In Final Fantasy X, depending on what you do in the city of Guadosalam, you can say that you’re not interested in Yuna at all, but in Rikku or even Lulu. Rikku looks interested; Lulu is dismissive.
But before too long, Tidus ends up with Yuna anyway. Arrrgh I know they had to have a canon love interest so they could have Final Fantasy X-2, but am I the only one annoyed by the fact that Tidus couldn’t get together with Rikku or Lulu? (Especially Rikku? I always liked her the best.)
I dunno, in every game I’ve ever played that had a system like this, it ends up either feeling really weird and artificial or it’s super irritating and finnicky if you want to end up with anyone other than the canon choice. I don’t think this sort of feature is worth the time it takes to implement.
I like Rikku best, too, but my preference and the character’s preference are not necessarily the same thing. I think that, as Tidus was near the beginning of the game, he was a much better match for Rikku (or Wakka, depending on the orientations of the characters). However, he got the foundations of his world-view yanked out from under him over the course of the game. That tends to change a person. By the end, I can how he’d feel he has more in common with Yuna.
As for letting you pick…well, I don’t know the writers’ reasons. It’s certainly not necessary. I guess I could see it as letting you define how quickly or how much Tidus is changing. Brash jock Tidus might well go for the reckless-and-fun Rikku or voluptuous-mystery-woman Lulu, but end-game Tidus isn’t really that guy anymore. (That’s not to say he would be wrong to get together with either in the end, but I imagine that his reasons would be different.) Potentially discarding his earlier, impulsive choice–or coming out of denial–could be a way to show that.
Could be worse - in FF7, you could end up on the date with the Mr. T lookalike.
Only if you worked at it.
That dude was cool, though.
I voted for Rikku too. I always wanted the Final Fantasy games to have some divergent story lines. Not an open world like Elder Scroll games, but one where if you work hard enough and make the right choices you can alter the course of the story. Final Fantasy IV in particular had a moment where Cecil and Kain duel. No matter what you do, Kain wins the battle, even if you grind Cecil up to level 99. I always wanted to see what would have happened had Cecil won that fight.
Voted Yuna.
It’s not just a matter of who you, or Tidus are more attracted to (FWIW I’d put rikku last out of the 3 tho), or think he’s more compatible with.
Given that we’re told Yuna must sacrifice herself in the end, there is a great poignancy to their relationship. Every moment they’re together is bittersweet, and it really draws you in to the main story.
If he dates anyone else it would feel something like a “side quest” by comparison, IMHO