Alaska Native Manitou

I don't like the love story in Final Fantasy 8.  Squall Leonhart is my favorite main character in a FF game, and that's part of the problem.  He means a lot to me because he has the same type of high-functioning autism I do & I identify with him a lot.  It's hard for me to imagine him loving anyone, though I could suspend my disbelief if the romance was well written.  The problem is that he's paired with Rinoa Heartilly, 2 characters who have nothing in common other than opposing an oppressive regime.  Their way of being is so different that they just seem to irritate each other constantly until Rinoa falls into a coma & Squall goes to ridiculous lengths to save her.  (You're really gonna carry her unconscious body on foot across a whole continent?)  The SquareSoft company has done much better in other games.