I agree and disagree, I think, but that might also be because of my tendency to want to romance characters that I can't romance for whatever reason; due to gender, or that character just being unavailable in general. It is nice, in a fan-servicey way, to see something visually appealing like that. But I'm not really in this for that--I'm in this for the story potential. I could take or leave that sort of validation.

A cursory stroll through the S&L forums told me that the subject of romance options in the game is one oft visited here. When will same-sex romance and [flirt] options be implemented (something I myself would be incredibly pleased to see), how do I romance character A, can I romance character A and character B, I avoided the romances entirely who's with me, and so on. That aside, I'm expressing my curiosity on various aspects of the romance options, and how some players reacted to them. -Did you bother with the romance options at all? Who, and why? -Did you avoid the romance options? Why? -Did you wish you could romance somebody (any NPC or companion) but were unable? Etc., etc. As for myself: Thus far I've only played two characters for any lengthy span of time. My now 50 Sith Marauder, and my not-quite-40 Jedi Shadow. Both men, both light side (though my Shadow does tend to follow darker options when presented with Sith, ironically enough, because of how threatened he feels by them). I'll be blunt: my Marauder is gay. There is no question in my mind. He is 100% interested in men. I never intended to make a big deal out of the fact, so the lack of a [flirt] option with the various male NPCs of the worlds didn't bother me much. I also never intended to have him romance any of his companions. My boyfriend and I created our Sith--his a Dark Side Sorcerer--with the intent of pairing the characters themselves together. We're RPers at heart. We RP, as RPers tend to do. We wove our own story within the constraints of the game and we had a wonderful time doing so. If I was going to romance any companion, it'd likely be Quinn. I even teased at the notion by giving him a few courting gifts--which, amusingly enough, he rather liked. And if my Marauder was remotely interested in women? I'm not sure. He'd view a relationship with Jaesa as incredibly unprofessional, and he views Vette as his little sister. When I created my Shadow I had no clear goal in mind. I just wanted to see what the Republic side of things was like, and I have a weakness for double-bladed lightsabers. I pegged my character as--not so much asexual, as willingly abstinent, as most Jedi seem to be. I still haven't given any clear thought as to his sexuality. Pansexual, I suppose? Regardless, I didn't plan to romance any companions with my Shadow for the obvious reason of: he is a Jedi, he doesn't want to feel that level of attachment to anyone. But--and I'll get a lot of flak for this--if I had the option, I'd romance Qyzen Fess. Yes. The trandoshan. It makes sense to me. He's the first companion I got, he seems quite protective of his "Herald", and occasionally seems to lift him to a point of hero worship (which my Shadow tried rather insistently to downplay, to no avail--now he just kind of rolls with it). Since the romance option isn't there--and wouldn't be there regardless of my Shadow's gender--I just shrug my shoulders and pretend. A lot like with Quinn, depending on how you treat your companion, the dialogue seems to lend itself well to interpretation. You can see a budding relationship, or not. I don't need set-in-stone canon validation to derive satisfaction from a potential story. TL;DR Share you romance stories, wants, or lack thereof.

I noticed that with my trooper. I lean towards the dark side options with him because, with the exception of the whole messy "extorting innocent people for money" thing, the majority of the dark side options I've seen make more sense from a tactical standpoint. Not to mention they display more of a loyalty to the Republic, and my trooper is incredibly loyal to the Republic. That, of course, only reinforces the gray surrounding both factions. To say that the Republic are the "good guys" and the Empire are the "bad guys" just isn't 100% true. Things are a bit more black and white with the Jedi and the Sith, but not necessarily the Empire and Republic. But there's always exceptions. More fun that way.

Because playing a light side Sith Warrior is some of the most fun I've had in a while. The story seems all the more intriguing this way. Besides: the Republic isn't inherently good and the Empire isn't inherently evil. There's a whole lot of gray there.

I'm aware this has been asked before, but I've yet to see it actually answered. Is it a known bug that screenshots of dialogue scenes don't work a majority of the time? I took 15+ screenshots today and only 2 were in my folder by the time I logged out.