I have been trying to get together with a Devaronian companion of mine for a few levels now, to no avail, so I went looking for whether it was even possible. Apparently it is not. My options are Mako, a goody-two-shoes hacker with a heart of gold; and Torian, an honor bound Mandalorian who hates my evil gun-ho attitude. My two and only options are humans. One has some cybertech in her skin and the other is *technically* a kind of subtype of humanity from a different planet, but definitely seen by the Empire and the galaxy as a whole as humans.
I thought, "Surely there must be another option. Maybe it's just because of my particular brand of race, class, and gender combination." I was only half right.
Below is a list of the class and romancable options in SW:tOR:
Bounty Hunter:
Mako & Torian. Humans.
Imperial Agent:
Ensign, Vector & Kaliyo; Rattataki- pale human subtype.
Trooper:
Aric and Elara. Catman (Cathar, I assume for the furries out there) and human.
Smuggler:
Corso, Risha & Akaavi. Humans and a spikehead, aka Zabrak. A horned human subtype.
Knight:
Kira and Doc, humans.
Consular:
Felix & Nadia. Human and bluegirl, Chiss at least.
Sith Warrior:
Vette & Jaesa, Malavai & Pierce. Humans.. and a slave race, typically seen as *the* sex object in Star Wars.
Sith Inquisitor:
Andronikos & Ashara. Human and (Togruta) headtail race again.
There are 8 classes if you include the Republic side in the mix. 16 possible genders then. Yet only 6 possible types of aliens available to the player character. Arguably the Twi'lek and Togruta are more there for fanboys and the Cathar there for furries, so that leaves a Chiss, a Rattataki, and the Zabrak as the only other options. And as a Chiss, given the possibility of even being a smuggler, I would then only get the Zabrak as my only alien option. Overall, I'd somehow get to choose between a Zabrak and a catman as a female Chiss in this game. I get that blue and green aliens are hot and a standard for science fiction, but until EA gets to jump the LucasArts shark and ride off into Bioware's lesbian territory, there is a serious discrepancy in the alien man loving going on.
The last thing I'm looking for as a bounty hunting evil Chiss are a couple of friendly human companions. Even walking through Hoth you overhear troopers talking about the Chiss women on the world as "easy on the eyes" but are likely to "stab you in the back" before they'd ever get with you. And yet these men follow their Chiss commander on planet without batting an eye. Maybe it isn't that George Lucas doesn't care about blue people, so much as he doesn't care about blue women. I'll leave that for another day, but for now, know that if you're planning on playing a Chiss, you're just a blue human to LucasArts. Nevermind the fact that if you go dark side you'll be whiter than Colonel Sanders and Emperor Sidious put together before any companion starts to look at you like you are attractive. So goes the addage: Knowledge is white power.
