Not awake. Getting coffee, but I wanted to point this out:

 

Okay, my questions, Why is it such a double minded thing to even talk about SGRs.? Why did that bad communication breakdown happen? This is direct and undeniable proof that BW-Austin is more than willing to talk about things months in advance. Which contradicts a lot of what some of the more angry trolls like to claim. "They don't talk about things too far out in advance." I really feel like someone is acting like some of the teachers I had in high school where they chuckle nervously and change the subject the second they aren't comfortable.

 

It's not against the OP of that thread at all. They seem like passionate players and decent people. Shoot, I'm curious too, but my gods....So many people give us such a hard time for pursuing answers.

 

They tell us to shut up when we say that it's been over 9 months since any official word and they are still giving the press the runaround. Yet after 7 months, people get nervous if they don't hear about the new race. And they didn't get ignored at the Livestream.

 

We all know that if they had had the courage to speak up about this on the Livestream, we would have all jumped over that by now.

 

I'm enjoying the fact there is a new race and Cathars to boot. However, playing a Cathar or not doesn't really change my play style any. As was pointed out, you get a few nasty comments from Pub side and about once a planet my Chiss sniper was called alien scum. It really doesn't change how I playing the game.

 

SGRs, for myself and others, significantly changes the way we play. After 9 months since any official word at all, I'm pretty mad that this is still being treated so different. When it shouldn't.

 

Being more watched in the forums (and then some ), but treated exactly as we were 8 months ago by BW-Austin. GLAAD and the emails we sent off really are making a difference, that much is true. We've gotten the word out.

 

I had some stuff about possible companion sexuality (a topic I genuinely enjoy,) but that'll have to wait until after coffee.

 

Oh, my word for the day: DOOOOOOOOM! DOOMIE DOOMIE DOOM!

 

Yeah, I spotted one of the Chicken Littles in the forums recently. I hope a piece of sky didn't land on someone's head, since it's falling and all.

 

*stumbles into her kitchen, squinting at the glare*

I've been saying that all along. They talk about pretty much anything but SGR.

(As for the Cathar, my hunch is that it's coming sooner than you might think. But that's a hunch. It'd do miracles for their pockets, seeing as it will be a Cartel purchase for all.)

It comes back to; talking about SGR gets them the gay. It's really astonishing with how much effort the topic is ignored. And also how badly we're further marginalised on this forum.

Oh, my word for the day: DOOOOOOOOM! DOOMIE DOOMIE DOOM!

I know a kobold who could write that into a song for you

I was thinking...if they do add new companions, will they be the "gay companion" in the sense that they'll be exclusive to SGRA? I'm thinking they won't do that and any new romanceable companion will be available to both genders.

I know a kobold who could write that into a song for you

I know a kobold who could write that into a song for you

So do I. I think he would give a better spin on it though.

Blizz reminds me of Deekin for sure. He's at least make a jig out of it or something.

Meh, to Hades with the Chicken Littles. I enjoy this game immensely, and as long as there is a decent pop server, I'm going to say that the game is alive and well. I'm going to stay out of those kinds of threads though. I really do respect them too much to go tell them how wrong I think they are. It's because I feel the game is doing well that I see no good reason for this bizarre hesitation by BW on SGRs.

All I can do at this point is to continue to push for players to write to GLAAD. I strongly feel they won't say anything here, but putting further pressure on BW-Austin will get us an answer. The thread does a have a purpose; at this point, it's a pretty safe place for the pro-SGR crowd to gather. It's also a great place to spread the word as well as answer any questions we can to the players about this.

Edit: /shudder There are threads bouncing around that wants to put F2P'ers on another server. That would not be good, since Doup is putting a stop on his account for now and going F2P. My scary thought is how many, "SGRs should be on their own server" threads that will start. They will go on for 40 pages at least.

