I would like to add a few words about the importance of understanding their audience for game developers and authors. If we talk about the female audience of RPG games, it is clearly not limited to individuals squealing with joy at the prospect of "having two guys at the same time" or "kissing everyone in the camp". Such audience, of course, will come to the game with brothels and halsins, and will bring a certain amount of money to the developers' piggy bank, but this is not the RPG audience, RPG in its very essence implies the possibility of roleplaying, realism and immersion in the game world. You can give out content for "polyamorous" as much as you want, but it should not lead to humiliation and disregard for the feelings of those players for whom the characters you created represent something more than "pixel men for dating".
"I am more than a thing to be used" - I am reminded of these words of Astarion during his confession in the second act. Indeed, such a lively and beautifully written character, with such a voice and facial expressions (thanks to Neil's excellent voice acting), a face so realistic that the shots from the game with him are like photos of a living person, with his history, with his unique character, is it hard to imagine that part of the audience of players will love him and perceive him differently than a "pixel man for fun"? That there is a right to exist not only a superficial perception in the style of "pick this or that, click the mouse and see what happens"? That a game so realistic visually should also be realistic story-wise, the player came to an RPG, the player doesn't want to ride the rails, especially when those rails resemble a horror ride. We get on a wagon that says "For D/s audience", ok, if it helps Astarion and makes him happy, especially since the other wagon is painted in the colors of dreariness and the seats in it are painfully scalding. We ride along and scenes from the movie "Three Kinds of Domestic Violence" with us as the victim pop up in our faces. The D/s audience is also "delighted" - when you are presented with a "rapist and victim" story under the sauce of desired content, one can only "marvel" at the author's understanding of the audience.
It is normal when a player wants to give everything to their favorite character, when they want their favorite character to win, to be happy, the player has the right to change the worldview and not to bend to the "good" world, but to bend this world to Astarion. A player doesn't go into an RPG for feeling like a loser. A pathetic loser with a "crown on their head", who is applauded and admired by everyone, is, sorry, not for everyone. And a victim of violence - this is not suitable for anyone at all. Not everyone, alas, is capable of superficial perception and sexual objectification of "pixel men", of dutifully accepting "moral lessons" and of eating the traumatizing "cycle of abuse" nonsense when they buy AAA-class RPGs.
Dear screenwriters, please respect your audience as well. Astarion was probably not originally conceived to put a "toxic white male" image on him to satisfy the dissatisfied life of particularly aggressive "feminists" (in quotes, because these individuals who demand more violence and insults for other women have nothing to do with real feminists). If players respect and love the character you've created, they deserve to be able to play with it the way they want. Players have the right to see Astarion happy, to see Astarion, not a fake sadist in his place.
We are all waiting for patch 7. Please fix the "kisses".
