That probably makes a lot of sense. It seems logical that companion "missions" have simple flags that decide when they become available. For example: Kira f/f romance mission 1: Requires gender: female Requires affection: x Requires level: y Kira f/f romance mission 2: Requires gender: female Requires Kira romance mission 1 completed with outcome "interested" Requires affection: x Requires level: y ... or something like that. I haven't really played that much, so I don't know that much about the game. It will be interesting to see how they do it, but it's a definite possibility that it'll be just as you describe: possibility of whirlwind romance for lvl 50 with maxed affection and regular for new characters.

As for droid romances and polyamorous romances:

There are some quote in these thread about where exactly in the SW universe there are homosexuality, but I'm not going to search for it. If you're really interested, you can do so yourself.

Yeah, I also find the story of Bioware games to be the main reason why I like them. If someone forced me to choose between SWToR/Mass Effect/Dragon Age without combat mechanics or without story choices, then I'd rather play the games without combat mechanics. That said, I prefer playing the total package. And also, playing a woman to romance a guy completely removes the appeal for me. It's not because I want to be difficult or anything, it just does. I'm playing ME3 these days. Already after the first couple of chapters the storyline had me laughing, misty eyed and turned on at several different occasions. I used to wonder if computer games would ever have to story telling power to move me like a movie can, and ME3 has answered that question for me. They can.

I've also started on ME3 and highly recommend it, even if I've just played the first few chapters. I'll try to avoid spoilers from my experience, but today it dawned on me, related to this topic, that the first two NPCs I met that either mentioned attraction or mentioned family relationships beyond blood relatives was of the same gender variation, and it felt completely natural. That, to me, is a better apology from Bioware for leaving SGR out of the the first two ME games and for being late with it in SWToR than any developer feedback. Of course, I'd prefer it if it wasn't an issue in the first place, but right now I'm very happy and can enjoy ME3 without that unwelcoming feeling I got when I realised it was missing in ME2 and SWToR.

That denial thread was the worst idea for a thread, ever...

I had thought or imagined that they said, with regards to wanting to do it right, something along the lines of some/many companions not having personalities suitable for being turned into a SGR option, but now that I read it, it looks like they're just saying that the job of making a companion a SGR option involves more than just changing the gender in the dialogue. That makes sense to me. With that, I'm more inclined to believe there will be 16 SGR options, but I'm still a bit wary of getting my hopes up too high.

I don't know how many lines are different for Zevran and male vs female avatar, but if it was just two, then that's probably because Zevran was written intentionally for that purpose. I do know the mod that makes Alistair romancable by a male avatar changes many dialog lines, and it still felt a little off, but maybe that was just because I knew it was a mod. Anyway, I agree with Bioware that there's more to it than just changing the personal pronoun. They don't have to change the personality of the companions, but when it comes to romance dialog there can be many subtle references to gender beyond a personal pronoun. For example, if a male companion in a flirt were to compliment me on my forms as a male, it'd break my immersion. I remember some comments like that in ME2, only towards the NPC and not the avatar. So I'm happy that they're going through the dialogues with a goal to "do it right". I hope they get it right. I don't think it has to be a lot of work with lots of changes, but the details can be important.

I agree that it probably is a lot of work to add new companions, so if they do add some new ones as supplement for SGR, it seems logical that it'll be part of a set of new companions that benefits all. I don't know how they plan to do it with patches and expansions, but I know they've added a flashpoint in a content patch. A flashpoint and a set of new companions for story continuation are perhaps comparable in complexity. I guess it depends what the point of the story patch will be, it can be mainly to address SGR, is can be mainly to go further with existing stories or it can be mainly to add a greater selection of stories/companions. Or a combination of those.

I didn't mean that the only SGR option would be token shared companions, but that along with some existing companions being expanded to allow SGR, there could also be some new companions, potentially shared between classes, let's say 4 new companions divided among the 8 classes, so that all in all every class gets at least one SGR option, and every class gets one new potential companion whether an SGR option or not. As long as the game in total provides a wide variety of companions available, I wouldn't mind it if a couple of them aren't exclusive to one class only. This is all speculation, of course, but it's just a theory of mine that they might want to give something new to each class, but don't have the budget to make 8 (16) new companions every time they add compantions.

Don't forget that the story patch can bring new companions as well, so for some classes the assumed SGR companion can be a new one. Actually, my wild guess is that the patch will bring one new available companion to all classes, either exclusive or shared with some other classes. The patch will probably aim to bring new story content not just for SGR but for all. Assuming every class will have one male and one female SGR companion, that companion will for some classes be an existing one, and for some a new one.

"MUSEDMOOSE and the MECHANICS of AFFECTION!!!" Bioware's next epic game project?

Welcome back, Therapin. I'm in the same boat as you. I'm also back and also wondering how to proceed with the game while waiting.

I agree, but it sounded like they were intending to add SGR options to some existing companions, and if that's correct it will at least not be the worst case scenario of one bi male romancable by all 8 classes and one bi female, hehe. I guess they could add SGR options to existing companions for some classes and add new ones for others. The story addition will probably add some OGR companions as well, don't you think? To fill the gaps, they could also add companions that are not class specific, but also not available to all. Like a bi companion that's only available to force using republic classes, as an example. I wouldn't mind that. That could be rounded out so that each class in the end has at least one SGR option without taking too much resources. And there would still be a selection of several SGR options in total when playing different classes.

