Why is there no kill option for Lana?

[Damask_Rose]

And about even gender representation, why not also add some "ugly looking" female aliens too in the protagonist roster to balance things a bit more ?

 

I would love to see a whole bunch of unusual alien, non-romanceable female companions added in to balance out all of the unusual alien, non-romanceable males ones. Bring on the female Houks, and Mon Calamari and Wookies and Kaleesh and Jawas and Ithorians and Dashade and Talz and Gamorreans and Arconas and Whiffids and Transdoshans and Gormak and Gand! Having that kind of diversity would be fantastic and really add to the Star Wars feel of things.

[Goreshaga]

I would love to see a whole bunch of unusual alien, non-romanceable female companions added in to balance out all of the unusual alien, non-romanceable males ones. Bring on the female Houks, and Mon Calamari and Wookies and Kaleesh and Jawas and Ithorians and Dashade and Talz and Gamorreans and Arconas and Whiffids and Transdoshans and Gormak and Gand! Having that kind of diversity would be fantastic and really add to the Star Wars feel of things.

I wonder what a female Dashade would look like. I want to know now

 

A female Gormak would be nice, and there are plenty on Voss.

[Ylliarus]

Lana made a few mistakes, true, but not enough to warrant her death. She's actually the reason why you're alive and capable of doing anything at all. Without Lana Beniko you'd have nothing and likely still be a frozen brick of carbonite on Zakuul. So killing her would be like chopping off your own arm: it makes no sense and you strip yourself of a valuable asset. Edited October 15, 2018 by Ylliarus

[Damask_Rose]

To be fair, in the post from the writer, he said that he left it *open to interpretation* that Quinn could have deliberately sabotaged the droids. That would suggest that as you said before, there's more than one valid interpretation of those actions, and it's not just someone 'ignoring evidence' to consider the other side of that coin as the accepted course of events.

 

That's exactly what I'm trying to say. There are two valid interpretations, but many people ignore the evidence of one in favor of the other, then act like the people who prefer the other interpretation are just indulging in head cannon. It IS ignoring evidence to think there is only one valid interpretation.

 

Lana made a few mistakes, true, but not enough to warrant her death. She's actually the reason why you're alive and capable of doing anything at all. Without Lana Beniko you'd have nothing and likely still be a frozen brick of carbonite on Zakuul. So killing her would be like chopping off your own arm: it makes no sense and you strip yourself of a valuable asset.

 

I think what it really boils down to is that a lot of people are just tired of her. They want her gone and out of their story. It's been 3 years of too much focus on too few NPCs. And they wouldn't kill her before her team rescues them. People really don't care how valuable an asset is if they don't like said asset

Edited October 15, 2018 by Damask_Rose

[Elessara]

People really don't care how valuable an asset is if they don't like said asset

 

This part here has always struck me as really silly. Not you, but the sentiment. It's so illogical ... also very sith-y. It's one of the reasons why, even playing as a sith, I could never kill someone who might be a useful tool for me later.

[IoNonSoEVero]

That's exactly what I'm trying to say. There are two valid interpretations, but many people ignore the evidence of one in favor of the other, then act like the people who prefer the other interpretation are just indulging in head cannon. It IS ignoring evidence to think there is only one valid interpretation.

 

Well yes, if two or more separate scenarios are actually confirmed as valid (as this one was; one can't argue with the intention if it's from the writers' own mouth) it *is* ignoring evidence to claim that one of them is just a head canon.

 

I would love to see a whole bunch of unusual alien, non-romanceable female companions added in to balance out all of the unusual alien, non-romanceable males ones. Bring on the female Houks, and Mon Calamari and Wookies and Kaleesh and Jawas and Ithorians and Dashade and Talz and Gamorreans and Arconas and Whiffids and Transdoshans and Gormak and Gand! Having that kind of diversity would be fantastic and really add to the Star Wars feel of things.

