Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback First encounter with Astarion

On one hand I appreciate that the game finally addresses your companions watching in standby when Astarion assaults you on your first meeting, but on the other hand this recent revamp barely helps making the scene feel any less ridiculous.

The entire sequence needs some visual rework because two grown-ass people rolling on the ground with (potentially) a bunch of companions watching on the sidelines with a bored expression in their eyes makes it look almost like a comedy sketch.

EDIT - Well, wrong subforum. This was meant for the "Suggestion & Feedback" forum section.

Yes I still agree.

What I also find REALLY wierd is that his first sentence is something like "hurry, in the grass, there's a tadpole like those we have in our heads"...

There are absolutely no reasons for him to say that right at the beginning of the dialog...

Just got there on my new run. His first lines are "Hurry, I've got one of those 'brain things' cornered." "There, in the grass. You can kill it it can't you? Like you killed the others."
I definitely feel he's referring to intellect devourers, not the tadpoles.

But yeah, I'm not super into the scene either, I really don't see any reason to group up with a guy who just tried to kill me. I've been thinking of just skipping the encounter, does anyone know if I will still get a second chance to recruit Astarion later if I do, like with Shadowheart?

I saved it just after this scene. It seems weird and incongruous like I missed something. I will play it again tonight. I'm surprised when you help him and agree with him, you don't get an approval hit.

Yes, it's one of the scenes that really feels off to me.

I think he says "brain things" and he's referring to an Intellect Devourer.....

Well, I'll check the french translation but it does not change a lot of things... He's not right next to us...

And what if you first enter the ruined temple now that it's possible (not killing the intellect devorer) ? Is he saying something else ?

until i can meet him without the ridiculous wrestling, i'm never going to let him join. i just kill him and move on

I really appreciate that Larian listened to the feedback and added new dialogue with the companions in that situation instead of having them just stand there ignoring what is happening. I was really pleased to see that and it made me look forward to looking for what other small updates they made in Patch 6. I give Larian credit for addressing it, even if it’s not the full revamp of the scene that some were hoping for.

Question is: Can you do that finaly (read as: Once again)?
Or do you first have to finish your talking, accept his apology, gently say farewell ... and only THEN youa re allowed to savagely jump for him? (Unless you have some companion)

i haven't played the new version, but i doubt it. i kill him before i talk to him

What makes it even more bizarre is that they give you options to aggro both Shadowheart and Gale. Although you can avoid the wrestling bit if you pass a perception roll. Still just very strange in general, I do not like a lot of the writing choices regarding Astarion.

Just to be clear, the point of this thread was never to discuss if you are willing to forgive Astarion or not for his hineous act of lèse-majesté.
The point is that the way the assault plays out is extremely UNCONVINCING and fairly funny-looking, even with the character finally addressing the existence of other onlookers on the scene.
The whole "rolling on the ground" in particular looks egregiously stupid.

Yeah. This scene needs work. I played it again also and it just isn't right. My character grabs his knife by the blade even. My evil sorcerer would shock grasp him and so forth, right in the face.

Yeah, I don't love the way this encounter is programmed. It's actually extra weird if you DO interject with Shadowheart - i.e. press the switch characters button on the bottom left to swap to Shadowheart.

Your main character and Astarion will literally just be standing there, looking at each other (not rolling on the ground) like any other NPC dialogue.

You can then use Shadowheart to shank him though.


Honestly, I think this encounter would a perfect tutorial for swapping characters mid-conversation, and introducing non-lethal damage. Make having Shadowheart knock Astarion out with non-lethal damage a clear option.

The whole character feels out of place to me.

I don't believe a tadpole would survive in a dead body. And they are not even making an effort to explain it. It all seems to me like they were brainstorming crazy ideas and Swen said "cool let's do it" without anyone really thinking about it.

Then there's the cringe of "not knowing" he's a vampire until he "reveals" it. Would help if he didn't have red eyes and fangs.

Don't get me wrong, Astarion is a cool character with great voice acting. That's why a lot of players like him. But for me he was forcefully placed in the wrong plot and a bad context because someone wanted a vampire companion. I need the story to check out so that kind of ruins the character for me and I'm never taking him in the party.

There absolutely could be a vampire faction and a companion in a story involving mind flayer plots and tadpoles. But the cool thing that makes vampires unique in this context is that they are undead and mind control and tadpoles DON'T work on them. They introduced a vampire character but completely missed what being a vampire means and why it's special.

In short: Astarion as a character is good but the vampire storyline gets 0/10.

That is odd ... you can (or could) do that with Wizard if i remember corectly.

The whole scene makes zero sense. It was utterly ridiculous that Astarion thought he could distract what he believed to be his captors by getting you to attack the very same things that had taken him captive. It only gets worse when you decide not to help him and he says I was hoping for a kind soul....really?! You were expecting the monsters that kidnapped you to be kind and helpful? I really hope they decide to redo the whole scene it just doesn't work and ends up breaking ones immersion with how out of place it feels.

lol, i didn't even think of that aspect of it. You're right. It's ridiculous that he's playing the innocent "please help me against the mindflayers" to people he thinks are mindflayer thralls lol. I'm sure someone will say it's all part of his brilliant plan (lol), but I just don't see it.