At this point, I don't want anything to change the original story. I think it'll cause bugs, and even if it was handled perfectly, it would annoy me to no end when I look at the 18 characters I've already played to cap and think that I might want to have handled some of them differently. Especially when accessing the expansions ended the original companion stories, so there is no way to go back and play them (and in many cases, those companions haven't even yet returned).

Instead, what I would like to see is, as companions are introduced in the future, both new ones and the return of old ones, give them a simple companion quest chain for conversations. Include a romance option for both male and female characters. Maybe your female Bounty Hunter was friend-zoned by Mako for years, but now that you're back together after all that time, she's more open to it. Maybe a returning Doc finally has the courage to confess his feelings to your male Knight. Same companion characters, and I am totally up for opening the door to same gender relationships, but I want it to be done in the new story, not as a rework of the old one.

And while they're at it, there is no reason why certain other characters cannot be romanced at all. My Trooper feels her kinship with Tanno Vik. My Smuggler loves her protective Bowdaar. My Sith Warrior wants to have more than just a one night stand with Lt. Pierce. Why are 3/4ths of companions so stand-offish that they never will even so much as allow you to flirt with them?

As someone returning to TOR for the first time since release, its pretty bad this is still a problem. Still no same sex companions for the first 60 levels. Bad enough the devs totally dropped the ball on this at release, even worse that they haven't corrected their mistake over the years.

Adjusting or recording a few new lines of dialogue for the companions to be ready for a same sex PC wouldn't take all that much work. Apparently 6 years still isn't enough time for them to fix that. Really shows how little they care about LGBT issues even today.

Adjusting or recording a few new lines of dialogue for the companions to be ready for a same sex PC wouldn't take all that much work. Apparently 6 years still isn't enough time for them to fix that. Really shows how little they care about LGBT issues even today.

It is troubling that a game this old still has this issue, and if you think about it, Bioware has joined the LGBT+ advocate train the last decade, (Dragon Age, Mass Effect always have had LGBTQ choices) while this game never included this up until recently.

I... firmly believe they are afraid of backlash from the (Amurrican) Christian community, since the hatred lobby there is insanely strong. They should just do it, and do it WELL, so when someone plays it, it won't seem like a lobby-influenced feature (like in ME: Andromeda).

Just do it.

It is troubling that a game this old still has this issue, and if you think about it, Bioware has joined the LGBT+ advocate train the last decade, (Dragon Age, Mass Effect always have had LGBTQ choices) while this game never included this up until recently.

 

I... firmly believe they are afraid of backlash from the (Amurrican) Christian community, since the hatred lobby there is insanely strong. They should just do it, and do it WELL, so when someone plays it, it won't seem like a lobby-influenced feature (like in ME: Andromeda).

 

Just do it.

Unfortunately I think that is exactly what it was, they were afraid of backlash from specific communities that are homophobic, and because Star Wars has such a brand name, they didn't want to risk it. Which is why we are where we are now, with only one F/F LI, only two M/M LIs and no same-gender flirts until Makeb. It's been mentioned numerous times that they actually did script SGR in the original game and it was pulled. It's disappointing, really, that they didn't just go for it.

Unfortunately I think that is exactly what it was, they were afraid of backlash from specific communities

At the time (at and during the first few months after launch) I didn't think that. Coming back though 6 years later and it still isn't fixed? Its either fear of backlash or outright disdain for those that want the content added. 6 years.

I get at release they kinda had a whole pile of other issues they were trying to address and this got put on the back burner, but 6 years? If they didn't have the money for it they could have just had some intern edit the sounds files on his lunch breaks and still had it done long before now. 6 years, and still no progress at all has been made. That is just... pathetic.

snip

What you suggest would be a story retcon. If returning companions decide to turn lgbt for some reason after kotet, fine, but they were not, back during the class stories, so it makes no sense to change history.

At the time (at and during the first few months after launch) I didn't think that. Coming back though 6 years later and it still isn't fixed? Its either fear of backlash or outright disdain for those that want the content added. 6 years.

 

I get at release they kinda had a whole pile of other issues they were trying to address and this got put on the back burner, but 6 years? If they didn't have the money for it they could have just had some intern edit the sounds files on his lunch breaks and still had it done long before now. 6 years, and still no progress at all has been made. That is just... pathetic.

I'm not disagreeing with you at all. I think it's awful that they didn't care enough to add more LGBT companion content and it's frustrating that there still isn't more. Or even the one-night stands. My female Sith might have wanted a one-night stand with the Sith in Nar Shaddaa; a male Sith might have wanted to hook up with Urtel on Alderaan, but none of that is possible.

I do think all one can feasibly hope for now is that some of the companions might turn out to be LGBT on their return and that the flirts and relationships going forward are open for both player genders.

The word (I don't know if it was actually the truth or just a likely rumor) back pre-Makeb seemed to be that the lack of gay options was because LucasArts wasn't having any of that and Bioware kind of managed to smuggle Juhani in KotOR underneath their noses. I doubt they will ever retcon the companion romances from the vanilla game, not because of fear of backlash, but because they don't seem to care about making changes to vanilla game, period. Imo otherwise they would have added other stuff that was requested after it was made possible, i.e. companions being killable in certain situations (since the complaint about losing your i.e. healer went out of the airlock when you got to choose your companion's role). New content does have same sex romance options, so, there's that.

