Alternatives to NPC romance, since it's a polarizing topic

[Tennyoelf]

Yoshi-P commented on NPC romance in an article recently. You can see his reply here. I've seen people love the idea of NPC romances and others who despise it. I've read a few reasons as to why it's hard to implement, which got me thinking about how something could be done to address those issues.

So if they ultimately can't do NPC romance, maybe they should do NPC buddy quests. I know it sounds redundant since you can say "Just replay the expansion that NPC appears prominently in" but the expansions usually deal with larger-than-life, big world dilemmas rather than anything personal. I'm thinking in the terms of Mass Effect 2 loyalty quests, where the WoL deals with a personal issue of an NPC and in doing so grows closer to that NPC in terms of friendship. It wouldn't be something with nations and countless people at stake, but an issue that is dear to the heart of the NPC.

I mean, in your circle of friends, you are usually closer to one or two of them, right? I think it would add some personal customization for our WoLs to have the ability to choose our BFFs. Although it's kind of a moot point if you can do all the friendship quests, it'll probably be best to limit the ability of how many you can do, so like 3 or so NPCs you can be buddy-buddy with.

I might add that these friendship quests can be used as a good foundation or pre-requests if they ever do implement NPC romance. Or if they never do, at least we would have the buddy quests. They could load the quests with innuendo and ambiguous lines that can be interrupted either way to satisfy those who want a romance if they never implement it. And, like Yoshi-P said, if our buddy Urianger wants to go to Mars, that's okay, we can have a throwaway/optional nonspoken line that we're sad to see him go and hope he comes back soon cause he's our bro.

I might add that these friendship quests can deal with something personal about the WoL too and our buddy coming to our aid (thus have our friendship be a two-way street). Of course, it would have to be a broad issue like you're helping Aymeric with something personal and suddenly someone says, you, as the Fortemps ward, owe millions of gil in back taxes or something, and Aymeric uses his power to just handwave it all away for you...this is a bad example, of course, but I hope it gets the point across.

The whole thing boils down to that we get to spend more time with our favs and our WoLs get to have a little bit of customization in terms of who our closest buddies are but it doesn't pigeonhole the NPCs in a way they couldn't be dynamically used in the future. It also deals with the idea of having to animate any type of hugs/kisses etc, since as buddy quests, there would be none of that.

I'm sure there are other alternatives to this, but I think it's a good halfway point. What do you think?

EDIT: TL;DR > Let's simply have a PLATONIC questline for NPCs so we can get to know them better, spend more time with them PLATONICALLY, and be better buddies with them.

[HeyMcFly]

I really like this idea!

I've always wanted a valentines event, you can go on a "date" with one of the scions & do a series of little events with them that ultimately ends up in a slightly awkward, but cute conversation depending on who you choose

[Tennyoelf]

I really like this idea!

I've always wanted a valentines event, you can go on a "date" with one of the scions & do a series of little events with them that ultimately ends up in a slightly awkward, but cute conversation depending on who you choose

Thanks!

That would be cute! Maybe you'd have to enlist them to help with the typical event shenanigans! XD

[MPK]

Oh hell no.

Ain't no way I'm letting FFXIV turn into a filthy eroge

[Tennyoelf]

Oh hell no.

Ain't no way I'm letting FFXIV turn into a filthy eroge

That's my point? It's a polarizing topic, so I simply suggested NPC buddy quests, which would have no romance nor erotica etc. As buddy quests, the point would be to simply spend time with your favorite NPC and help them out on a personal matter.

[wereotter]

That's my point? It's a polarizing topic, so I simply suggested NPC buddy quests, which would have no romance nor erotica etc. As buddy quests, the point would be to simply spend time with your favorite NPC and help them out on a personal matter.

I would think even this would lead to the same problems the developers have stated they would run into if they added NPC dating into the game, specifically that it ties their hands too much when it comes to writing story. Consider this, what if, as a hypothetical, you spent a lot of time growing close and buddy buddy to Uriangier. But come some time in 6.0 they decide that for the story they need to send him off to the New World for several patches, or if he decides to engage in some heroic sacrifice and is dead from that point onward? Basically it means anyone in this system becomes off limits for any major story points like that. Also it might mean needing to write and voice certain quests entirely differently for scenes he's in, and that would apply to every character that they add in this option for, possibly multiple times depending on how far along you are in your relationship or if you broke things off with them. Ultimately it ends up creating a lot of extra work for anyone who's ever in the main story of the game.

They've thought about possibly creating characters specifically for the purpose of what you propose, but also know that the characters people want to have these kinds of experiences with are characters that already exist. And it seems that at least for now, they want to keep their options open to do with the characters what makes the most sense to drive the main story as opposed to personal side stories.

