Romanceable characters

[Silvercell]

Thank you for your support Silvercell. And to answer your questions. When I mention in my original post that Tharan Cedrax just gives you a teaser, I meant that he only gives you a one night stand. I know, that's sad. Personality-wise, Tharan is an incredibly interesting character. He is an ambitious scientist who loves to have his fun, and has the mystique Bond air about him. Luxury and technology are his favorite things. He does have a quirk, but I won't spoil that for you.

 

The only romance option for female Consulars is Lieutenant Iresso.

 

Also, since I noticed that you are interested in the subject of companions, I suggest you visit this website. http://www.swtorface.com/p/jedi-consular-companion-list.html This website has a companion list for all classes, and it mentions a bit of official backstory on them, their crew skill specialties, their likes and dislikes, and the gift preferences. Hopefully, this will help have a good head start on them.

 

Thanks for the link Nynuwe- that page IS excellent, very useful and an interesting read too! Oh I am very excited to carry on levelling my consular Jedi now, I will be able to have a brief flirt with one companion;Theran and then there is the cute soldier boy to look forward to? He comes at Hoth?

 

Is that chapter 2?

 

I have levelled the smuggler to mid chapter two and the romance with is nice with Corso, he's very boyish and sweet.

 

A very intersting thread this!

[Nynuwe]

I'm not for the "every companon should be bisexual" thing. Ok it means everyone could get the companion he/she likes , being a male or a female, but just like in Dragon age 2, it would be strange.

 

I know Star Wars is not especially realistic in general, but come on, if you want to do some RP, seeing that every companion is bisexual is not credible at all. Everyone in real life is not bi.

 

In Dragon Age 1, they had the best solution I think: 2 characters were hetero (Alistair and Morrigan) and the 2 others were bi (Leliana and Zevran). Like this, it's still credible, and we also have choice for the same-sex romance.

 

Anyway they said that the same-sex romance characters will be totally new characters.

 

And for interspecies romances, I'm totally for it! I still don't understand why male player can have romance with alien females (twi'leks, etc), while female players can only have humans (except Jorgan). We want Twi'leks (Zenith!) We want Chagrians! We want Chiss!

 

 

Are you aware that in the Dragon Age universe bisexuality and homosexuality is not taboo? The very writers of the Dragon Age games specified this. It's their universe, their rules. And in the end, if writers of a fictional universe which to break from the prejudices of the real world, - in obvious contrast to said real world-, and wish to create a reality where such real world prejudices don't exist, then it's their right. If they can make a universe of monsters, space travel, and magic-like abilities, then they can also make a universe where there is no prejudice based on sexual orientation. Because in the end, they have the license, so if Lucas Arts wishes to give them the permission to make all romance-able companions bisexual, other than obviously as a scheme to make more money by pleasing as many people as possible, it is also not against lore.

 

People should really keep in mind. This is a business. Their goal is to make money. If what you suggest isn't the most effective way to get around things, they wont take it seriously. There is a reason why they indeed decide to make all companions bisexual after they realized that a game with both heterosexual, and bisexual characters became a great hit. Because it's the most efficient way to target all sexual orientations without loosing anyone. Without loosing potential clients.

 

This is my opinion but it just really strikes me as selfish for people to wish to deny their fellow players a chance to fulfill the same enjoyment as the others. Whatever the reason someone may use to justify it, I just can't stop feeling that way about such a thing. For example, if I can enjoy X character, why should X character be denied to others? Is it so wrong to try to make everyone happy in a fantasy sci-fi video game?

[Nynuwe]

By the way, I mean no disrespect towards anyone, much less the LGBTers, but the main point of my original post is this:

 

Adding romance questlines to already existing companions that weren't given one for vanilla SW:TOR.

 

So please do try to keep in mind the main point of this thread. You have all liberty to add your points, and discuss about it, but let's try not to stray from the main topic either.

 

If I didn't make the main point of this thread clear to all of you in my original post then I deeply apologize. But now that I have indeed cleared it up, let's try to keep it in mind in our future posts. And yes, this includes myself, because even I strayed away from the original point of my post.

[Dean_the_Young]

People should really keep in mind. This is a business. Their goal is to make money. If what you suggest isn't the most effective way to get around things, they wont take it seriously. There is a reason why they indeed decide to make all companions bisexual after they realized that a game with both heterosexual, and bisexual characters became a great hit. Because it's the most efficient way to target all sexual orientations without loosing anyone. Without loosing potential clients.

