Someone really needs to make a compilation of all of his laughs and giggles in the game.
Oh, that would be really delicious!
Originally Posted by Ametris
The dialogue that cracks me up is when he tells you 'if you continue to get between me and what I want, I will have to find a way through you'. I can't take him seriously when his threats sound so playful and seductive.
And in what case does this dialog occur? I didn't have that either.
Originally Posted by Ametris
Very true. My chaotic neutral Tav was pretty "jumpy", haha. She ended up being neutral evil in the end, because Astarion was a bad, bad influence.
My Tav started out 100% chaotic-good (I've always had any game that has alignment (like Pathfinder) exclusively diagnose me with that as a result, and DM when we play DnD, too...). But Astarion did a good job - I have no idea now whether my Tav is a chaotic-neutral or already an evil.
Originally Posted by Ametris
What I find interesting is how different in tone the romance can be, depending on how you act. When you play as a good person, Astarion becomes more manipulative and tries to tug at your heart strings, speaks to your heroic, altruistic side, gets softer eventually. You often end up with longer conversations that turn into debates where he's defensive and emotional. When you're neutral, the dialogues have a smooth flow, he's at ease and shares his dark ideas more freely, but sometimes he's taking over the conversation, even sounding like he's talking to himself. And then when you're being evil you're both admiring each other's darkness, scheming together, he's making more provocative jokes, sounds sexier and more mischievous. He's very reactive and adjusts his behaviour to you.
In my game I didn't really see his soft side. In act 1 he was all about seduction, fun and manipulation. Then I had the post-Araj confession, which is more arrogant and spontaneous, and I was picking agreeable, supportive and neutral responses in general. In act 3 he got more agitated and aggressive before meeting Cazador, then ascension happened and he became even more insolent and hilariously savage. Frankly, when I first watched the spawn path outcomes I was surprised how gentle he was.
It's really interesting. After the confession scene in the second act I saw mostly just the soft side of Astarion, so the sudden change of behavior after the Ascension was a bit of a shocking experience, it took time to comprehend and understand, but now I see that he was more manipulative then, and now his feelings and his tenderness are really sincere. In the first act - same as you - seducer, sweet manipulator, still in the first act he is either attracting or pushing you away. "I don't need your pity. I don't need anything from you." - shortly before lovemaking begins. Periodically snorts "how cute", cutting off the conversation, somehow "incredulous-ironic" if you can describe it that way (for example, after a dialog about scars). The kind of "hedgehog" with prickles that you want to hug, but he's ready to expose the needles. Astarion's behavior without Ascension, in my opinion, does not differ much from Astarion in the second act (other lines, yes, but in general almost the same), only he is "faded" and more serious, and in the second act he was much more playful. The Ascended is also playful, but he does it more proudly.
It's curious how differently Astarion can express himself. I'd like to try all the lines (except for all the nasty and insulting ones, of course) in all the dialogs in the future to get a more complete picture of the personality.
