I don't think so. if new companions are released, some of which are gay only, some of which are straight it will be new content for everyone and extend the number of available options for everyone; not just because of the romance options, but also for the companions themselves. If additionally a few selected existing characters would be made available, every single player character would have effectively more options. If in turn same gender romance options are released it will be new content (if on a smaller scope) for people who are interested in same gender romances only, thus, I believe the exact opposite of what you say is true.

 

Some people may be attached to one particular character and some of them should be made available, but that would mean that virtually all would have to be available. I don't see the point of this thread as suggesting any particular character, but giving the options at all in the first place. There is no reason why people would like new characters less than existing ones, and the logical consequence of making every single one option work both ways seems most absurd to me.

 

Therefore, I think you're wrong. New characters would be a lot better than bluntly adding same gender romance options to all existing characters.

To throw some economics into the equation: Which would cost more? New "gay only" companions, or changing current companions to bisexual? I believe it would be easier and more cost effective to tailor the existing companions to fit with the selected playstyle of the individual, than to make all new characters with only one orientation. All new characters require new VAs to be brought in and paid to do their lines, which could take months to complete. It would also take the Developers and Writers more time and money to write completely new storylines for them as well. With simply changing current companions' orientations, the VAs come back and do some new lines, and the DEVs just do new animations that put the same gender in each romance cutscene. The DEVs have already stated that the current companions would be made available for SGRs, and I agree that this is the right way to do it.

Remember, EA is going to go with the easiest route, anyway. Might as well do it right, and BioWare is known for doing romances right.

I also find it disturbing that the BioWare DEVs and Writers seem to be quitting in droves. The only reason that I can think of is that EA is up to its old tricks again. Only instead of blindsiding BioWare the way they did with WestWood, they're putting pressure on the BioWare people to leave, or finding reasons to fire them individually. That way, they can bring in their own people to fill those positions. I REALLY hope I'm wrong, but so far the trend is proving me right.

I think that's going a bit far....I don't see people leaving "in droves". Daniel Erickson was rumored to be out since August and finally made it official, but he clearly seems to be in disagreement about the F2P move. I follow Alex Freed on Twitter and he can't be more insistent that he loves Bioware and his decision to move on is for his own personal reasons and seems shocked and saddened by people making negative assumptions. Of course, the founders themselves retired, but chances are they had retirement on their near future agenda when they made the decision to sell their company to EA back in '07.

Before the downsizing, they had 280 QA staff, 140 artists, 80 engineers and programmers, 75 designers, 40 platform engineers and 30 producers and they even said the sheer numbers actually made it difficult to get things done (from an article back in March). In comparison, I think Arenanet's entire company staff is under 200.

I think that's going a bit far....I don't see people leaving "in droves". Daniel Erickson was rumored to be out since August and finally made it official, but he clearly seems to be in disagreement about the F2P move. I follow Alex Freed on Twitter and he can't be more insistent that he loves Bioware and his decision to move on is for his own personal reasons and seems shocked and saddened by people making negative assumptions. Of course, the founders themselves retired, but chances are they had retirement on their near future agenda when they made the decision to sell their company to EA back in '07.

Why would a writer disagree with making the game free to play? Are you sure that he didn't simply had enough of Star Wars and wanted a change?

Well, maybe they changed their strategy in so far as to abandon large scale storyline expansions in favour of handy little things like war zones and operations. But that would be a pretty wild guess.

Are you sure that they did downsize? The fact alone that some people leave the team, doesn't necessarily mean that the team gets smaller. Currently Bioware is not making as much money out of it as they would like to, but still considerably more money than they have to. It's not like this game was anywhere near the red numbers.

To throw some economics into the equation: Which would cost more?

Developing new companions costs more but the benefit isn't limited to romance options... The companions are there afterwards. It would definitely not be more cost effective, especially considering the sheer amount of companions there are right now and the limitedness with which new romance optoins would actually come available. Remember that the central idea was, not to limit those new companions to a single one class. Making the existing characters available would result in a minor change for a minor group of people and still be a lot work.

HK-51 aside, I think they have said they are looking at how to make (existing) companions more integral long term. If they are still not sure what they want us to do with the 5 companions we have, I don't think they are looking to add a bunch of new ones, even to be shared among classes. I expect there to be new story content across the board with Makeb – something for everyone – including same gender romances.

As for writers departing, this happens and I don't think we can infer the death of the game or anything else from the staff drastically slimming down post-launch. I understand that is typically how these things go. Daniel Erickson has some strong opinions about what makes good games, and that's good. It means he cares passionately about games. I wish him the best. I wouldn't read anything sinister into his departure.

On the other hand, with his departure we now have no comment from anyone actually with BioWare Austin on the status of SGRs. I don't know that we are particularly entitled to one, but it is at least novel grounds for making the request.

On the other hand, with his departure we now have no comment from anyone actually with BioWare Austin on the status of SGRs. I don't know that we are particularly entitled to one, but it is at least novel grounds for making the request.

You've been successful before and I don't expect anything from my own efforts, so why not drop some brick-laden hints?