Aww, thanks! It's nice to be remembered. That sounds encouraging. I'm looking forward to that since I've also played WoW for years. I was also wondering about that after reading about their new statements. It's hard to say if they intend on keeping all companions class specific, but I haven't read anywhere that they plan to add cross-class companions. If they don't, it'll be strange if some classes have no SGR option.

Hm, yeah, I can't actually remember his voice, but on that note, I hope some of the male companions they make available for SGRA has nice masculine voices. I like that I have a toggle comment that's been building up from all the time spent lurking with no subscription. When I first came here I was toggle-neutral. I was willing to do all sorts of stuff to get SGRAs, and I couldn't be bothered by how others wanted to play the game, with toggles or what not. Now however, when things are the way they are. There are two important things together that make toggles seems very inappropriate. First, the argument that almost nobody saw such a toggle as necessary before SGRA came into the mix, and the unavoidable message it will send that homosexuality needs to be singled out as potentially worse than any other game content, can't be ignored. Second, the timing of this whole thing. When SGRA comes one year after the game release, adding a toggle will be a bit like visiting a restaurant, having to wait for the main course of fish that I ordered until the others who ordered steak are already on the dessert, and then on top of that being asked by the waiter if I could please move to a small room in the back to eat, because some of the other guests don't like fish. So to me, it's all about timing. Had they included toggles and all kinds of romances from the start, no problem. Now, if they add it, I'll be really, really disappointed.

Hi all, I've resubbed because I after the news from the guild summit and since the reasons I had for stopping playing are not as valid anymore. Also, I couldn't keep myself from reading these threads and I wanted to participate here again. I don't think NOK 105,- per month is too much to pay to get the privilege of chatting with all you nice people. It's great to hear that they're working on this and that they want to do it properly. I think it's a bit late, but since it's Bioware and all things considering, I'll be a good sport. I'm actually still a bit on the fence as to whether I should start playing the game again. I really wish I could've had the full experience including SGRAs from the start when that sense of wonder from playing a new game is still there. It all gets so much less magical after having played a game for a while and the game mechanics become just that, mechanics. But since I couldn't keep away from this thread, the small untentional spoilers that slowly but steadily add up has already told me so much about the game that I feel I might as well play it. I'm thinking perhaps a Jedi Knight or Consular that stays true to the code, so as not to spoil the freshness of the romance experience for later this year. I can't chime in on which ones of the existing companions I'd like to be romanceable. I've only met that Jedi Knight droid and the trooper cat man. What is his name? Jorgan? Anyway, I'm looking forward to following the discussion.

When you say thar same-gender romance expansion will be added in a future "content expansion", do you mean a content patch (1.x) or a paid expansion (x.0)?

Lol, it looks even more odd when we say the same things using different words but with the same avatar

The definition of "content expansion" is key, and I remember that we've turned those words over and over in previous incarnations of this thread trying to interpret their meaning. It's simply not clear if they mean any kind of content addition, like the flashpoint they've recently added, or a fully fledged WoW-like expansion (the ones you pay for and that are more than a year apart).

That's at least good to know

Related question, hopefully not off-topic. Hypothetically, if the game implemented full equality, the exact same SGR content to complement the existing OGR content, including companions and NPC flirts, then would or could that affect ESRB ratings? I'm not asking if it should, philosophically, but if it would in reality.

To those who seems to think this is a life and death issue for those uf us who want this: it's not. Who says anyone here are torn up about this? In the context of enjoying this particular game and deciding whether continuing to pay for this game the availability of SGR can be a major factor for those of us who enjoy that kind of game content. Hence this thread. In the context of the rest of our lives the issue is small. For me at least, it's just a question of whether I'll be playing this game or another one in my spare time, or doing something else entirely. But I do like to play computer games, so I want them to be as enjoyable as possible. That's why I'm here, doing my part of giving feedback as to what would be enjoyable for me

Force sensitive male sounds hot

On the topic of understanding leaving because there's no SGR. My friend who invited me to try this game is also gay. At first I didn't know there was any romance in the game at all. We've both played WoW for years. Then I understood that we got companions and I saw flirt options, and I realised this was a Bioware game. I did a quick search and saw something about same gender romance being added, so I thought it was already in. This brought me on the edge of my seat. There's nothing like the prospect of upcoming romance in a game to get me a little bit more excited. I know this is not the case for everyone, and like I said, I can also enjoy games entirely without romance, but when it's there, it gets me excited, and I usually have a small anticlimax once I've seen the romance content, but that doesn't matter because the excitement was still there. Now, imagine the disappointment when I had brought myself playing at the edge of the seat only to discover that there are no same gender options. I'm not going to pay for that slap in the face when there's male/female romance all over the place and it's content that I'd like if it was in a male/male variation. Playing as a female to romance a male is not the same. My friend who's also gay and invited me does not feel the same way. I think he's still playing. He said he doesn't think there has to be gay content in every game. I agree, but if the game is one where you play a gender customizable character and there are several different straight romance options available, then it also needs to have some male/male options if I'm going to play it. Otherwise It just feels like being excluded from content that I enjoy a lot. It certainly does not feel like I'm a target customer, so why should I pay. There's also the issue that if I do pay for games that does not have the content as I would prefer it to be, then what would be the incentive for game companies to produce content that I'd like?