And let's please stop asking for AA kisses for UA. The evil ending repurposing the Spawn kisses does not make the UA route loose them. (Though I have to say, flipping that one kiss did improve it.)
It doesn't make him loose them, but it does look pretty unfair when all the other companions have unique animations and only Spawn's kisses aren't unique to him and recycled for others.
Originally Posted by Celesti4
Let's please not start asking to take content AWAY from a character
Larian did take Spawn's content away from him in the first place and gave it to AA (Spawn's kiss with Karlach). Think about it. It's only fair to ask to restore equality, in my opinion. If Larian has no resources or time anymore to make it equal through other means.
I do not think we should be taking away any kisses from AA, hell from what I saw on the reddit post about him having a neck bite kiss then I am in support of them adding it as well. I would not mind that they repurposed his spawn kiss in the evil ending only if they had given him new kisses for UA.
Asking for his original kiss that people saw in a karlach origin but given him softer expressions, I think should be okay and a reasonable request. With that being said I truly want the kisses to be equal that would mean:
For AA he has: 1. new evil neck bite kiss that someone found files from on reddit 2. kneeling kiss 3. kiss that was in karlachs origin 4. kiss of him biting tav/durge lips
For UA he has: 1. kiss of him grabbing tav/durge ass 2. kiss of him holding their face 3. kiss from origin karlach but with less harsh expression 4. new kiss that was found in files
That to me would be very reasonable & would make the most sense so then people don't feel like one path gets more than the other. Oh and to add an endgame kiss that can be used for both AA/UA.
Edit: I also think it would be nice for him to have one kiss that is similar to UA in after his ascension because then it would show that Astarion is still himself even if he is a little rougher than before.
I do not think we should be taking away any kisses from AA, hell from what I saw on the reddit post about him having a neck bite kiss then I am in support of them adding it as well. I would not mind that they repurposed his spawn kiss in the evil ending only if they had given him new kisses for UA.
Asking for his original kiss that people saw in a karlach origin but given him softer expressions, I think should be okay and a reasonable request. With that being said I truly want the kisses to be equal that would mean:
For AA he has: 1. new evil neck bite kiss that someone found files from on reddit 2. kneeling kiss 3. kiss that was in karlachs origin 4. kiss of him biting tav/durge lips
For UA he has: 1. kiss of him grabbing tav/durge ass 2. kiss of him holding their face 3. kiss from origin karlach but with less harsh expression 4. new kiss that was found in files
That to me would be very reasonable & would make the most sense so then people don't feel like one path gets more than the other. Oh and to add an endgame kiss that can be used for both AA/UA.
Edit: I also think it would be nice for him to have one kiss that is similar to UA in after his ascension because then it would show that Astarion is still himself even if he is a little rougher than before.
I love this suggestion!
I think the origin Karlach kiss is a good candidate to be shared between them since it was originally an Act 2 Astarion kiss.
That old Karlach kiss makes no sense for a repeatable animation for everyone - and it's also not the expression that's the problem here either but the treatment, especially if you generally don't allow him to drink from you nightly.
Please remember the Karlach kiss was most likely not UA's at all and there because of a bug in testing. It didn't work unless you switched Karlach's body to body type 2, the animations were broken, and they've removed it now (not to mention, it didn't make all that much sense?)
I do not think we should be taking away any kisses from AA, hell from what I saw on the reddit post about him having a neck bite kiss then I am in support of them adding it as well. I would not mind that they repurposed his spawn kiss in the evil ending only if they had given him new kisses for UA.
Asking for his original kiss that people saw in a karlach origin but given him softer expressions, I think should be okay and a reasonable request. With that being said I truly want the kisses to be equal that would mean:
For AA he has: 1. new evil neck bite kiss that someone found files from on reddit 2. kneeling kiss 3. kiss that was in karlachs origin 4. kiss of him biting tav/durge lips
For UA he has: 1. kiss of him grabbing tav/durge ass 2. kiss of him holding their face 3. kiss from origin karlach but with less harsh expression 4. new kiss that was found in files
That to me would be very reasonable & would make the most sense so then people don't feel like one path gets more than the other. Oh and to add an endgame kiss that can be used for both AA/UA.
Edit: I also think it would be nice for him to have one kiss that is similar to UA in after his ascension because then it would show that Astarion is still himself even if he is a little rougher than before.
I also support this, Jessiemeows. Just please Larian, don't 'take away' AA's new neck kiss which hasn't even been released yet ;-;
Please remember the Karlach kiss was most likely not UA's at all and there because of a bug in testing. It didn't work unless you switched Karlach's body to body type 2, the animations were broken, and they've removed it now (not to mention, it didn't make all that much sense?)
I fail to see how repurposing the Karlach origin kiss for both AA and UA doesn't make sense. I am aware that the kiss was bugged when people first saw it in her origin run, and it possibly could have been only meant for AA but I think it would work with UA as well. Astarion comments on the pc's neck quite often so him grabbing players face to look at their neck before kissing could work well with him on a UA. This is why I think softening his expression for that kiss would make the most sense. This would also then make sense on to why he is so rough after his ascension because it would then showcase that he had always been a little bit rough when it came to tav/durge for kisses.
This is just my suggestion though, if Larian wanted to give spawn 2 brand new kisses along with adding the new evil bite kiss then so be it. I just want equal content for both routes that's all.
This definitely doesn't need to turn into spawn vs AA, for sure. I think I've mentioned before, I'd love an animation that shows his slightly more goofy side that we got a glimpse of in the graveyard scene. He's a goofball with teeth and it would be fun to see a little more of that in a post graveyard kiss animation.
