Have there been any NPC kiss scenes in this game?

[Aidorouge]

I doubt we'd get to see Y'shtola and Runar seal the deal, but my interpretation is that they have a thing for each other and Runar impressed her with his blunt adoration for her, meanwhile Magnai can't catch a break since you can't really catch starlight; you have to let it shine on you for it to reflect.

I think the Y'shtola & Runar thing is a perfect example of why the developers will probably never let us romance existing major NPCs.

Some people want her, some people want him, and some people want them together, so they would need to account for cutscenes/dialogue letting all three of these possible outcomes happen and be "canon" depending on a player's decisions.

More than likely if we ever get romance options, it'll be new NPCs created for just that purpose, though some might "take cues" from existing characters to appeal to certain wants. We wouldn't get actual Y'shtola and Runar, but NPCs that have similar personalities/appearances among an assortment of female Miqo'te and male Hrothgar choices.

[RedLolly]

If they added romance in the game proper and didn't include the Scions, there would be riots.

[Reginald_Cain]

It's not a double standard, it's a different standard.
It would be a double standard to the average westerner, sure. But values are different in different places.

Ok dude I lived in jp for 6 months and im pretty sure my buddy taisei san would agree having songs that say "my hips are poison and waiting to collide" or " im sinister all over your skin in lace and leather and I don't need a safe word honey" along side galateas g**p suit on the cash shop and 2b butt implants in the same game where kissing is too lewd is weird.

[LeCorbeaux]

Well, there's Bradford and his girl in the Golden Saucer...

[Aidorouge]

If they added romance in the game proper and didn't include the Scions, there would be riots.

There's also people that would riot if you COULD romance the Scions as some people consider the twins strictly off-limits because of their age, as well as Krile and Tataru because they're Lalafells, lol. While I'm not adverse to letting all of the Scions be romance options (whiners be damned), my concern would be if they're the ONLY options (because SE would be lazy like that), and then the choices get reduced further somehow. As it stands we only have 5 female (if we're being generous and counting Lyse) and 5 male Scions, but...

A lot of people ick out over Alisaie's age, Krile and Tataru's race, desperately want Y'shtola paired with someone else more than any other Scion, and they may not even count Lyse anymore.

Meanwhile some people only get uppity over Alphinaud's age, while others collectively thrist over some combination of Thancred, Urianger, Estinien, and G'raha

As far as straight male or gay female WoLs go, there's a risk of ending up with very few if any choices among the Scions unless Square-Enix just ignores anyone that might get upset plus gives us back Lyse. Even then, one might still consider the female options lacking compared to male when one isn't a combatant and the other is off somewhere else if you want them to tag along in Trusts or the MSQ. (Incidentally, you can never have an "all-female" Trust group because there's none in the tank or healer role.)

And I'm sure there's gay male and straight female WoLs who aren't impressed with their offerings either despite how popular a lot of those guys are. Folks of other genders/non-genders and sexuality may likewise not feel like they're eating good.

Personally speaking... Y'shtola is the only one I would humor based on preferences, and she's the biggest flight risk into someone else's arms if the writers go that route, lol.

Ideally the Scions would be included of course, but any sort of romance options has to REALLY expand the overall choices because those 10 alone just aren't going to be enough for one reason or another.

[RedLolly]

I do find it odd that any suggestion of a system like this always has that "ick, I don't want to date a Lalafell" but then takes no consideration that players with Lalafell avatars would be engaging with such a system with identical expectations as players of other races. The game never writes Lalafell characters as the kid-coded squick monsters that some players view them as, and it *seems* that Japanese players do not have that attitude towards Lalafell and think they're just cute.

So yeah, there are issues here.

Personally my "realistic" hope is for some sort of affinity quest series that allows our WoL to have some unique one on one side quest series. They don't even need to be explicitly romantic in any way (which may be the better route so all allies can be included) and new characters or old side characters could get them as time goes on.

But, honestly, my imagination works just fine so I generally don't need any explicit romantic quest series in game and it always comes off like a potential story mine field no matter how it's cooked.

[Carin-Eri]

I doubt we'd get to see Y'shtola and Runar seal the deal, but my interpretation is that they have a thing for each other and Runar impressed her with his blunt adoration for her.

We won't - the Waifu Warriors would never tolerate that and to be honest, I feel they left some ambiguity around how much of their relationship is one-sided.

And so far as the other Scions are concerned - the number of content creators on YouTube who consider G'raha to be their husband seems quite high.

[Aidorouge]

I do find it odd that any suggestion of a system like this always has that "ick, I don't want to date a Lalafell" but then takes no consideration that players with Lalafell avatars would be engaging with such a system with identical expectations as players of other races. The game never writes Lalafell characters as the kid-coded squick monsters that some players view them as, and it *seems* that Japanese players do not have that attitude towards Lalafell and think they're just cute.

So yeah, there are issues here.

Personally my "realistic" hope is for some sort of affinity quest series that allows our WoL to have some unique one on one side quest series. They don't even need to be explicitly romantic in any way (which may be the better route so all allies can be included) and new characters or old side characters could get them as time goes on.

But, honestly, my imagination works just fine so I generally don't need any explicit romantic quest series in game and it always comes off like a potential story mine field no matter how it's cooked.

Some people have a harder time than others separating reality from fiction. Which is extra funny because the same ones that will get up on their soapbox and tell you "Lalafells are literally children" and then try to equate fictional actions to some kind of real life crime will turn a blind eye to everything they do that seems highly dubious, up to and including their own willingness to wantonly kill NPCs. By their own logic, they're mass murderers, and in the court of "thought crime" they would be getting locked up too.

But yeah, a general affinity side questline works too, if only to pull certain characters out of the mothballs and let them hang out with us again. Amusingly, said characters have the best chance of being turned into romance options because they're not heavily involved with anything (or anyone) else.
+++

We won't - the Waifu Warriors would never tolerate that and to be honest, I feel they left some ambiguity around how much of their relationship is one-sided.

And so far as the other Scions are concerned - the number of content creators on YouTube who consider G'raha to be their husband seems quite high.

To be fair, if they paired off Y'shtola to Runar, there wouldn't really be any "waifus" left in the Scions. I know I wouldn't have anyone to pick from anyway, unless her departure to the First includes another Miqo'te gal to replace her. Personally speaking, I can think of a few job/role quest NPCs I wouldn't mind filling her spot in the Scions... including Y'mhitra.

And there's people here who consider G'raha's English VA himself their husband and there was a whole topic obsessing over him like he had been kidnapped, lol.

[Kelg]

im more disappointed aboug the rare hugs. there are hugs in the game, but only if the characters have fitting sizes to each other. but there were so many moments various characters needed a hug.

but the wol is just like: 'i might be a lala or roe so they cant afford to nake me hug you. sry sad one.'

I don't see how the WoL couldn't hug someone as a Roe or Lala. They'd just need to animate it a little different.

[Xactly]

Been to some Eternal Bonds before with different genders and races. But there was this one Eternal Bond where the male Hrothgar couples lips weren't touching each other, but more like their snouts where slightly behind (from the side).
(Not sure if it's the same for female Hrothgars as it's been a while since I last had an invite on my world.)