[Shougun]

The 1.0 companions might be a wonderful place to repurpose into a full blown companion in bioware (and like game) style (loyalty quests also being another element from bioware, so obviously thinking in similar thought to you). Could be neat to have a create your own trust member experience. It's not really important to me to date a character in the game, though maybe Yoshida would have far less qualms if it happened to be an npc you named, created, and grew with, over a named npc that has a specific setting in the game for many players, but it would be cool to have relationship building gameplay mechanics even platonic in nature (grow a bro experience XD). Something fun with that, maybe primal, but like the delivery quests or even beast tribes are both enjoyable to me on perhaps a similar deeper level (and having a deeper social buddy, perhaps combat potential would be neat). On an aside I think thats why I had, loooong ago, really hoped they gave us a moogle companion like FFIX calling via flute.

Loyalty missions for trusts could be a decent way to move away from levels and into perhaps a sort of meriting / customization, special missions to make them better or unlock different AI narratives / costumes, etc. Also please include chocobo, NOT TO DATE lol, just really want to have a bonding experience better realized with them.

[Tennyoelf]

The 1.0 companions might be a wonderful place to repurpose into a full blown companion in bioware (and like game) style (loyalty quests also being another element from bioware, so obviously thinking in similar thought to you). Could be neat to have a create your own trust member experience. It's not really important to me to date a character in the game, though maybe Yoshida would have far less qualms if it happened to be an npc you named, created, and grew with, over a named npc that has a specific setting in the game for many players, but it would be cool to have relationship building game play mechanics even in platonic in nature (grow a bro experience XD). Something fun with that, maybe primal, but like the delivery quests or even beast tribes are both enjoyable to me on perhaps a similar deeper level (and having a deeper social buddy, perhaps combat potential would be neat).

Loyalty missions for trusts could be a decent way to move away from levels and into perhaps a sort of meriting / customization, special missions to make them better or unlock different AI narratives / costumes, etc. Also please include chocobo, NOT TO DATE lol, just really want to have a bonding experience better realized with them.

I wonder how they can implement a system for creating your own buddy. Hmmm. Though that does remind me of our chocobros lol!

The point is, of course, not to date NPCs, but to simply spend more time with them and grow closer as friends. So having a quest line for your Chocobo would be neat too!

[Arillyn]

The 1.0 companions might be a wonderful place to repurpose into a full blown companion in bioware (and like game) style (loyalty quests also being another element from bioware, so obviously thinking in similar thought to you). Could be neat to have a create your own trust member experience. It's not really important to me to date a character in the game, though maybe Yoshida would have far less qualms if it happened to be an npc you named, created, and grew with, over a named npc that has a specific setting in the game for many players, but it would be cool to have relationship building gameplay mechanics even platonic in nature (grow a bro experience XD). Something fun with that, maybe primal, but like the delivery quests or even beast tribes are both enjoyable to me on perhaps a similar deeper level (and having a deeper social buddy, perhaps combat potential would be neat). On an aside I think thats why I had, loooong ago, really hoped they gave us a moogle companion like FFIX calling via flute.

Loyalty missions for trusts could be a decent way to move away from levels and into perhaps a sort of meriting / customization, special missions to make them better or unlock different AI narratives / costumes, etc. Also please include chocobo, NOT TO DATE lol, just really want to have a bonding experience better realized with them.

Would be fun to get our companions back. And while I guess the chocobos kind of fulfill it a bit, I do miss the scenes and dialogue with my companion. She was no-nonsense!

[Tennyoelf]

I would think even this would lead to the same problems the developers have stated they would run into if they added NPC dating into the game, specifically that it ties their hands too much when it comes to writing story. -SNIP for room-

I don't believe it would because even though they're our buds, they can still have a life of their own. If your best friend wants to go to another country to live, you can't stop them. You'll be sad but you'll wish them the best and try to stay in contact. The same idea applies here, if you're buddies with Urianger and he wants to go off to another world, you can't stop him, but we could easily have an extra line put in if we do his buddy quest as I proposed. That line could be something of the effect "I'm really sad you're going, but I hope you get what you need and I'll try to write to you."

Though I do see how having access to Urianger's buddy quest could be troublesome if he's gone. The quests themselves could be timeline locked? Like, if you don't do certain quests in post-ARR content, Urianger is still there at the Waking Sands even during ShB, though he is supposed to be unconscious at the Rising Stones. Instead, the starting NPCs for these buddy quests can be new NPCs, or some other mechanic. Such as Urianger getting a letter from someone, and the moogle or person delivering it has trouble finding him but found you instead. The quests would then be meant for a certain period, the NPCs references not new revelations, but ones meant for the time period. They can even have them become flashback quests that rely on your echo to relive the time you grew close to your bud.

I do believe there are ways to do it that won't tie their hands in terms of freedom in writing what they want, which would not be possible if the quests were more romantic in nature. If your lover wanted to go live in another country, that would mean breaking up and hard feelings, or even going with them. Being best buds doesn't have that extra layer of complication that could come about if romantically bound. True, you could argue that best friends can have the same awful feelings involved with going away as romantic partners, but in general, people tend to put bigger importance on romantic relationships than they do good friends.