Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Acula
The Love Story
I don't know about anyone else (maybe I'm a hopeless romantic on the inside) but I saw some subtle traces of love stories in there. Ashe really loved Rasler, Penelo seemed to have a thing for Vaan IMHO, and I'm sure Fran and Balthier were partners in a much less professional way too. Not to mention Ashe seemed to develop a crush on Balthier later on in the game (IMO Balthier seemed to like her a little bit too) and Vaan seemed to have a crush on Ashe too. It's also been debated that Ashe loves Vaan (she's starting to sound a bit like a slut).
So yeah, I'd say there's at least SOME emotion in there. But I don't really know since I haven't finished the game yet.
Ooh...I would agree with most of your assessment about the potential couples in this game. I'm also a hopeless romantic.

From what I've played of XII (I'm up to the Henne Mines), I think one can make good cases for Balthier/Fran, Rasler/Ashe (obviously), and perhaps Penelo --> Vaan and Larsa --> Penelo.

I've heard that there's implied Balthier/Ashe later in the game. As for me, I like to think that Basch and Ashe might have a thing years after this game, though I usually can't stand huge age gaps with couples. (Eww to Auron and Rikku).