I know writing fiction is hard, but as someone who gets paid to do it, I can say that the requested 'I just want to be with you' line specifically would go a long way to hammer home how bad the situation actually is. Do you know why? Because the player would have just given Astarion the perfect thing to use against them to get them to agree to be his spawn. He would offer to turn the player like he normally does, and if you so much as hesitate he can slap you in the face with 'but you just said you want to be with me', and now you're stuck in a situation where you either own up to wanting to be with him and let him turn you, or he breaks up with you and gets to call you a liar because clearly you didn't mean it if you don't want to be his spawn. So I don't see what the problem with this change is to you, since it keeps the abuse narrative going in a very effective way. It's actually more effective than anything we have right now, soo... yeah.
That’s your interpretation, not everyone views Astarion’s ascension as continuing the cycle of abuse and I certainly don’t view it that way.
What we’re asking for is representation because our narrative has been pushed into a corner of ‘glorifying abuse’ and ‘continuing the cycle’ and all this other nonsense which has absolutely nothing to do with why we chose to ascend him in the first place.
Oh no I'm 100% with you! I like his ascended path, I don't think he'll be abusive, and would like a more positive/neutral dialogue option so that I don't have to pick a fight with Astarion or ask for sex or to be made into a vampire. I would very much like to sit whoever approved of the dialogue options in this situation down and ask them why they thought pushing their far too narrow views of what the player must be roleplaying as in this moment was a good idea, and then explain to them why they're wrong and that there should be at least one neutral/positive option for the player to select because the player is not the one that just ascended; they should still be the same person they were before that whole ordeal, and the dialogue should take into consideration those who ascend him without wanting something from him and who don't have a problem with how he's acting right now, which the two options that aren't the 'give me something in return' options don't reflect.
I phrased my response the way I did because the person I was responding has said earlier that a neutral/positive response to Astarion would "ruin the narrative of the cycle of abuse". I answered in a way that would alleviate their concerns about this because I didn't feel like restarting the 'but the abuse narrative!!' bit again and because if the that narrative needs to be important or something, it can still be done easily with a neutral player response. Ideally a neutral response from the player would obviously get a positive response from Astarion, and the whole conversation could go over a lot smoother than it does now. Granted I also like myself a toxic ship so I don't mind Astarion being the way he is in this scene (just the lack of the neutral/positive dialogue option for the players), and I've always read Astarion's insistence on turning you into his spawn right now on the spot as his insecurity about the relationship rearing its head, coupled with him riding the high the ascension gave him so he's doing the one thing he knows will ensure you won't leave him (it'd be nice if he remembered he could just say he's worried about this tho) and not as him having magically turned into the next Cazador and wanting you as his spawn so he can take control of you down the line. Questionable for sure, but not anywhere near what people insist we're supposed to read it as.
