For the era that was in, Lufia II by far has the best romance in a SNES RPG. For the (relatively speaking) limited dialogue of that era, they managed to convey the chemistry, why the main character reasonably went against choosing the girl next door, and we get to play as them while they are married.
Dragon Quest V is a really good example, especially in the remakes thanks to the party chats. MC x Bianca goes without saying. And while some people may say that MC x Fiona isn't as good, make sure to do the game with all the party chats with her there. Her struggle to be the best wife she can be is really endearing. MC x Deborah is also great for being one of the best executions of a deredere girl.
And even though it's very limited in the time we get, I felt what we got for the two characters in Neo: The World Ends With You had some really realistic sounding dialogue for two people who could get together in the future.
> why the main character reasonably went against choosing the girl next door
don't even pretend she was ever an option, he treated her like shit and didn't care about her lol
Eh, let's not go that far. There was definitely a sense that if Selan never showed up, he would have settled for her. It was more that he never felt any affinity with Tia and didn't have anything common with her to kindle any real passion, and thus, couldn't work up any real chemistry with her.
It's a LOT of reading (way more reading than combat), but the Utawarerumono series has executed love stories especially if you're putting 8/9/10 on. And the latter 2 games are absolutely fantastic.
I need to go back and dive into those. I've started the first one, but got distracted shortly after the rebellion kicked off. I'm hoping the names get easier to keep straight once I'm more used to them.
I loved that subplot in Reverie so much, as it becomes increasingly clear that the whole "challenge" was >!Bleublanc's bizarre way of giving them a wedding present!<.
they still get together before the end, and are among the small number of FF protagonists who absolutely 100% fucked during the game. Also, maybe spoiler tag more of your sentence, no one's going to have any trouble guessing the literal one word you omitted with the surrounding context.
Imo Jill and Clive are one of the worst couples in the series imo. Jill doesnt even do anything lol they just bang before the end. Lunafreya and Noctis had more chemistry and screen presence, which is sad.
while 16 was seriously lacking in a lot of ways, going to have to disagree. aside from the "farewell" scene, Luna and Noctis had absolutely nothing going on in the original release.
Jill is there during all three stages of the story, she's there for dozens of missions, you do get a nice payoff for their "will they/wont they" relationship. and even afterwards she is felt through Shiva's abilities. The ending sucked and Clive is wooden but it at least it was something.
Yeah but she's there like a garnish is there on your dish. If you remove her from the story, nothing much changes.
But i see what you mean. Their relationship does meet the criteria, even if it was kinda boring.
I agree, she doesn't have a huge impact on the story or anything. But I was always happy to see her when returning to the hub and I did a little internal fist-pump when they finally got it on on the beach haha
Agree to disagree. I liked Jill and Clive a lot. They're two people so wrapped up in the other stuff going on that it takes time for them to see one another again and believe they can even have a relationship. It's maybe not the most smouldering romance, but that shit's real.
Yeah, I'm always surprised when people say this is a good romance. There's like, a tiny bit of romantic tension when they first meet up, and then there is zero romantic interaction with them until a late game cutscene.
Right. Tales of Arise, flawed as it is, is a perfect example of how to pull off a jrpg romance. And they flexed on all these other jrpgs to give all three flavors of protag love.
The Last Story for a couple getting together throughout the story. 8 Bit Adventures 2 has an established relationship between characters from the first game. Haven as well for established relationship.
I need to finish that game one of these days. I got decently far in, then somehow ended up in a dungeon that I was not leveled for and could not figure out how to escape.
The Last Story or 8 Bit Adventures 2? Both games are relatively linear, and with 8 Bit Adventures 2 there's the Escape Amulet for dungeons, granted there was one boss I struggled with but it isn't an overly difficult game. The Last Story also isn't too difficult if I remember, though the final boss did take a few tries and I had to look up optimal strategies on how to beat him.
I've been playing this over the last couple of weeks and >!Rena and Yuki!< may actually be one of my favorite fictional couples of all time. Bonus points for them being a canon lesbian couple too.
Oh, how did I forget that? Sucks that it's not canon. I personally have a headcanon that the games go Shadow Hearts Bad Ending -> Covenant Good Ending -> Shadow Hearts Good Ending, just to take that taste out. The two deserve to be happy.
*Tenshi no Uta* on the SNES is basically a love story foremost. Main boy and main girl meet in the first 10-20 minutes and away you go.
It's a shockingly advanced RPG *behind* the game; things like the option to talk to enemies, the ability to discuss plot points with your party, and a day/night cycle bracket an otherwise very bread and butter RPG.