While your faith in modern sexual liberalism is warming, homophobes and sexually conservative people who don't feel comfortable with universal application of open bisexuality are paying customers as well.

 

So are people who disapprove of design decisions such as 'let's make every romance character bisexual just to save time, and just switch the pronouns' when sexual orientation is both a distinguishing aspect and a major part of many people's sexual identities.

 

Not all people are bi any more than all people are hetero or gay. Nor all are people into open bisexuals. That line of thought is a disservice to both heterosexual and homosexuals who have their own preferences of what they want, and also what they want their partners to want.

 

There's plenty of ground for wanting non-hetero relationships available, but 'make all characters available to all players' is no more a solution that 'remove all romances.'

[JadeBranch]

While your faith in modern sexual liberalism is warming, homophobes and sexually conservative people who don't feel comfortable with universal application of open bisexuality are paying customers as well.

 

So are people who disapprove of design decisions such as 'let's make every romance character bisexual just to save time, and just switch the pronouns' when sexual orientation is both a distinguishing aspect and a major part of many people's sexual identities.

 

Not all people are bi any more than all people are hetero or gay. Nor all are people into open bisexuals. That line of thought is a disservice to both heterosexual and homosexuals who have their own preferences of what they want, and also what they want their partners to want.

 

There's plenty of ground for wanting non-hetero relationships available, but 'make all characters available to all players' is no more a solution that 'remove all romances.'

 

Correction, people are homophobic towards gays, not lesbians. In fact, heterosexual males find a pair of lesbians to be hot fanservice.

[Tizzmet]

Would people shut up about this already?

 

Sorry to sound rude but its being dealt with.

 

BioWare have explained before, there was a rough patch with Lucas Arts and they weren't allowed the same-sex options, when they finally were allowed to have them it was to late in development to include them at launch without delaying the game's release.

 

They have promised to add same-sex options post launch.

 

The problem is thus. Dealt with. There's a reason for it, and a solution will become available. Stop bringing it up (No literal offense intended against the quoted user, I just keep seeing it and its starting to bug me, nevermind my lack of sleep making me irritable. Again. I apologize if I have offended.)

 

 

QFT.

 

Sorry, I'm getting pretty tired of it, too. Let's move on....

 

 

I am looking forward to more romance options and I'm quite sure Bioware will improve upon that in the coming months. Cheers!

 

Edit: Nynuwe, thanks for that link!!! That really helped me out. <3

Edited January 1, 2012 by Tizzmet

[Dean_the_Young]

Correction, people are homophobic towards gays, not lesbians. In fact, heterosexual males find a pair of lesbians to be hot fanservice.

And middle-aged heterosexual women are the largest demographic of male-on-male ****. That there are consumer markets for the **** has nothing to do with any exclusive homophobia niche.

[Analysis]

I was absolutely convinced Zenith would be the romance option. When I had a sneaky look at some portraits of the Consular companions he was the one I thought HAD to be it. Sadly it was not to be. I haven't met the Trooper yet but ... I'm already accidentally infatuated with Zenith!

 

Also I wanted so badly for Tanno Vik to be the romance option for female Troopers. He was bigged up on the website (as were most of the romance options like Vette etc) and as such I thought he looked absolutely awesome. Now I hear it's the catman? My Trooper would crush him flat.

 

Oh well, I suppose most of this is down to personal preference (I like Corso whereas there seems to be a lot of hate directed at him!) but it means I shall be waiting not-so-patiently for romances with my favourite companions!

[Evolvana]

Did any of you know the Chagrian companion of the Jedi Knight? I know he's not romancable, but I dig Chagrians.

 

My Jedi is just lvl 2 so I can delete it and create a new one if I want. I wonder if I would have greater companions as a Knight or a Consular.

 

For the Consular you have Iresso as a romance (male) and he seems a bit better than that horrible "Doc" the Jedi Knights have. The Consular also have Zenith as a companion, but the Knights have "Sargent Rusk", the Chagrian. He looks awesome but is he really an interesting companion?

