You have to be silent when Astarion deceives his brother and sister, and then choose "I can't believe you deceived them" and "you have no compassion for those who suffer as you do?" Then Astarion will say that no one has ever cared for him.
It comes from the first text response you can give right after the battle with them, where you can say to him, "I can't believe how you lied to them..." and then choose the "Do you have sympathy for..."
I believe it comes up as a response if you either choose deception or persuasion dialogue responses when they first appeared.
Here is a clip I put together of his responses from my gameplay recording:
I love how he looks when he says "So we'll both be safe, forever. For good." His face looks so determined and strong-willed, and I can see he's very serious about it.
Thanks! For some reason I thought this option sounded like an accusation, I didn't choose it and was puzzled by the fact that there are no caring lines, I thought that since Astarion talks about caring, I should say something caring to him beforehand, and the only show of caring in this scene is helping to trick the spawns (if you can call that caring :)). And this is an extra line that gives more as a result. In the next playthrough, I'll be saving at the beginning of dialogs with Astarion to see more. I've often had moments in the game where it's unclear whether it's an extra cue that will expand the dialog, or a "cue choice" that leads to one finalizing or another.
My sweet, I'll answer in more detail later.
In the meantime I'll leave the video of shame there.
I still have to laugh about that mistake. Astarion prepares the battle so well... We could have thrown the arrows by hand and shouted "Phew Phew" lol
But ok, we killed them and it could have been a lot worse.
Cool, honor mode to go through with two, good tactics using bombs and retreats, looks like it could really be in some fantasy story or DnD!
Edit: There are some very good builds for Astarion. As AA he has an additional +1d10 necrotic Dmg with each attack, which makes him very powerful. Personally, I really like him as a gloomstalker. I personally enjoy playing the bard and I really like the bardadin (as Dark Urge "Hello Oathbreaker my friend" *wave*
). The protector build would go well with Astarion ,for example, if you play with two people in melee. As long as I have a little less AC than Astarion, they would basically attack me and as soon as they attack me, it triggers a reaction from Astarion. I could just as easily imagine him in an Assassin Rogue/Shadow Monk build, where he would be like my deadly lover who walks in my shadow. *meow*
Curious, will have to try different variations with him!
Yeah, that scene is unpleasant. The way he's even leaning back suggestively while scantily dressed, lol. When he stands up, I swear he purposely did it in a way where his clothes move so you can see underneath his cloth.
I like being rude to him during this scene, because when you're harsh to him, it makes him completely drop his mask, and shows you what he really thinks about you and why he's acting that way. It also shows you what he did to
I completely missed all of those details during my first playthrough all because I was being too polite to him.
Oh, thank you! Now I won't be too polite!
I agree. It's fine for those who enjoy roleplaying it that way, but that doesn't prove that AA doesn't love your Tav/Durge. Those are just opinions. I guess people can twist context clues to suit their needs. But you can easily do a whole playthrough without ever having him yell at you nor showing any displeasure towards you. You make a wonderful point: Of course if you say hurtful things to him, he's going to be angry. Especially when you consider that he does love you, and if you break his heart, he will be upset and will lash out (and possibly tries to convince himself of what he's saying, too). I can just imagine how disappointed he would be if you treated him that way.
I absolutely love how they added the vampire bride lore into it. They made it subtle enough, but if you follow the hints, it makes it clear what he did.
In my walkthrough, Astarion didn't yell at me once at all. We had a great relationship. In general, it's even interestingly shown - Astarion behaves like a living person, he reacts to attitudes towards him, and behaves differently with different people. A player can choose a feud story, and see love crumble, break Astarion's heart, and yes, Astarion will treat differently to THEIR Tav/DU, just don't confuse that with Astarion's attitude towards the Tav/DU of those players who love Astarion, and choose a love story. Two different stories are possible with AA, depending on the player's attitude and roleplay. The feud story is generally well written if you look at it objectively, although I don't like this story at all for personal reasons, I can't and don't want to roleplay a character so opposite to myself in personality and character, and I would never do that to Astarion. And it's a pity that this story is given more attention, while there are not many options for loving roleplay, very few opportunities in the story to show Astarion my love, I think it would be much better to keep some kind of balance between positive and negative, in terms of the number of lines and options for different options of roleplay.
Oh, AA at the epilogue party is my fav. <3 Such great (and even some funny) pieces of dialogue. I even liked the 'bad' response because it wasn't really bad. It just showed me how he doesn't want to lose you and how he tries to spoil you and give you the world.