And speaking of Karlach kisses, I wish they'd implement something for Tav/spawn similar to origin Astarion/karlach date here at 5:12
@jessiemeow: Firstly the explanation is in the quote you quoted. Secondly for me this is a one time situation, in Karlach's case tasting the forbidden fruit - however fitting in that context (the whole Karlach rewrite is super weird in my opinion) - can be an argument. Thirdly "softening the expression" doesn't change him yanking the player character around - if anything this leads to the same conversation having had in the multitude of other threads on the subject: "Do I want to watch my character enjoying abuse." In the unascended route this comes with the added problem that you never have the turning-night scene but instead have a scene confirming the equality of your partnership. If I should add a suggestion for a third "kiss", it would be a hug - I wouldn't even mind the original peck you could give him back. It was cute and at least some of the other characters still have their pecks too.
I'm finding the current conversation confusing and hard to follow. I agree with Anska though, that the UA/spawn Astarion route is more gentle and equal. So whatever is added needs to match that. I like the hug-kiss idea, so cute!
This definitely doesn't need to turn into spawn vs AA, for sure. I think I've mentioned before, I'd love an animation that shows his slightly more goofy side that we got a glimpse of in the graveyard scene. He's a goofball with teeth and it would be fun to see a little more of that in a post graveyard kiss animation.
And speaking of Karlach kisses, I wish they'd implement something for Tav/spawn similar to origin Astarion/karlach date here at 5:12
I'm trying to not make this a spawn vs AA thread lol, but if people don't like the Karlach origin kiss being used with spawn as well then I think the kiss you showed in the video could very much be used instead, or something similar at least. I want equal content for everyone & my suggestion was only if Larian didn't want to make another new kiss but wouldn't mind recycling the old karlach origin kiss
Originally Posted by Anska
@jessiemeow: Firstly the explanation is in the quote you quoted. Secondly for me this is a one time situation, in Karlach's case tasting the forbidden fruit - however fitting in that context (the whole Karlach rewrite is super weird in my opinion) - can be an argument. Thirdly "softening the expression" doesn't change him yanking the player character around - if anything this leads to the same conversation having had in the multitude of other threads on the subject: "Do I want to watch my character enjoying abuse." In the unascended route this comes with the added problem that you never have the turning-night scene but instead have a scene confirming the equality of your partnership. If I should add a suggestion for a third "kiss", it would be a hug - I wouldn't even mind the original peck you could give him back. It was cute and at least some of the other characters still have their pecks too.
I don't want this thread to have arguments especially regarding if AA is abusing tav/durge. Like I said this is merely my suggestion. If you don't like the karlach kiss being implemented in then that's fine! From my point of view I think it would be nice to add as I do not see it as him yanking the character around. Like I said I think it is okay to suggest reusing some of his kisses. I can just say we can agree to disagree.
Thirdly "softening the expression" doesn't change him yanking the player character around
I actually think it's very possible to slow down this movement and make it gentle, so it won't be yanking anymore. You don't even need to change any animation, just make it really slow which will completely eliminate the aggressive aspect of it.
Quote
I would hope if Larian does release these kisses it comes out with better angles
Thirdly "softening the expression" doesn't change him yanking the player character around
I actually think it's very possible to slow down this movement and make it gentle, so it won't be yanking anymore. You don't even need to change any animation, just make it really slow which will completely eliminate the aggressive aspect of it.
As jessie wrote: We'll have to agree to disagree on this.
I saw this screenshot of a datamined file on reddit and I want to ask Larian, what is wrong with these lines that they are now flagged as DEPRECATED? Why not give Spawn some new fresh lines for kisses? If anything, his current line "how could I say no?" is more problematic than these deprecated ones, in my opinion:
I saw this screenshot of a datamined file on reddit and I want to ask Larian, what is wrong with these lines that they are now flagged as DEPRECATED? Why not give Spawn some new fresh lines for kisses? If anything, his current line "how could I say no?" is more problematic than these deprecated ones, in my opinion:
hmmmm, I'm on PC so I use a mod that brings these lines back. I currently have it disabled bc I don't think the person updated it for patch 7. But I don't know why they are deprecated, I'm not a fan of the "how could I say no?" either. The lines are very cute I was thinking they would add in those lines after his quest is done in act 3 & he stays spawn.
I do have to ask though, because it puzzled me: What's goofy about the graveyard scene - or Astarion in it?
There's a glance at Tav right before Astarion goes to add a new date to the gravestone that read as a little goofy to me. Not the entire scene, just that few seconds. The line is "I should probably fix this," and it's just the slightest change in tone.
I'm not sure if "goofy" is exactly the right word because it's such a subtle change, but I'm not sure what other word to use to describe it.
I do have to ask though, because it puzzled me: What's goofy about the graveyard scene - or Astarion in it?
There's a glance at Tav right before Astarion goes to add a new date to the gravestone that read as a little goofy to me. Not the entire scene, just that few seconds. The line is "I should probably fix this," and it's just the slightest change in tone.
I'm not sure if "goofy" is exactly the right word because it's such a subtle change, but I'm not sure what other word to use to describe it.
I would have called it "conspiratorial" after all you are indulging in a spot of vandalism and symbolic necromancy during the scene.
And that might be a personal thing, but to me Astarion seems mostly more relaxed after the graveyard. He can talk about Caz without snarling his name and you can ask him harder questions without him becoming defensive as a result. I like how this is also reflected in his romantic greetings, which become less flirty and extra after the Act 3 scene. I took it as a sign, that he knows the song and dance is no longer necessary because he trust the pc to stick around, and as a result, I am quite fond of it.