New kisses with AA. Criticism, dramatic and ferocious, but I'll try to be constructive.
- If Astarion had licked Tav cut instead of poking the face it would have been better. - Knees everywhere is a meme, I don't take it seriously. - Kissing Karlach is okay. Honestly this kind of domination when there's no exploring Astarion's tastes in this area looks cheap. But if the character's face was happy, playfully, it would look okay. It's terrible now.
Evil romance with Astarion by Larian it’s crazy roulette.
I see on net that a lot of people are happy with it, generally find it interesting and horny. For me, that would be the case if Tav face wasn't screaming horror. My Tav is an immoral, evil ally, friend and lover who only cares for and loves Astarion, sharing power and everything possible with him.
I find two reasons for this: 1 - The Narrative Story Line and Main Idea from Larian implies that Tav was playing for good and walking the arc of redemption, stepping into the path of evil by accident. So Tav suffers and tries to find love, but finds only rudeness, possessiveness, and abuse. Based on this, Ascended Astarion is an abuser who regards Tav as an accessory and doesn't care at all. Because the player pushed the evil button and is punished. Evil - can love, but only abusively and without caring. Which, to be fair, is an insult to my intelligence. Why is there even a romance with Astarion then? He's a neutrally evil character who was a slave-trading magistrate, and feels fun while killing, he's still capable of tenderness, to someone who cares about him. A character can kiss him with a smile, after a hug, when that pie with his other hand approved of murder and immoral things. I thought it was a little more complicated than. Good and proper. Evil and wrong. Evil is attractive, dangerous, and makes sense, not a sponge to polish good. It is the dumbing down of the good too.
2 - Mindless fanservice.
If we assume the dark, complex romance still exists, (and went into a coma on 02.14.2024), Tav face is changed to playful, then that would be option 2. If the original inspiration is vividly Astarion, and Lord Astarion is still Astarion (which is canonically confirmed) - he's decadence, libertarianism, and he probably wants a wild, dark dynamic in romance. Is this pie that brutal? Without a research (more elegant) it's looks incredibly abrupt and ooc.
Adding knees on randoms to kissing is not the best research in the world. Knees are an intimate thing, for should be mood, atmosphere and like fanservice with a vampire-dom - choice should be. (Unless, of course, it's an abuse narrative line where the player is a victim and Astarion doesn't listen).
My understanding of the dark romance. There is no equality - there is sincere protection. No "freedom of autonomy" - there is genuine care and love. Basically, the dynamic that makes 70% of west, Twitter and Reddit yell if anyone likes it and that's what's being shown - straight and clear. Remember, Astarion is a vampire in medieval Faerun. Without balance, it's just dark. One thing makes up for the other, which makes the novel not black and white - gray. This is further changed by Tav style of acting. "asking when I bite" - the one of line his romance. It also devalues the scene during the turn. The player can choose to be rough or gentle. Astarion listens. It devalues the scene that he (hysterically of course) lets the mortal Tav go without a tadpole. Astarion listens.
The true abuse cycle is what Larian does over my thoughts with Astarion's story.