 

I would love this too. Not every female character has to be human or near-human, and I'd love to see some female Khaleesh or Jawas or whatever in the mix. It would be great. They could bring in Jheely to have her argue with Blizz.

 

I also agree that it would be nice if they had more female companions and NPCs who were not romanceable. I appreciate that they didn't make Hexid, Ranos or Shae romances, and I'd like to see more of that.

[Estelindis]

Regarding all this male vs. female companion business, I personally suspect that the tendency to write female force-using companions and male non-force-using companions comes from writers observing that male players can feel upstaged, threatened, or otherwise annoyed by the main male companions. The level of power, ability, and specialness that comes with being a force-user is not acceptable in a male companion, but is okay in the less "threatening" female companion. As with many things on the gender stereotype front, the whole thing does a disservice to male and female characters, players, and to concepts of maleness and femaleness generally (each in a different way).

 

It seems to me that some of the most vitriolic criticism of companions across all Bioware games happens against whatever male human* companion most approaches "second in command" status or gets the most story focus (compared with other male companions; obviously the player character would ideally get the most story focus of all). The criticism comes overwhelmingly from male players. These male players see the central male companion as competition. Any time the male companion relates his history or gives an opinion, he is "whining." Any time he speaks up or disagrees, he needs to "shut up and accept his place." But the female companion, no, she's not a threat. She's a romantic opportunity. When she relates her history, she's "opening up." When she speaks out, she's being "feisty and passionate."

 

*It's not an ironclad rule. Sometimes male companions successfully achieve bro status with a majority of male players (though I think this happens a lot more in cases where the male companion is not human - possibly this makes it less likely for them to be "competing" for the same story space as the usually-human protagonist).

 

These main male companions have historically been written as love interests for female players, who, quite frankly, are just as entitled to interact with their LIs as male players are with theirs. But across successive Bioware games I have seen a lot of main male companions increasingly written in more and more subordinate roles (to avoid the sense of threat/competition), and as more and more calm and collected (to avoid the "whiny" allegation), shaping the companions in response to the complaints of male players. Yet these companions are in the first place actually intended more for a female audience! And actually, in spite of how much editing happens with a view to male players, still often there are plenty of complaints from male players about the companions (these days often in the vein of "too boring").

 

Consequently, I think any significant character introduced in story content should have their writing focused on elements that will be interesting and compelling to the part of the player base most likely to engage with that character. And to cater for the wide range of players who enjoy the game, there should be a decent range of character types. However, I do not think that means that every fresh batch of featured characters needs to meet strict demographic quotas. I think it's safe to say that, for the majority of players, more than one type of character is appealing. And this doesn't just have to be male vs. female, or human vs. alien. We can also think in terms of friend, rival, mentor, romance, etc. We can have characters with shared opinions or opinions that challenge us. Certainly not everyone has to like every character for the array of characters to be broadly successful. Not all of us, for instance, have to like Lana for Lana to be a writing success if her character is enjoyed by a large number of players.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Estelindis

[Lunafox]

I like numbers, because they don't lie and they are what they are. So let's look at this again. There are 14 female companions in the entire game that are not out of the Cartel Market. There are way more male companions.

 

If you truly want a balance, 30:14 is not it. Adding the two DvL women, you now have 16:30. That's still almost 50% more male companions than female. So yes, of course the DvL companions should have been female, to try to balance that out more.

 

 

 

I actually pulled out droids of the companion count because they are not gendered. I am talking about companions overall, and yes, there are almost 50% more male companions. I'm not just counting love interests. I don't just see value in those.

 

Neither of the DvL companions were LIs, so if that's what you're after, they don't count.

 

But if you do want to just count LI companions, okay: We have 8 from the class stories, plus 3 in KOTET, vs. 11 in the class stories and 1 in KOTET for female LIs. That's 11:12, which *is* one off, but isn't as radically imbalanced as the overall companion count.

