So...Mako is 16?

[Calsetes]

Mako is likely 20, give or take a year. My reasoning is as follows (spoiler for her personal missions):

 

 

In one of her final missions during Act 3, she finally talks to Izak, who says she was "presumed dead for the last twenty years." Now, if there's a specific thing that gets stated in the mission after you take down Coral that alludes more to her age, I would say it's a safe assumption that she would be 19 at her youngest, and 21 at her oldest (assuming that Izak was ballparking the number and not being exact with "twenty years.") Of course, who knows how long the Bounty Hunter story takes until that point - could be a few months, could be a year, could be the galaxy's most action-packed week. If the BH story takes significant time to go from Act 0 to Act 3's opening, where you can take this mission, then Mako would be younger than 19 when the BH story starts out.

 

[OniGanon]

Certainly there's more choice for male characters. But more than double?

 

Let's not get carried away.

 

Taken from here.

 

For males: 28 NPC, 11 Companion Romances

 

For females: 21 NPC, 8 Companion Romances

 

(This includes newer NPCs from 2.0 onward; Pierce and Cedrax I've counted as NPCs since they're not a full romance).

[FrozenGoalie]

Han also called Luke "Kid" on several occasions while he was barely older than Luke.

 

10 years

 

If you don't like the perceived age difference... just skip the romance, or reroll with a younger looking dude. It's an RPG, you can pick your character's back story.

[Callaron]

I am aware, the ladies work with what they've got, but the other option would have been better.

 

Males get far more romantic content (it's not even a contest how MUCH more, it's not even 2x, it's much, much, much more), and often can chose which one they prefer, for a females, quite often even the out of party options are just not there. Not a kind word, not a light joke, not a compliment. Nada. Zip. Zilch. To say that female romantic content is satisfactory in this game is an overstatement.

 

-The most interesting male characters never got romantic sequences (despite some ladies liking, say, Iresso or Doc).

-Out of party flirts are rare at best. And even for the most quoted Smuggler and IA, the out of party options are... awkward. The Smuggler gets 2(!) guys who sell her, one complete pathetic worm, a married man, and one really good option that would have been better than Riggs as LS that promptly disappears (!)

-Females never get to flirt out of party with powerful and attractive males (like, say, Jadus), while males have options with their superiors all the time (Saresh, Larchus)

-From what I have seen so far, none of the males struck me as a strong character in his own right, pursuing his own goals, and showing maturity. Like, you know, Zenith, Scourge, Gault.... yeah.

 

Mako may be young, but she is interesting and is integrated in the story like... a LOT. If you don't like Elara, here is Jaxo, don't like Vette? Here is Jaessa. Oh, and BTW, how do you want your Jaessa light or dark (and omg, poor males, can't romance LS Jaessa, where is my little violin)? Females basically get options on every damn character au par with an unfortunate male Consular. Males just don't know how good they've got it. Duh.

 

Blah. Sorry.

 

Mako's 19. Everyone's fine

 

Yeah, I hear you there. Some variety would've been nice. Female characters do have a lot less options than their male counterparts. I was mostly disagreeing with the part of all the female romances being written to appeal to teenage boys, since a lot of women do like them.

 

I doubt they will ever go back and change the old stuff, but I was under the impression they'd gotten better with that with the new post-Makeb content?

[Tannatra]

I am aware, the ladies work with what they've got, but the other option would have been better.

 

Males get far more romantic content (it's not even a contest how MUCH more, it's not even 2x, it's much, much, much more), and often can chose which one they prefer, for a females, quite often even the out of party options are just not there. Not a kind word, not a light joke, not a compliment. Nada. Zip. Zilch. To say that female romantic content is satisfactory in this game is an overstatement.

 

-The most interesting male characters never got romantic sequences (despite some ladies liking, say, Iresso or Doc).

-Out of party flirts are rare at best. And even for the most quoted Smuggler and IA, the out of party options are... awkward. The Smuggler gets 2(!) guys who sell her, one complete pathetic worm, a married man, and one really good option that would have been better than Riggs as LS that promptly disappears (!)

