In the playthrough, Tav was not mean or demeaning to him. Never broke up, or anything like that. She is Dark Urge. So, the part of the animations not linking up with all the other stuff is that she looks frightened. She didn't even look frightened with Bhaal...why would she be frightened now? So, the only part is that the animations are not linking up. Domination is not abusive, nor is it public either. That is self-explanatory. And also...just to add it in, this is not how the story was portrayed by the writer, VA, in any scene up to this patch (patch 6). My Tav would not be scared of him. So simply, Tav's expressions do not match up in the kissing scenes. It doesn't even match the new pre-epilogue party scene/after destroying the brain scene. I am looking at his whole story, not just a line here or there. There are tons of lines & I am going on how the story presented itself in the game, per the writer, and the knowledge of those closely associated with who were involved with him during the creation of the character up to the point of what I played in the patches leading up to this one.
Then we agree that Tav's expressions don't make sense. I do think the game does present the idea that Ascended Astarion isn't exactly a good partner and wants to demean Tav. Lines do mean things and paint a full picture sometimes, but overall that's the tone he uses for things, at least in my opinion.
What writer statements are you referencing that indicate they've said Ascended Astarion's relationship with Tav is that way? The statements I've seen from the devs so far were 1. Lead Writer Adam Smith saying that Ascended Astarion is still Astarion, but he's been sent to a horrible place and that Tav has supported the idea that he is right to be afraid 2. Neil Newbon saying Ascended Astarion doesn't use theatrics to cover up his vulnerability anymore 3. Neil Newbon being a bit confused at someone calling themselves an Ascended Apologist 4. Welch, the writer mostly responsible for Astarion's act 2 and 3 romance (yes, Rooney is his main writer, but Welch DID write most of the romance, as said by Rooney himself on two occassions) giving their insight on why they think Ascended Astarion is toxic towards romanced Tav and their intent, the latter of which I disagree with kind of since I don't think it comes across.
The closest one is the fourth, but the others are more about AA than his romance. I don't mean this to be mean, I'm legitimately curious because I'm always compiling info, and I welcome any new tidbits. It's also worth noting that several devnotes that have been there since release point to the intent behind Ascended Astarion's attitude towards Tav being jerkish. One of them straight up says "slightly abusivey". I can upload screencaps of the ones I can recall if needed, because they do show the writer's process.