 

*SNIPPED FOR LENGTH*

 

 

 

 

Yes, by all means, let's talk about numbers. There are actually 16 female companions and 16 male companions. I'm not counting aliens, droids or animals ( eg: that chipmunk companion). I can't help that you've skewed your numbers to not include romances. They matter to me and I'm working with those numbers. To me, non romances, droids, animals and aliens have no bearing here.

 

So, women: Vette, Jaesa, Ashara, Mako, Kaliyo, Raina, Kira, Nadia, Risha, Akaavi, Elara.

Latecomers/achievements/sub rewards: Lana, Senya, Shae Vizla, Ranos, Hexid =16

 

Romances= 12

1 night stands with companions=0

Vanilla game Classes where Straight male players get 2 romances to choose from: SW, IA, Smug

*************************************************************************************************************

So, men: Quinn, Pierce, Andronikos, Talos, Torian, Vector, Dr. Lokin, Doc, Cedrax, Iresso, Corso, Aric

Latecomers/achievements/sub rewards: Theron, Koth, Arcann, Nico Okarr

Romances: 10

1 night stands with companions=2 (Pierce & Cedrax)

Vanilla game Classes where straight female players get 2 romances to choose from: 0

**************************************************************************************************************

 

Companions added to the game through achievement/sub reward:

 

Males: Nico Okarr

Females: Shae Vizla, Ranos, Hexid

 

****************************************************************************************************************

 

 

Options for gay men: Theron, Arcann and Koth= 3 now. (*edited to reflect Arcann who I didn't know was for both)

Options for gay women: Lana / Nadia and Jaesa in next update. 1 now, 3 later.

 

****************************************************************************************************************

 

 

Romance comps for straight women=Quinn, Andronikos,Torian,Vector, Doc, Iresso, Corso, Aric, Theron, Koth, Arcann* = 11 total, 10 non force users, 1 force user.

 

*=Forceuser.

 

Romance comps for straight men= Vette, Jaesa*,Ashara*, Mako, Kaliyo, Raina*, Kira*, Nadia*,Risha, Akaavi,Elara, Lana*.

=12 of which 6 are force users.

 

Male comps with kill option: Quinn, Torian, Aric, Theron, Koth, (Arcann)

Female comps with kill option: Vette, Kaliyo (Senya)

Again, more male comps get the axe than female, so straight female and gay males get rooked.

 

 

You imply that I've missed the point, but I haven't. Straight female players have less male comps, less force user comps, less choice in romance (we don't' get 2 to choose from in any class in vanilla). More male comps killed off and bricked.

 

You're concerned that I might ask for certain characters to get a kill option, which bothers you. Why should some companions get to live while others die? More male companions have died and been bricked than female as well, and then you wonder why I'm upset. If anyone is a winner in all this, it's straight males and gay females. Lana is Bioware's pet and thus immortal. Be happy.

 

And yes, by all means I will do what I please in my own strongholds. You can just sit back and imagine the orgy and BBQ that's going on. Good times.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Lunafox

[Estelindis]

Yes, by all means, let's talk about numbers. There are actually 16 female companions and 16 male companions. I'm not counting aliens, droids or animals ( eg: that chipmunk companion). I can't help that you've skewed your numbers to not include romances. They matter to me and I'm working with those numbers. To me, non romances, droids, animals and aliens have no bearing here.

 

So, women: Vette, Jaesa, Ashara, Mako, Kaliyo, Raina, Kira, Nadia, Risha, Akaavi, Elara.

So, men: Quinn, Pierce, Andronikos, Talos, Torian, Vector, Dr. Lokin, Doc, Cedrax, Iresso, Corso, Aric

You're quite entitled to not care about aliens (interesting how you put Aric in a different category), but I hope you do acknowledge that's your own personal skewing of the numbers. Just because you do not count (for instance) Khem, Zenith, or Scourge in the list of companions doesn't mean they're not companions. They all have a level of story content appropriate to companions. In some cases their involvement with the class stories is very significant. You are doubtless entitled to your personal preferences but attempting to lay some wider claim to the general status of companions on this basis seems unpersuasive at best and misguided at worst.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Estelindis

[Elessara]

Yes, by all means, let's talk about numbers. There are actually 16 female companions and 16 male companions. <snip for length>

 

I've always thought it amusing/disturbing/odd that female characters get 1 night stand options with a couple of companions but male characters don't

 

Also, isn't Arcann an LI for both male and female characters? That would mean m/m options are at 3, not 2.

