/vr/ - Retro Games

Mitsumete Knight R

No wait, that's an RPG version of dating sim actually.

For all the build up FF8 got for being a GREAT EPIC LOVE STORY, it was anything but because it was nothing but Riona continuing to hit on Squall until he gave in. The ideal relationship to a loney Japanese male to be sure, but a great love story that doesn't make.

You needn't look further than Final Fantasy 9, where the relationship is actually believable. Zidane and Garnet tease each other. They share secrets with each other. They support each other. They put defenses up around each other at first which gradually whittle down. Garnet doesn't take him seriously at first, but over times sees what a good person he is. Zidane is just looking for another score, but inadvertently falls for her. And unlike 8 it's not meant to take center-stage, so it's more of a pleasant side-plot.

>>2475321
This sums up my feelings so well I thought I had made that post for a second.

>>2475306
How about Lufia & the Fortress of Doom?

Lufia II & 3 are also good about this.

>>2475306
Both Lunars are really good for that. I prefer Eternal Blue, and if you can the Sega CD versions are a little better than the PSX remakes.

Thousand Arms might also be up your aisle. It's sort of a cross between a JRPG and a dating sim, but has a great light hearted atmosphere and story. So far it's the only dating sim related game I've been able to stand.

>>2475321
yeah FF9 is great if you're looking for a hollywood romcom by the numbers

Lunar Eternal Blue gave me that feel. Be sure to get the true end.

>>2475392

Eh, as it relates to lunar, I feel like the CD version of silver star being better than the remake is subjective. Lunar 2 is certainly a different game between the versions though.

>>2475403
>Be sure to get the true end.

Yes! Also because it's a heck of a lot of fun to have some nice dungeons to explore after the 'ending'. I wish more games had epilogues like that.

>>2475407
Yeah, I agree with that. It's really just EB where the differences are weird and glaring, like missing music tracks and animations. In the original the Illusion Woods are actually full of illusions, in the remake it's basically just a hedge maze. It's so weird.

Illusion of Gaia

For a SNES game, there is a ton of character development and most of the characters end up getting paired off. Romance permeates without suffocating. I'm normally very critical of romance in my entertainment, but this one does it correctly.

It's ARPG, but that's the better genre anyway.

>>2475414
But I'd note that the PSX version is still well worth playing if it's the only one he can get his hands on.

The only one to really avoid is the GBA port of 1 which is super shitty.

>>2475321
The love story blossoms toward the end when her feelings get reciprocated (a little too late) by Squall. His mad assault to reclaim her, jettisoning into space with what's an apparent suicide to catch her... all pretty high-tier romance.

But the best romance was definitely Laguna and Julia. Especially when you tie the lyrics of Eyes on Me into that scene where Laguna finally talks to her in the hotel room.

Then the tragedy that separates them and in her grief she turns to a Galbadian general. Ultimately though, Laguna's son falls for Julia's daughter. For a story about time and fate, that works remarkably well.

>>2475306
Lunar 2.

If you've got a PS2, Mana Khemia.

What retro RPG's even have actual romances? Usually the main character will have some kind of designated love interest but nothing really happens between them.

>>2475394
Hey, the formula works. No need to try and fix it.

>>2475908
Locke and Celes had quite a bit of development, even though people might find some of it to be cringe-worthy.

There was also a surprising amount of romance and a love triangle in Lufia 2. You even spend the second half of the game adventuring with your wife.

>>2475321
Yeah, but I've already played Final Fantasy IX reveled in it's simple, cute, and satisfying romance, and enjoyed everything else that makes it a prime candidate for the GOAT FF.

>>2475394
So Garnet doesn't like Zidane at first but then becomes attracted to him after he lies about who he is, they engage in a series of hilarious romantic encounters that are still somehow charming to her, but then his secret is revealed and even though he tells her that it means nothing now because they love each other, she finds his act of distrust unforgivable and goes off to marry someone else, Zidane is inconsolable only for his wacky best friend to convince him to go get the girl, so he crashes the wedding, gives a speech about love, gets Garnet back, and then his wacky best friend punches out her douchebag ex-fiance?