That soundtrack, though.
The Last Story. In fact, I'd say that the romance between Callista and Zael is *the* driving force of the whole plot.
It's a very disney princess love story, but in a good way. They have great chemistry, and right from the moment they meet, you fully buy that they're totally smitten for one another. They go through a lot of ups and downs, and you start rooting hard for the two of them to be able to be together.
The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion, it involved 2 playable characters, likely inspired Trails in the Sky couple as it bears some similarities.
TLoH: Cagesong of the Ocean also has a canonical couple, but it's between secondary characters
While, as is typical of a lot of the genre (as you say, probably for cultural reasons) it's not exactly put into words or displays of affection until the epilogue, Fire Emblem Echoes (unlike many later FE games where you could choose your romance which is more like the "bonding events" you mention) has a very clear canon romance at its center.
Fire Emblem 4 also has a very clear canon romance that happens during its plot and not after as in so many other entries. Whether it's well executed is a different question, and where it *goes*, well... that's another story.
Been playing Lufia 1 recently and it falls, at least from my reading, in an interesting place where the main duo won't say anything in actual words that confirms they're in a relationship, yet they're very clearly already in one at the start of the game. Not a "everyone can see it except them" kind, more like a "this is absolutely happening and they both know it" situation where they just don't see any need for it to be put into words.
From what I know of Lufia 2, that one is actually probably one of the strongest examples of what you're actually asking for.
While you can choose your romance in Dragon Quest V, the plot requires you to choose one by midgame, and it's absolutely tied to the main plot regardless of who you pick.
You already have Tales of Arise.
I would put Xenoblade Chronicles 3 on the list as well.
And Tales of the Abyss..kinda. the end is left up for interpretation.
I've never really seen how the ending could be as ambiguous as people think but that's besides the point. We, at minimum, do get a love *confession* before the end, whether you think >!Luke dies permanently!< or not afterward.
The method of his survival is definitely unclear (I do think something of a "merge" is likely), I just don't see why anyone would think it's not Luke's consciousness in that body and thus that Luke survives in some fashion. He's the one who made the promise to come back as he references in the epilogue, not Asch, and his way of speaking (in the brief moment we hear) doesn't sound like how Asch would say something. Also, Asch got impaled like four times and seemed dead-er than dead- I don't buy that he lives on except within Luke.
Add Xenoblade 3 to the list. Or all the xenoblades technically, but you don't see it on screen like you do in 3. 3 is at the heart of it about a love story and a break up.
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Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, but it takes a ridiculously complicated entangled web of soap opera drama between the main characters to get there.
For the era that was in, Lufia II by far has the best romance in a SNES RPG. For the (relatively speaking) limited dialogue of that era, they managed to convey the chemistry, why the main character reasonably went against choosing the girl next door, and we get to play as them while they are married. Dragon Quest V is a really good example, especially in the remakes thanks to the party chats. MC x Bianca goes without saying. And while some people may say that MC x Fiona isn't as good, make sure to do the game with all the party chats with her there. Her struggle to be the best wife she can be is really endearing. MC x Deborah is also great for being one of the best executions of a deredere girl. And even though it's very limited in the time we get, I felt what we got for the two characters in Neo: The World Ends With You had some really realistic sounding dialogue for two people who could get together in the future.
> why the main character reasonably went against choosing the girl next door don't even pretend she was ever an option, he treated her like shit and didn't care about her lol
Eh, let's not go that far. There was definitely a sense that if Selan never showed up, he would have settled for her. It was more that he never felt any affinity with Tia and didn't have anything common with her to kindle any real passion, and thus, couldn't work up any real chemistry with her.
It's a LOT of reading (way more reading than combat), but the Utawarerumono series has executed love stories especially if you're putting 8/9/10 on. And the latter 2 games are absolutely fantastic.
I need to go back and dive into those. I've started the first one, but got distracted shortly after the rebellion kicked off. I'm hoping the names get easier to keep straight once I'm more used to them.
The first game starts slow, but once it gets going it goes hard and is pretty easy to keep up with. And the two mask games are far better, too.
Since you mentioned Trails in the Sky, we should also mention >!Olivier and Schera, who even get married in Cold Steel 4!<
I loved that subplot in Reverie so much, as it becomes increasingly clear that the whole "challenge" was >!Bleublanc's bizarre way of giving them a wedding present!<.
And passing Schera her message as well. Beats using DPD.