Edited January 1, 2012 by Evolvana

[Gably]

 

People should really keep in mind. This is a business. Their goal is to make money. If what you suggest isn't the most effective way to get around things, they wont take it seriously. There is a reason why they indeed decide to make all companions bisexual after they realized that a game with both heterosexual, and bisexual characters became a great hit. Because it's the most efficient way to target all sexual orientations without loosing anyone. Without loosing potential clients.

 

 

Do you really think that Dragon Age 2 is successful only because of all companions being bisexual? I really doubt they would lose credits if they didn't do that to them. Lucas Arts didn't like that idea, for instance. Also, there are a lot of people who like and people who dislike that idea - it is not a matter of money. If someone plays Dragon Age only to take part in a gay romance - I feel pity for them.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Gably

[Rayla_Felana]

Do you really think that Dragon Age 2 is successful only because of all companions being bisexual? I really doubt they would lose credits if they didn't do that to them. Lucas Arts didn't like that idea, for instance. Also, there are a lot of people who like and people who dislike that idea - it is not a matter of money. If someone plays Dragon Age only to take part in a gay romance - I feel pity for them.

 

Dragon Age 2 was successful?

 

...hurr hurr hurr.

 

/Seriousness on.

 

I believe what she is stating is that because BioWare takes into mind ALL demographics, they make more money, and no, it is not to have relationships with companion characters, that is one of a few big reasons though, we play BioWare games for their great story, and Romance is a big part of role-playing in a story driven game, Han without Leia? Aragorn without Arwen? Harry without Ginny? it all turns into an action film without such established relationships mixed into the main story, for example, if i hadn't have played the Mass Effect series without the Liara romance, i doubt I'd have liked it so much, that's why we want SGRAs.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Rayla_Felana

[Jebazel]

Lack of romance options for female characters is the main reason I cancelled my sub.

 

Most disappointing..

[Gably]

Dragon Age 2 was successful?

 

...hurr hurr hurr.

 

/Seriousness on.

 

I believe what she is stating is that because BioWare takes into mind ALL demographics, they make more money, and no, it is not to have relationships with companion characters, that is one of a few big reasons though, we play BioWare games for their great story, and Romance is a big part of role-playing in a story driven game, Han without Leia? Aragorn without Arwen? Harry without Ginny? it all turns into an action film without such established relationships mixed into the main story, for example, if i hadn't have played the Mass Effect series without the Liara romance, i doubt I'd have liked it so much, that's why we want SGRAs.

 

Dragon Age 2 was successful - if it wasn't, they wouldn't bother making 2 DLCs for it.

 

My point was not about romances not being important at all - they are, I was meaning to say that some people just don't like the whole bisexual idea about their companions. And if it wasn't implemented, they wouldn't lose potential clients.

 

On the other hand, you can put it this way though - it's not like companions are bisexual - players 'make' them be that by choosing such dialog options. If you being a male didn't romance a male companion - then that companion is not gay. It's all about player's interpretation, I guess.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Gably

[Mechavomit]

it's not like companions are bisexual

Yes, but you character is. He seems like it.

Imagine getting homosexual flirting options on your wheel every other time. It would feel weird. It would make me (personally) very uncomfortable.

Not because I'm homophobic, but because I don't want my character to be bisexual. Even if I don't choose those dialogue options, I'll still be seing them.

[Gably]

Yes, but you character is. He seems like it.

Imagine getting homosexual flirting options on your wheel every other time. It would feel weird. It would make me (personally) very uncomfortable.

Not because I'm homophobic, but because I don't want my character to be bisexual. Even if I don't choose those dialogue options, I'll still be seing them.

 

Agreed, getting those homosexual flirting options is wrong for me.

 

But again, you character is not bisexual or gay or whatever if you don't choose them - it's up to you if you want your character to be one (player interpretation again). But still - some people, me included, find all those bisexual and homosexual totally wrong and out of place - something BioWare should take in consideration.

[Rayla_Felana]

Yes, but you character is. He seems like it.

Imagine getting homosexual flirting options on your wheel every other time. It would feel weird. It would make me (personally) very uncomfortable.

Not because I'm homophobic, but because I don't want my character to be bisexual. Even if I don't choose those dialogue options, I'll still be seing them.

 

I don't like seeing flirt options with men, because I'm not into men, but i won't state OGRAs shouldn't be in the game.

[Evolvana]

>Gably: the problem is that even if you want to see you companion as hetero, they still show gay dialogue options in their dialogue even if you didn't ask for it. Zevran and Leliana from Dragon age 1 were like this!

