Jump to content

Same gender romance discussion


CommunitySupport

Recommended Posts

JE did it so well, you talk to Skye, you shut him down, boom you're done with him and on to Silk Fox. I don't know how many times I had to reject Doc, it was certainly more than once, and obviously you couldn't then move on to Kira, as you should be able to. I don't play male characters so I don't know how it works, but it seems like female characters tend to get the worst LIs in certain Bioware games lately, like in ME2 where you literally can't even have a conversation with that one guy, whose name I can't remember right now, because literally everything is flirting, and your own character flirts back even if you don't want them to. Ironicly, in ME3 if anybody actually liked that and had romanced him in ME2, they found he had left them for somebody else, and they were left all alone. Obviously I didn't have that problem, but for anybody who would actually romance that guy, they still ended up screwed anyway, literally everybody lost with having that character around. Im guessing there are no such problems that any players of male characters have. Thats just all the more reason to treat everybody equally and fairly, its sickening to constantly be hit on by doc, and I don't even remember whether there was a 'neutral' response or not, but I didn't want one, I wanted to be as negative as possible, to somehow get the guy to leave my female JK alone. Its only fair that there be an equal number of females constantly hitting on my character, I think its safe to say that if that happened, and for whatever reason a particular female character wasn't to my liking, I definitely would want to let them down as gently as possible, so I'd put a higher priority on 'neutral' or 'letting them down gently' options for the female characters who hit on you, because generally speaking they arent going to be as incredibly annoying in their flirting comments as folks like Doc, and thus would be more deserving of being let down easy. But ultimately we have to actually 'have' flirt options with those characters before we can decide whether or not we want to go for it, or let them down easily, or shoot them down harshly. Thats the point, give us the same options as everybody else, and I'm sure we'll be plenty satisfied with the ways we can turn down anybody we'd actually want to turn down.

 

Why are females less likely to be incredibly annoying when they hit on you? And why are they more deserving of being let down gently than annoying men?

 

As for other bioware games, I more or less agree as there are very few male npc's to romance that I don't find annoying or their going to die (have to say at the end of ME3 I didn't really want fem Shepherd to survive). Even in swtor all the male npc's that are romance-able fall a little flat of the female options, in my opinion, and I'm sort of expecting all the SGR options in the future to be that way too.

 

I can still still dream big though...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 5.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I've been gone a little while, and it seems they closed the old thread and started this new thread which already has a lot of posts in it. Has there been any progress lately? In the first post it looks like they said they are adding flirts in the expansion, is there any details yet what this entails?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why are females less likely to be incredibly annoying when they hit on you? And why are they more deserving of being let down gently than annoying men?

 

I can't speak for anyone else, of course, but that's absolutely not the case for me. Male, female or variable, annoying people are annoying. I personally would try to let anyone down gently, annoying or not, but my characters aren't always so empathic. Heck, my SI would let someone down as scathingly as possible just to see their confidence wither. She'd have a great (though not healthy) time with Doc.

 

Having said that Doc didn't annoy me (or my JK) in the slightest. Amused the heck out of me, actually, because he thinks he's so very, incredibly smooth and he's actually anything but. My JK wouldn't go there for any reason but she thinks he's (unintentionally) hilarious.

 

In a way, though, I think the female love interests have been written as somewhat... less potentially annoying than the men. I can imagine why someone might find several of the males irritating but not experience that kind of grating reaction to the women, and the sex of the characters may have far less to do with it than how they're written.

 

As for other bioware games, I more or less agree as there are very few male npc's to romance that I don't find annoying or their going to die (have to say at the end of ME3 I didn't really want fem Shepherd to survive). Even in swtor all the male npc's that are romance-able fall a little flat of the female options, in my opinion, and I'm sort of expecting all the SGR options in the future to be that way too.

 

I can still still dream big though...

 

Again, that could very well be the writers. If the writers are only interested in pursuing particular forms of characters (or only capable of developing those characters; just as some writers can't write in more than one genre, some find it very difficult to write particular types of character convincingly) we're only going to see in-depth development for those characters (female love interests and comic foils, for example), leaving the rest to flounder a bit.