More information would be nice but frankly with all the restructuring going on I can kinda understand why it hasn't been brought up. Doing SGR right is time intensive. I think most of the writing was probably don but it all has to be polished then approved then sent to Lucas arts for VO then cut-scenes need to be made and tested. Considering that at the very least they need to do this for two companions for each class (and really would be nice if it was 2-3 for parity with OGR) that's at least 16 romance arcs that need to be constructed, implemented and tested. It's time consuming particularly the VO portion which requires Lucas Arts to scheduled the actors and if it is using preexisting companions get the same actors back for more VO. New SGR companions need not only romance arcs but full companions stories and insertion into the main storyline (or to be made available via cartel?) regardless they then need to also have dialog for the class story some world story scenes and affection gain/loss for all conversations established.

all in all it's a huge amount of time needed and not alot of it can be paralleled. Writing comes first then editing and approval, then cutscenes are animated then they have to bring in VO actors to do the lines then they all have to be tested and put together. It is entirely possible that they are working on it but have no dates because so many things could slow it down still and with the move to free to play who knows if they had to rework this to cartel content or what.

I was thinking...if they do add new companions, will they be the "gay companion" in the sense that they'll be exclusive to SGRA? I'm thinking they won't do that and any new romanceable companion will be available to both genders.

Perhaps, perhaps not, but I would rather have a new bi romance then have them risk screwing a current companion's character just to make them bi.

More information would be nice but frankly with all the restructuring going on I can kinda understand why it hasn't been brought up. Doing SGR right is time intensive. I think most of the writing was probably don but it all has to be polished then approved then sent to Lucas arts for VO then cut-scenes need to be made and tested. Considering that at the very least they need to do this for two companions for each class (and really would be nice if it was 2-3 for parity with OGR) that's at least 16 romance arcs that need to be constructed, implemented and tested. It's time consuming particularly the VO portion which requires Lucas Arts to scheduled the actors and if it is using preexisting companions get the same actors back for more VO. New SGR companions need not only romance arcs but full companions stories and insertion into the main storyline (or to be made available via cartel?) regardless they then need to also have dialog for the class story some world story scenes and affection gain/loss for all conversations established.

 

all in all it's a huge amount of time needed and not alot of it can be paralleled. Writing comes first then editing and approval, then cutscenes are animated then they have to bring in VO actors to do the lines then they all have to be tested and put together. It is entirely possible that they are working on it but have no dates because so many things could slow it down still and with the move to free to play who knows if they had to rework this to cartel content or what.

That's fine. I would understand that and I'm sure a lot of other posters here would as well. After all, it's been a chaotic year.

If it's money/time/ ect. They need to come out and tell us such, not give these continuous weird double answers.

I'm sure you saw how "clear" their stance was on new vs old companions for SGRs. I was reading the thread and the reactions last night.

The statement they sent to games industry International was even less clear.

Hey Real Name, here's what they told us:

 

"We too have gotten a lot of questions about this and should be able to issue an answer soon. We had to be able to confirm things and we’re getting closer to that point. As soon as we have final confirmation that is happening, we’ll let you know to give you a heads up."

 

Not sure if that helps you any, but it's the latest we've got. Thanks,

---

Brendan Sinclair

Staff Writer, GamesIndustry International

They need to just come out and say,

• "Yes, with an ETA."
  
• "Yes, without an ETA."
  
• "Delayed due to money/F2P."
  
• "No, on hold indefinitely."
  
• "No, had to be scrapped."
  

If they were willing to give a sort of straight answer, I'd have a lot more empathy. However, they won't and I don't see why this is constantly being treated differently from other content. Illum, for example, they admitted after they abandoned it that it was put on hold indefinitely until they could get it fixed. Or that Cathars were months down the road. I heard about Cathars when I first came back to the game in September.

I'm not putting up with vague double answers that make the players dissect the every little part of just to figure out the meaning. I shouldn't have to and I'm tired of seeing so many players feeling like they are being used.

Yep, I feel used. EA/BW has put out several articles claiming time and time again that they are proud of the LGBT content they serve in "all of their games." Yes, it's still in an article, they just took the captioned picture of ToR out and replaced it with one from ME3. That's why this thread exists and why I've been encouraging everyone to write.

No more double talk, no more silence that can be taken as either answer. As I said about 2 weeks ago or so when I kicked this up to the next level....

Enough is Enough.

Also, not sure how SGRs would ruin any current characters at all. I know for a fact one of the companions is not straight and hits on you right away. I also agree with some of the other posters; we should not assume sexuality at this point. My Kira might end up a lesbian. Yours is obviously hetero. Hopefully a flirt you can ignore doesn't bother you. I ignored Quinn from about lvl 32 onwards, so I think anyone could with SGR flirts too.