 

The problem is that to give the player the choice of having a same-sex romance with them, the gay dialogue option will always show up somewhere.

 

It's not about homophobia at all, it's just that when you want to RolePlay, and want to romance a character or marry him etc, it's troubling to see him (or her) tell you he also fantasize on men as well or stuff like this ^^"

 

If you're hetero girl for example, imagine yourself dating a guy you think is hetero and who says he also loves to watch men's buts? Well I couldn't feel comfortable or date him anymore. He's free to like what he wants, but it would ruin the date for me.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Evolvana

[Gably]

>Gably: the problem is that even if you want to see you companion as hetero, they still show gay dialogue options in their dialogue even if you didn't ask for it. Zevran and Leliana from Dragon age 1 were like this!

 

I am aware of that, and that was my point. I would suggest having an option during the character creation if you want or don't want all those homosexual flirting dialog options to show up or something like that.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Gably

[Nynuwe]

I had not considered the point of player interpretation before, erroneously believing that others would interpret game mechanics as I would. I thank the person who first brought it up for doing so. Now I have more things to consider.

 

As I interpreted things, if I chose to play a female character who only romances male characters, then in my opinion I chose her to be heterosexual. Yes, I admit that seeing the option to flirt with other female companions squeaked me at first, but I let it slide because I understood it as game mechanics offering me the opportunity to RP my character in a different way if I so wanted. Just because the option was there doesn't mean that my character is like that. What makes my companions the way it are were the options I took, not the options available. So in the end, its all about how you interpret the game mechanics.

 

If people feel so uncomfortable to see same sex options appear for them, then I agree that a good solution would be to have those options turned ON or OFF during the game. And not necessarily has to be at the beginning of character creation. It could be a 'switch' that you can control in the options menu. Like this:

___

|ON| Same sex flirt options

 

In fact, maybe they could also give people the chance to turn off heterosexual flirt options if they so wanted.

 

-------------------------------------

I have further considered how Dragon Age:Origins handled things. And I have come to realize that I have been hasty to not see its potential. As much as I don't like to admit, I was being inflexible in that argument. Thinking of it more, I have to agree that it is actually a very viable solution as well. By offering heterosexual and bisexual characters, the game still offered all the romance options to the larger demographic group(heterosexuals), and it still gave options for both bisexual and homosexual players through their bisexual options.

 

Personally, my preference is still towards how DA2 went about it, but I agree that the other is equally viable as well. They both have their pros and cons. However that can be reasoned that their is no way to make every single player happy, but that they both still achieve to satisfy the greatest number of players as possible in their own way.

 

--------------------------

It seems that no more can be said about the original point of my post which is adding romance questlines to the already existing companions who were not given one for 'vanilla' SW:TOR.

 

Honestly, I just wished they had given female players more options for romance, and not to be stuck to just a few human males (one being just a one-night-stand) and one cathar. I was hoping that they could fix that. I want to be able to romance Zenith, and to be able to romance the Chiss and Chagrian companions that the other classes have. To me this could be fixed by adding romance questlines to these characters in the future.

 

And considering that BioWare already decided that same sex relations would be added for the new companions that they will make in the future and not for the old ones, then this means that the added questlines for the old companions would be heterosexual. If they ever do it, that is.

 

------------------------------------------

So far people have brought up good points, and even if I wouldn't agree with them all, I respect their validity. I thank everyone for keeping this thread respectable.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Nynuwe

[Jeweledleah]

>Gably: the problem is that even if you want to see you companion as hetero, they still show gay dialogue options in their dialogue even if you didn't ask for it. Zevran and Leliana from Dragon age 1 were like this!

 

The problem is that to give the player the choice of having a same-sex romance with them, the gay dialogue option will always show up somewhere.

 

It's not about homophobia at all, it's just that when you want to RolePlay, and want to romance a character or marry him etc, it's troubling to see him (or her) tell you he also fantasize on men as well or stuff like this ^^"

 

If you're hetero girl for example, imagine yourself dating a guy you think is hetero and who says he also loves to watch men's buts? Well I couldn't feel comfortable or date him anymore. He's free to like what he wants, but it would ruin the date for me.

 

I want to address this becasue honestly its a bit well.. misguided, sorry.

