Talk about a realm reborn! Fans of Final Fantasy XIV who were upset about the game's controversial decision to exclude gay marriage need not worry any longer. Director and producer Naoki Yoshida confirmed the change during one of its live-streamed E3 developer talks that the game will introduce same-sex relationships in an upcoming patch.

The relevant part of the talk begins just shy of the 2:30:00 mark, when they field a question about same-sex relationships in the fictional world of Eorzea. (For a breakdown of some other gameplay elements discussed, check out Mike Fahey's post here).


Quoting from a translator here, Yoshida said that upon the arrival of the 2.4 patch, "people within Eorzea will be able to pledge their eternal love and or friendship in a ceremony of eternal bonding. And this will be open to people regardless of race, creed, and gender. Two players...if they want to be together, in Eorzea, they can—through this eternal bonding ceremony."

"We discussed it," Yoshida added, "and we realized: within Eorzea, why should there be restrictions on who pledges their love or friendship to each other? And so we decided to go this way."


The team is also considering things like "special mounts that only people who pledged their love and friendship can ride."

And with that matter settled, they started talking about the possibility of adding a dueling system.

Well there you have it. Now was that so hard, Nintendo?