Well, not especially so, really. I'll take some credit for our multi-week blitz of the Community Q&A which got us the Guild Summit announcement, but really all I did was keep count. The win there belongs to everyone who continued to ask.

I did email Joveth with my rationale for requesting a more current statement. But really, it is up to the Secret Masters and what they choose to allow. The community team aren't the holdouts here, and neither (as Gabe Amatangelo and Hall Hood have demonstrated) are the writers or the devs.

And there is no clear means of exerting pressure on those who approve info for release. We don't know how that works or have any names, much less strands of hair or fingernail clippings or anything else that might be useful.

You guys keep going, I've been following this thread since I simply lost steam to continue posting, I have been in this battle since 2009 and then later on in 2010 and 2011(Seriously, you think the negativity towards this feature was bad any time recently?.... oh god you should have been there...).

I might have lost steam, but I am really glad you guys picked up the rainbow coloured flag and continue the fighting in our place, keep up your astounding work and dedication.

Why would a writer disagree with making the game free to play? Are you sure that he didn't simply had enough of Star Wars and wanted a change?

For one thing, he's more than just a writer, he was also a lead designer. I'm just going by what he said on his twitter:

"When 90% of the industry is saying the exact same thing (social, mobile, FTP!) a huge number of people are going to lose that race."

 

"Job hunt thoughts: If you think a monetization approach is the same thing as a game idea I don't know why we're talking."

Sounds to me like he doesn't like F2P. However, the actual circumstances that caused him to leave are not public.

Well, maybe they changed their strategy in so far as to abandon large scale storyline expansions in favour of handy little things like war zones and operations. But that would be a pretty wild guess.

I think they're focusing on that now, but I've seen plenty of solid indications from different developes/writers that they aren't abandoning the story, and Makeb is supposed to be pretty big. Maybe not WoW style expansion big, but level cap, new story, etc..

Are you sure that they did downsize? The fact alone that some people leave the team, doesn't necessarily mean that the team gets smaller. Currently Bioware is not making as much money out of it as they would like to, but still considerably more money than they have to. It's not like this game was anywhere near the red numbers.

I remember reading several different interviews and articles that stated they did downsize, there were a lot of layoffs and restructuring, but how much is uncertain at this time. I'd have to dig up the sources.

You guys keep going, I've been following this thread since I simply lost steam to continue posting, I have been in this battle since 2009 and then later on in 2010 and 2011(Seriously, you think the negativity towards this feature was bad any time recently?.... oh god you should have been there...).

 

I might have lost steam, but I am really glad you guys picked up the rainbow coloured flag and continue the fighting in our place, keep up your astounding work and dedication.

I remember you: nice to see you back

As you can see we're almost at the starting point

You guys keep going, I've been following this thread since I simply lost steam to continue posting, I have been in this battle since 2009 and then later on in 2010 and 2011(Seriously, you think the negativity towards this feature was bad any time recently?.... oh god you should have been there...).

 

I might have lost steam, but I am really glad you guys picked up the rainbow coloured flag and continue the fighting in our place, keep up your astounding work and dedication.

Thanks for the kind words.

I truly believe that it is only a matter of time until we see this implemented and, absent word to the contrary, still hope to see it this year. It would be nice to have some unresolved points clarified, but at this point there is little to be done save for keeping the topic visible. Rest assured, we will continue to do so,

Well then, what would you do in-game if the subject of your fancy suddenly became a romance option to your character - from an in-character perspective.

I've asked this once before, unfortunately I included a little story about what I would do as well, including Kira, Doc, T7 and the buttler droid, so people responded to that instead of the question.

From an in-character perspective, little would actually change as my head-canon already has cast that companion in that role to my character. But as a player, of course I'd want to explore the story content to learn more about where the game-canon character is coming from.

RP is an odd thing at times. On the one hand, I am playing the game and seeing the class story including those of my companions unfold. But at the same time, I am kicking around a whole other story - my character's story - in my head, and it differs from the class story for Smuggler in many respects.

So from an in-character view, the partnership alreday exists and has for a year or two although from a player perspective it isn't yet an option to pursue.

Please let's not get off-track with a critique of aspects of the RL politics of orientation. This is not the place for it.

As it has been a while, and to keep these concerns accessible to the community team, here's the summary of Things We'd Really Like To Know, Please:

• Will same-gender relationships be available with current companions?
  
• If so, with which?
  
• Will same-gender relationships be available for all eight classes?
  
• If not, with which?
  
• Will new relationship options be available to characters who have already fully progressed companion stories?
  
• Is the awaited same-gender content on the schedule to be released with Makeb?
  
• Are we still on track to see that content this year?
  
• Will same-gender romance require an in-game credit or cartel coin (or any other similar) expense to unlock?
  

Some of these questions date back to beta testing. Others are more recent, arising from changes at BioWare Austin and in the direction of the game. Clarification of any would be appreciated.

Developing new companions costs more but the benefit isn't limited to romance options... The companions are there afterwards. It would definitely not be more cost effective, especially considering the sheer amount of companions there are right now and the limitedness with which new romance optoins would actually come available. Remember that the central idea was, not to limit those new companions to a single one class. Making the existing characters available would result in a minor change for a minor group of people and still be a lot work.