No more double talk, no more silence that can be taken as either answer. As I said about 2 weeks ago or so when I kicked this up to the next level....

 

Enough is Enough.

Sadly they just simply don't care. That quote they gave the GamesIndustry guy is likely the last word we will ever hear about it.

Sadly they just simply don't care. That quote they gave the GamesIndustry guy is likely the last word we will ever hear about it.

Don't know til you try. I refuse to give up. That's exactly what the trolls and people full of hate want. Besides, it's only been a week. I don't think the game is doomed because it's free to play; I don't think the press will allow BW to leave it at that. Giving up and giving in to resignation is not to the way to go.

And if they try to leave the statement at that, I write them again. And again.

Until they tell me to go away or get a better answer from BW-Austin. Whichever comes first.

Plus, I know GLAAD is still looking into this. BW has not released any sort of statement to them and I know they won't just back down.

Trust me, this is far from over. Don't give up.

well, I'm at the point where I think they better hurry or I'll be gone...

with the reboot of FFXIV coming along and me knowing there will be plentyful 'rp-possibility' I may be at the point of just not caring about TOR enough anymore when SGRA are finally in...

if they really think that is just a minor issue that they don't need to work on this, then good riddance.

I love this game, I really do. I'm having immense fun. but my concience tells me I can't support this forever.

.

edit: and since I don't play on an RP server (and even there I wouldn't know who'd be up for it) I really don't see myself ever enjoying at least 2 of my chars as much as they deserve. my characters really .do. grow on me, and they grow indeed. I have a certain picture of them in my head, but damn they have their own head too. I don't see them as 'asexual', especially not my gunslinger. if he COULD he'd be flirting left and right (same as the heterosexual version already does story-wise)

sigh.

Hey Real Name, here's what they told us:

 

"We too have gotten a lot of questions about this and should be able to issue an answer soon. We had to be able to confirm things and we’re getting closer to that point. As soon as we have final confirmation that is happening, we’ll let you know to give you a heads up."

 

Not sure if that helps you any, but it's the latest we've got. Thanks,

---

Brendan Sinclair

Staff Writer, GamesIndustry International

I wonder if they really have some EA bigwigs making them check in piece by piece with every bit of content and checking the budget. Maybe not a stretch considering how crazy it got during development. They might be green-lighting content based on how much money they make in cartel shop.

I wonder if they really have some EA bigwigs making them check in piece by piece with every bit of content and checking the budget. Maybe not a stretch considering how crazy it got during development. They might be green-lighting content based on how much money they make in cartel shop.

Last post for a bit and then I'm going to go hang out with Doup and maybe play DA: O

I hope by the end of the year that they release concrete information. I feel your theory about the Cartel Market is a good one, so by Jan 1st they should have an idea how well the game is doing.

Still, I would have figured they would have had most of this done long before now. Especially with the whole comment about, the writers "having a huge lead time." I just wish they would say as such, instead of some of the best of the worst of corporate double speak.

Kinda proud of myself in the General thread. It wasn't easy to post and I wasn't going to address them directly. I did feel something had to be said though.

I may be asking some of you DA vets about quirks in the game as well as for some tips. Part of the reason why I'm playing it is for the SGRs. So far, I have gotten one flirt with a female as a female elf (rogue-archer.) The Sister (the rogue minion, whose name escapes me atm) isn't my type, but it was nice to see such an option available.

Perhaps, perhaps not, but I would rather have a new bi romance then have them risk screwing a current companion's character just to make them bi.

I don't see why every companion that's romancable shouldn't be hero-sexual.

It seems to be a common theme around these discussions, and I've seen it from both anti and pro SGR posters, that a person's personality is indicative of their sexuality or visa versa. I can't count how many times I've heard "Being bi just doesn't fit their character."

What?

That's like saying a certain companion's personality wouldn't fit with a different skin color. It's grossly stereotypical. We already have the options via customizations to change the skin colors of both humans and aliens.

It's not like the personality of the player character changes based on gender as far as the game is concerned. Yes, the voice actor is different, but the lines are pretty much the same. So why would the companion treat the hero, who is essentially the same person, differently just because of their gender?

