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

Yeah , I found the whole scene very jarring. I assume they were trying to make him seem like this cunning killer but instead his plan was so stupid and convoluted it made him seem more like a bungling fool. Not the best of first impressions for sure.

Game was fine until this scene, I -hate to use this word, but- cringed so hard I couldn't believe Larian did this so early, mostly because:
-After killing 3 Intellect Devourer he's unhappy because we didn't chase after another and then puts a dagger to our neck and accuses us of doing something to him.
-The whole falling to the ground animation is super weird and pretty much "impossible to happen" in "reality". And doesn't get better when using STR to get free from his (loose) dagger .
-After the mind twist he asks us what happened, totally confused by what just happened. BUT, if you say you don't know, he just comes up with a perfect "backseat" answer. A little wondering or a "maybe" would help a lot, maybe.

Either Astarion is a crazy fool or I just didn't understand what their intention with this whole scene was... yeah, better think I'm the one being played by his nonsense lol. Also, I'm pretty sure I didn't notice anything that strange playing DOS2 and hope there won't be more.

Yes, I'm main Necromancer, glad you noticed.

I would say that Astarions standpoint make sense ...
Its all wrong, and twisted ... but i can see him come to such conclusions.

Same as having this really weird and kinda stupid reaction.

What bothers me so much more is that we have no way to answer him properly ... but that was talked about bzillion times allready.

We know exactly what a tadpole does when its host dies.

I'm sure I would have let it all pass without complaining if not for both of them falling to the ground haha

becomes a good boy

Sure, when it crawls out of Edowin's eye, if you watch closely, it fetches a tennis ball.

I find it hard to make an argument to let someone into my group, who tried to kill me. I mean at best, he is impulsive and acts rashly, at worst he is a murderhobo. And in Astarions case it turns out both.
I would love, if that scene would get a change. Make him mistrustful, maybe even have him draw the knife for protection, but not outright attack the pc. Astarion could do with a bit of common sense, he seems to be all over the place.

This is a very old thread at this point (nice grave digging, by the way) but then again the issue highlighted was never addressed, so the point still stand.

This first encounter remains shockingly stupid and poorly directed.

I don't understand why they didn't introduce him at your first sleep. Let the meeting be him trying to suck your blood right off the bat. Insead we get a scene with him trying to kill you without an option to kill him right there. I hope playing the dark urge changes that.

From a meta standpoint, if you kill Astarion, aren't you kinda forced to make Tav a rogue? I do not like playing the game without a rogue.

That's the plan, or Multi Shadowheart into one.

In early access, Shadowheart as a trickery cleric with an urchin background can do most non-combat rogue-y things adequately enough, though she's likely to get through more lockpicks given lack of Sleight-of-Hand expertise. And in the full game we'll have the option of multiclassing or even respeccing companions into rogues if we really don't want to do without one. (Personally, I find it quite fun at least sometimes trying to cover the various party functions without using classes they're standardly associated with, but everyone can of course play in whatever way they most enjoy.)

EDIT: As Tuco says, this is a very old thread but also as of patch 9 there hasn't been any significant change. So if people want to discuss it again in the thread, I don't see any harm. I have moved it to the Suggestions & Feedback section, though, on noting that Tuco had suggested that back in his original post but it obviously hadn't been picked up by a moderator at the time.

He only drew his dagger some distance away from me when I fell for his ruse and saw the boar in the bush. However, when I did the smart thing and ignored him, he somehow managed to close the distance and grapple me to the ground...

The choice & consequence in this case should clearly be reversed, picking the smarter option should result with you in a less precarious situation.

I'm not 100% confident in it, but I THINK I've seen previews of the final version (all the promotional stuff since the last panel from hell) where this scene was still included, so... Not much room to hope for a last minute change, I would guess.

P.S. And speaking of the dagger on Astarion's hand, I have to admit I struggle to understand Larian's idea behind making most weapons comically oversized.
In these cases you could usuallyguess some weird technical thing like "Otherwise they will be barely noticeable on the characters"... But that's not really a factor here. In fact, they STILL look oversized even from the "isometric" perspective, let alone in close-ups during dialogues.

There was some promises in the past ... i once again forgot the name of user who quoted it ...
But she (i believe) have female drow in leather armor in avatar.

And yet, in Fextralife gameplay from Gent, we have seen the exactly same scene.
And yes, i am sure it was not from Early Acess, since he was Dragonborn Monk.

---

Nah ... as others said, Shadowheart have lots of Dexterity ... and you can respec.
Also, there is Ranger hireling, Rogue hireling and Bard hireling ... and 10 more hirelings that can be either. xD

---

Not just weapons.

I was quite happy when i have heared that as you use Gale's flute to ressurect him, it becomes regular instrumet you can play ...
Until i find out that it become that HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE flute you get from any other source.

Is it really too much to want a flute for my Gnome that wouldnt be longer than her own spine, Larian?
Is it?

I want a rogue who can do the in-combat rogue-y things. Even after having done it several times, I enjoy the ol' 'snipe 'em from the rafters" ploy. Of course for all I know, in release they might have made that a lot more challenging than it is in EA.

The Red Queen, was there any changes in this scene in the version you played at the event?

I think companions (at least some) are getting improved introductions, so hopefully Astarion is among them.

The tadpoles role seemed to be extended in 1.0 - so they behaviour after the death of the host, might have been altered as well. We will see soon enough.

Astarion: Sacre bleu! There is une tadpole dans le grass!
Durge: I like that arm. Can I see it?

I expect the one that pops out of Ed's eye to sing like the Warner Bros. frog before it slithers away/gets crushed.