Square Enix will be implementing a marriage system in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, that will be added to the game via an update in the future. Responding to fan queries, the game’s producer-cum-director, Naoki Yoshida, also says that he is open to the idea of same-sex marriage, but that Square will carry on discussions with players before making a decision about the implementation of such a feature.
“As for same-sex marriage, this is an extremely controversial topic that has been under discussion in the MMO world for the past few years,” Yoshida recently said in a live video Q&A. “First we would like to start out with opposite-sex marriage, and then consider the feedback from our players in order to make a careful decision. I can’t say whether or not it will be possible at this point in time. I’d like to keep dialog open with our players as we deliberate the matter.”
Yoshida also answered a bunch of other questions about the future of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. You can watch a full recording of his video Q&A above (turn captions on for subtitles), or read a transcript here.
A few of the other interesting questions (and answers) from the Q&A:
Q: In the 3rd Players’ Poll, there was a question about new races and clans. What kind of race will be implemented and when? Also, will we see Viera or beastmen/lizardmen?
A: The Viera are extremely popular amongst our overseas players, so we’re really thinking hard about this one. We’d also been considering a dragon-blood tribe – something more beastman or reptilian, a direction that we haven’t really tried in a FINAL FANTASY before.I guess I was leaning towards what in Japan would be considered a Western design, but our North American players have also been pretty vocal in their requests for the Viera race. We would like to look into it. You can assume it would be for an expansion pack.
Q: Roughly how much will housing cost including the furnishings and interior designs?
A: I think that maybe 4-5 players, each with one level 50 class could probably buy a house if they put all of their earnings together. From there it will be possible to buy more land and rebuild, things like that. There will be lots of things you can do like have the roof changed to a different style, and then paint it whatever color you want.
Q: Are there plans to release a benchmark? If so, when?
A: We are planning to have two. The first one will be for Beta to see how well your PC can run it, and the second one will be right before launch and it will include character creation with all races.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is currently in its alpha testing phase. A timeframe for the game’s beta has not been announced yet.
