Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Patch 6 Destroyed Player Agency with Astarion

For those who have not seen the news about this topic, please see the new community update #28!
https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=945135




I'm very happy and relieved to see this news. As many others, I am sure, I was feeling like we were not being heard, and that this issue would likely not be addressed. I'm looking forward to seeing what changes have been made.^^

I'm so relieved I'm actually crying. It's ridiculous how much this means to me. Now I really can not wait for Patch 7!

I am so glad! Thank you Larian ♡♡♡ I always believed in you.

Tthank you very much, Celesti4! That's good to hear.
the character is a little bit confused, I think? Understandably it's a subtle, sensual work, in the night scene it was done very carefully and with respect to those who like that kind of dynamic in games and romance.
It's important to match the mood and music even so people enjoy it and don't feel judged or mocked, especially when it's something intimate.
I hope the 7th patch will be fine.
It was weird from the beginning to change the already happy kisses to ones that fit 2-3 character lines and completely contradict a dozen others. Especially for a dark urge.
Not everyone wants to play the victim who approaches the kiss themselves and fears\hates Astarion when he doesn't restrain himself, it seems.
I wonder if they'll add the new neck bite kisses that modder found in the game files. Maybe before the battle or in the epilogue.

We'll see

Hold up! Wait a minute! Neck bite kisses ? As Tav says on wanting to spend one last night togheter: "Yes, please!"

I can't believe Larian actually heard us 😭

To the creators and all who worked on this at the Larian studio THANK YOU. Thank you for taking this into account!

Also big thank you to all here who didn't give up, and to the modding community who created facial expressions for us in the meantime. I have no doubt every bit of change and discussion has helped.

Thank you Larian for taking the time to address the issue!! I can finally play the game again! I'm so excited.

While I'm grateful and a bit surprised that Larian actually listened, which I had a hard time believing they would do after all these months, I'll reserve my judgment about the new iteration once I see more than the short GIF preview. While Tav still doesn't look happy, she's finally no longer terrified of Astarion, which is a huge improvement. I doubt we'll ever hear why the initial kisses were animated in such a problematic way.

For sure, it's a good day for AAmancers and a bad one for our haters.


Do tell us more, I haven't heard about any neck bite kisses!

It’s a pity that this is the first post I happened to read when checking out this thread, where I’d been hoping people would be happy about today’s announcement.

Too often what is meant by a “hater” is “someone who disagrees with me”, and describing them as the former is negative and provocative, especially if celebrating their possible disappointment.

Please let folk revel in positive news, without dragging factionalism and beefs from elsewhere into the discussion!

Thank gods Larian changed the facial expression
It really nice to know that you were heard

About expression - it's not ideal (in my opinion), but it is much much better
I will be able to play the game again

I'm ecstatic we were heard, and quite satisfied with a neutral facial expression for Tav/Durge.

I've always been of the opinion that a neutral face is the best canvas, because it doesn't impose a singular narrative. It preserves the ability of those who want to imagine a dark romance and of those who prefer the cycle of abuse narrative. Everyone gets to tell their story in their game.

I'm glad we've been heard. It's just great news. Only a slice of the video was shown, but it's certainly what a lot of people wanted.
I thought I saw a face with a raised eyebrow. And it's it neutral and maybe little playful.
It's not a grimace of horror or a crazy smile of happiness, I think that's exactly the right thing to do.
Thanks Larian <3

To be honest I felt a little bit complicated when I saw the news. It's hard to say whether I want to "thank" Larian, because I think this is a problem that should have been solved a long time ago. Or this problem shouldn't appear at all. I think a game company shouldn't be too arrogant trying to teach players how to understand their rp, what is right or wrong, or how to play the game. BG3 is a 18+ game, not a fairy tale, nobody purchased this game for punishment, everyone here is for fun. I hope I don't have to hear "you should be punished because you choose this way to play" in any other games in the future, just let everyone be happy, after all it's just a game, not real life.

Yay!!!! Thank you so much Larian for listening to the Ascended Astarion fans and removing the fear and humiliation from Tav's face from the new Ascended Kisses.

This is being true now to what I believe was the original intent for Astarion's storyline and is in keeping with D&D Lore for a Vampire Bride.