[Lunafox]

I've always thought it amusing/disturbing/odd that female characters get 1 night stand options with a couple of companions but male characters don't

 

Also, isn't Arcann an LI for both male and female characters? That would mean m/m options are at 3, not 2.

 

Thanks for pointing that out, I'll edit. I don't really know that much about the Arcann romance because I don't partake in it.

[Estelindis]

I've always thought it amusing/disturbing/odd that female characters get 1 night stand options with a couple of companions but male characters don't.

For me the oddity comes more from three male characters getting full romances with two companions, giving them a choice. That's far more content than the couple of one-night stands.

 

But by the current time of writing, it's true that the balance has tipped in the other direction. The most number of female romantic options a male character can have is three (two from a class plus Lana; and that's only three out of eight classes). The most number of male romantic options a female character can have is four (one from class, plus Theron, Koth, and Arcann; and that's for all eight classes). Time does seem overdue for another female romance to be added. I imagine that is probably why some of the returning female companions are being revisited on this front. (I personally would prefer a new character for this purpose. I appreciate that it's something many people have been wanting for a while, but I don't enjoy this approach. To me it feels like retconning. But, well, this probably isn't the thread for a full discussion of that.)

[Lunafox]

You're quite entitled to not care about aliens (interesting how you put Aric in a different category), but I hope you do acknowledge that's your own personal skewing of the numbers. Just because you do not count (for instance) Khem, Zenith, or Scourge in the list of companions doesn't mean they're not companions. They all have a level of story content appropriate to companions. In some cases their involvement with the class stories is very significant. You are doubtless entitled to your personal preferences but attempting to lay some wider claim to the general status of companions on this basis seems unpersuasive at best and misguided at worst.

 

Personally, I would've included Aric with the 'aliens' category but he's the female trooper's only male romanceable, so I made the exception for him.

 

I realize, that the numbers are skewed to show more the romance angle, yes. I did so, because it's important to me, and also because that's where I see the disparities. I can't wait to include Scourge as a romanceable, but as it hasn't happened yet, and no word has been said officially in a stream, so I'll wait before I get my hopes up. I'm just trying to simplify things a bit. I'm not discounting the value of the other companions, I have many favorites that fall in that group (Scourge, Zenith, Khem, Gault), but I'm trying to illustrate where I see the imbalances so that people can see where I'm coming from, in terms of my opinions and feelings. If you don't see it as I've laid it out, that's fine, but this is how I see it and I feel strongly about it.

[IoNonSoEVero]

Yes, by all means, let's talk about numbers. There are actually 16 female companions and 16 male companions. I'm not counting aliens, droids or animals ( eg: that chipmunk companion). I can't help that you've skewed your numbers to not include romances. They matter to me and I'm working with those numbers. To me, non romances, droids, animals and aliens have no bearing here.

 

*sigh* you're not even reading what I wrote. I SAID there were 16 women. YOU QUOTED IT. I also specifically counted up the romances only in another line. Nothing I said was skewered. You're literally not reading a thing I wrote so I'm just going to give up. I can't talk if the other person isn't listening.

 

But even by your own numbers, the tally is still 11:12, which isn't drastically off.

