The first time I saw it, I broke out in tears. I'm one of those people who relate to Astarion because of my own past and to watch that scene was incredibly painful. If the message is supposed to be: 'no matter, how hard you try or what you do, you're always going to be a joke', they succeeded.
I had to take a very long moment to admit to myself that a few seconds of a video game (and a very badly done few seconds at that) just messed me up so hard I was going to feel it for days.
Astarion was a surprise, and not a pleasant one at first, because it feels almost intrusive when interacting with a video game character makes you feel like looking into a mirror. And as I saw more and more of his scenes I almost trusted this game to treat the subject with respect. Almost. But that little amount of distrust still didn't prepare me for that.