Because that's Hollywood romcom by the numbers, friend.

It's not retro, but Wild Arms 4 comes to mind. Raquel and Arnaud develop a relationship that becomes intimate when Raquel shows him her terminal illness

>>2476510
I mean sure there are lots of tropes in romcoms that aren't in FF9 but FF9 certainly has its fair share.

All I'm saying is, at least in FF8 it was the dude who was tsundere.

>>2476506
I also like the way that Final Fantasy IX starts out with Zidane just being a tourist in the whole situation sort of like Bartz or Vaan. The main plot really has little to do with him and the story is more about Garnet and her struggles to stop her mother and Kuja. But over time Zidane's role in the story becomes more and more important to the point where he essentially becomes the main focus and there is no doubt left that this is his story.

>your face when you realize all RPG's contain a love story

>>2476515

>>2476524
so tsun-tsun~

>>2476520
Not ALL of them

Some just have suggestive relationships that fans use to fuel shippings - but no actual canonical romance or chemistry

>>2476515
mmm. tsundere implies that there's actual emotion somewhere within squall. He's just an emo twit.

>>2476517
it would have been better off if they had stuck with Garnet's more political story and skipped the shonen alien superhero rival stuff, if you asked me

>>2476535
>>2476520
Right off the top of my head, the first Final Fantasy and Dragon quest don't.

>>2476539
I don't think any of the Breath of Fire games did

The only Dragon Quest games that really did were V and the GOAT VIII

>>2476536
be real dude, between Squall's tantrums and nervous breakdowns, he showed more emotional depth than most JRPG protagonists, who just have a switch labeled "How dare you do that to my friends, you monster!" and "Let's go, gang!"

also come on, "emo" doesn't mean "apathetic"

>>2476546
>tantrums
>nervous break downs
>these make a good character

THIS IS WHAT FF8 FANS ACTUALLY BELIEVE.

>>2476553
Hey, it worked for Zidane.

>>2476546
Emo is Cloud Strife

But he wasn't always that way. Cloud in Final Fantasy VII was just a cold bastard at times, but he still had a personality. Calling Barrett a "bear in a marshmallow", cross-dressing to save Tifa, making suggestive jokes about sleeping beside Tifa (player option - but you know you picked it)

And you can't say that was just him adapting Zack's personality, because he doesn't really change much after he regains his lost memories.

But Advent Children turned him into this whiny emo crybaby with no personality outside of feeling tortured and brooding. Like a Gackt-clone Batman.

>>2476563
Zidane did that ONCE because he just found out he was created by Garnet as a means to destroy the world so it was understandable - and he snapped out of it after like five minutes and went back to his happy-go-luck self.

>>2476569
>*Garland
>he who knocks people down

>>2476569
You meant Garland instead of Garnet, right?

>>2476573
Yes, my amendment here-
>>2476572

>>2476569
and whenever Squall got emotional, it was usually because he was forced to face death or because he started to become worried about one of his friends' lives

you can't have it both ways, dude. The tantrums are justified for BOTH characters.

>>2476563
I never thought about it until now, but mental breakdowns seem to be a common trait in the PSX trilogy of Final Fantasies.

>>2476576
Yeah, but Zidane has one instance over the course of an entire game.

Squall does it every ten minutes.

>>2476582
Exaggerating only makes your point weaker.

>>2476581
To Cloud's defense, his was more Mako Poisoning than mental breakdown. He probably could have talked it out with Tifa if he wasn't in a non-responsive state.

>>2476589
Cloud had his mental breakdown a before the game even started

>>2476589
According to Clerith shippers and some web novella that nobody but them ever ready, Aerith was the one who allowed Tifa to enter Cloud's mind when they fell into the Lifestream.

Thus, it was Aerith who saved Cloud and not Tifa THIS IS WHAT CLERITH SHIPPERS ACTUALLY BELIEVE

>>2476597
I miss the Aeris/Tifa shipping wars of old

>>2476539
>Dragon Quest

Come on,man. The hero can carry the Princess in his arms for most of the game and they eventually marry.