 

We can hope they take all of these forms of feedback into account and make sure their future developments (and/or writing teams) are balanced.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been gone a little while, and it seems they closed the old thread and started this new thread which already has a lot of posts in it. Has there been any progress lately? In the first post it looks like they said they are adding flirts in the expansion, is there any details yet what this entails?

 

Not yet, unfortunately. We don't know if they're throwaway flirts or fade-to-black brief encounters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder if the writer of Doc didn't see him as annoying and rather saw his flirts as in fact the best ever, and players saw it as more annoying then anything else (and not all players even think it's annoying).

 

It's happened in fiction plenty of times, writer writes a character as being serious but comes off as a comical joke to most people who read/view the character.

 

Or has the writer for Doc come out and said the point of the Doc was to be annoying to the broader audience?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder if the writer of Doc didn't see him as annoying and rather saw his flirts as in fact the best ever, and players saw it as more annoying then anything else (and not all players even think it's annoying).

 

It's happened in fiction plenty of times, writer writes a character as being serious but comes off as a comical joke to most people who read/view the character.

 

Or has the writer for Doc come out and said the point of the Doc was to be annoying to the broader audience?

 

That's the thing, I don't think he was ever meant to be annoying or smooth per se, I think he was meant to be the kind of guy who thinks he's all sorts of awesome in a mug but in fact he's just kind of goofy. I don't even get much of a sleaze vibe from him, I mostly get a vibe of a guy who'd really LOVE to be the cool dude but is, in fact, just an extremely skilled doctor with a Bruce Campbell fixation.

 

I mean we can't know without talking to the writers (unlikely at best, I'd say) but that's the impression I get.

Edited by Kioma
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm actually puzzled as to why that question bothered you so much that you came out of lurking. Or was it just your way of bumping a thread?
No, it was her way of saying you're annoying in your way of twisting words and posts to your liking. No wonder most of the original posters are barely visiting this thread anymore. You're an expert in bumping this thread by the way, as you tend to double-post instead of multi-quote.

 

"Sorry, you're not my type" or "I'm not interested in you in that way, sorry. Can we still be friends?" should be options as friendly let downs for companions.

And the chat wheel thing? I'll try to find the post I made about it. Wish me luck, I could blast right through in my explosive archaeology.

Edit: Tis here - Action and Diplomacy Whee. Switch that up for romance conversations with "furthering" and "stopping" sides, giving you about six options on what you want to do (Flirt, Talk, Intimate or Kind Break Up, Mean Break Up, Non-committal Response.)

Probably wouldn't happen though.

I'd like that to happen. It would make chat options much more understandable. Edited by Lent_San
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, it was her way of saying you're annoying in your way of twisting words and posts to your liking. No wonder most of the original posters are barely visiting this thread anymore. You're an expert in bumping this thread by the way, as you tend to double-post instead of multi-quote.

 

I'd like that to happen. It would make chat options much more understandable.

 

I didn't twist any words. I asked a question. And quite frankly the post left me baffled.

 

The thread is about making things "fair"/"equal" yet the same posters asking for that in SGR seem perfectly fine in the case of SG, with having different options based on genders. Rude to male is okay and wanted, but only have neutral options for females.

 

Personally, I like the idea of having the gauntlet of options, instead of limiting. At the same time, I don't see them going past 3 chat options, which limits the possible reactions to anything.

 

Not to mention, when I put in a suggestion for what would be more comical turn down option (which I said could work for any gender/orientation of character) I got a "that hurts the RL cause" reply, when I'm not here for RL causes, I'm here for the game, having fun, and hoping to see at some point more options for making a character how I'd like, while still keeping to the theme/lore of Star Wars. :p

 

And yeah, you're right, I've always been bad at using the multi-quote option. At the same time, while I may be bad at using that function, I don't do it to bump threads. :p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd like that to happen. It would make chat options much more understandable.

 

At the very least they should stop the bait-and-switch practice of putting a reasonable sounding option that actually makes your character act like an arse when they talk. I had a recent one where "Alert security" because "Quit whining, peasant, I am a JEDI and am beyond such petty concerns /slap"

 

I mean, really? In context "Alert security" was "let security know there are people with stolen key codes breaking in" not "Shall I show the level of my arse-hattery?"

