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What Gender Specific Content is Offered to a Female PC in the Upcoming Expansion?

STAR WARS: The Old Republic > English > General Discussion
What Gender Specific Content is Offered to a Female PC in the Upcoming Expansion?

branmakmuffin's Avatar


branmakmuffin
07.02.2015 , 07:38 AM | #41
Quote: Originally Posted by Canareth View Post
Contrast female Warrior. First, one DS option and no LS option, period. Quinn doesn't like it, Pierce isn't interested in romance. Second, the frame on the Quinn relationship is creepy all around; while Warrior is the same age as Vette and Jaesa, Quinn is almost twice that
I must have missed the part of the story where it tells us how old our characters are (is it even explicitly stated how old Quinn is?). And why is relationship between 2 consenting adults "creepy" simply because of an age difference? How many years is required for "creepiness?" In a heterosexual relationship, is it creepier if the man is older, if the woman is older, or either? If the younger person is the aggressor, does that make it less creepy?

Darturion's Avatar


Darturion
07.02.2015 , 08:02 AM | #42
Quote: Originally Posted by SelinaH View Post
If they're not even, it's a disparity. You can certainly argue that it doesn't represent a significant disparity overall, especially if you're lumping in the flings as viable companion romance options.

To me, 3 out of 8 male PC classes with more than one option for full companion romance arcs versus 0 out of 8 female PC classes with more than one option for full companion romance arcs is enough of a disparity that I'd like to see the devs do a bit better with upcoming content.

There are already multiple threads bemoaning Theron Shan's absence from any of the new promotional materials, while Lana Beniko is featured quite prominently. But at least in this case, Lana isn't limited solely to male player characters.

Edit:

I haven't made that clear at all -- or if I have, it's certainly not what I intended. For me personally, both the choice of individual love interest as well as the absolute number of options contributes to the perceived inequality.
Disparity: A great difference

I'm not going to argue anymore about it.

Darturion's Avatar


Darturion
07.02.2015 , 08:05 AM | #43
Quote: Originally Posted by Kulyok View Post
I probably should note that female Smuggler story(female Smuggler is the character who probably has the most non-party romantic options - Voss, Balmorra, two antagonists) in Chapters 2 and 3 was written by a woman, who also happens to be a very good writer. So the gender of the writer in question probably matters, too.
Aaah that explains a lot for the story, it went from sleezy guy to a hero like guy better.

They should probably hire a few women to join the writer's team IMO to include better choices in romances for PC/Boys playing Girls. Also, I'd suggest they take the hint, the girls want to romance a force user.

TheSeventhJedi's Avatar


TheSeventhJedi
07.02.2015 , 08:10 AM | #44
Pretty sure females only get 7/10ths as much story as males.
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Eanelinea's Avatar


Eanelinea
07.02.2015 , 08:45 AM | #45
As annoying as he can be, I still preferred Tharan Cedrax to Iresso. I don't mind romancing Iresso, but it would have been nice to maybe have a second or even third one night stand with Tharan when Holiday wasn't around just so we didn't have to wait until Hoth for some action. This is why I've head canon'd my Shadow has having children by both men. And even though I married Iresso in the game, I have it where she dates and beds both Iresso and Tharan, not at the same time of course, but while they're all on the ship, she is dating both and BOTH know about it.

Still I agree, options for us female toons and players would have been nice.
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Emeroo's Avatar


Emeroo
07.02.2015 , 08:45 AM | #46
Quote: Originally Posted by Canareth View Post
Vette is also very lovingly written. She has constant interactive commentary and they admitted they bent over backwards to make her adorable with a dynamic arc. And while she is Light (mostly), even DS warriors can romancd her if they reform slightly and constantly talk trash (which the Warrior is made for anyway). And Jaesa is the whole point of the Warrior Act I so you get to know her real well.

Contrast female Warrior. First, one DS option and no LS option, period. Quinn doesn't like it, Pierce isn't interested in romance. Second, the frame on the Quinn relationship is creepy all around; while Warrior is the same age as Vette and Jaesa, Quinn is almost twice that - and afraid of Sith while Vette is flattered a Sith noticed her and Jaesa is one. Third, main class plot makes it worse.

And finally for a Dark, Empire loving, Sith Code-following female warrior that is a fit for Quinn...

Spoiler


It's painful who the writers favored here and I say that as a guy.
I understand that I might be in the minority (not sure, don't know if there is an accurate poll on this..), but I enjoyed my Quinn romance. I played my female warrior as mostly light-neutral, but as a strong woman and a lot of their conversations the progress of their relationship fit nicely. She's straightforward, he's a hesitant workaholic.

Spoiler


That said though, on the bigger topic of romances for female players in the game, there is no doubt that we get the shaft in comparison. That's just the numbers. Sure, some of the romances are great - no complaints. But males get more options.

Tharan really should have been fully romancable.... and there should have been an option to mute Holiday
I think I was honestly more steamed about his cold shoulder than what happened with Quinn hah...

