Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Fixing Astarion's "Good" Ending

Well, I very luckily had the scene where your Urge so I didn't have to redo too much cause like I said, I was going full evil.

Going full evil still has a super awful ending but I blame that on the endings for the game in general at this point.

Now I need to figure out if it's worth it to go back again just to get Ascendant ending dialogue....
I might be working too hard for breadcrumbs, I just love this game so much! And to see it have all the potential in the world and fall flat in such an unsatisfying way is heartbreaking...

I hope they pay attention to this thread! It doesn't have near as much attention as the Karlach thread but Astarion's "good" ending is mentioned everywhere in the forums talking about endings. There's also another semi-popular thread talking about its tone-deafness.

I've been running around trying to boost any thread that talks about Astarion's ending because of it lol

Yeah, now his "bad" path is better for him (and the player) than the "good" path, both gameplay and epilogue wise.

I'm personally fine with him staying a vampire. His problem was always with Cazador, not vampirism, and he seems to appreciate the possibility of a very long life. Man survived 200 years of Cazador and a near end of the world, he'll be fine chilling in Baldur's Gate. Especially when he's known as part of the group of people who saved the city and the Gur monster hunters promised to leave him alone.

But that absolute atrocity of his ending scene, that needs to go. I don't remember any other game I played that would have given a more tone deaf ending to a character.

Agreed with this. Though, I wouldn't mind a DLC or expansion exploring the possibility of curing him.

But I care much more about them expanding dialogue in Act 3 and getting rid of the ending scene that turns his journey into a punchline.

I don't think he needs a perfectly happy ending, just one that gives him respect akin to his development. The man is so much more than a vampire fuckboy. And whoever wrote his ending seems to not know that.

I guess it depends how far back you have to go to get to It's still a bit, but not that bad. I don't even want to admit how much I have been playing for breadcrumbs lately just to see every kind of variation to certain scenes. *cough* But playing one playthrough with just Astarion as only origin companion was hella fun.


I feel the same. I like his ending. It's hopeful and since we all know that cures for vampirism exist, it's just a matter of time until he and Tav find one. They are freaking lvl 12 heroes. I don't need to see it ingame. But I do want a respectful ending for him. And an expanded end-dialogue that makes sense for two people in love.

You know, the game conditioned me so well with lack of companion reactivity in Act 3 and his garbage ending that I saw that dialog and was happy. And then I never saw it again because I didn't want to go through that ending again. All my playthroughs now end after we deal with Cazador and Orin. But thinking back on it, yes, it doesn't look like an epilogue with a romanced character at all.

That's where a good number of my playthroughs end too. Avoids so many problems!

Sometimes I take SH to finish her quest. Have a chat with Gortash if I'm Durge. The rest just feels like a chore, especially the last fights when you know what kind of ending awaits you.

I am betting a lot of fuss, look at how many pages Karlach's demand for better endings has lol.

Sure, whenever bad endings are being mentioned people always tend to bring Astarion up... and rightfully so. Ascended Astarion's ending is fine, but spawn Astarion is just beyond bad.

Also add to that the forbidden word: datamining. Everyone knows at this point that the Upper City was supposed to be explorable outside of the last hour or two of the game, but was shafted due to time constraints. Karlach's proper idea for permanently fixing her engine laid there and apparently some sort of an idea for a cure for vampirism laid there too. Y'know, Hall of Wonders and that temple district... so many possibilities.

Yeah, in my case, my first playthrough was a completionist round. I even found all the clown parts.

But my second playthrough, I blitzed everything. Explored a few quests I didn't get last time.

Next time I play, I'll do even less.

I wonder what Astarion's main writer thinks about that ending scene. I don't believe he's the one who wrote that shit.

Literally all they have to do is give the man some shade to stand in instead of running and it's immediately better.

I sure hope that he didn't write it. It certainly doesn't fit with the way the rest of Astarion's story was written.

I really don't know what in the world people at Larian were thinking with that dock scene. Who thought that it would be a good idea to give such an awful ending to the people who were invested in Astarion? Really? Such a tasteless joke...

There's a bit of a pattern in Act III with the companions becoming less "people" and more "video game characters" - collections of pixels we're not really supposed to get attached to or take seriously. Possibly just another symptom of Larian running out of time to polish things.

Couldn't have put it better myself. Honestly, entire act 3 is just a mess. The only thing that is polished in act 3 is House of Hope.

Halsin turns into an atrocity, we get an obligatory brothel orgy scene (using companions with backstories least suited for it), Mizora is forced on you and does nothing apart from standing there propositioning you for sex, your companions don't care whatever you do with Haarlep, and the game ends with an abuse victim running away in pain while the rest of the party make fun of him.

The tonal whiplash of Gale expressing genuine sympathy for Astarion during and after Astarion’s personal quest and then laughing at him on the docks was really something else.

Don't get me started on how pointless Mizora is. I can't even get her to leave! Once I'd exhausted all of her conversation options, I asked her to leave cause at that point, she's there to ask you for sex and then just...exist in that space. She doesn't even become an ally for the ending so she's literally there for no other reason.

But getting back to the point of the thread, Astarion's ending points to a larger issue with the whole of Act 3. Like a lot of people have said, the tone is entirely different from quest to quest.

Astarion's companion quests was one of the most unique experiences I've had in a game. Never have I felt such genuine interest and concern for a video game character.

Couple that with like...hunting down the murderer in Lower City or getting the stupid mail for the post office? Like...the quests are not the same. And the mail and murderer quest last a lot longer than Astarion's quest with very little substance.

It speaks to Act 3 just being where everyone's leftover ideas drained to. They needed a lot to happen so any weird idea that was shouted out was crammed into it to make the Act longer. Definitely done by a different set of writers than the people doing the companion stories.

And Astarion's god-awful dock scene capitalizes on and confirms this.

Correct me if I am wrong because I didn't romance Astarion in my playthrough.

I read some where that Astarion will remain as a vampire in the end but Tav who romanced him stays by his side in one of the so called "good" ending? I think this is a pretty decent ending?

The problem is not him staying a vampire and doesn't even have to do anything with romancing him. The problem is the scene on the docks. After all he's gone through, and just started recovering, he runs away in pain while some other companion makes a dumb comment. And you can't even go after him.