I don't see why anything needs to be changed about the romances that exist to make them "fit" for homosexual couples. Love is love, and I believe that what Kira would say to a man she loves wouldn't be so different if that man happened to be a woman.

In fact, I find it a little patronizing to feel the need to write romances specifically for SGRAs. To me, that implies that the personalities and emotions involved fundamentally change because of the genders involved. Aside from lines that directly reference gender, I don't see the need. The personalities involved are the same.

If the player character changed significantly in personality between genders, I'd see the point. As it is, I don't understand why they can't just do a series of tweaks and just allow me to play any of the content that already exists regardless of my gender.

The only reason I can see for writing romance arcs that are specifically same gender is to show them facing the unique difficulties homosexuals face in our world. But this isn't based in our world, and I don't see why the Star Wars universe needs to represent those tensions. I personally would find it more inspiring to represent a universe in which someone's sexual preference doesn't unduly impact their lives.

I guess you could also argue that in order to truly have inclusiveness, you have to acknowledge sexuality, and that would mean representing people who are gay, people who are straight, people who are bi, and so on. After all, it's commonly acknowledged now that sexuality is not really a choice, and making every romance bi might give that impression.

I can see that argument, but in a game where you can change your companions' skin color and appearance... In a game where the general point is to morph the story BioWare is telling into the customized story you want to hear... I don't see the harm.

I don't see why every companion that's romancable shouldn't be hero-sexual.

The currently existing reason for this seems to be that the writing team thinks that'd be crappy writing. Personally I wouldn't have much (if any) issue with it, but it's the writers that calls the shots there.

The currently existing reason for this seems to be that the writing team thinks that'd be crappy writing. Personally I wouldn't have much (if any) issue with it, but it's the writers that calls the shots there.

As a writer, I can see that point of view. It feels like a shortcut.

As a fan, I don't care if it's a shortcut, it's exactly what I've wanted from SGRAs: Full access to the entire game regardless of my gender choice.

As a humanist, I don't see why it's necessary to write more, romances are already written for the personalities involved, and all that is changing is gender.

Ahh, the warm fuzzy feeling of nostalgia. Those of you that were around prior to March 13th surely understand.

Funny, I just put that very quote up in the either thread. It's probably not a bad thing to keep that handy. I'm sure a lot of people are going to be asking about that. It's understandable to an extent. The poster that talked about it in the General thread was really polite though.

This isn't entirely a bad thing though. These threads are alive and hopping again, for better and for worse. I'm glad we have easy access to all kinds of information. As I've said before, we're well armed with links and quotes. We have to be, given the nature of this topic as well as the treatment of this topic by BW-Austin.

I genuinely think we have to be careful at what we wish for in implemenation of SGR's. We have to be mature and fair about it...and that is going to require a bit of circumspection. It doesn't mean I am going to be soft and apologetic with EA/BW, it just means I will win by being better than them.

 

~J

In a way I agree but considering how BW:A has been behaving over this whole damn shemozzle (poor jokes in poor taste at the Guild Summit, utter silence for the most part, etc) I'd say that what we wish for in regards to SGRAs probably doesn't have much bearing or weight on what's actually going to happen.

In a way I agree but considering how BW:A has been behaving over this whole damn shemozzle (poor jokes in poor taste at the Guild Summit, utter silence for the most part, etc) I'd say that what we wish for in regards to SGRAs probably doesn't have much bearing or weight on what's actually going to happen.

Agreed. My biggest concern at this point is even if BW were to add this content, I seriously doubt their ability to give us anything even resembling what we have been waiting for.

Agreed. My biggest concern at this point is even if BW were to add this content, I seriously doubt their ability to give us anything even resembling what we have been waiting for.

Yeah...

For starters, there's no guarantee that the character I want to do an SGRA on will have an option.

I also fear it will be a few conversations.

Yeah...

 

For starters, there's no guarantee that the character I want to do an SGRA on will have an option.

EDIT: Sorry, got to rambling, sometimes when it's late I forget that posting stream of consciousness isn't exactly good practice.

Basically, I was saying that I'm moving on from waiting and hoping when SGRAs come, they are something I can enjoy later. There are a few characters I made male against my preference because with species unlocks from the cartel market, I could make them at least interesting in other ways.