SelinaH's Avatar


SelinaH
07.02.2015 , 10:03 AM | #47
Quote: Originally Posted by Kulyok View Post
I probably should note that female Smuggler story(female Smuggler is the character who probably has the most non-party romantic options - Voss, Balmorra, two antagonists) in Chapters 2 and 3 was written by a woman, who also happens to be a very good writer. So the gender of the writer in question probably matters, too.
Unfortunately, even female writers have limitations on what they can do. We've been told that
Quote: Originally Posted by Jennifer Brandes Hepler
For what it's worth, Corso Riggs was originally designed as the "little brother" character for the Male Smuggler. He was so very clearly the beta male that it was very difficult for me to make him into a credible romance for as strong a woman as the female smuggler. After several failed attempts, the over-the-top romantic was the only real way to make him work as both a in-the-player's-shadow sidekick for the male player and a non-contemptible romance for the female. The romance was definitely written well after all of his non-romance plot dialogue, and after all the planentary romances as well.
Given this, I have to wonder whether the Quinn romance was also tacked on, written after all of the class storyline issues (including the Quinncident) had already been decided.
Quote: Originally Posted by branmakmuffin View Post
I must have missed the part of the story where it tells us how old our characters are (is it even explicitly stated how old Quinn is?). And why is relationship between 2 consenting adults "creepy" simply because of an age difference? How many years is required for "creepiness?" In a heterosexual relationship, is it creepier if the man is older, if the woman is older, or either? If the younger person is the aggressor, does that make it less creepy?
Ages are taken from the official Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia.
Spoiler

I don't find Quinn's being older creepy at all; what gets me is the disparity between the average ages of male and female companions, where the men skew noticeably older and 7 out of 11 of the female love interests are 22 or under, with none over the age of 29 (by contrast, half the men -- 4 out of 8 -- are 30 or older).
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CloudCastle's Avatar


CloudCastle
07.02.2015 , 10:20 AM | #48
Hear hear OP! I'm excited about this expac, a lot, but I watch the promo info and see Lana featured prominently, this new Vaylin character...and I'm willing to bet that both of them will be romancable. I'm curious and eager to know if there is a new companion romance in the expac that I can get excited about too. Is there? Maybe it hasn't occurred to the marketing department that there are players like me who want a carrot to chase after as well. Where's Theron? That Koth guy looks scary....so not sure about him, and wouldn't Nico be in his 50's or 60's by now? Maybe they plan to have him frozen in carbonite too, I don't know.

For the most part, I'm impressed with Bioware's handling of player requests. We asked for skimpy gear for males - we got it. We asked for houses to decorate - we got it. We asked for guild ships, some SGR's, and an appearance tab - we got it. I want to keep the faith that they won't drop the ball on this. Because, as others have pointed out, the game at launch was lacking in some areas:

Every single female companion in this game is romanceable by male chars. (Minus the homicidal droid and the ewok but that should be self explanatory - I hope.) Out of the 19 or so humanoid male companions,11 of them can't be romanced, which was a huge lost opportunity especially for some companions in particular.

5 out of the 11 romanceable female companions are aliens - that's interesting and fun! There is 1 male alien romanceable companion. I don't dislike my choices, but more variety would have been nice.

Three classes get to choose between 2 different romances! But, only if you are playing a male char. If you are female, then you get the one per each class, plus 2 one night stands, one of whom dumps you the morning after. Oh, and need we mention again that one of our only choices also
Spoiler


I've enjoyed playing some male characters and trying out some of their romances. But I would enjoy it even more if I had more choices, more aliens, any Force users, and not so much dumping and betraying, for my female characters.

Lunafox's Avatar


Lunafox
07.02.2015 , 12:03 PM | #49
Quote: Originally Posted by branmakmuffin View Post
I must have missed the part of the story where it tells us how old our characters are (is it even explicitly stated how old Quinn is?). And why is relationship between 2 consenting adults "creepy" simply because of an age difference? How many years is required for "creepiness?" In a heterosexual relationship, is it creepier if the man is older, if the woman is older, or either? If the younger person is the aggressor, does that make it less creepy?

For some of them it actually tells you in the Codex, what their ages are. Not all, but some.
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SithKoriandr's Avatar


SithKoriandr
07.02.2015 , 12:46 PM | #50
Looking at those official ages, I am a bit surprised. Most of the classes felt like they were meant to be on the young (18-22) side to me. I always got the impression time has gone by between missions, travels and such. JK for instance feels like almost a full year between end of chapter 2 and beginning of chapter 3.

Trooper came off feeling younger than either Aric or Elara. I'd say youngest of the entire crew. New recruit and all. I was thinking between 18-20.

Knight came off as feeling as old as Kira, with days maybe just months between either of you. You just get promoted to Knight before she does, so she becomes your padawan. Age 20.

Consular is another that feels younger. Makes sense, this is the force equivalent of Leia or Padme. Age 18-20.

Smuggler can skew a bit older but it still feels to be between 20-24.

Bounty Hunter, like the Smuggler, feels as if they can be a bit older. New BH to maybe a bit older and wiser BH, feels like 20-25 here. When romancing Torian, for sure felt like the BH was older by more quite a bit.

Warrior goes back to feeling 20-22. I wouldn't say that makes a relationship with Quinn all that creepy due to age, but it does feel bleh when he betrays you.

Inquisitor 18-22 some room to play with on this one. Having been a slave, it allows for a bit more leeway I think to maybe go older, but due to the storyline they should still be rather young for Zash's comments.

Agent goes back to feeling like a rather new agent, but I'd go around 20-22 here as well.

The force users for sure feel like they should be on the young side (which makes seeing people making them look incredibly old baffling when looking at the story). "I am your master young...errr...old padawan/acolyte...just how did you stay at such a low rank this long? You're older than I am!"
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