>>2476593
Not so much a mental breakdown as it was him having a good portion of his mind damaged by the implantation of JENOVA cells. That's why when Zack died the JENOVA cells in his body assimilated Zack's memories and used them to replace the missing memories.

>>2476598
The war still rages on in the darkest corners of the internet. Cloti shipper for life.

>>2476603
That kind of romance is so far in the background that it can hardly count. Sort of like Final Fantasy IV where Cecil and Rosa have already been in a relationship before the start of the game and thus their only real romantic interaction is getting married in the end.

>>2475306
Bahamut Lagoon

>>2476615
Let's not write off the romance in FF4 completely... it is a source of a lot of dramatic tension re: Kain, and the main theme of the game is called "Theme of Love", after all

>>2476624
Edge & Rydia too. Really FF4 was the first game of the franchise to be rife with shipping.

>>2476627
Rydia never should have left the Feymarch if she wanted to keep her virginity...

>>2476635
sounds like the first line of a lemon fic

>>2476624
Poor Kain gets NTR'd all the way through FF4

>>2476604
>cloti shipper for life

>>2476659
They only choice of scholars and gentlemen

>>2476542
Aren't Ryu and Nina a thing though?

>>2476670
Implied but never confirmed

>>2475408
"nice dungeons" Rolled into a few of them with just Hiro. After a few days of that, figured I was probably meant to have a party with me.

>>2475306
In Phantasy Star 3 you get to marry, have children rinse repeat The lightest of romance more of a propinquity kind of deal.

One of my least favorite from Phantasy Star series, but worth a play nonetheless. The genetics part was really neat- makes for lots of play-throughs just to see what kind of offspring you can pump out.

>>2476672
Ie; nothing but shipping fuel

>>2476672

I thought Breath of Fire 2 confirmed that Nina and Ryu in Breath of Fire 1 got together?

>>2476869
I thought Ryu was a descendant of Ryu and Nina was a descendant of Nina - thus confirming that they came from two different bloodlines?

>>2476869
BOFII Nina > BOFI Nina btw

>>2476879
Ryu II is never confirmed to be descended from Ryu I. He simply shares his name. It is only confirmed that Nina II is descended from Nina I.

>>2475321
I'm actually mad about him giving in to that.
that dumb bitch was with Seifer before. that's already an indicator not to bother with somebody like Rinoa.

>>2477047
So she's only attracted to good-looking guys and complete douchebags?

Yeah, Rinoa really is like a real girl.

>>2475306
>>2476662

Didn't Cloud and Tifa fuck in the Chocobo cabin.

The way I always saw it was that pre life stream cloud loved Aeris because his memories were mixed with Zacks but the real Cloud is in love with Tifa and always has been. Sure he still had feelings for Aeris because of the journey the shared but Tifa was the true love for the true Cloud

>>2477098
This is all true. Tifa and Cloud's sex is all-but canon and originally it was going to be pretty obvious - but they altered it to only be heavily implied. Even if you were a Clerith fanboy who treated Tifa like shit through the game, and you get the less affectionate dialogue options for that scene, you still get the heavily implied sex.

Cloud had always crushed on Tifa and she was the sole motivator for everything he did - even going off to join SOLDIER. It was only after his memories became muddied with Zack's that he liked Aerith and Aerith was always only attracted to him because of how much he was like Zack.

Clerith shippers love to claim Tifa was a snob to Cloud as a child and that she deliberately ignored him until he wanted to go off and join SOLDIER, but Cloud even admits himself during the flashback that he thought her friends were stupid and deliberately avoided their little circle - all the while wishing he could join them. So it was Cloud who distanced himself from her and her friends.

>>2475306
Shadow Hearts 1 and 2 maybe?

Really no romance until between the 2 main characters Yuri and Alice until the actual ass end of the game and between games 1 and 2 Alice dies.

>dat good ending of SH2 though

>>2475306

I'd say Final Fantasy IV and VI qualify, although you might have already played those. The love story in those games is definitely a key element, but it never feels like it overwhelms the main plot.

>>2476635
Who said she wanted to keep it? ;)

>>2476645
Well what does he expect with his revolving-door loyalty? Chicks want commitment from a guy.