As is my habit while commuting to work, I was thinking this morning about MMOs, and SWTOR in particular. Consider yourself warned: SPOILERS abound below if you have not been through the Warrior story. However, given that it's been almost four years since launch, I make no apologies for spoilers of the original class stories.
A few days ago, I finally finished the companion conversation series with Malavai Quinn on my female Sith Warrior. Not long after picking up Lt. Pierce on Taris, I decided he was a much better match for the lusty, action-oriented Morrenia than the proper, priggish Quinn, and tried to romance him. Doing research, I got mixed information as to whether that was even possible. The official site says no, but a few wikis say yes.
I convinced Scooter (on her Sorceror, Glember) to run with Talos Drellig (her healer) so I could have Pierce out as our Tank. His conversation preferences were a natural fit with how I wanted Morrenia's personality and character to develop, and I also lavished him with gifts to maximum affection. (I did hit max with Vette first, though only coincidentally.) Unfortunately, the most romance Morrenia ever got with Pierce was a single tryst. There is never a declaration of undying love or marriage or anything.
Meanwhile, Quinn, the old stick-in-the-mud, apparently tries to pull rank and run the Fury strictly by the book. This irritates both Vette and Pierce, and I essentially told them both to ignore him—that the ship was mine, not his—getting bonus points from both. And then, Quinn goes from prig to prick (never go full prick), betraying Morrenia at the behest of Darth Baras. I'd been romancing him (in case Pierce did not work out), but this made me just hate him.
My heart just wasn't in the romance after that. I attempted to continue on; but, in a sense, I was just leading him on in order to increase his affection. When it came right down to it, I snubbed Quinn, costing me 116 affection. But I got the achievement for completing the conversation series (which comes with stat buffs) and I was able to make it up to him through a hefty gift.
I really wish they'd made Pierce actually romanceable. As far as I know, while three classes have two potential romances for the male character (Warrior, Agent, and Smuggler), none have more than one for the female version. Partly because of the romance angle, SWTOR is the first MMORPG in which I have more male characters than females—some created specifically to romance the female companions. The later expansions introduced two more companions to romance. And included same-sex romance, to boot. So I guess they've covered all their bases?
While I still find Corso to be the most annoying companion (although I dismissed Skadge—the last Bounty Hunter companion—immediately; he's too much of a brute), I don't dislike him the way I do Quinn. I know I am not alone in wishing I could have killed Quinn on the spot, or even once the crisis was over. After all, in the movies and other fiction, Sith Lords have killed people for far less egregious transgressions. There have been those on the forums who've made cogent arguments for why the Sith Warrior would keep Quinn around, and also why BioWare removed the possibility of killing companions. But the meta-game reason (that he is the Warrior's healer) will be obviated by the upcoming KotFE expansion, when all companions will be able to serve any trinity role. All that's left is for the Warrior to finally say:
"Hey, Quinn, remember that time you totally betrayed me? He's yours, Pierce. Do with him what you will."
"With pleasure, M'Lord." *crunch*
A few days ago, I finally finished the companion conversation series with Malavai Quinn on my female Sith Warrior. Not long after picking up Lt. Pierce on Taris, I decided he was a much better match for the lusty, action-oriented Morrenia than the proper, priggish Quinn, and tried to romance him. Doing research, I got mixed information as to whether that was even possible. The official site says no, but a few wikis say yes.
I convinced Scooter (on her Sorceror, Glember) to run with Talos Drellig (her healer) so I could have Pierce out as our Tank. His conversation preferences were a natural fit with how I wanted Morrenia's personality and character to develop, and I also lavished him with gifts to maximum affection. (I did hit max with Vette first, though only coincidentally.) Unfortunately, the most romance Morrenia ever got with Pierce was a single tryst. There is never a declaration of undying love or marriage or anything.Meanwhile, Quinn, the old stick-in-the-mud, apparently tries to pull rank and run the Fury strictly by the book. This irritates both Vette and Pierce, and I essentially told them both to ignore him—that the ship was mine, not his—getting bonus points from both. And then, Quinn goes from prig to prick (never go full prick), betraying Morrenia at the behest of Darth Baras. I'd been romancing him (in case Pierce did not work out), but this made me just hate him.
I really wish they'd made Pierce actually romanceable. As far as I know, while three classes have two potential romances for the male character (Warrior, Agent, and Smuggler), none have more than one for the female version. Partly because of the romance angle, SWTOR is the first MMORPG in which I have more male characters than females—some created specifically to romance the female companions. The later expansions introduced two more companions to romance. And included same-sex romance, to boot. So I guess they've covered all their bases?
While I still find Corso to be the most annoying companion (although I dismissed Skadge—the last Bounty Hunter companion—immediately; he's too much of a brute), I don't dislike him the way I do Quinn. I know I am not alone in wishing I could have killed Quinn on the spot, or even once the crisis was over. After all, in the movies and other fiction, Sith Lords have killed people for far less egregious transgressions. There have been those on the forums who've made cogent arguments for why the Sith Warrior would keep Quinn around, and also why BioWare removed the possibility of killing companions. But the meta-game reason (that he is the Warrior's healer) will be obviated by the upcoming KotFE expansion, when all companions will be able to serve any trinity role. All that's left is for the Warrior to finally say:
"Hey, Quinn, remember that time you totally betrayed me? He's yours, Pierce. Do with him what you will."
"With pleasure, M'Lord." *crunch*
~~~~~~~~
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.
"As far as I know, while three classes have two potential romances for the male character (Warrior, Agent, and Smuggler), none have more than one for the female version."
ReplyDeleteSo true. To add insult to injury, female warriors and female consulars have a one-night-stand option (which, at the time, they don't know is a one-time-dealie). Tharan Cedrax is dead to me. I hope Holiday gives him Holo-herpes.
I also plan on getting rid of Quinn (in a hopefully bloody manner) in Kotfe. Until then, I console myself by dressing him up in silly clothes and making him wear a rak'ghoul customization kit.
Heh, I started to require logins again, but forgot to turn moderation off.
DeleteLOL, You might be able to tell that I stuck Quinn in the Imperial Christmas Suit. He was in his skivvies for a while after Pierce came along, until he came up again in cutscenes. Pierce is in the cool pilot suit.
I think they didn't really consider romance options thoroughly, since a lot of the female-player romance options are actually creepy in different ways (e.g. Vector the BugMan), and the male-player romanceables often in vulnerable positions (Kira and Nadia are padawans, Elara and Raina are subordinates, Vette is a slave). I suppose Pierce and Quinn are subordinates, as well. But it doesn't quite seem like harassment with them.