 

M/F romances (Male PC): 12: Lana, Vette, Jaesa, Kira, Nadia, Risha, Raina, Kaliyo, Ashara, Akaavi, Mako, Elara

M/F romances (Female PC): 11: Theron, Quinn, Aric, Vector, Felix, Doc, Arcann**, Andronikos, Torian, Koth, Corso

 

F/F romances: 3: Lana, Nadia*, LS Jaesa*

M/M romances: 3: Koth, Arcann**, Theron

 

* class specific only

** available only to those who saved him

 

Female LI characters who are bricked, either by a kill option, leaving the story or an Alliance Alert: 9: Mako, Akaavi, Nadia, Jaesa, Vette, Risha, Ashara, Kaliyo, Elara

 

Male LI characters who are bricked, either by a kill option or an Alliance Alert: 11: Quinn, Andronikos, Vector, Torian, Arcann, Theron, Koth, Corso, Felix, Aric, Doc

 

Female LIs still alive/potentially in future story: 3: Lana, Kira, Raina

Male LIs still alive/potentially in future story as new LIs: 3: Scourge, Tharan, Zenith

 

So you can continue to act like the balance is wildly unequal, but it's not. And sure, you can continue to think it's fair to ask for every companion to be killable, but then Bioware will just continue killing, and you won't enjoy it when it comes back to bite you with another dead male companion you like.

 

And yes, by all means I will do what I please in my own strongholds. You can just sit back and imagine the orgy and BBQ that's going on. Good times.

 

I wouldn't flatter yourself. I'm on standby this weekend and bored to tears, hence the forum time, but I can guarantee you that I have far more exciting things to do than think about anything at all happening in your world in my spare time.

[Dracofish]

For me the oddity comes more from three male characters getting full romances with two companions, giving them a choice. That's far more content than the couple of one-night stands.

 

But by the current time of writing, it's true that the balance has tipped in the other direction. The most number of female romantic options a male character can have is three (two from a class plus Lana; and that's only three out of eight classes). The most number of male romantic options a female character can have is four (one from class, plus Theron, Koth, and Arcann; and that's for all eight classes). Time does seem overdue for another female romance to be added. I imagine that is probably why some of the returning female companions are being revisited on this front. (I personally would prefer a new character for this purpose. I appreciate that it's something many people have been wanting for a while, but I don't enjoy this approach. To me it feels like retconning. But, well, this probably isn't the thread for a full discussion of that.)

 

It does feel like retconning and it also feels like too little, too late. Just like with Arcann's romance, Nadia and Jaesa will likely end up being wrapped up into a single cutscene. Not to mention these romances will likely be class-locked. Is that really worth it? Play for hundreds of hours, to level 70...for that? I would rather they leave the original companions alone and give us all new and meaningful content...for everybody.

 

Now enter my concerns for Scourge...if he returns as a romance, let's hope he's open to everybody. I would think there would be rioting in the streets otherwise. Honestly, I would rather they just leave him alone so any and all headcanon-romances for him will remain valid.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Dracofish

[Estelindis]

I'm not discounting the value of the other companions, I have many favorites that fall in that group (Scourge, Zenith, Khem, Gault), but I'm trying to illustrate where I see the imbalances so that people can see where I'm coming from, in terms of my opinions and feelings. If you don't see it as I've laid it out, that's fine, but this is how I see it and I feel strongly about it.

Thank you for explaining that. (Also thank you for mentioning Gault, who really deserved a note in my post; he's one of my favorites too.) I just... still have a hard time understanding the utility of intentionally putting an imbalance in your list (vs. the verifiable list of male companions) if your aim is to illustrate any imbalance other than what you've personally created by curating your list like that. If there's no purpose beyond commenting on what you personally like, then it all makes sense and I appreciate the shared perspective. But I kinda got the impression that the user to whom you responded was commenting in a more general, universal sense.

 

I guess when I read posts like yours I'm a bit torn! On the one hand, I want to say: "do you think the game shouldn't cater to any preferences but yours, that because you don't like XYZ no one should experience characters like those - and isn't that attitude unfair to everyone with different preferences?" But on the other hand, why should you ask for anything except what you personally enjoy? Arguably, let others advocate for what they want, and you lobby for your love. But I suppose to me there's a fine (maybe too fine?)* distinction between a person passionately arguing for what they want (which seems positive to me) and actively lobbying against what other people want (which, rightly or wrongly, feels more negative).

