Originally Posted by Marielle
Originally Posted by Sini
If you have a romance with Gale, he will leave you after talking to Gortash if it comes out that it was all your plan. His love for you can't have been particularly great, even if you are a "little lamb" Dark Urge who has forgotten everything and wants nothing to do with the previous life. I see Gale as a hypocrite. I'd rather be an "evil bastard" for Astarion, whom I freed with my plan. My Dark Urge always kills Gale.

Interesting, Gale, it turns out, can betray his beloved. While he himself was betrayed and abandoned by Mystra, and continues to suffer and reminisce about her regularly (in a friendly walkthrough). I wasn't deeply interested in other people's romances, except for a few videos of major scenes for curiosity's sake, but it's interesting, and the romance reveals additional facets of the companion's character that you might not realize in a friendly walkthrough. I noticed the hypocrisy in him too, and without the romance. He wants to kick Astarion out of the camp after finding out he's a vampire, while walking around himself with a bomb in his chest and consuming artifacts. If you give Shadowheart to Viconia, Gale shows himself to be cruel and indifferent to her fate. He threatens to explode in the second chapter, you run around him, convince him not to do it, like, you persuaded him, but if Tav/Du agree that Gale should explode - he'll immediately backtrack, he doesn't want to do it at all, he wants to be a “selfless hero” who is persuaded (though he can sacrifice himself and blow up the Brain in the finale, I don't know how exactly it happens, I've only seen the epilogue with the results of this decision). And, of course, his line in the finale towards the unfortunate Astarion who wasn't given the Ascension. It's almost as if Gale takes pleasure in Astarion's vulnerability and pain. Gale does react adequately to the Ascension, though; he now seems wary of angering Astarion (“He can also be a dangerous adversary”) and behaves politely (during the ritual itself, of course, yelling that he must not do so). I liked Gale at first as a companion - he's smart, he has interesting lines, but then I saw his cowardice, selfishness - I don't think these traits are bad in themselves, it's a consequence of survival instinct, but he's so moral, so eager to look good and behave accordingly, that as soon as “moral concepts”, as it seems to him, allow, - the meanness comes out. Hypocrite is a very apt and succinct definition of his character. Astarion never betrays his beloved, no matter what decisions you make in the game's storyline.

Wow, I didn't know he dumps Durge like that. I didn't use him much in my game since my chara was the main wizard of the group, but the more things I discover about him the less likeable he becomes.

Originally Posted by Marielle
Rogue magazine

Awesome! laugh

Originally Posted by Marielle
Originally Posted by Celesti4
Very much in agreement with this. I would have really appreciated if we were rewarded with a special dialogue or scene with him to acknowledge that we never started relationships with any other character, nor slept/flirted with anyone else. That same thought has crossed my mind more than once while playing the game. It almost feels like you're expected to experiment and flirt around, and you get some extra dialogues that way, but there's little to no reactivity if you remain faithful to your chosen partner from the beginning. Especially when it comes to Astarion, who is already a bit fragile and tentative when it comes to relationships, due to his past (I believe someone mentioned that Shadowheart even acknowledges this if you choose him over her in a love triangle early on). I just didn't want to flirt with other characters once I've decided on who I wanted to romance in the game.

Yes, I've read that in BG3 there's as much as two hours of content dedicated to cheating, reactions to it, choices between different partners and the like (with all companions in total, not just Astarion). It's a shame that in the pursuit of such innovation in romance, the authors completely forgot about those players who want a beautiful story of true faithful love (maybe love at first sight, or first bite, why not? astarionhappy) and there's not a single line that takes into account such an attitude towards the beloved at all. During the first game, I was a bit confused at all why almost everyone is trying to seduce me, as if they were blind and couldn't see that I was with Astarion. And most importantly, okay, they're trying, everyone may think they're the most charming and attractive, but I myself have no way to say anything about our relationship with Astarion.

Really, it's like we're expected to do this experimenting and flirting, well okay, some will appreciate the opportunity, and some like to play seriously and with immersion. And after all, for Astarion, fidelity would be especially valuable, it would make him feel more confident and better about himself. It's him, not Will or Gale, that the game allows to be dragged into a "threesome with Halsin", and there's a very heavy scene with him in a brothel (Will and Gale avoid that pain too). So why not make a scene for true love with fidelity as well? A fair balance is when there's a bad scene and there's a good one. There are tons of bad scenes with Astarion. Let's not count all the breakup scenes and other bad scenes, specifically about fidelity - here are two situations with infidelity, there's also infidelity with Mizora, with the Emperor, early love triangles with the entire compaine are spelled out, companion lines for that, and on the other side... Zero. "Evil is isolation", fidelity is a void? Fidelity exists in real life relationships, so there should be room for it in game relationships too.

Certainly looks like Larian is promoting the hookup culture. C'mon now, all the breakup scenes are cool, after all they make our romances "better", don't they? wink rolleyes