I'm really not interested in playing any longer due to patch 6, and I was a total fan of the game up till this debacle. I don't know why the tenor of the romances has changed but the writing is much less interested in the player and how they might feel in favour of some sort of social signalling and pseudo psychology. I played a bit of Act 3 on patch 6 before rolling back, and it triggered nightmares for me due to past real life interactions several decades ago and that I believed were dealt with. I don't play a game to have someone else's vision give me nightmares, certainly not in an RPG which up to that point had never done so. You can wander through the game making hideous choices that in real life would have you locked up for life and no one bats an eye but apparently a romance becomes the one thing that we are supposed to view as the most evil thing in the game.
I was not interested in Astarion as a way to become a vampire, until it was offered after Ascension my Tav had no clue such a thing was on offer, and I role play. I didn't and don't view Astarion as a sex object - after the Act 2 confession why would anyone even think that? I didn't like the remaining choice in this dialogue either - oh lets just virtue shame the guy we just went all out to help - sigh.
But up to the end of patch 5 that was the worst this Ascended Astarion romance got - poor dialogue choices in one conversation that could be glossed over or indeed add a mod which sorts them out for pc players. But really that was as bad as it got.
Not any more.
Patch 6 is a downgrade from the high standards that the romances had before, some of the new kiss interactions don't fit in the context of what has come before or even what is wrapped around them, making it appear that Astarion suffers from short term memory loss episodes, given he is otherwise the same as he was in patch 5, does a 3 minute sadistic interaction and immediately reverts to normal. Its just poor all round but if they fix the wrapping around the kiss scenes to fit with them it will make the Ascended route completely unplayable for anyone who role plays as a person who likes/loves Astarion for how he has interracted with them for the entirety of the game up to Ascension, and if they leave it as is it makes no sense.
This does not only apply to Astarion but the Minthara romance also has its issues since this patch and I fear for the other romances. Its a slippery slope that everyone who still cares about the game should make every effort possible to prevent. A characters entire story arc ending changing in such a massive way nearly 8 months after release is not something I have ever experienced in any other game and I hope never to again.
I voted for this game for game of the year based on what I was playing at the time - sadly if I had to vote now I would vote for something else.
