Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Restoring the Astarion Scenes from EA

Larian seems to have taken care to keep the scenes from EA. They were recycled in the Pad version. Without the cinematography and dialog, which unfortunately resulted in them being cut.
Probably each companion should have had a synimatic and a little dialog - however, it was labor and time consuming.

BG3 6 Patch


Astarion: Raising the dead is easier than capturing slaves. The drow in Menzoberranzan could learn something.
Astarion: They're just husks. I couldn't care less if they're slaves or building material.

Astarion: I didn't take these refugees for killers. Maybe I've misjudged them

However, I think the best decision was to leave whole key character scenes like the mushroom servants.
Without dialog, some lines can't exist. Astarion responds "Maybe if thinking creatures - I'd care, but maybe not" when the player points out his hypocrisy in this, since he was a slave himself.
And the goblin Sazza. Nettie and poison.
These too are important details of personality, his view of the world.

These phrases didn't work at all for me in the game. You'd have to be grouped together to hear it. And wait for the right Pad to trigger. It takes time, too.

I think the solution would be a combination.
Some scenes to make PAD. And to keep the style - do little reaction scenes like this occasionally in the next acts that are important to the characters' personalities, to each their own.
However, since people are already used to each scene in Act 1 leaving them whole would have been better.

I'd call the scene with Arabella pretty important to Astarion as a character - but there's already an about an undisclosed magistrate-history in there.
It was also cut like the others but there may have been a plot reason here.
However, he himself says he was "getting rid of trouble makers". Just the extra emphasis on that in the Arabella hook-scene - which keeps the suspense going, but there's no continuation of that line.
For example, Astarion was once in Menzoberranzan and killed a gnome there for fun.
Astarion barks. If you poke at his portrait during battle.
How, way and when? To do anything in Menzoberranzan, a high elf has to be quite a jerk, as someone who has been playing dnd for a long time told me. And most likely mortal. (I don't think that's a joke, let's put it that way)
Given the tendency to or woobification or b\w, and the information about no DE plans - chances are it won't be revealed at a high level or at all.
Although Astarion tempts for evil, shows what fun chaos it is to be evil. b\w doesn't tempt.