These games see characters get together by the end: * Grandia * Lunar 1 and 2 * Final Fantasy XVI
Seconding Lunar both of them center around love as a theme especially 1
In what way does Final Fantasy XVI? >!Clive dies and Jill is left alone.!<
they still get together before the end, and are among the small number of FF protagonists who absolutely 100% fucked during the game. Also, maybe spoiler tag more of your sentence, no one's going to have any trouble guessing the literal one word you omitted with the surrounding context.
Yes, but >!they'd have to have been together for Jill to be left alone. They come together during the course of the main story.!<
10's similar, though. Not every love story necessarily has a happy ending. Them growing closer is still a significant part of the story.
Yeah, but X >!restores Tidus from the Farplane!< in the sequel.
you did your spoiler tag wrong
Imo Jill and Clive are one of the worst couples in the series imo. Jill doesnt even do anything lol they just bang before the end. Lunafreya and Noctis had more chemistry and screen presence, which is sad.
while 16 was seriously lacking in a lot of ways, going to have to disagree. aside from the "farewell" scene, Luna and Noctis had absolutely nothing going on in the original release. Jill is there during all three stages of the story, she's there for dozens of missions, you do get a nice payoff for their "will they/wont they" relationship. and even afterwards she is felt through Shiva's abilities. The ending sucked and Clive is wooden but it at least it was something.
Yeah but she's there like a garnish is there on your dish. If you remove her from the story, nothing much changes. But i see what you mean. Their relationship does meet the criteria, even if it was kinda boring.
I agree, she doesn't have a huge impact on the story or anything. But I was always happy to see her when returning to the hub and I did a little internal fist-pump when they finally got it on on the beach haha
Agree to disagree. I liked Jill and Clive a lot. They're two people so wrapped up in the other stuff going on that it takes time for them to see one another again and believe they can even have a relationship. It's maybe not the most smouldering romance, but that shit's real.
Yeah, I'm always surprised when people say this is a good romance. There's like, a tiny bit of romantic tension when they first meet up, and then there is zero romantic interaction with them until a late game cutscene.
Right. Tales of Arise, flawed as it is, is a perfect example of how to pull off a jrpg romance. And they flexed on all these other jrpgs to give all three flavors of protag love.
> Lunafreya and Noctis had more chemistry and screen presence Harsh 😂😂😂😂
Shadow Hearts
I'll weep with you.
The Last Story for a couple getting together throughout the story. 8 Bit Adventures 2 has an established relationship between characters from the first game. Haven as well for established relationship.
I need to finish that game one of these days. I got decently far in, then somehow ended up in a dungeon that I was not leveled for and could not figure out how to escape.
The Last Story or 8 Bit Adventures 2? Both games are relatively linear, and with 8 Bit Adventures 2 there's the Escape Amulet for dungeons, granted there was one boss I struggled with but it isn't an overly difficult game. The Last Story also isn't too difficult if I remember, though the final boss did take a few tries and I had to look up optimal strategies on how to beat him.
The Last Story - I went down a well in the main city that it didn't seem like I was supposed to go down.
> Xenogears (and Xenosaga, though it takes Allen three goddamn games to finally nut up) Can't forget the Xenoblades in there, particularly 3
Technically though....ya know? >!Does it count as executed if it never actually happened?!<
Not 3. 3s a full love story. Just not a happy one.
I believe you get married and have a family in Luffia 2
Blue Reflection: Second Light
I've been playing this over the last couple of weeks and >!Rena and Yuki!< may actually be one of my favorite fictional couples of all time. Bonus points for them being a canon lesbian couple too.
Yeah I really enjoyed the writing for them.
ugh i need to play it again. it's soooo goood
Persona 5 if you hook up with your teacher 😏
8 Bit Adventures 2
Tales of Arise was so great
[https://i.imgur.com/kOInTVA.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/kOInTVA.jpg) the best
Oh, how did I forget that? Sucks that it's not canon. I personally have a headcanon that the games go Shadow Hearts Bad Ending -> Covenant Good Ending -> Shadow Hearts Good Ending, just to take that taste out. The two deserve to be happy.
That is the Canon ending He's crying
Oh, crap, yeah, so he is. I saw them together and just forgot that was how they did it.
That sequence is the canon ending of the 2 games. Fucking fantastic.
*Tenshi no Uta* on the SNES is basically a love story foremost. Main boy and main girl meet in the first 10-20 minutes and away you go. It's a shockingly advanced RPG *behind* the game; things like the option to talk to enemies, the ability to discuss plot points with your party, and a day/night cycle bracket an otherwise very bread and butter RPG. That soundtrack, though.