 

when you roleplay, generally, you roleplay YOUR character, not characters around you. you cannot really decide to roleplay them as whatever sexuality you want them to be, despite the evidence to the contrary. well, no you CAN decide it, but it won't make it real and it will only mess with your role playing when they exhibit behaviors that don't fit with your headcanon.

 

and that beings me to my second point. WHY is this troubling? imagine that as a hetero girl, you date a hetero guy. do you worry about them fantasizing about other women? or are you confident in their interest in you? becasue its really not that different with someone who's openly bisexual. if they are in a committed relationship with you and relationship is good, WHY would they fantasize about other people? why is this more discomfiting then him liking to watch women's butts? he's with you, so presumably your butt is the only butt he wants anyways.

 

so, umm ignore the romantic options that don't fit your character, just like you are already ignoring a lot of conversation options that don't fit your character (or do you think that having darkside AND lightside options in the same conversations, compromises your character's alignment?). and if the character tells you that your Jedi or Sith or whatever else is the only one they want, believe them, whether they only go for opposite gender or both of them. becasue in the end - the really isn't a difference.

 

edited to add - I'm not sure if I said it in this thread, or different thread, but the biggest challenge with adding romantic subplots to already present companions, especially the ones that are already romansable is in trying to figure out how not to penalize the players who may have already leveled up their class of choice and had multiple conversations with those companions/acquired sizable affection. they would have to figure out how to equalize it for both old and new players. with the number of companions we have... it could be quite a challenge.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Jeweledleah

[Evolvana]

>>Nynuwe: Where did you see a Chiss companion for the other classes? I searched in the companion list and didn't find any Chiss, unfortunately. I'd love to see a romance with a male Chiss, too

 

>>JewelEdleah : But it's not even the point, personnally I would not feel comfortable if me and my husband for example would be attracted by the same sex. That's all. It's not homophobic or anything, I'm just straight, and only attracted by straight men.

[Jeweledleah]

>>Nynuwe: Where did you see a Chiss companion for the other classes? I searched in the companion list and didn't find any Chiss, unfortunately. I'd love to see a romance with a male Chiss, too

 

>>JewelEdleah : But it's not even the point, personnally I would not feel comfortable if me and my husband for example would be attracted by the same sex. That's all. It's not homophobic or anything, I'm just straight, and only attracted by straight men.

 

I still don't get it. I'm not saying its homophobic, I just don't understand what the difference between prior o/s attraction and s/s attraction when you are in a healthy committed monogamous relationship. I mean.. are you afraid that bisexual guy would leave you for another guy? but he could just as easily leave you for a girl if that's what he wanted. and if he doesn't want to leave you, then what does it matter whom he used to be attracted to, before he met you? the person is with you, they chose to be with you, what happened before is irrelevant. at least to me. and for the record, I'm also straight.

[Cythereal]

>>Nynuwe: Where did you see a Chiss companion for the other classes? I searched in the companion list and didn't find any Chiss, unfortunately. I'd love to see a romance with a male Chiss, too

 

Imperial Agents get a romanceable female human companion who was raised among the Chiss, but that's the closest. If a Chiss companion does get added, expect it to be for the Agent - we seem to be the standard bearers for the Chiss Ascendancy in this game.

[Malysse]

I want to add my support to my fellow women gamers as well as those players not interested in "traditional" relationships. I understand why our options are more limited or non-existent as the gaming community and the developer base is made up of a majority of hetero males, so it's much easier to imagine and pander to those interests. BUT those communities are rapidly changing as women join the ranks of gamers and the gay community feels more comfortable coming out. It won't be long before the gaming community accurately reflects the broader communities we live in.

 

I play a smuggler in the game, and while I'm enjoying my relationship with Corso, I'm also disappointed. I've had my male counterparts tell me that they get more options to flirt with various NPC's as well as two companions to play with. I feel like there's this misconception that women only know how to love in a few limited ways, when the truth is we're just as interested in romance and physical relationships as men, and desire the same range of one-time hook-ups to serious relationships to marriage as men. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that women are just as varied as men, so I am disappointed that my male counterparts get to experience a wider variety of relationships in the game, while I'm limited to the typical cliches.

[Danathur]

I believe the Sith Inquisitor story was written by a woman (Rebecca Harwick). I can't compare it to the others as I haven't played any other classes for long enough.