I'm convinced that in a romance, happy faces are the main line.
I heard that the issue of "Tav's faces" is not new, after patch 6 I started paying more attention to my Tav's face. Where the character was angry or afraid.
Sometimes Tav is a bit distrustful - but that's all details. Sometimes I'd prefer a neutral face at certain points.
When Astarion first drinks Tav there face of horror and reluctance. I realize that vampire spawn don't inspire a sense of trust in Faerun. However, Tav agrees to it. So in my opinion it makes more sense to stay still, of course if the dice are rolled right.
You said it right about empathy. I would even say a person's sense of art. There are different systems of character work. Stanislavsky suggests making an image step by step and looking within. Chekhov suggests creating an image of a character and then improving it - "From the outside to the inside."
When we see an emotion we start to think why, to improve that image, "why could it be like that?".
Beyond the image, there's the context of the story. Also most of the answer lines that show the overall atmosphere of the story. Patch 6 turned that into runes.
Patch 5 did not cause much concern, there was a strange moment that all companions can be kissed, hugged. Astarion on the path of evil cannot be touched. Astarion on the path of good cannot be kissed. I can interpret this in a variety of ways.
Which won't mean much considering we can hug Minthara, Sharr SH too.
Fanservice that Astarion partially dodged.
But now I'm worried about adding other interactions, especially in a romance. Like a hug or something.
The desire to delve in and improve an image about distrust, sadness and fear when it doesn't fit the context of the story, especially in intimate things I certainly don't have.