-Females never get to flirt out of party with powerful and attractive males (like, say, Jadus), while males have options with their superiors all the time (Saresh, Larchus)

-From what I have seen so far, none of the males struck me as a strong character in his own right, pursuing his own goals, and showing maturity. Like, you know, Zenith, Scourge, Gault.... yeah.

 

Mako may be young, but she is interesting and is integrated in the story like... a LOT. If you don't like Elara, here is Jaxo, don't like Vette? Here is Jaessa. Oh, and BTW, how do you want your Jaessa light or dark (and omg, poor males, can't romance LS Jaessa, where is my little violin)? Females basically get options on every damn character au par with an unfortunate male Consular. Males just don't know how good they've got it. Duh.

 

Blah. Sorry.

 

Mako's 19. Everyone's fine

 

 

hmm my male sith inquisitor gets one... and my female one gets... one.... seems pretty equal to me....

 

granted i wish one could romance Talos Drelik but meh he's married to his job

[DomiSotto]

This is a bit newer table:

 

http://bastat.tripod.com/flirting_in_swtor.htm

 

If you look at it class by class, you will see that class to class, Males will normally get 2x as much little QoL, particular if you factor into account that the males tend to get multiple flirting with the same character much more often than the females. (The author did not finish the F!Consular, but as someone who played an F!Consular to L55 through the entire class story sans Ilum-Makeb-Oricon, I can attest that save for Tharan and Iresso, I haven't seen anything else.) The Imperial males in particular are lucky because they get two long Faction-specific sequences, one on Balmorra, and one - on Taris.

 

With a notable exception of a BH - BH is the only class, where male and female seem to have about the same distribution of flirting. So, really, Mako not being attractive to your toon, you still will have a fair bit of fun waiting in the wings.

 

And, actually looking at the table, I am surprised to see, how M!Trooper suddenly loses his charm, apparently, and after Jaxo (that's too bad, Jaxo sequence is fun!), things go downhill for him. Still better than F!Trooper that gets 2 chars, really, Aric (way late in the game) and that Jonas fellow.

Edited September 4, 2014 by DomiSotto

[OniGanon]

That table includes flirt that goes nowhere. I was only counting ones that had a fade to black scene, or kissing, or seemingly went (or, in the case of Shan/Beniko, I believe will go) somewhere beyond talking.

 

And as for Trooper, personally I thought Jorgan was a far better romance option and companion than Dorne in terms of character development and story integration. Cute accent aside (and I'll admit it totally worked for me), Dorne is really pretty boring. She gets excited about paperwork. Genuinely enthused about it. I mean, what is wrong with that girl.

[DomiSotto]

I don't believe that flirt has to be an FTB. I like the playful QoL stuff, that acknowledges that here I have an attractive adventurous character that can and will flirt. I certainly like longer OOP sequences, and would love some of them have letter-conclusions or repeat performances, and animations can be very pretty, but yes, a simple compliment can make for a great flirt if placed right.

 

Not to mention the glaring omissions like Attros Finn or Cole getting only one flirt that I think I missed in the convo anyway, and the annoying lack of aliens to romance or flirt with as a female. There are literally millions of human males in RL, Twi'leks or Nautolans - not so much.

 

As for the Trooper, Jaxo is more appealing to me than Elara, and Aric... I have no clue. I am only level 22, so I understand it's another few months before his romance starts for me (we rotate 8 pairs of characters). But I really dislike his VA tbh, though I am half-used to his looks (I know, I want alien options, but I like Lekku races look far more).

 

Anyway, enough of the thread derail.

[Aletheos]

On the Wookieepedia site...it says she was born in 3659 BBY...and the start of the Bounty Hunter story is in 3643 BBY.

 

Is this true?

 

If so, then why is she a romance option if she's underage?

 

Lol, man, you remind me of those Americans who misuse the word money for US dollars. Do you honestly believe that the age of consent everywhere in the Galaxy must coincide with the age of consent in your particular country, even though it is not flat even on the planet Earth? She would be two years above the limit in Vatican, and she would be ok there even if she were a boy... Some people's ignorance really knows no bounds...

