You put a lot of work into this! I applaud your dedication. This is all very interesting.
I'm really hoping we get some additional dialogues that reference a character's race and background. That would really help with overall immersion, as well as make the interactions more interesting across different playthroughs.
I really hope they add some lines for situations like when he accidentally kills the MC. He makes that comment about "don't look at me" but then when you get revived and talk to him he completely skips the post feeding conversation. When you ask him about it he goes straight to the "I already apologized" dialogue. I feel like an additional conversation here is absolutely necessary since the MC can be revived and it's not a game over.
And you touch on what I was referring to when I mentioned that Astarion lies. Not regarding the Cazador stuff and his background, but there's just a general deceptiveness to his treatment of the MC. So I don't mean lies in terms of direct untruths, so much as most of his behavior is an act and you can see this drop when he gets frustrated/frightened. But it's an element of his character I find interesting. The act is largely part of his barrier to keep people at a distance. I'm curious about how this may change over time.
And yes, my biggest, biggest hope is that the romances will have multiple paths depending on how the MC plays. I really hope a good natured MC can help Astarion through a redemption arc. I absolutely love those kinds of stories. I don't want him to change inherently as a character. Just to come to see the world in a different light and (hopefully) have a good ending with the MC.
But I'm still readying myself for heartbreak.
Added this since you read it I think;
If my point isn't clear yet: I believe Astarion is seducing the PC to be obedient and not to question him. He wants a full trust from you, but sees why you wouldn't and I had the same feeling through multiple playthroughs.
Is he already on the power hunt as soon as he joins the party? He might have even thought he could just control us all, at some point; if the tadpole grows strong enough.
In datamined VA I found him saying: 'Never play a player.' and 'Oh you never know, someday you might end up as me?' Neither if which did I recognize from my previous playthroughs. Lastly I believe he will likely say this at some point during your encounter in Moonrise:
'Trading some whelp we've just met for impossible power? It's a fine deal.'
I am really hoping the tags will have more different outcomes. If there even more different tags, that will result into the same dialogue from the origin character more often I will be sad
Astarion said: 'Oh gods something terrible happened!' the last time my character died at his hand, waiting to be resurrected. Goddamn twat. It definitely needs to be addressed. Imagine you don't like his character, but are curios what happens - it would genuinely anger you or you would fail 2 rolls in a row you'd really want to kick him out of the party right there for it...
To tell the truth, while I am a big proponent of romances (especially same sex ones) in video games, and their existence is a major factor in my deciding to buy a game, honestly none of the LIs in the game so far is very appealing to me. Gale is arrogant, condescending and speaks to me like I'm a 6 year old, and not a very smart one at that, Astarion would kill me without batting a lid and then get annoyed if I found that out of line, Wyll, while the most palatable, is just this weird man-child with delusions of grandeur, and if we add the girls to the mix (which I usually don't, but just for completeness sake), Shadowheart is just evil and mean, while Lae'zel seems to combine all the worst of Gale and Shadowheart.
If the rumours (and contaminants) are true, and the rest of the party are indeed Minsc, Karlach, and this Helia woman, I am left with no real romance. Courting Minsc, with his mental condition sounds exploitative and creepy (to me, you do you). And the other two, while unknown for now, are women... So... Yeah... I'm at a loss.
If you like genuinely good characters than yes, you are in trouble selecting right now. I expected Wyll to be that role, but no. You have described him well... I don't even care to get to know his character at the moment.
