I appreciate Square Enix supporting LGBT rights in FFXIV.

[TroySoFab]

Don't see why people can't have their Ship of Ryne x Big Lips. Next people will cry about Estinien x Gaius bromance.

Because they are assumed to be underage girls (not sure if ages are actually stated, but comparing them to other hyur women they are much smaller and younger looking). Estinen and Gaius are both grown men.

[Rinhi]

ryne and gaia also know each other like, what, a few weeks canonically?

[Theodric]

ryne and gaia also know each other like, what, a few weeks canonically?

That's correct.

It's why I struggle to buy into the idea that they have a deep friendship, let alone an intimate relationship.

It didn't help that I found Mitron and Loghrif far more compelling - and we saw even less of those two by comparison.

It's a shame the game never really explored the friendship that existed between Regula van Hydrus and Varis zos Galvus. Those two knew each other for decades, after all - and I bet the stories they could tell would be far more interesting and deep than 'cOfEe BiScUiTs'.

[Juzjuzz]

ryne and gaia also know each other like, what, a few weeks canonically?

Romance can happen really fast but tbh some ppl just see gay things everywere.

It's why I struggle to buy into the idea that they have a deep friendship, let alone an intimate relationship.

I don't because if something as trong as a romance can be born really quickly, why not something weaker ? I don't get it xD

[KizuyaKatogami]

There’s nothing indicating they’re together, it’s just headcanon.

[MilkieTea]

That's correct.

It's why I struggle to buy into the idea that they have a deep friendship, let alone an intimate relationship.

I met my boyfriend a month before we decided to start dating and we moved in about 3 weeks after *that*, and its been about a year going strong now. Sometimes you just... click.

That’s why I find it a LOT easier to see them together - sure the coffee biscuits thing was kind of cliche, but it’s a cute way to symbolize their relationship. They also canonically hung out a LOT outside of our being there, and on top of that, they went through some traumatizing shit together!


On a separate note:
I also don’t get the whole “they’re underage” argument... what does that have to do with anything? Teenagers get into relationships ALL the time? Would you be making the same argument if Gaia was a dude? (Im genuinely curious to hear that!) If you *would*, why?

[Theodric]

On a separate note:
I also don’t get the whole “they’re underage” argument... what does that have to do with anything? Teenagers get into relationships ALL the time? Would you be making the same argument if Gaia was a dude? (Im genuinely curious to hear that!) If you *would*, why?

One could argue that underage characters are not yet physically or emotionally mature enough to commit to a serious relationship. That aside, a significant number of the players gushing over Ryne and Gaia appear to do so because they find the concept them together to be 'hot' despite...both characters being underage.

Given how freely a lot of FFXIV share information about themselves on the likes of Twitter and this very forum, a lot of those same individuals are also not in Ryne and Gaia's age group. In fact, they're quite a bit older than either of them!

So, yeah - I think it's creepy and I think that as a gay guy a lot of the potential character relationships and 'ships' pushed by the FFXIV community have questionable optics.

Haurchefant? He's an outright pervert in the Japanese localisation and some of the others as well, I believe.

Ryne and Gaia? As mentioned, they're underage.

Alisae? Again, underage.

If we were to get some 'representation' then I'd much to prefer to see it in the form of adult characters.

[MilkieTea]

One could argue that underage characters are not yet physically or emotionally mature enough to commit to a serious relationship. That aside, a significant number of the players gushing over Ryne and Gaia appear to do so because they find the concept them together to be 'hot' despite...both characters being underage.

Given how freely a lot of FFXIV share information about themselves on the likes of Twitter and this very forum, a lot of those same individuals are also not in Ryne and Gaia's age group. In fact, they're quite a bit older than either of them!

So, yeah - I think it's creepy and I think that as a gay guy a lot of the potential relationships pushed by the FFXIV community have questionable optics.

Haurchefant? He's an outright pervert in the Japanese localisation and some of the others as well, I believe.

Ryne and Gaia? As mentioned, they're underage.

Alisae? Again, underage.

If we were to get some 'representation' then I'd much to prefer to see it in the form of adult characters.

That makes sense. If it helps, I’m coming at this from a purely “aww, they’re so cute! Holding hands and touching foreheads and stuff!” mindset. I find their relationship adorable. I’m also ace, so, I find romance can happen with ZERO s*xual interaction.

On Haurchefant though... yes, he IS a pervert in the Japanese localization. however this is because he fits the same niche as someone like Jiraiya from Naruto - the “loveable pervert” - in Japan. This is why his dialogue was changed so much for an English speaking audience - unless you watch anime enough to understand that niche and cliche, you’d be very weirded out as it’s such a, well, Japanese ONLY niche. Most recently we’ve seen an outcry when there’s a direct one-to-one translation in the form of Boku no Hero Academia, with the character of Mineta. English speakers DO NOT like him. They find his antics the opposite of endearing. Yet much of Japan finds him enjoyable.

[Theodric]

That makes sense. If it helps, I’m coming at this from a purely “aww, they’re so cute! Holding hands and touching foreheads and stuff!” mindset. I find their relationship adorable. I’m also ace, so, I find romance can happen with ZERO s*xual interaction.

On Haurchefant though... yes, he IS a pervert in the Japanese localization. however this is because he fits the same niche as someone like Jiraiya from Naruto - the “loveable pervert” - in Japan. This is why his dialogue was changed so much for an English speaking audience - unless you watch anime enough to understand that niche and cliche, you’d be very weirded out as it’s such a, well, Japanese ONLY niche. Most recently we’ve seen an outcry when there’s a direct one-to-one translation in the form of Boku no Hero Academia, with the character of Mineta. English speakers DO NOT like him. They find his antics the opposite of endearing. Yet much of Japan finds him enjoyable.

Yeah, I can understand where you're coming from on that front. I guess a lot of it comes from my time playing on Balmung. Needless to say I saw and heard a lot of things there that made me really wary of a portion of this game's community. It doesn't help that whenever I search Twitter for art of characters I occasionally end up stumbling across comments and drawings that are pretty worrying...

As for Haurchefant, I didn't mind his antics personally. FFXIV seemed to be willing to be a lot bolder with some of the dirty jokes and commentary back in the days of ARR but has since has moved away from that for the most part.

I do find some anime tropes to be a little unsettling, but depending on how they're handled they can also be pretty funny.

[EaraGrace]

There’s nothing indicating they’re together, it’s just headcanon.

Yes, because having a character hugging another character in a field of flowers, a direct callback to two people in an relationship in a previous mainline game, is simply head canon to be ignored and carries with it no other reasonable interpretation other than they’re besties.

One could argue that underage characters are not yet physically or emotionally mature enough to commit to a serious relationship. That aside, a significant number of the players gushing over Ryne and Gaia appear to do so because they find the concept them together to be 'hot' despite...both characters being underage.

Given how freely a lot of FFXIV share information about themselves on the likes of Twitter and this very forum, a lot of those same individuals are also not in Ryne and Gaia's age group. In fact, they're quite a bit older than either of them!

So, yeah - I think it's creepy and I think that as a gay guy a lot of the potential character relationships and 'ships' pushed by the FFXIV community have questionable optics.

Haurchefant? He's an outright pervert in the Japanese localisation and some of the others as well, I believe.

Ryne and Gaia? As mentioned, they're underage.

Alisae? Again, underage.

If we were to get some 'representation' then I'd much to prefer to see it in the form of adult characters.

I think underage people can be queer and be written to be in relationships appropriate for their ages. I don’t think the same level of hand wringing happens in equivalent hetero relationships.