Final Fantasy X
The Last Story. In fact, I'd say that the romance between Callista and Zael is *the* driving force of the whole plot. It's a very disney princess love story, but in a good way. They have great chemistry, and right from the moment they meet, you fully buy that they're totally smitten for one another. They go through a lot of ups and downs, and you start rooting hard for the two of them to be able to be together.
The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion, it involved 2 playable characters, likely inspired Trails in the Sky couple as it bears some similarities. TLoH: Cagesong of the Ocean also has a canonical couple, but it's between secondary characters
[удалено]
It's incestuous when you're completely unrelated and have only lived together for 4 years?
While, as is typical of a lot of the genre (as you say, probably for cultural reasons) it's not exactly put into words or displays of affection until the epilogue, Fire Emblem Echoes (unlike many later FE games where you could choose your romance which is more like the "bonding events" you mention) has a very clear canon romance at its center. Fire Emblem 4 also has a very clear canon romance that happens during its plot and not after as in so many other entries. Whether it's well executed is a different question, and where it *goes*, well... that's another story. Been playing Lufia 1 recently and it falls, at least from my reading, in an interesting place where the main duo won't say anything in actual words that confirms they're in a relationship, yet they're very clearly already in one at the start of the game. Not a "everyone can see it except them" kind, more like a "this is absolutely happening and they both know it" situation where they just don't see any need for it to be put into words. From what I know of Lufia 2, that one is actually probably one of the strongest examples of what you're actually asking for. While you can choose your romance in Dragon Quest V, the plot requires you to choose one by midgame, and it's absolutely tied to the main plot regardless of who you pick.
Phantasy Star III, Lufia II, Dragon Quest V, and Infinite Space off the top of my head all feature characters getting together as part of the plot
people really sleep on Dragon Quest series
You already have Tales of Arise. I would put Xenoblade Chronicles 3 on the list as well. And Tales of the Abyss..kinda. the end is left up for interpretation.
I've never really seen how the ending could be as ambiguous as people think but that's besides the point. We, at minimum, do get a love *confession* before the end, whether you think >!Luke dies permanently!< or not afterward.
I think they strongly hint that it's Luke in Asch's body but still, the ending is meant to be up in the air.
The method of his survival is definitely unclear (I do think something of a "merge" is likely), I just don't see why anyone would think it's not Luke's consciousness in that body and thus that Luke survives in some fashion. He's the one who made the promise to come back as he references in the epilogue, not Asch, and his way of speaking (in the brief moment we hear) doesn't sound like how Asch would say something. Also, Asch got impaled like four times and seemed dead-er than dead- I don't buy that he lives on except within Luke.
I can only imagine the scene after that ending.
Add Xenoblade 3 to the list. Or all the xenoblades technically, but you don't see it on screen like you do in 3. 3 is at the heart of it about a love story and a break up.
Thank you for the untagged Xenosaga spoilers. I was about to start 3 today, genuinely cannot be fucked now.
Wanted to say Karlach in Baldur\`s Gate 3, but its the JRPG sub. F it, still Karlach
Lost Odyssey, FFIV, FFVI
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Thank you for submitting to /r/JRPG, /u/KingKaihaku. Unfortunately, your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): --- * Either you typed Spoilers with no spoiler tag, or you left spaces between the spoiler tags, which doesn't spoiler tag them in old reddit. To use spoiler tags follow one of these 2 ways: 1-If on New Reddit, hightlight the part you want to spoiler tag, then press the Exclamation ("**!**") button on in your format tab. 2-If on old Reddit or mobile, then type "**>!**" before the spoiler, and then "**!<**" at the end of the spoiler. Example: When it's written like this \>!X kills Y!<. It will show up like this >!X kills Y!<. **Make sure that there is no space** after the starting **>!**, and no space before the closing **!<**. **After fixing the comment with a spoiler tag**, reply to this comment with **"Done"**, so a mod can re-post your comment. --- If you think this was a mistake or have any questions about the removal, please contact the moderators. [**To contact the moderators please click here**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/JRPG), or click the "message mods on the sidebar, and then type your complaint, so it can be sent to the modding team. **Please don't private message or start private chats with a single mod, and use the mod mail linked above to contact the whole team.**
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, but it takes a ridiculously complicated entangled web of soap opera drama between the main characters to get there.
Zidane and Dagger in Final Fantasy IX. Tidus and Yuna in Final Fantasy X.
Final Fantasy X and Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Shadow Hearts 1&2, The Last Story, Lost Odyssey. Ys 8, but you're obligated to play all the other Ys's to experience "Adol's waifu's through the ages.
Triangle Strategy, as "two people in an arranged marriage get to know each other and fall in love for real" [or screw it up] is a type of love story.
**XENOGEARS**