SPOILERS ahead in this feedback.
After completing a fairly stereotypical "good" playthrough of this fantastic game, I was actually shocked at how tone deaf Astarion's scene post-final boss was. For reference, my Astarion rejects the Rite of Profane Ascension and let the spawn go free in the Underdark. The scene I am referring specifically to is where he suddenly becomes vulnerable to the sun again, panics, and runs away yelling. Wyll makes some quip about never seeing him again and him never seeing the sun again. This happens mere moments after a very cathartic (and apparently false) "realization" that the aftermath of the tadpoles left him with his sunlight resistance. The tone of the scene seemed to play it as a joke to me.
I have two grievances with this scene narratively, and they are not equal in weight. The first is preference - it feels very fairy messed up to m, as the player, to pull the rug out from under Astarion after literally adding in dialogue that would give a plausible narrative reason for him to remain invulnerable to the sunlight. This is especially frustrating because it feels like it would be a good moral reward to him for overcoming his desire for power and instead embracing true freedom. His soul is free from Cazador's ownership and now his body is free from (mostly) the curse of being a vampire. This seems far more satisfying to me as a story - and I probably wouldn't feel so cheated if they didn't seem to intentionally start to go that route, only to pull back into a joke.
I'm aware the above is my personal preference for storytelling. While I think it makes a better story (and weirdly seemed to be almost written in?), if that is not Larian's vision for the character, that is fine. If Larian thinks that the price of him rejecting that power is that he must continue to live as a regular vampire spawn, that is a reasonable and realistic (if bittersweet) take on the character's story.
My second grievance is that, given the apparent vision for his character in that ending, the entire scene of him panicking and running inside, never to be seen again, feels like it was written to be a joke. This feels like such a slap in the face to his entire story of being an abuse victim and survivor, who chose to forgo the safety of absolute power in order to not harm other abuse victims. If you want him to be punished with the cold reality of living as a vampire spawn, that is fine. Please treat the fact that he will never have a normal life, will constantly be an outcast on the edge of society despite his newfound freedom, with the same gravitas as the rest of his story. It can be bittersweet, it can be painful, but it feels exceedingly disrespectful for it to be treated as a joke in his final moments on screen.
It left such a bad taste in my mouth that I reached out to friends who also finished the game with a similar journey for Astarion. Each one also felt like that scene seemed to be written with the intent of being a joke, and each one felt like it undermined the gravity of his struggle.
I think there are generally issues around the companion endings (honestly, some of them feel like they were written by different people than who wrote their questlines). I know Karlach is a popular complaint due to feeling incomplete. I hope Larian sees these complaints and perhaps reworks some of these final scenes, or provides a short epilogue in the future. With Astarion, it feels like they wrote a fantastic ending for him, only to yank back the leash for a punchline rather than a look at how far he has come.
And that does not feel satisfying.
PS to Mods: If this thread needs to be moved to Story & Character Discussion, please let me know and I will do so. My thought was more around the suggestion/feedback that a particular scene should be reworked, but I could see an interpretation that this is in the incorrect space.
