You don't view the relationship as transactional, but the character you're speaking to does and they want to make that clear because it's an important part of his story. That being said, you do have options to tell him you did it because you wanted what was best for him. It's literally the first dialogue option available.
Yeah, but this is the problem, because this is not some adventure game with fixed characters, this is a roleplaying game where I should be able to determine the intentions of my own character. Which I could in relation to Astarion up to this point. But somehow in this conversation the only options I got are for my character to be the person Astarion's low self-esteem (and it seems the writer) expects me to be:
- The one only seeing him as a sex doll (I want you. I want your body)
- The one only using him for gaining power (I want to be a vampire, like you)
- The morality preacher who doesn't accept him for who he is (You can tell me that you've learned something from all this)
- The easily provoked one who will break up with him, because of course they will sooner or later (I am not your pet.)
Which forces my Tav or Durge to act out of character if their intention for helping him to ascend was something else entirely. Maybe they wanted him to get the ultimate revenge through poetic justice, maybe they wanted him to get as much power as possible to be able to defend himself from every threat, maybe they wanted him to be able to walk in the sun even after they finally get rid of the tadpoles, maybe a durge wanted him to be powerful enough to defend himself from them after the durge scene in act 2. There are countless non-selfish reasons to help him ascend and maybe even a selfish one that does not fit the presented mold (the evil tav/durge who wants to rule the world with his vampire lord).
Those dialogue options also totally negate the "I did it because I wanted what was best for you" line and make it seem like a lie.
As a lot of posters have already said - there is no option that fits a supportive Tav/Durge. But this is a roleplaying game, it is not the writer's job to drop their moral cake on me and railroad me and my character into a one way street. The writer's job is to give me enough agency that I can ignore the illusion of choice. (It's the same problem with the graveyard scene where the three options are 50 colours of yes)
Astarion expects Tav/Durge to have selfish reasons because everyone does in his worldview. Why can't we surprise him by saying "I did not do this because I want something out of this. I just wanted to help you because I genuinely care about you." Because up to this point you could tell him you care about him. But somehow by helping him ascend our characters suddenly become selfish beings who actually never loved him, just his body/power/a made-up version of him.
You can still maintain this eerie atmosphere that foreshadows a possible continuation of the cycle of abuse in Tav's/Durge's future, but at least let me play my character. There's already too few dialogues in Act 3 as is. I don't want to be railroaded in them.
And speaking of the dialogue itself - you can really see the agenda the writer was pushing here. Who in the world says "I want you. I want your body." when telling your partner you're horny?
Well, that was a lot of text just to ask for one measly dialogue option, haha. But there have been very few instances in this game where I felt railroaded in the dialogue when it came to roleplaying my character. So this stuck out a lot.