I want to romance Kira, so my Jedi Knight will be a male. I really like Anakin Skywalker in the Clone Wars and Episode 3, so he'll be my model for a reckless Jedi with a heart in the right place. (I don't plan to follow his path all the way to his fall.)

I heard the Imperial Agent get's to have a lot of fun as a male, so I made a Miraluka male IA. Kaliyo should be fun too.

One of the romances I want to most see is Jaesa, but I don't think I can bear being a male Warrior, because the female VA is so much better. I made a male Twi'lek, and was sorta happy with him, til I came here to post about it, and realized I wasn't really OK with it. I think my warrior will just have to be a bad influence of an older sister type role. It was a hard choice, but missing Jaesa's romance doesn't mean missing Jaesa, and to do otherwise would mean settling for a main character I don't love when the other option is a voice performance I adore for my main character.

*sigh*

Yeah...

 

For starters, there's no guarantee that the character I want to do an SGRA on will have an option.

 

I also fear it will be a few conversations.

Well, I would expect it to be on par with the current OGR's. Which to some are nice, and to others are boring/cheesy. If you haven't really seen what romances are like in the game because you're holding off, you might be expecting more than what they are. Or you might just end up with a companion option that you simply don't care for.

Honestly, the romances in the game thus far aren't anything spectacular, but I enjoyed a couple of them a lot (All of the various Agent romances), mostly because I continue to let my imagination run past what the game gives me. But if I just don't like the option I have, like with Torian on my BH, for instance, then there's not much I can do. Some people DO love Torian, he's just not really my BH's type, lol. Nadia was cute and things that happened with her later on made it more emotionally involving. But to me it's less about the conversations themselves and more about what defines my own character. To have no option to identify your character as anything but straight in the context of your story can be frustrating.

Well, I would expect it to be on par with the current OGR's. Which to some are nice, and to others are boring/cheesy. If you haven't really seen what romances are like in the game because you're holding off, you might be expecting more than what they are. Or you might just end up with a companion option that you simply don't care for.

Knowing my luck, that's what will happen across the board

Honestly, the romances in the game thus far aren't anything spectacular, but I enjoyed a couple of them a lot (All of the various Agent romances), mostly because I continue to let my imagination run past what the game gives me. But if I just don't like the option I have, like with Torian on my BH, for instance, then there's not much I can do. Some people DO love Torian, he's just not really my BH's type, lol. Nadia was cute and things that happened with her later on made it more emotionally involving. But to me it's less about the conversations themselves and more about what defines my own character. To have no option to identify your character as anything but straight in the context of your story can be frustrating.

Yeah, but the nice thing about those that want to do OGRA is that they have full access to all the romance options, whether they like them or not.

For me, there's only a few romanceable female companions I'm interested in (like, maybe two) and the odds they will be available are slim. For instance, I don't particularly like the female SW companions for romance and I doubt I'll do one with my SW but right now that's more about not even having the option and less about my own personal preference...which is annoying.

It's less about identifying my character as "not straight" within game context more about having full access to story content that can shape my character, including romance if I wish.

I don't see why every companion that's romancable shouldn't be hero-sexual.

 

~snip~

Personally, I just wish they'd put more focus on personality/actions than sex when it comes to whether or not romance is possible. And I'm not talking about the one-dimensional approval bar that Dragon Age and The Old Republic have been using, or the "pick the top answer" system Mass Effect used.

It's just really silly that throwing enough gifts at your chosen companion (or simply choosing the nice and/or flirty lines) makes all your time spent killing orphans entirely irrelevant.

I'm not sure but I do not think it would work if they simply swapped genders for SGR for SWTOR without changing at least some things about the romance itself.

 

I totally know what you mean, the greedy person in me wants as much SGR content for SWTOR as possible, but it needs to conform to some standard, imo, needs to be believable. So just swapping gender would not be sufficient here, as much as I'd like it to be.

I think that simply swapping pronouns would work for most of the dialog. Of course, there might be some parts where there would need to be more of a difference.

What I don't think is necessary is a completely different romance path for both genders with zero similarities in dialog.

Edit: on that note, I don't think those that are advocating the pronoun swap are just asking them to go and change "he" to "she" and call it a day. I think that's a place to start but the entire romance story and all dialog would have to be looked at carefully to see if there are spots that would need changed beyond that.