 

*The thing that makes me think maybe the distinction is too fine is that ultimately there's always a finite amount of dev time to go around, so perhaps it's just a zero-sum game. More of something I don't like (but which other people do like) naturally equals less of the thing I do like, so functionally it's the same to argue for something I like and against something other people like and I don't like. But isn't this exactly the sort of attitude we see in the type of male gamer who doesn't want games to ever cater for women because then "logically" they're catering to men less? Yet actually we see that angling aspects of games towards women increases the audience so more gamers will play and more games of more kinds can be made for more people.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Estelindis

[IoNonSoEVero]

It does feel like retconning and it also feels like too little, too late. Just like with Arcann's romance, Nadia and Jaesa will likely end up being wrapped up into a single cutscene. Not to mention these romances will likely be class-locked. Is that really worth it? Play for hundreds of hours, to level 70...for that? I would rather they leave the original companions alone and give us all new and meaningful content...for everybody.

 

Now enter my concerns for Scourge...if he returns as a romance, let's hope he's open to everybody. I would think there would be rioting in the streets otherwise. Honestly, I would rather they just leave him alone so any and all headcanon-romances for him will remain valid.

 

I don't think they could bring Scourge in as a LI without making him bisexual unless they wanted a riot.

 

As for the new F/F romances, yeah, that is my concern as well. I am thrilled and appreciate that they are being added, but they are likely to be one two-minute cut scene, followed by eternal silence, and they're restricted to one class each. Which means for 6 out of 8 classes there's still only one F/F option in the game, and for everyone there's only one full F/F romance.

 

I fear they're going to throw this at us as a way to say, "look, see, there's more than one F/F, shut up now," but there's no substance behind it.

[Lunafox]

*sigh* you're not even reading what I wrote. I SAID there were 16 women. YOU QUOTED IT. I also specifically counted up the romances only in another line. Nothing I said was skewered. You're literally not reading a thing I wrote so I'm just going to give up. I can't talk if the other person isn't listening.

 

But even by your own numbers, the tally is still 11:12, which isn't drastically off.

 

M/F romances (Male PC): 12: Lana, Vette, Jaesa, Kira, Nadia, Risha, Raina, Kaliyo, Ashara, Akaavi, Mako, Elara

M/F romances (Female PC): 11: Theron, Quinn, Aric, Vector, Felix, Doc, Arcann**, Andronikos, Torian, Koth, Corso

 

F/F romances: 3: Lana, Nadia*, LS Jaesa*

M/M romances: 3: Koth, Arcann**, Theron

 

* class specific only

** available only to those who saved him

 

Female LI characters who are bricked, either by a kill option, leaving the story or an Alliance Alert: 9: Mako, Akaavi, Nadia, Jaesa, Vette, Risha, Ashara, Kaliyo, Elara

 

Male LI characters who are bricked, either by a kill option or an Alliance Alert: 11: Quinn, Andronikos, Vector, Torian, Arcann, Theron, Koth, Corso, Felix, Aric, Doc

 

Female LIs still alive/potentially in future story: 3: Lana, Kira, Raina

Male LIs still alive/potentially in future story as new LIs: 3: Scourge, Tharan, Zenith

 

So you can continue to act like the balance is wildly unequal, but it's not. And sure, you can continue to think it's fair to ask for every companion to be killable, but then Bioware will just continue killing, and you won't enjoy it when it comes back to bite you with another dead male companion you like.

 

 

 

I wouldn't flatter yourself. I'm on standby this weekend and bored to tears, hence the forum time, but I can guarantee you that I have far more exciting things to do than think about anything at all happening in your world in my spare time.

