About That Locker

[Exmo]

Didn't read it as queer baiting.

Did find it to be sloppy and ham fisted for half a dozen other reasons. Of the three pieces of furniture in his massive, empty office, one is a locker decorated in secret like that of an infatuated schoolgirl. He's a grown man.

[Carin-Eri]

OP, I
I personally interpret Gaia and Ryne as besties, but it is perfectly understandable to see them as possibly more and I think they're the sweetest thing. If they became canon, I'd be happy for them ♥

I feel the same. They were never explicitly stated to be in either in a romantic relationship or seeking one. I realise the Raids dropped some subtext and visual parallels that left their feelings toward each other open to player interpretation, but this is the same scenario as we had with Urianger & Moenbryda - on an official level the relationship is platonic but there is enough obvious subtext to allow for players to interpret the relationship as being, or working toward becoming, more.

[Mecia]

Its a classic gag

[Ephremjlm]

I'd say it's a mixed bag. Players can get gay married but canon LGBT NPCs are pretty few and far between, and sometimes it feels like the explicit or more strongly implied NPCs are the butt of a joke. To be fair the MSQ in particular doesn't focus much on romantic relationships, but when it does they're almost always if not always straight.

I mean heres the thing though, you don't want to force those things. This comes down to the writers ability to even write this in a good way (not confident about that currently), cultural norms in Japan (I think it's accepted but I don't live there so I won't say by how much), and also statistically if they are just a company trying to keep it safe and the game "for everyone" the stats ar like 3-5% of the world is actually gay. LGBTQ+ seems a lot higher, but I don't think I've seen any concrete data on that that doesn't eventually have a bias or skew conservative or liberal.

Honestly I would say for the writing alone they should hold off until someone can actually tell a good tale so the inclusion feels natural and isn't butchered, and in turn cause it's own backlash.

[0blivion]

dude's a shotacon and a simp. CBU3 was cooking

[Halivel]

cultural norms in Japan (I think it's accepted but I don't live there so I won't say by how much), and also statistically if they are just a company trying to keep it safe and the game "for everyone"

It's kind of "whatever" in media, in Japan, and for the actual community it's a hit or miss. There's no violent prejudice, but a lot of families and corporations have a "what people will say" reputational thing going on. Basically, it's not horrible, but it's very nuanced.

The game, however, is on global market, and they have to keep in mind that it's also played by people from countries where these kind of topics are heavily tabooed, and making open announcements might be putting the game at risk of being banned there. As result, the ambiguous writing we have right now (and which they're arguably good at) is most likely the most we'll ever have, which has its pros and cons.

[Alice_Rivers]

Oh man... A recommendation for our OP here: culture war trenches are bad for you, get out of them and see the world for what it is, you'll be a whole lot happier for it.

[StormChase]

I really don't get why this is such a controversial assumption when Livia's in the game, except in her case there's a much wider range of straight characters.

[avraymk]

I'm gay and didn't percieve it that way.

It just read as "Whoa, this guy is fan girl obessesed with this guy on a crazy level".

[StormChase]

I mean, I feel like getting Vaulted has nothing to do with his sexual orientation, Ysayle got Ysayle'd as well and she didn't even get a memorial, we didn't even see her corpse...

Realistically I think they had other reasons for Haurchefant but it's definitely quite the coincidence he died after he became a serious character. Ysayle's death had more to do with her being a woman in a Maehiro storyline.