 

Could you imagine the [Flirt]s being so weird? Where "I think you look nice" becomes "Come to the bedroom of WONDER"

 

Yeah... no.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the very least they should stop the bait-and-switch practice of putting a reasonable sounding option that actually makes your character act like an arse when they talk. I had a recent one where "Alert security" because "Quit whining, peasant, I am a JEDI and am beyond such petty concerns /slap"

 

I mean, really? In context "Alert security" was "let security know there are people with stolen key codes breaking in" not "Shall I show the level of my arse-hattery?"

 

Could you imagine the [Flirt]s being so weird? Where "I think you look nice" becomes "Come to the bedroom of WONDER"

 

Yeah... no.

 

Oh how that's been a pet peeve of mine and everyone I've played with.

 

I wonder if they wouldn't have been better if they did something akin to...

 

Option 1) respond sarcasticly

Option 2) respond positively.

Option 3) respond like a jerk.

 

:p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the very least they should stop the bait-and-switch practice of putting a reasonable sounding option that actually makes your character act like an arse when they talk. I had a recent one where "Alert security" because "Quit whining, peasant, I am a JEDI and am beyond such petty concerns /slap"

I mean, really? In context "Alert security" was "let security know there are people with stolen key codes breaking in" not "Shall I show the level of my arse-hattery?"

Could you imagine the [Flirt]s being so weird? Where "I think you look nice" becomes "Come to the bedroom of WONDER"

Yeah... no.

I had that happen to me too often, so often I prefer the choices that seem 100% clear and there's not really that many of them. You know, it's fun at times when your replies to people come out a teeny, tiny bit differently to what the line in the dialogue wheel suggests. DA and even ME make use of that to some extent.

 

To make it into a different 'vibe' altogether, that's something I do not enjoy and I don't even think they're doing it on purpose. I guess they're just kind of bad at captioning stuff. And that gives them the benefit of doubt here, I must say.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been playing a Trooper recently, and it quickly become clear to me that picking an option from the dialogue wheel that involved the word "sir" would in fact never produce an actual voiced line with that word in it, whereas options without the word would quite often do so.

 

Really makes you abhor the dialogue wheel, and love the solution inXile are implementing in Wasteland 2. Where your dialogue options are an expandable set of keywords, and hovering the mouse over them actually produces that full line the character will utter.

 

(Oh, and on another note... Walt Disney's apparently one of many entertainment companies showing support for same-sex marriages right now. Worth knowing, although we should avoid discussing it here on the SWTOR forums.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It would be nice if, in a future expansion, they could address the dialogue wheel and all its follies. Introduce it as part of the package upgrade to class stories and companion quests - I'm sure there are few writers who would like having more options to write for, though I imagine it could make working out the trees a bit iffy.

 

Now, onto "who I would romance with my characters":

 

If, for some bizarre and unknown reason, I cannot romance the very romantic Vector, Lokin is... eh. He's ok, but he's more like mentor-come-family figure in the absolutely-no-serious-ties-ever life that is being Cipher and that's not... well, maybe Cipher Nine might have a kink that makes him so inclined, I just don't know yet.

 

My Warrior would definitely jump at the chance to romance Vette, but not Jaesa. As a Dark Side Sith, she finds Jaesa's unbridled evil enthusiasm funny to certain extent, but I could imagine the "kill puppies, knock over ice-cream cones" would become grating after a while.

 

My Inquisitor only as Ashara as an option and she's just - she comes across as naive and confused sometimes. I think my Light Side Sorcerer would be more inclined to uphold the idea of being her teacher, rather than muddying that with an affair. Also my Sorc married Andronikus because he's a sexy pirate :/ she's probably have Talos as second husband though, if he brought her flowers and they had tea together and talked about Sith history.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't speak for anyone else, of course, but that's absolutely not the case for me. Male, female or variable, annoying people are annoying. I personally would try to let anyone down gently, annoying or not, but my characters aren't always so empathic. Heck, my SI would let someone down as scathingly as possible just to see their confidence wither. She'd have a great (though not healthy) time with Doc.

 

I do agree with you. I don't in a grand scheme male or female makes any difference in how annoying they can be, I was only questioning the tone of the post I was replying too.

 

I personally like the annoying characters, they ad flavor to the game and I'm not forced into romancing them. I haven't had the pleasure of talking to Doc in game, but there's annoying guys in real life too right? Helps with the immersion I'd say. Not everyone's going to be "prince charming", and I'm glad, I think that would get annoying too.