 

No, I read it, I read it all, and it's 'skewed', not skewered, that latter is when you roast something over an open fire. You can't talk when the other person isn't listening? Wow, welcome to my world.

 

The thing is, you are considering the actual numbers of pixel people, but what you're choosing to ignore is that male players get MORE of everything, more flirts, more FTB, more choices of companions to romance, more classes with 2 or more romances available to them. They've also jipped female players of content, by chinzing out by giving them 'one nighters' instead of fully fleshed out romances.

 

Mainly my beef is about Ashara, the writer ignored Sith lore and went with the companion's arc over how a canon established dark side 5 would react to a 20 year old pain in the neck that thinks she's equal after doing precisely squat to earn that distinction in the PC's eyes. Lana is just icing on the cake...mostly I'm just sick to death of her. It's absolutely ludicrous to think she would come and rescue my character, that was Theron's job, but again, the writers opted to please the straight male player and by extension the gay/bi female. At this rate, kill away, they've killed/bricked all my favs anyway. No skin off my teeth, I can unsub if they displease me further.

 

And trust me, the feeling is quite mutual and if you think I don't have better to do as well, you're sorely mistaken. I just happen to have a bit of time to engage here tonight. That's not a usual thing for me.

[Elessara]

For me the oddity comes more from three male characters getting full romances with two companions, giving them a choice. That's far more content than the couple of one-night stands.

 

What I find odd about it is it's almost like they're saying that women are more likely to have meaningless flings and (because male characters get more full romances) that male characters are more likely to want a relationship. I'm sure it's not what the writers intended but it kinda comes off that way. Also, for others who may be reading this, I'm only speaking of vanilla romances.

[Estelindis]

What I find odd about it is it's almost like they're saying that women are more likely to have meaningless flings and (because male characters get more full romances) that male characters are more likely to want a relationship. I'm sure it's not what the writers intended but it kinda comes off that way.

I'm also sure it wasn't intended. I can see how it comes off that way, but to me it's much more a mark that the writers of vanilla are perfectly okay dangling things in front of the female player's nose, and then not letting her pursue them all the way, but won't do this to the male player. They did not include even one female companion into vanilla who can't be fully romanced by a male protagonist.*

 

*I count Jaesa as one companion for this purpose, since there will always be a path to romance her fully as long as the player makes the necessary choices - whereas no choice the player can make will turn any of the female protagonist's flings with male companions into full romances. And if anyone wants to claim Scorpio is female, I disagree - the character is a droid, even if feminine in sound and appearance.

 

At least we can say that the more recent content doesn't follow this pattern. Senya is a welcome addition as a female character who cannot be romanced. (Seeing as no romance has ever been added for a reward/bonus companion - nor should it, considering that these companions are relatively niche - I don't tend to count Ranos, Hexid, or Shae towards this.)

Edited October 15, 2018 by Estelindis

[Dracofish]

I don't think they could bring Scourge in as a LI without making him bisexual unless they wanted a riot.

 

Let's hope they're not that dumb! *sarcasm* *cries*

 

There are so many head-canon romances out there that could get squashed if they don't...for both the boys and the girls.

[IoNonSoEVero]

No, I read it, I read it all, and it's 'skewed', not skewered, that latter is when you roast something over an open fire. You can't talk when the other person isn't listening? Wow, welcome to my world.

 

The thing is, you are considering the actual numbers of pixel people, but what you're choosing to ignore is that male players get MORE of everything, more flirts, more FTB, more choices of companions to romance, more classes with 2 or more romances available to them. They've also jipped female players of content, by chinzing out by giving them 'one nighters' instead of fully fleshed out romances.

 

Mainly my beef is about Ashara, the writer ignored Sith lore and went with the companion's arc over how a canon established dark side 5 would react to a 20 year old pain in the neck that thinks she's equal after doing precisely squat to earn that distinction in the PC's eyes. Lana is just icing on the cake...mostly I'm just sick to death of her. It's absolutely ludicrous to think she would come and rescue my character, that was Theron's job, but again, the writers opted to please the straight male player and by extension the gay/bi female. At this rate, kill away, they've killed/bricked all my favs anyway. No skin off my teeth, I can unsub if they displease me further.

