Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Astarion romance is cut comparing to other companions

When I played BG3, I thought that romance with Astarion feels kinda censored. During the second act when you talk to him, there supposed to be sex scene, but I just see black sreen, which seems disappoining. In the 3th act when following heroic root all I got is kissing again. In evil root we got sex scene, but it also seems cencored compared to other characters roots. When I saw scene with Karlach, I finally figured out that Astarion romance is cut
Any chanse it will be fixed in next patches?

I don't think all characters have the same amount of sex in their romance. Wyll, for example, doesn't have a single sex scene in the vein of Karlach or even Astarion. You just get a brief making out and then fade to black.

You could check if you have censure ON in your settings, just to be sure.

My censure settings is definitely turn off, I checked.
This fade looks so disappointing. I previously checked Reddit, and everyone in astarion topic complain about it. So, I thought it can be somehow fixed in the future.

The same thing happened to me and it was very disappointing. I thought it was a bug, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I think Larian exaggerated too much about how the sex scenes would be before the game came out for how they actually are in the full game. I mean, they're not bad or anything, but they're not at all like they said they would be. I think the most explicit one is Minthara's, the rest of the companions sex scenes are a fade to black after some kissing and that's it.

Definitely not true of Gale, he has one scene which is much more... creative.

But it's kind of not real. Creative, yes, but more shroom-induced dream than romance. If you chose to have normal "boring" sex because you want him for him and not his magic, it just fade to black without anything other than Tav on a bed fully dressed.

Might be a response on not wanting to force top/bottom dynamics, but also not having the time to code multiple options.

Gale's sex scene is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen in a game. Absolutely well done.

It's quite impressive. I have no idea how they mocapped that thing. Did they put the actors on wires??

But, uh, I'm boring and ultimately went for the other option.

Now that you mention it, I'm also starting to wonder how they did it.


Astarion doesn't have a sex scene in the second act...I don't know where you got this information.

Of all the romances, I was expecting things with Astarion to have the potential of being pretty wild, but you only get something approaching that with his Vampire Ascendant scene.

I was also wondering if his romance is different if you go the 'evil' route. After the interaction with the blood alchemist I got the impression that the lack of physical intimacy was the story showing us that his life as Cazador's honeytrap had divorced that from his relationships.

I'm looking forward to this Gale scene now.

Considering Astarion really doesn't enjoy sex because of, you know, trauma, I feel like it's kind of natural that there won't be any wild scenes with him towards the end, especially if you go the good route. Suppose evil route could have been different though, but I don't think it is. Haven't tried it because I just can't make myself do evil things in the game.

Yes, that's what I meant. I watched a video about that Gale sex scene and... it's definitely creative, but I was referring to how explicit the more "conventional" sex scenes were. And I don't mean that they're bad or anything, I just mean that they are simply not as explicit as Larian implied they would be.



I think they asked the actor this in one of the interviews but not sure if it was about this one or the one on the boat that is in the trailer for the game, which is also quite beautiful. It definitely looks like they were suspended in the air with wires or something like that. I don't think the actor did it, maybe they used a stunt or something? I hope they explain it better in another interview in the future. Neil is going to interview him on his twitch channel, so maybe if enough fans ask that, he will ask him about that scene.


I think Astarion is demisexual so he does enjoy sex but only when there's a deep connection with the other person. If you reject his advances in the second sex scene in Act 1, he says that it's a shame because the first one was different from his other experiences and he might remember that one as something special. He also decides to have sex with Tav after defeating Cazador too so he might be overcoming his trauma at his own pace and with the right person by his side. About his evil route, I did watch how the final sex scene plays and...he basically becomes like Cazador, so nope, I'm not going down that route either.

Astarion explicitly says that he can't enjoy it because even he wants it and it's with a person he really cares for (Tav), his mind takes him back to everything that has happened to him and it taints the experience.

Yes, I know, and if you "force" him to do it after he says that, he breaks up with Tav. I still think it's special for him when he does it with Tav despite his trauma, but he has to be the one to initiate it. He only really starts to get over his trauma after defeating Cazador, but I don't think he doesn't want to have sex with Tav ever again, he just finds it difficult to do so in that specific period of time because of his trauma.

Yes, he clearly wants to and he wants to heal and feel different, which he probably does over time. My point, however, was that there's probably not some raunchy sex scen with him because of this fact. It feels like the focus on this relationship (good route) lies not on the sex part of the relationship, but on the more emotional side and learning so say no and setting boundaries and learning to love and trust again.

I think all characters need more romance scene

This!

I'd also want the scenes to continue a bit further. Yeah, I kind of wanted to have a really cultured and mature reasoning behind this, but I don't: I just want more. :'D
If they weren't comfortable actually showing it, I'd be happy with just fade to black and the narrator continuing from there.

When it comes to Astarion, I'd actually be really interested in having a scene where they would pause the situation and talk about how Astarion is feeling.

Oh my god, THIS! Yes! And a talk about boundaries. Gods I want so much more scenes with him. Esp some non sex cuddle scenes. Gosh he deserves all the hugs.
Sex is nice but have you ever just cuddled with someone by the fire and played with their hands and hair and ears? Tav could give his cute hair and pointy ears the attention they deserve.
Also I bet he is totally into holding hands. Like very serious holding hands. Give us a scene with them doing some very intense holding hands.

YES! Astarion deserves cuddles! And holding hands! Or, actually, sorry, you put it better: intense holding hands!

Other than that, I've been thinking that it would be nice to sometimes see the characters sleeping together during long rest. They are always alone on their bedroll, but if I was in a relationship and just about to die, I'd never sleep alone.