[Adaliaya]

I think this is because BioWARE as ever targets their imaginary average player, aka a male teen. So, they create a character they think would flatter their self-esteem (an older male in his prime), but supply girlfriends in their teens: Mako, Nadia, Vette, Kira - they are all teens. Honestly, Nadia is far worse than Mako, since Mako at least stands on her own two feet, and Nadia gets a romance immediately after being violently and traumatically orphaned with her older mentor.

 

With the females, the game is played the other way. The male characters say they are in their golden age late-twenties-mid-thirties, but they look and/or act like teens or are really bland (I guess colorful and passionate romances for a female PC don't fly with male teen crowd). Well, BioWARE's team has troubles imagining a female player at all, and really any female for that matter, it seems. I suggested on occasion random poling of women on the street when picking romantic options. 'Cause I dunno who could possibly prefer Iresso to Zenith, Torian to Gault, Quinn to Pierce (or any random Jedi we kill for that matter) and Doc to Scourge.

 

Those imaginary average male teens... yeah, they are a root of all romantic troubles in SWTOR.

 

I prefer Iresso to Zenith !!!!! Iresso is very nice romance, well, sure he is a bit.... Colorless but at least he doesn't annoy me at all like most of romances do. He is nice and right way customized also for sure best looking male comp in game, only that customization thou.

Zenith then should get familiar with my airlock, from my point of view he is wasted place on my ship.

 

Torian is hot! He is mandalorian and nice guy. Can you ask for more? Gault again has nice character but I never tought about romancing him, yuck.

 

Pierce as far I've understood is romanceable too.

 

At last we agree on something, Scource romance would be epic xD

[VitalityPrime]

Lol, man, you remind me of those Americans who misuse the word money for US dollars. Do you honestly believe that the age of consent everywhere in the Galaxy must coincide with the age of consent in your particular country, even though it is not flat even on the planet Earth? She would be two years above the limit in Vatican, and she would be ok there even if she were a boy... Some people's ignorance really knows no bounds...

 

You should probably check your own ignorance before commenting on someone else's.

 

This game was created by Bioware Austin...so a knowledgeable person would assume they would create a game that has the age of consent from where they are, even if it's a game where the setting is out in space.

 

An ignorant person would laugh and roll their eyes at someone who questions the age of consent in a game.

 

If you want to be a virtual pedophile, then by all means...but I certainly do not want to be.

[Aletheos]

 

this game was created by bioware austin...so a knowledgeable person would assume they would create a game that has the age of consent from where they are, even if it's a game where the setting is out in space.

 

:d:d:d:d

 

 

if you want to be a virtual pedophile, then by all means...but i certainly do not want to be.

 

:d:d:d:d

[Aletheos]

to VitalityPrime: For the sake of your virtual mental health I hope your family doesn't come from Delaware, as the thought of your great grandparents engaging in a legal sexual intercourse at the age of 7 may just blow up your CPU.

[Tannatra]

If you want to be a virtual pedophile, then by all means...but I certainly do not want to be.

 

so from that you are saying the majority of Europe where the age of consent is 16 must therefore be paedophiles? .... what great logic....

 

but i digress...

Edited September 7, 2014 by Tannatra

[VitalityPrime]

so from that you are saying the majority of Europe where the age of consent is 16 must therefore be paedophiles? .... what great logic....

 

but i digress...

 

That's not what I'm saying at all.

[SgtJeremy]

Oh gosh, she's 16? It's okay. I am 22 in real life, it's not all bad. Geez someone help me.

[Callaron]

That table includes flirt that goes nowhere. I was only counting ones that had a fade to black scene, or kissing, or seemingly went (or, in the case of Shan/Beniko, I believe will go) somewhere beyond talking.

 

That's what I was doing too.

I'm not surprised about the flirting at all. Gotta live up the stereo type of guys hitting on everything that moves after all!

[Sith-Viscera]

Well, it's never been defined what age marriage is "right" in the Star Wars universe. But in the 1500's and 1600's people would get married at 16, 17 and 18 and it was very common. So, it isnt exactly "wrong" for Mako to be 16 and get married to the Bounty Hunter, but also we dont know what age the Bounty Hunter is, it isnt explicitly stated in lore at all, so i would assume he is between 17 - 20. But also those year ranges could very well be off, To me Mako looks like she's about 18.

 

Try younger then that in some cultures in America and other countries even earlier then those times.