 

And trust me, the feeling is quite mutual and if you think I don't have better to do as well, you're sorely mistaken. I just happen to have a bit of time to engage here tonight. That's not a usual thing for me.

 

Well, spellcheck doesn't always catch everything, but it's nice to know the grammar police are on the scene.

 

I'm laughing that you think the writers have favored queer women at any point in this game. Does having zero LIs in the class stories favor us? How about a grand total of one full LI in the seven years of the game? Do you think every queer woman wants Lana? Sure, we're getting two more now, both of which are class-specific Alliance Alerts who will meet the fate of every other AA'd companion. But we're obviously the Chosen Ones because we have ONE companion who has been kept alive.

 

I've said countless times that male PCs did get more of everything in the main story, but since SoR the devs seem to have been trying to balance that more, and add more female Lis, flirts and protagonists. That's what equality truly is. Not just adding more shaggable male pixels.

 

As to the rest of it, as fun as the petty mud slinging has been, I'm going to be the bigger person here and just say what we'd say at home: Sin comentarios, aye.

Edited October 15, 2018 by IoNonSoEVero

[Elessara]

There are so many head-canon romances out there that could get squashed if they don't...for both the boys and the girls.

 

Headcannons will continue regardless of whether or not they make Scourge an LI. However, it would be nice if they did make him one.

[Dracofish]

Headcannons will continue regardless of whether or not they make Scourge an LI. However, it would be nice if they did make him one.

 

In people's heads, yes...but coming from a fanfic writer, can you imagine the OMG HATE one would get if they were to continue writing Scourge with a female Knight if he were say...opened up to just the boys?

 

I know plenty of people who ship Quinn as bi, or Andronikos or whoever...but it doesn't sit as well going the other way. I would think BioWare wouldn't be that foolish, considering Scourge is such an old and well-loved character...I would hope they'd realize people have been identifying with and role-playing with him for years...and they would leave him open for anybody. But...sadly, BioWare hasn't done much of late to keep my faith. (Yes, every romance introduced since SoR has been opened for any player, *but* this new thing with opening returning character romances doesn't appear to include Doc...so... *shrugs*)

Edited October 15, 2018 by Dracofish

[Elessara]

Well, spellcheck doesn't always catch everything, but it's nice to know the grammar police are on the scene.

 

I'm laughing that you think the writers have favored queer women at any point in this game. Does having zero LIs in the class stories favor us? How about a grand total of one full LI in the seven years of the game? Do you think every queer woman wants Lana? Sure, we're getting two more now, both of which are class-specific Alliance Alerts who will meet the fate of every other AA'd companion. But we're obviously the Chosen Ones because we have ONE companion who has been kept alive.

 

I've said countless times that male PCs did get more of everything in the main story, but since SoR the devs seem to have been trying to balance that more, and add more female Lis, flirts and protagonists. That's what equality truly is. Not just adding more shaggable male pixels.

 

As to the rest of it, as fun as the petty mud slinging has been, I'm going to be the bigger person here and just say what we'd say at home: Sin comentarios, aye.

 

To be fair, Luna wasn't specifically saying that they favored lesbian players, simply that it was a byproduct of favoring the straight male demographic when they had Lana doing stuff ... simply b/c Lana was able to be romanced by both male and female characters.

 

In response to Luna's comment above, I would also say that it was neither Lana nor Theron's *job* to rescue you. Neither one really had any obligation to do so or to even suspect you were actually alive. They did so because they believed your character could help save the galaxy from Arcann. And yes, Theron was helping behind the scenes. If you romanced him in SoR, you get a letter from him saying as such - that he wanted to be there when you "woke up" from carbonite but he might not be able to b/c everyone had their own part to play in the rescue.