 

Everyone has different tastes and if we want things to be fare we need the annoying options to because not everyone has the same definition of annoying...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do agree with you. I don't in a grand scheme male or female makes any difference in how annoying they can be, I was only questioning the tone of the post I was replying too.

 

I personally like the annoying characters, they ad flavor to the game and I'm not forced into romancing them. I haven't had the pleasure of talking to Doc in game, but there's annoying guys in real life too right? Helps with the immersion I'd say. Not everyone's going to be "prince charming", and I'm glad, I think that would get annoying too.

 

Everyone has different tastes and if we want things to be fare we need the annoying options to because not everyone has the same definition of annoying...

 

Which is why some love Ashara and others hate her! ^_^

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the very least they should stop the bait-and-switch practice of putting a reasonable sounding option that actually makes your character act like an arse when they talk. I had a recent one where "Alert security" because "Quit whining, peasant, I am a JEDI and am beyond such petty concerns /slap"

 

I mean, really? In context "Alert security" was "let security know there are people with stolen key codes breaking in" not "Shall I show the level of my arse-hattery?"

 

Could you imagine the [Flirt]s being so weird? Where "I think you look nice" becomes "Come to the bedroom of WONDER"

 

Yeah... no.

 

Well.... I kinda wanted to play my Smuggler as a Zapp Brannigan, but it would have gotten old fast. Especially with para-phrasing - the Branniganesque lines would probably end up as "you complete me" levels of mush.

Edited by Palar
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well.... I kinda wanted to play my Smuggler as a Zapp Brannigan, but it would have gotten old fast. Especially with para-phrasing - the Branniganesque lines would probably end up as "you complete me" levels of mush.

 

A part of me is now hoping that a Zapp Brannigan turns up in one of the future Agent chapters, if only so that there could be that "I thought we were good... friends" moment.

 

Also a terrible, dark part of me wants the Makeb romance to involve a heavy make-out session on those holo-map desks designed for troop deployment.

 

"Cipher! That is not an appropriate use of Imperial technology!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also a terrible, dark part of me wants the Makeb romance to involve a heavy make-out session on those holo-map desks designed for troop deployment.

"Cipher! That is not an appropriate use of Imperial technology!"

 

Ok, stop doing this, or I'll eventually get disappointed with the options we will be getting in game. :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, stop doing this, or I'll eventually get disappointed with the options we will be getting in game. :rolleyes:

 

Sorry, can't help myself ._.

 

I wouldn't want people to be more disappointed than they have to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also a terrible, dark part of me wants the Makeb romance to involve a heavy make-out session on those holo-map desks designed for troop deployment.

 

"Cipher! That is not an appropriate use of Imperial technology!"

 

And then comes the awkward moment when the holo-com button gets (accidentally?) bumped and it dials Watcher Two?

Edited by Palar
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And then comes the awkward moment when the holo-com button gets (accidentally?) bumped and it dials Watcher Two?

 

Watcher Two would record the proceedings for training purposes.

 

Yes...

 

training purposes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just an article about romances in video games I noticed on the net....

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/02/13/face-off-romance-options/

 

Arguably every critic uttered regarding Mass Effect is even more true in SW:TOR, because it the romances are even more condensed, brief and have little effect on the game play. It's difficult to see it so that the romantic aspect as a motivation for the players actions.

Edited by Rabenschwinge
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just an article about romances in video games I noticed on the net....

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/02/13/face-off-romance-options/

 

I kind of skipped around the conversation as it seemed to be a partial insight into romance in games in general, from two polar opposites of the spectrum (one for, on against) which, while nice, didn't seem to serve for anything better than "if you like it, it's good, if you don't, it's a distraction".

 

I did notice at the end the comment of "get the girl", which does rather raise the question of: in SWTOR, do you feel that your romance partners are there as "rewards" for your progress (i.e. well done, you've defeated the BBEG! Here's a kissy face for you) or that is more of a natural process between the two people involved?

 

I have to say, I think Bioware has largely avoided that "reward" scenario in their romances, but then I obviously haven't played through them all (nor looked them up on youtube). It would be nice if that trend continued.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


×
×
  • Create New...