>>30106172They did. Masuda himself stated in an interview that it was only supposed to represent friendship if you were a girl.
>There are hints of a romance between the player character and Shauna, especially during the fireworks scene, did this romance angle come from the fact that Paris is the city of love? Or would you like future Pokémon games to include more of a love story?Yes, with France being the basis for the region, I wanted to implement some elements of romance with Shauna when playing as a boy and express a deep friendship when playing as a girl. For example, when running through the forest early in the game, Shauna will stay behind the player. We did this to express that Shauna is interested in the player. The fireworks scene also expressed Shauna and the player becoming closer to each other – going from just having met, to becoming friends, to becoming very close friends.
In the future, I think I may add more romantic elements if I can do it in a fun way. However, I don't think I want to take it in a direction that shows people fighting or a relationship falling apart. Doing that would take too much of the focus off of catching Pokémon! (laughs)
