Also the same guy who is chill with you going to Avernus and letting you become a certain thing in the evil ending.
He is such an abusive monster that they even included these new hidden dialogue options in the script in the same (!) patch:
It's kind of depressing to read the comments under the video. Fans are already normalizing Tav's faces and behaviour as "roleplaying".
The dialogue seems to be Karlach exclusive, though (not for a Tav accompanying her) as it has the REALLY_KARLACH tag. And it also has the break-up tag, so I don't read this as him "being chill" with her leaving him. It's the same reaction he shows a few nights after Tav breaks up with him - trying to get back on the high horse and not showing that he regrets losing them, covering his wounded pride and sorrow with badly played indifference and benevolence. "I let you go" sounds better than "You left me".
Be it as it may, it shows he secretly cares (even if the big, bad, evil Vampire Lord wouldn't admit it). In one of the epilogue videos from the same poster he says it's a lonesome existence to be in power and pretends to shrug it off. Oof. So why would he want to make Tav miserable as long as they are playing along? And obviously we have a choice to play along as we can play the evil power couple in the epilogue through the dialogue with him - there's no scared face and abused Tav/Durge in sight. It just gets hinted at if you choose the freedom-dialogue, otherwise you can boast how formidable you are together.
I should have checked the screenshots better, I thought it was for Tav who went with Karlach, thanks for pointing it out! You're right, the lines still carry across the message that he does care about his lover and how they feel and wants them to love him back. Nooo, they shouldn't normalise that.
Originally Posted by Sereda2
There's a bit of a value judgement in there but it's nowhere near as black and white as I suggested.
Ah, that interview. It's a bit disingenuous of them to say we tell him to be scared because these are not the dialogue options we are presented with in the game during the ascension. He asks us to help him and we do, it's just that. It's the same as telling the other companions: "it's your call, do what you must, I'll be here if you need me".
Originally Posted by jinetemoranco
You could be talking about this bit, which I honestly find very interesting and valid, at least on my end I have no complaints and agree with Adam's writing philosophy.
To me these statements sound like excuses. What I read is "we ran out of time and ideas to make the evil path nuanced and meaningful when it comes to story and characters, so instead we gave you combat as a filler". Evil is more than just being a murderhobo. Durge is one but other characters not necessarily. Just compare Gortash and Orin - intelligent, cunning lawful evil vs psychotic, murderous chaotic evil. They only accounted for one type of play. Evil characters tend to gather followers and even worshippers. Someone new wanting to join evil Tav and alternative plot as a result of your actions are not meaningless.They could have done something amazing like the 2nd Witcher did - you choose Iorveth or Roche and your story is completely different. They could have allowed you to ally with the cult properly, they could have given Gortash a bigger role, made the alliance valid and a possible ending, Nere could have become a companion if you helped him kill Balthazar. There were so many options but instead they chose the easy "just kill of everyone" route.
