivated agendas being pushed out to random people?

Pepperidge farms remembers!

[FrogDog]

Does anyone remember a time when games could just be games without political or social motivated agendas being pushed out to random people?

Pepperidge farms remembers!

Not really. It's been like this for a long time, since the time of the rhetoric of the video game industry being as big as the movie industry at least. There are always people who will want to see themselves or their community represented in a medium, even if it comes at the expense of the game/film/whatever.

Personally I'm pretty blasé about lesbians in video games. It's been done so much over the past decade. Gay men are rarer, or often get badly depicted. Though I think as far as representation goes, it really comes down to social pressures of the day and fads. Not everyone can be represented at every time so calls for specific forms of representation in the coming years will likely be centered on niche collections of identities.

[rachcouture]

Does anyone remember a time when games could just be games without political or social motivated agendas being pushed out to random people?

Pepperidge farms remembers!

Imagine thinking being gay is an 'agenda', or political, as opposed to simply being.

[Tanis_Ebonhart]

Still waiting till at least one Major character actually is confirmed as LGBT.

Does anyone remember a time when games could just be games without political or social motivated agendas being pushed out to random people?

Pepperidge farms remembers!

Yet a straight couple isn't political but a LGBT couple is? What hypocrisy.

You sound like those that were against interracial marriages. You just moved the goal post because you lost that battle so you're now punching down against another minority.

No thank you, every time its done, it tries to put focus on that rather than the story. So many TV series and movies ruined by forced inclusivity.

Something tells me that when a straight couple happens you don't see it as "Forced Inclusivity". That's what makes your argument one of bad faith and exposes your true views.

[Saraide]

Does anyone remember a time when games could just be games without political or social motivated agendas being pushed out to random people?

Pepperidge farms remembers!

Of course I do. Good old times when there were only two genders (male and political), two skin colours (white and political) and two sexualities (straight and political). Your understanding of what is normal and what is an agenda is inherently political.

[Hurlstone]

Does anyone remember a time when games could just be games without political or social motivated agendas being pushed out to random people?

Pepperidge farms remembers!

Yup. Why can we not go back to times when games that had no political or social agenda, like Fallout, Deus Ex, Metal Gear Solid, Bioshock etc.

No thank you, every time its done, it tries to put focus on that rather than the story. So many TV series and movies ruined by forced inclusivity.

So we should just never have LGBTQ+ character for fear it may be forced? Would having just a few NPCs refer to their same sex partner in the exact way many do in-game now really spoil the story? What about the hundreds of times media forced hetro relationships at the expense of story (I saw people mention Batwoman, but what about the horror that is Olicity?)

[Melorie]

Does anyone remember a time when games could just be games without political or social motivated agendas being pushed out to random people?

Never. I can't get remember one single game, book or serie that I have consumed that didn't use something that exists in our own world to craft storytelling.