I very much hope your new Mod platform will allow us console players to also upload the Hugs and Kisses Mods on Nexus as I want all the options, the mods have been busy giving us amazing options for Spawn and Ascended Astarion as well as letting Tav show affection/lust on all our most loveable companions and more.

Having the original game be more in line now with the love story of Astarion and Tav is a win for both ascended and spawn storylines. Thank you again!

Ohhh, I'm so happy!

This is what I saw too! A little raised eyebrow. Playful but neutral enough that players who want their angst/melodrama can still get it. But it's not forced on everyone.

It looks like a cheeky, "oh, we're doing this? Okay >:)" kind of calm expression. Which suits it perfectly imo. I can't even express how happy I am with what I've seen so far.

Thank you Larian, for making us feel seen and heard with your communication. I am personally looking forward to your works that will be coming in Patch 7. I appreciate all of your hard work and dedication to the fans of the game. Yes, it is obvious that Astarion is my favorite character, right along with my Tav. I also appreciate all you do to help us continue to play the wonderful game that we love. I can not wait for September to see all your great works and hope to continue to read wonderful things that will be coming in September.

"This is a gift you know. I won't forget it."

Thank you.

I feel the same. :') I'm feeling relief for everyone who felt so passionate about getting this issue fixed, and everyone who played a part in their own way in making this change happen. I'm thankful to all those who kept this conversation going and everything that was done to help get our thoughts over to Larian. It looks like we really were heard. <3 I'm relieved that the voices of the AA romance fans were the ones which were listened to (in regards to this issue).

I agree! I hope most of the issues will be addressed in Patch 7. It is still sad that it happened in the first place and that some players were hurt by it. But I'm thankful Larian is now addressing this.

And I will chime in with the others: New neck bite kisses??? This just gets more and more exciting
I'd be so happy if we got an epilogue kiss, which I was sorely missing, or if the kiss before the final battle is replaced with a new one.

From the very short clip, it looks to me like a neutral face (with tense anticipation or expectation?) which is what many people were hoping for and can fit to most people's RPing style and playthroughs doing the AA romance. I think people can likely see what they want to see in it (unlike before, where a look of fear and horror was too clearly put upon the player). I hope that the character's expressions after the kisses will also no longer look unhappy/upset.

I haven't been here in a long time but I thought I'd stop by to say THANK YOU so much Larian!!! I can't believe they actually listened to us, they were so quiet like they didn't care but apparently they DID care and that's what separates them from other companies, no one can deny that, no other company would do this much for their fans seriously. I played the game again and I actually got used to the new kisses, just not the facial expressions, those I'll never get used to so I'm really excited and happy that they are getting changed 😊

I've written feedback to Larian several times about them, perhaps that helped, not just from me of course but from me and many others I assume. I also wrote to them a lot about his act 3 scene after he ascended, I asked for the original long version but it's a long shot, don't think that they'll ever put that one back in unfortunately.

I'm very happy that my Dark Urge no longer has to look like a scared deer. It wasn't easy to somehow logically reinvent this facial expression into the RP with an evil Dark Urge. I thank Larian for listening to the fans and, in my opinion, making the right decision.

I also really hope that other players, who don't prefer Ascended Astarion, get improvements to the story and romance of their favorite companions.

I hope Larian doesn't think like my Dark Urge and AA survives the evil end with the Dark Urge and they dominate the world together until the world ends in thousands of years, rode together into the sunset and lived happily ever after, etc etc *looks suspicious*. Not that I have to experience an even worse surprise. ....You wouldn't?

First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who left feedback, and also thanks Larian for listening to us.

I would like to believe that we will not have another disappointing surprise in patch 7. I can't wait to see the changes, because from the small preview it's not quite clear what happens before the kiss, after the kiss, etc. But that's the details...thanks again.

I'd just like to say thank you to Larian for listening.
Tav's expression does look much better; I'm looking forward to seeing the changes in full.

I'm not going overboard here, because it is very hard to judge from such a brief preview and after Patch 6, I'm inclined to wait and see. That said, I am quietly optimistic.

I'd also like to thank the OP for making this thread and everyone else who came out and asked for a change.