Yes, there is indeed a scene in the game that is mentioned in the interview. It is in the second act regardless of how you got it, through Araj or through killing Orton. And your player can force Astarion into intimacy. The way Astarion looks afterward is tantamount to him sobbing over Cazador's corpse. It's a hard scene. And Astarion breaks up with the player for it.
In my opinion, adding this scene a good decision. Because those players who got into the character and listened to him will never have this scene. And those who are eager to play the sex store or weren't attentive enough to hear Astarion will get an unpleasant surprise.
Thanks, I thought that it's probably some of the lines that are impossible to click on, but I don't remember the whole dialog so well, or rather, I remember my lines well, because I repeatedly replayed this scene for the sake of hugs, but there are a lot of lines in this scene and bad lines are more often erased from memory, so if you have a choice, as if you immediately "turn away" from them, so to speak, with a "mental gaze". I'll find it on YouTube and watch this scene.
Yes, this is certainly a good and strong decision. The only thing I think is that Astarion's novel as a whole lacks balance. Lots of strong or not-so-strong heavy scenes that yes, are worth finding on youtube to better expose it, but you still need to know what those scenes are - in some cases it's obvious, like it's clear that there's a variant where Astarion bites Oblodra, some aren't obvious, like this one for example. The beautiful moments are definitely there too, but there aren't many options for " lovingly" roleplaying, some scenes don't have it at all. And not only about the scenes after the Ascension, but also, for example, in the scene where Astarion tries to feel his scars - the first scene in which I got angry with the lines - either something in the style: "Shut up and turn around", or a line in the style: "Well, whatever you want...", which at first seemed to me more respectful of his personal space, but also sounds rather indifferent and cold, and there is no normal line at all. I mean, there are many scenes in the game that I will never see in my own game, or never see at all unless I'm prompted to find that scene on youtube, and compared to that, there seems to be few of any warm, heartfelt scenes that would touch my soul in my own game on each playthrough.
I've never been a read fanfic. I've never been on the forums. And I never even went on YouTube to watch content on the game. But, after patch 6, I became interested in other people's opinions on what they think of the characters, how they see them? How they see the possible continuation of their stories. Because, I felt hurt that I suddenly didn't understand Astarion's true story and was punished with "kisses like that". And thought, am I the only one like that? Or are there others who didn't like it either?
I first appeared on the forum after my "ordeals" with my knees, after I had already gone through them. On the one hand, I was very indignant and angry about the so-called "good" ending, which I spoilered because of my nerves, and I just wanted to speak out about this "good", because I had never seen such "good" in games before. And I really wanted to share my experience that everything would be fine after the kneeling scene, because I myself at one time only encountered UA opinions on it, which made me much more nervous than this scene could have done, and if I had talked to any of the AA fans before going through this scene, a few days of sleep problems and thrashing around, along with the subsequent doomed desire to go "against the goodness' arbitrary will" into some bad option, wouldn't have happened at all. And I really wanted to tell about it somehow, so that someone who, maybe, just like me, had a hard time with this scene at first, would read it and stop being tormented, to tell them that everything would actually be fine, to share their long-suffering experience, so to speak. With the kissing, besides the first pain I experienced, I also had a very heavy thought for the first time that Astarion is only suitable for someone who likes it, and I am therefore not the right person for him. Or I have to find some "switch" in myself that will make me like it and then I won't lose him. Then my brain finally turned on instead of my emotions, I saw that no one liked it, that it was just a made up example of abuse someone had put into our game. And I really wanted to find out who did it and why. Well, it turned out to be quite possible to find out.
I don't want to see that kind of content in my game. When I put my heart into my character and my love interest, I suddenly get:
a. no spark in the relationship.
b. I've been cheated on.
c. he turns out to be a hidden sadist.
d. some other nasty option.
I won't buy a game like that. I don't want to sit at the screen with a half-played game and say: "How could you do that?". That's enough in real life, and in a game that's supposed to be a refuge from everything that's going on and a solace, I don't want that, sorry. People can have difficult times in their lives when they have no one to talk to, get advice, or at least be alone with themselves, but your pixelated friend from the screen says, "It's okay, you're the best." And it feels good.
But if your pixel friend suddenly starts insulting you, undeservedly and unjustifiably, I don't even know what to say....
And for that matter, now I'd rather read the most tabloid and vanilla fanfic where there's no sadism and insults, or I'll make up my own story while never turning the game on again, than ride the rusty rails of "violence" as a tool of art.
Exactly. I'd rather do something in real life, even something unpleasant, like a full-fledged general cleaning of the whole apartment, but it would be a result, some practical benefit, not just wasted time. No, I don't consider the time spent with Astarion "wasted", on the contrary, it's very valuable to me. And the fact that it was with him, not some other character in some other game, but it was him that they did it with. Yes, now I know that this happens in games, now I know which author's name should be on my personal blacklist, products with which content I will never buy, but I just want Astarion back. The way he was in patch 5, the rest can still be fixed with headcanons, skip, say out loud real lines, but you can't skip through those kisses. Just not touching him, and that hurts too. So I personally believe (but this is just my opinion) - that those kisses are the "point" in this trashy "abuser" story, precisely because it can't be ignored, corrected in your head, reinterpreted by headcanons. The lion's share of the novel is in the headcanon, in the lines spoken aloud in front of the screen, in the "improved" scenes played out in my fantasies. It took something to "show abuse" in a game, something that would break all your "defenses." When I got into those kisses for the first time, I wasn't even looking at Tav, but into Astarion's eyes, repeatedly repeating the same actions. When talking to him "yourself" in these scenes, it's even worse, in which case his reaction becomes kind of sadistic in a special way. I never did it again, though I did go back into the game later to test and analyze it. So I don't think that one should just dutifully fold arms and accept that someone wants to play with "edgy and unusual" stories. And that their "winning" should be an example of success for those "authors" who want something similar. "When in a player-driven romance have you ever...?" in this case sounds to me like some unlicensed "doctor" showing a youtube video about how to discreetly slip some nasty stuff to a patient called "experimental drug", saying it's a new word in medicine. Yes, the game can't cause physical harm, but emotional harm it can. I will always be against "abusing" and "gaslighting" a player in games.
I think your last point is fair, but the connection I'm making is the fact that they said they're interested in portraying abuse in a game, and the discourse around AA has largely centered around whether or not he's abusive, and making players who choose the AA path feel bad because they picked the "abuse" path. If they are in the fanfiction scene, there's a non-zero chance they're aware of this discourse and aware of how AA fans are treated and talked about, and I think if that is the case that they are aware, there's a certain amount of responsibility they have to address it now that they've been given this position to actually shape the canon of the story. Plenty of creators will call out bad behavior of their content's fans, and I guess by not addressing it, it makes me feel ways about stuff, like maybe they agree with it. I'm really not trying to approach this in bad faith, but the connection in my brain is, "People are telling me AA is abusive and I'm stupid for liking him > Writer says they are interested in portraying abuse in the game > Does this mean they endorse the idea that AA is abusive?"
Of course, no one will talk about the AA romance directly, it's too "edgy", it should be "swept under the rug". But it does apply to Astarion. Is there any other character who has been made a tool to show "how a partner becomes abusive"? At least, I think that if an author wants to show abuse, such an author should write a separate character for that, on their own, "from scratch". Specifically "for that." To show all their "flags" and "bells" as they want and as they like, so that players who fall in love with a completely different character conceived by another author don't get such a shock in the game. Development Consistency. Because, otherwise, it's not only spoiling and distorting another author's creation, it's also the truest deception.
