In the scene linked, I think he is lying through his teeth, because he wants the Gur issue to be dropped - and the barrage of personal questions. He knows why they are looking for him and I am not even sure if he really believes that Cazador sent them.
Yeah, I think that's the case too. We sorted out Gandrell somehow quickly, and during the conversation later, I genuinely believed Astarion Apparently, he "embellished reality" in his favor, which makes sense with his incredulity.
Originally Posted by Anska
But I wonder if many of the "cruel" things he approves of are poetic or ordinary justice to him. He disapproves if the kids get off lightly in the grove and likes it if you punish the Goblin, who tried make his hyena go into the Shadowcurse, by making him go instead. There's a few more of those.
He doesn't always like gory scenes, for example, he reacts harshly to Malus Torm - the line is "He's insane! He's like Casador!". He often gives approvals for challenging a violent character (an aggressive conversation with Mizora in the camp when she came to punish Will, and a few others). He gives approval for helping allies (getting Lae'zel out of the zaith'isk in time).
Originally Posted by Anska
Whenever this topic comes up, I feel my moral judgement is somehow skewed. I had to make as save file of my early game for a bug report recently and I had him on 80 without killing Gandrel before entering the Shadow Curse ... and I felt I played like a good enough person. XD
Found the save - 97 after the fight with Orton, then some no approvals, 100 was definitely already chapter 3. I thought I was playing as a "good person" where it wasn't related to Astarion's well-being (I was clearly not the best person for Gandrel). Interesting to ask - does having Gandrel alive have any effect on the romance with Astarion? I have Astarion deciding to start a romance just after killing him, before any party. I also feel like Astarion would be unnerved by Gandrel's presence in the camp, is that true? Just curious about his reactions to that.
Originally Posted by Anska
That is a nice thought. It should be 100 years too late though, unless they had that book lying around for a very long time. The whole Shadowcurse thing went down 100 years ago, Astarion was turned 200 years ago and he was attacked on the streets, no taverns mentioned. The bit is linked in the video about his past above.
Thanks for the clarification!
Originally Posted by Ametris
Wow, the comparison is really something. He does look like he ate lemons, lol. I think this deserves its own thread, these changes are nonsensical. First they censored his ascended romance scene, then brought back the steamiest part but still kept the whole body shot removed. They also modified his animation in the epilogue post-final battle and you cannot see his face as much anymore when he does his fantastic evil laugh - the camera jumps to Tav instead. Then they also altered him in act 1 romance scene during goblin party to make him look scared and worried. In patch 5 they also changed his behaviour when you're about to go with him spend the night together for the first time and he doesn't look as seductive anymore.
What's the goal here?
Damn, really should create a separate topic! This is so infuriating...
"The camera jumps on Tav" - I've been specifically annoyed by this in many, many scenes with Astarion. And now also in the epilogue... No matter how much pleasure you had creating your own Tav, when they start shoving her in front of your eyes wherever they can (and, most importantly, completely unnecessary), not letting you look at the one you want to look at, your own character starts to piss you off....
And at the new playthrough the scene of Astarion's seduction won't be the same... Larians don't have time to fix the flaws and finish the unfinished quests, but they have time to make Astarion worse. Okay, the "good tale" with Astarion is impossible, get over it, let's make the scenes with Astarion worse - both with the Ascended and in the previous chapters.
Originally Posted by LiryFire
Larian, I know Astarion doesn't think highly of gurs and gnomes. I don't have to watch Astarion wrinkle his nose like one of the Malfoy family to realize that. That's enough. Seriously.
Apparently, he "embellished reality" in his favor, which makes sense with his incredulity.
