I got the same thing, only in the opposite sense - Larian punished me for being “overly” empathetic and sympathetic to a fictional character. I wasn't going to allow the option for Astarion to “remain a spawn forever” and burn in the finale to the taunts of the companions. For that, the game forced me to endure scenes of 3 types of domestic violence as a “Valentine's Day gift”. I can't play it anymore. The worst part is that many other people in our fandom who have experienced SA/DA in real life have relived their traumas because of these trigger scenes.
That’s something that should not happen, and I think that should be reason enough to re-work these scenes.
Similar to how games nowadays mostly avoid too strong flashing lights to avoid triggering epileptic seizures.
They may not be able to undo the damage caused already, but they should fix that for the definite edition (which I hope will come).
That Astarion would be broken and evil after Ascension was something hinted at multiple times, so I think that’s not surprising, but the scenes should not trigger common traumas (and sadly domestic violence traumas are common in our society).
Maybe they misjudged that, because they had their intimacy coordinators who made sure this was OK for the actors, but they did not check enough for the impact on players.
Or maybe the actors did not know the larger context of the scenes — how little parts of them match the development that came before them in the plot is described in the article (in German).
Regardless of the reason: that’s something they should fix. Because from watching these scenes, I would see ending the relationship at once as the only option. The ascension obviously causes Tav to hate the intimacy, without any ambiguity, so I see no reason the character would ever ask for it again.
Originally Posted by Marielle
But I'm very interested in other players' opinions on this. Tell me please, would you like to see such a thing in a romantic relationship with your favorite companion in your game? Would you be interested in this way of developing your romantic relationship? Does this approach to relationships make for a better story?
Yes, I prefer having these bad options. Ideally with a way out. But if not: I also like playing a devils bargain in a game to have a better idea later about the consequences of that.
I once played someone who betrayed all his friends. That taught me that this is something I cannot stomach. That to me losing everything would be preferable to betraying my friends.
I can’t get that kind of self-reflection without trying it out.