My point is it wouldn't be as much work as creating all new companions. Also, the work required to make existing companions SGR capable wouldn't be that much, compared to bringing in all new actors, creating all new characters, and writing all new storylines.

From an in-character perspective, little would actually change as my head-canon already has cast that companion in that role to my character.

Yeah, pretty much this.

The single one character I would seriously like one of mine to have a romance with and my imperial agent has a serious crush on is probably never gonna be a full blown option. The character formerly known as Watcher Two... *sniff*

I'm pretty sure she is an option already (well, a 'light' option)...perhaps they'll continue it later on.

IDK, I've never done it as my Agent is female.

I'm pretty sure she is an option already (well, a 'light' option)...perhaps they'll continue it later on.

 

IDK, I've never done it as my Agent is female.

Is it a 'light' option? Ah, that might be why my Agent didn't get anywhere with her. I also read somewhere that she prefers human Agents, so that might also be why.

That there a species specific romances in the Imperial Agent storyline is actually a nice feature. I won't say much but there is a backing for Shavere (my Chiss Jedi Knight) being Shara's* (my Chiss Imperial Agent) daughter. I didn't invent her father. At this point in the story I felt a little lost; it was strange to feel that there is actually a people I actually belonged to, whether or not you work for the Empire.

From what I've picked up - and actually tried to avoid the topic to not spoiler myself to much -

* And it was a nice detail that I picked the name Shara for my Imperial Agent. I didn't know the meaning when I chose it. It was simply coincidence.

Is it a 'light' option? Ah, that might be why my Agent didn't get anywhere with her. I also read somewhere that she prefers human Agents, so that might also be why.

From what I've heard, nothing else really happens after Ch 1.

From an in-character perspective, I can think of a few things that might change when SGR is implemented. Some of my characters are shelved at a certain point until the feature is implemented, before they acquire particular companions, so I think the change there would be them meeting someone they found interesting. Others have met the companion in question and there are a number of ways that could go, including coming to terms with their own sexuality, slowly realising they have that sort of interest in a particular person, plucking up the courage to ask and so on. None of them are yet in my "headcanon" as being in a relationship already.

One thing to bear in mind is that the player character always initiates the romance storylines, not the companion character. I'd be interested to hear if anyone has it the other way round in their headcanon, for OGR as well as SGR.

That there a species specific romances in the Imperial Agent storyline is actually a nice feature. I won't say much but there is a backing for Shavere (my Chiss Jedi Knight) being Shara's* (my Chiss Imperial Agent) daughter. I didn't invent her father. At this point in the story I felt a little lost; it was strange to feel that there is actually a people I actually belonged to, whether or not you work for the Empire.

 

* And it was a nice detail that I picked the name Shara for my Imperial Agent. I didn't know the meaning when I chose it. It was simply coincidence.

I think I know which part of the IA story you're talking about. It was at that point I felt my Chiss Agent was getting really tired and lonely and just wanted to go home, which in a way was made worse by him suddenly being around his own people again. There's actually quite a lot of Chiss-specific stuff for the Agent, which I thought was quite good. The romance with Raina Temple was well-handled, in my opinion.

(But it bugged me that some Chiss NPCs were speaking to me in Huttese while I was speaking to them in Basic. It would have been a nice little bit of flavour be able to speak to them in Cheunh if you were a Chiss yourself. Yeah, I know, I know, limitations with the voice acting and so on.)

From what I've picked up - and actually tried to avoid the topic to not spoiler myself to much -

you may take her out for dinner at some point early in the story and that's it. That would be a bit disappointing, at least a kiss would be nice.

I think I invited her to do so and she shot me down. Ow.

From what I've heard, nothing else really happens after Ch 1.

Well, I meant nothing happened for me before the end of Ch. 1 either

y;know what would have been funny? If they had a companion whose favorite gift was the courting, no matter if they were in a romance with the character or not, and they were meant for SGRs.

Doc: Favorite - None. Love - Courting, Luxury. Like - Cultural Artifact, Military Gear, Technology, Trophy, Underworld Goods, Weapon.

Dun dun dun!

(Ok, it's not favourite, but I checked the list and he's the only one who seems to 'Love' courting gifts regardless.)

I think I know which part of the IA story you're talking about. It was at that point I felt my Chiss Agent was getting really tired and lonely and just wanted to go home, which in a way was made worse by him suddenly being around his own people again. There's actually quite a lot of Chiss-specific stuff for the Agent, which I thought was quite good. The romance with Raina Temple was well-handled, in my opinion.

Go home... where? My agent never felt so much at home than at this point. If she hadn't been encouraged to go on by a certain character I might have referred to earlier, and if the story hadn't forced her to anyway, she might have wanted to change sides - again. And this time for good. But when I left I had the feeling I did in part, however small that part may be, for my people. And the thought of having a people was something she had almost forgotten.

But an each to their own.

Sweet is the love of ice

Coldness chills human minds

I shiver in delight

Lost in a winter night (Eyes of Eden - Winter Night)