The game isn't subtle about it. There's Vellioth's skull, there's Spawn Astarion directly saying that we've broken the "cycle of violence and terror". It can't be more spelled out. In fact the scene with Astarion saying that strikes me as really badly written because he basically looks into the camera and says "This was about the cycle of abuse" which is goofishly blunt and not how a real person would talk.
I hope I don't get scolded for derailing the conversation but I have been thinking about this too again these past few days. I wonder if this strong, blunt emphasis on abuse was a later addition. Most of Astarion's story on his "good" path strikes me as overcoming his selfishness. In Act 1 he only cares about himself and uses the PC, in Act 2 he realises that he does not entirely like this behaviour and we slowly start to learn about his conflicting feelings towards what he had to do for Cazador, but he also learns about the ritual which eventually places him in a situation in which he has to choose between a very selfish action (condemning 7006 souls to eternal torture for his benefit) and recognising that other people are more than mere objects to be used. Cazador's abuse of his spawn is in this context just one facet of his selfishness, that was fostered by the environment he lived in, but it's just a part of a larger picture. He is exploiting everything and everyone and thinks only of himself - more than even Velioth, I'd argue.
It might be just me but the whole "I want you to live a life you can be proud of" and him being better than Cazador, the whole laser-focus on the abuse story, derails a bit from the things he learned about himself during Act 2, which is empathy.
In this context I also really do appreciate how the Gur are written, who are monster hunters but they aren't stupid monster hunters. The moment they learn that Astarion has the capability of being a person, they treat him like one. A monster isn't what you are but how you behave.
-The scene with Gur seems strange to me. He just walked up to them. They are hunters, they just let him go. I remember that there was cut content with gourami and it seems to me that the story with them should not be so simple. Gurs also attack AA, but how did they know that he would definitely do evil, but the spawn would definitely correct itself. Vampires/spawns in D&D are always evil. Larian decided to romanticize the spawns, I honestly don’t know how to feel about this because the drama in act 3 seems too unrealistic. Overall, the Gur concept of forgiveness may well exist, I agree with you, but I think there is not enough context there, very -Regarding any Astarion, I want to say that his behavior changes too dramatically throughout the game. It’s just that it’s not years, but our journey takes 1-3 months. I mean, if there had been a time skip due to some circumstances, it would have looked more realistic.The example is already in the game, AA is much calmer after 6 months if they don't change that too. And when a person changes in 6 months, it is more realistic than instant changes. -The ritual seems strange to me too. Larian talks about 7000 souls, clearly showing us 10-20 spawns. When I see these cells on 5 NPCs, they really take me out of the immersion...I understand that this is a gaming convention, but in a cinematic game, it is a strange convention. I just concluded that this was a late idea to show that we would do something bad by killing these spawns. But leaving them alive, sending them underdark, is good... In general, the ritual would not have changed much if the 7 spawns had remained the victim, but Astarion's relationship with them would have been deeper and more tragic. Personally, I don’t feel sorry for people in cages, I don’t know them. At the same time, I have never cut out a grove, because... I knew Tieflings and Halsin, and although I like Mintara, I couldn't play like that. -And now, on top of everything else, we also have kisses, also without dynamics or meaning.
And I’ll add a little about abuse. Alas, I experienced this firsthand as a child. Maybe that's why I'm so angry at Larian? I don't really like to see weakness in such situations. This applies to both Spawn and Tav now.( I also understand that I am overly obsessed with this game =D)
The point is that by adding abuse to the game, Larian is walking on extremely thin ice. On the one hand, it’s not bad to touch upon such social problems, on the other hand, there are moments that personally hurt me and I’m not very pleased with it. I really miss the RP elements in the dialogues with the lord, because... I do not Ascended him for the proposed options. And now I have no options, even in these animations. Yes, I don’t have to press them, I rarely press them. But I know it's there.