Hehe, the way he says he's always watching.
It made me laugh when I first heard it because I wasn't expecting it, but damn I loved that. It can be interpreted in a couple of different ways, but I like the idea that my character always has Astarion there to watch over you, making sure you don't wander off and hurt yourself (the scene where you recklessly stick your hand into the wall at Moonrise Towers comes to mind, lol), and making sure no one harms you. The writing here was done well and I thought it was kind of tongue-in-cheek.
Yes, yes, now you'll be able to make cute sad eyes in Astarion's direction, "Love, why didn't you watch me?" after you stick your hand where you shouldn't have!
And I also love the game when my character herself tries to follow Astarion's every move, because I wonder how someone who's always watching you will react to you watching him...
At the party, I'm always spying on him.
I agree with you! AA doesn't see your partnership as ordinary. He wants something that surpasses ordinary. It makes me think of Spawn's only response when you ask him what he thinks of your relationship ("Oh, nothing special..."). I know it's not meant to be taken that seriously, because he follows it up with something sweet, but I can't help but think there's something underneath his words.
Yes, he then says nice things like you're the only person he really care for, but he also coughs so embarrassed, like he's embarrassed of himself or his own words. He doesn't have the strength or ability to care properly (unlike Ascended). The relationship with UA is some kind of friendship, not love. He's not himself, in chapter 2 before Cazador the relationship was better, Astarion was more playful. I can't play with UA on an emotional level - I feel that he feels bad, he's depressed, he wears a mask of "proper behavior", I feel pained about him and there's nothing I can do about it.
And with Astarion after Ascension, it's something "more than just love". It really transcends the ordinary. Maybe that's also why it's so hard to break away from Astarion, and start playing some other game.
"50 shades of gray" is a story about how a little white vampire had a new snow-white suit made to order (Figaro decorated it with pearls), and the little vampire decided that now it was the right time to explore the mysteries of the castle dungeon and find in its dusty silent depths unknown treasures - a one-eyed skull and a dried mummy of a huge beetle (a gift for Sceleritas).
Ooh... Now this is a story I want to hear. smile
Me too .
Dust was everywhere... Dust and silence until it was broken by little Ast's loud sneeze. "Wow, I haven't climbed in here yet!" - The heir proudly stepped over the threshold of a secret door, leading, it seems, either to a small library or to a vault. The young elf's keen mind, as sharp as his ears, found a way to solve the puzzle that opened the secret door (which his keen eye had discovered before, of course) - he held Skeleritas firmly by the shoulders, facing the puzzle, whispering demandingly in Skeleritas' ear: "And we're not going anywhere from here until you open this ... Or I'm going to climb into that old trap we bypassed, and I'm going to scream and call for Mommy, and if the trap doesn't work, I'm going to climb into one of those cages we saw on the way in, break the lock like I'm stuck and can't get out - and I'm going to scream and cry even harder, and when Mommy and Daddy come, I'm going to be scared and pale and shivering, and say you're the one who locked me in here... You know how I can make eyes... Think, Skeleritas, think, every problem always has a logical solution, that's what mom says!" And when the puzzle was conquered - their reward was a small dusty room with a couple of chests and a few racks of books. "Oh, why does he have one eye? Poor dead jerk..." - The kid twirled a one-eyed skull lying on one of the shelves. The shelf quacked and pulled aside, revealing a large two-handed axe. "How am I going to get this? Well how-uh..." Scleritas grinned wryly. "Hmmm, what's that scratched on his forehead here?" - Astarion Jr. rubbed his skull and...
- Go talk to me. I'll do it. Just two. - an ominous ghost, like a cloud of gray mist, crawled out of the skull's eye socket and stared at the boy.
The Little Lord opened his mouth, but Skeleritas interrupted him.
- He's a trickster. A bound spirit, can fulfill two desires and gain freedom. But he'll do anything to make you suffer. Think what you ask, little one, or you may not have to cry and make eyes at your grandfather, asking to be delivered from what you wish for...
- Don't listen to him..." the spirit whispered, "I'll do what I can. Two wishes... Give me my freedom!
The heir thought intensely for a while, frowning and touching his fangs with his tongue (he does that a lot when he's concentrating).
- Take this axe and drive it into the rock so that no one can ever pull it out!
Skeleritas' face showed a look of keen interest as he watched with all eyes to see what would happen next... The spirit granted the wish.
- Done. Next...
- Now PULL IT OUT!
P.S. I will probably be away for a while, if anything, I'll reply later.