[EranofArcadia]

What is legal under a jurisdiction's age-of-consent laws, and what is actually appropriate, are two different things. Having a 40 year old character and feeling uncomfortable pursuing a romance with a 16 year old is something I can do even if I am somewhere that such a relationship would be legal.

[DomiSotto]

I prefer Iresso to Zenith !!!!! Iresso is very nice romance, well, sure he is a bit.... Colorless but at least he doesn't annoy me at all like most of romances do. He is nice and right way customized also for sure best looking male comp in game, only that customization thou.

Zenith then should get familiar with my airlock, from my point of view he is wasted place on my ship.

 

Torian is hot! He is mandalorian and nice guy. Can you ask for more? Gault again has nice character but I never tought about romancing him, yuck.

 

Here and now, the world is full of nice human males.Literally millions of them. Can't spit without hitting one. Meanwhile the hard-bitten Twi'leks are impossible to come by. I play a fantasy sci-fi game, I want to have a digital romance with a male character who has a very strong personality, can hold his own against the PC's grandeur, and not be overshadowed by her or be her boy and a page, and who is decidedly not a guy next door. In species, looks, attitude, backstory - I want my digital romantic stories to be different than the RL "oh, I like you... can we go on, like, a date? can we kiss on a ship?" "let's get married." "now I will ignore you for the rest of our game-time".

 

Of course, Iresso is nice, and, yes, it was good to get a RI for a female that did not come with the Psychotherapy 101 attached, but they did not do the character justice, forgot to add the best of his content (we never get to find out what is it that he has in his head; plus the best bit of his backstory, his real voice comes through in that one letter) and well, he is a human. Heck, there are Togrutas on Hoth, why is not he one? His pretty customization doesn't even retain his original race, and his original does;t work with his old soldier backstory since he looks far too young (his pretty one is also too young).

 

As for Torian, well, he is just as young as Mako, by the looks. I haven't met him, but honestly, he is a human, and a kid. Doesn't he has a dad in his back-story or something? I created a Cathar to romance him, tbh, since if Bio wants me to play a cougar, I am gonna do it all the way, hopefully it will be at least funny.

 

Pierce has one kissing/FTB scene, and flirts in maybe 2 or 4 talks? It is definitely NOT a dedicated romance by any means. Numen Brock has more. Too bad, really. Pierce is crazy and cool, and he is BT3!

 

I'm not surprised about the flirting at all. Gotta live up the stereo type of guys hitting on everything that moves after all!

 

Which should mean that super-attractive, super-cool, absolutely out of this world female protagonist should be hit on all the time. The gal like that, ignored? Sheesh, makes no sense!

Edited September 8, 2014 by DomiSotto

[Callaron]

Which should mean that super-attractive, super-cool, absolutely out of this world female protagonist should be hit on all the time. The gal like that, ignored? Sheesh, makes no sense!

 

LOL yes, yes she should. Apparently most of the male NPCs are wimps.

I half wonder if it's to keep the male players who are only interested in hot lesbian lovin' from getting creeped out by a dude hitting on their character.

Bioware was probably scared to death of having another "Anders" fiasco on their hands.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Callaron

[JonnyRay]

We're playing a roleplaying GAME.

 

Mako is however old I decide she is in my bounty hunter's story. She can be a different age for Ciroso than she is for your character. For that matter, my character is however old HE is too. Ciroso is not me and I am not him.

 

After all, as I mentioned earlier,

 

she is a bio-engineered cyborg human clone

If I decide she's lived 200 years, constantly re-incarnated by SIS, then that's who / what / how old is!

 

[iDraxter]

even if she would be 16 she doesn`t get involved with you until act 3 unlike other companions you start kissing from chapter 1 so i don`t think she`s underaged by then

[DomiSotto]

I half wonder if it's to keep the male players who are only interested in hot lesbian lovin' from getting creeped out by a dude hitting on their character.

 

And that's why I said that female romantic content seem to be driven by the imaginary male teens' tastes. Honestly, I will take hot lesbian lovin', but the girl-girl flirts are even more boring than the girl to boy ones.

 

As for Mako, if your character is too old to get interested in her, Torian is going to snatch her up to make up a perfectly age-appropriate couple.