Originally Posted by Elly
I don't want to rely on mods for this either, as mods have no influence on what the game itself implies.

Sorry, but that sounds selfish.
Then the same can be said for those who ask to keep the patch 6 animation. So if I want to play as the happy couple, I can't do it, since that animation will exist in the game, implying a different story?

Originally Posted by Elly
Yes, I know. That was what I meant; a lack of options in the epilogue doesn't have to mean the options shouldn't be there or wouldn't make sense.

The lack of options in the epilogue may also imply freedom of interpretation.
а. Tav does not wish to ask for freedom, he is happy
б. Tav can't ask anyone for help

I don't think it's necessary to add more dialog or narrator narration about it. It is up to the player myself to decide the reason for this.

Originally Posted by Elly
I personally don't think that would be the right solution. Having Astarion constantly adhere to what Tav demands like that would feel very unfitting for this version of him and give the impression that they are ordering him around, in my opinion. (I know there is a choice in the scene where he turns Tav, but that's a different situation than asking for a kiss, before Tav is his spawn, and not a repeatable action.)

You are free to interpret it that way in your story. However, this choice would allow to come to a possible golden mean, where roughly-new kisses of patch 6-7, gently- old animation. However, this ambiguity goes to branching out into the already accepted choice of AA or UA, and in my opinion is unfair to other companions neglected, unlike Astarion as a whole.