I think that gets to a lot of what bothers me about the AA hate discourse. I definitely feel this twinge of kinkshaming to the criticism. I mentioned before that a clip of post-Ascension Astarion telling Tav "you await my command" seemed to instill a lot of ill feelings in people who don't prefer that path and is one of the many pieces of evidence presented that AA is abusive (and to be fair, some folks who like AA don't like that line either). I'll out myself a bit too and say that line felt like it was speaking directly to my kinks. Every time I re-watch that scene you pretty much have to peel me off the floor.
100 % agree. A lot of people criticize and blame other people, kinkshaming included, for choosing AA route without the understanding WHY a lot of people WANT and LIKE this route.
Originally Posted by jinetemoranco
Honestly, while I know this isn't a perfect answer to what's being asked for here, I think a lot of posters here would find a romance that's more suited to what they're looking for (in regards to healthier D/S dynamics with an evil elf, at least) by playing Marazhai's romance in Rogue Trader. That romance does a lot of what's being asked for here, and it's quite popular and well liked.
Honestly, I don't think that you know what players, who are into D/s or kinks, like, want or what they are looking for in a fantasy setting. There are different tastes.
But most of us (also players who are not into D/s) don't like when other people (e.g. Larian, not you!) try to dictate what we should like, how we should feel or what we should look for in a fantasy game. And that's what a lot of people are complaining about with patch 6 and want to be changed. Although recommending a good game might be a nice thought and there might be players, who prefer other stories or games.
There is no perfection in a game. Some people may like this and dislike that, that's normal, there is no story which is perfectly written to all tastes, and there can't be. Some may find the Emperors choice great, some dislike it, some think it's a great script, some think it's a bad script. But that doesn't mean players dislike the game or the stories in general, just because there may be a scene or a voice line not to their personal taste.
As I remember well, you already agreed with the majority, that Larian shouldn't force or dictate for the majority inappropriate non-con on the player's character, in an everyday kiss, which before patch 6 was always con.
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What's inappropriate is, to dictate players how they should feel or play. There are consequences in RPGs, but no punishment of players. Such a system is not appropriated . And wouldn't work.
As we could see in the evil run, which has less content than a good run. Players (whether they are morally good or bad) who decide to make an evil run and let their tav take over at the end, besides of having less quests during their journey, will get a more or less bad ending (in the sense of, not so well done in comparision to other endings, very short). Funny but even Astarion complained about you, what you have done, right after encouraging you. So there are people who think, making evil choices in BG3 punishes the player (if it's true or not I don't judge here), because there is less content = less hours, and shorter endings.
A quick side note: When announcing the new evil endings, some people suggested in the discord channel: Don't improve the evil endings! If players choose the bad/evil ending, they should (!) feel bad (!) about it! (They = real players.)
Did the "evil run" or evil ending with less content, teach the players, who chose it, anything? Did they rethink their lives? Or how they like to roleplay in a game? Well. No, of course not. It's impossible to force people or dictate them how they should "feel" or play, you can surpress them, you can blame them, kinkshame, but you cannot form them to your will. You cannot force people to dislike things or the opposite to like things, or change their personalities. Or tastes. You can only surpress them and make them angry on you. A method of teaching and punishment in an RPG is more than dubios. You find such things in some other systems.
In an RPG people play different characters, whatever they play, it's not of the business of others. There should be consequences in the story, but never punishment.
"I would, thank God, watch the universe perish without shedding a tear."