I'm a little sad Kaliyo didn't turn to be bisexual after all, but kind of got over it.

I'm not disagreeing with you at all. I think it's awful that they didn't care enough to add more LGBT companion content and it's frustrating that there still isn't more. Or even the one-night stands. My female Sith might have wanted a one-night stand with the Sith in Nar Shaddaa; a male Sith might have wanted to hook up with Urtel on Alderaan, but none of that is possible.

 

I do think all one can feasibly hope for now is that some of the companions might turn out to be LGBT on their return and that the flirts and relationships going forward are open for both player genders.

If and I am saying a big if are you willing to deal with the bugs that will (definitely) happen with that and all the backlash because of the bugs that might not get fixed for awhile, like other bugs that need fixing. This is BW and we know how they are with bugs.

If and I am saying a big if are you willing to deal with the bugs that will (definitely) happen with that and all the backlash because of the bugs that might not get fixed for awhile, like other bugs that need fixing. This is BW and we know how they are with bugs.

Oh, if they added it to the vanilla romances it would probably be very buggy but I am not asking for that.

I don't see how adding SGR options for some returning companions would add any more bugs than usual. All the companions that have come back have been coded differently from their vanilla counterparts (which is a point of contention for some folks). Since they're being coded freshly, and there will be a chance to reset their romance flag in their reunion conversation, would it be too much to make the romance flag available to both genders?

If, say, Kira's Alliance Alert has her talking to the Jedi and rekindling their romance ("I still love you" or whatever) it is setting a new romance flag (which overrides any KOTFE romance flags). They could offer players of *both* genders a chance to set that same flag and start a romance with her too. It would require nothing more than adding an extra line or two - "I didn't realize how I felt about you" or whatever, and then the romance flag is set and it is coded just as it would be for opposite gender players.

If and I am saying a big if are you willing to deal with the bugs that will (definitely) happen with that and all the backlash because of the bugs that might not get fixed for awhile, like other bugs that need fixing. This is BW and we know how they are with bugs.

Well, that same argument could be made for them to never add anything new ever again. Setting some flags and adding a few lines of edited dialogue seems rather low risk though compared to adding new xpacs, operations, etc., etc. /shrug

Well, that same argument could be made for them to never add anything new ever again. Setting some flags and adding a few lines of edited dialogue seems rather low risk though compared to adding new xpacs, operations, etc., etc. /shrug

Except for one little thing, I have seen the bugs for the other items added and while there are some complaints, it is nothing like the ones I have seen when there is a bug on a companion, like there was with Lana when they first released the first expansion. There was a big backlash when they did that then when there is a bug in operations.

I've been here long enough to see the fussing when bugs are released and 90% of the time when there is a bug regarding a companion there is a bigger backlash than say a bug with an operation, etc.

Except for one little thing, I have seen the bugs for the other items added and while there are some complaints, it is nothing like the ones I have seen when there is a bug on a companion, like there was with Lana when they first released the first expansion. There was a big backlash when they did that then when there is a bug in operations.

 

I've been here long enough to see the fussing when bugs are released and 90% of the time when there is a bug regarding a companion there is a bigger backlash than say a bug with an operation, etc.

You're right, there is a lot of backlash when there are companion-related bugs - but considering that they have to do new coding for both the companions and the the romance flags when they return to the story, why would adding the new romance flags for both genders somehow be more buggy than adding it for one?

You're right, there is a lot of backlash when there are companion-related bugs - but considering that they have to do new coding for both the companions and the the romance flags when they return to the story, why would adding the new romance flags for both genders somehow be more buggy than adding it for one?

We are talking about BW. Something simple for another company, maybe not so easy for BW. While you may consider adding romance flags for both genders wouldn't be any different, but the romance flags already exist for one gender, such as Corso or Kira so they don't have to really add new romance flags, but continue with the one that is already there. To add new romance flags is where you can have problems as they don't exist at the moment so they will have to add some new coding and that is where it can go wrong. I particularly don't want to see more bugs and more screaming on the forums. While I don't particularly care one way or another about the romance, as it is very rare when I romance a companion I just don't want to see more bugs and people having fits.

We are talking about BW. Something simple for another company, maybe not so easy for BW. While you may consider adding romance flags for both genders wouldn't be any different, but the romance flags already exist for one gender, such as Corso or Kira so they don't have to really add new romance flags, but continue with the one that is already there. To add new romance flags is where you can have problems as they don't exist at the moment so they will have to add some new coding and that is where it can go wrong. I particularly don't want to see more bugs and more screaming on the forums. While I don't particularly care one way or another about the romance, as it is very rare when I romance a companion I just don't want to see more bugs and people having fits.

They actually do have to add new code to override any existing KOTFE romances. Even if those don't exist, if you look in the companion window - if it says "you and Quinn (for example) decided to continue your romance" that's actually likely to be a new flag that has been set.

At this juncture I feel like there's no way to make everyone happy. People will scream if X companion comes back because they don't like the way they returned; if companion X is killable; if they're not killable; if they're not in the main story, if the sky on the planet is purple and not blue; etc. There's no way to avoid that,

Also, they didn't add the SGR to the original game because it was the easy way out. Lucasfilm apparently didn't want it; they were worried about backlash. How long should they keep taking the easiest way out at the expense of inclusion? In this case I'd rather see them risk a bug in the name of adding a little more LGBT inclusion to the game.