Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Patch 7 Ascended Astarion's kisses goes against his story as written

Why did Larian change Ascended Astarion's kisses from what they were? I don't want to disrespect those who like Ascended Astarion's new kisses, but I don't think Larian's original artistic intention was for Ascended Astarion to be a good ending for him. Instead, it was supposed to be an example of how he's repeating the cycle of abuse Cazador started. In the Spawn ending, Astarion treats you like an equal, but in his Ascended ending, he treats you like a subordinate. He breaks up with you if you don't want to become a spawn, which I think if he truly cared for you, he wouldn't do. He literally thinks you're degrading yourself by staying with him as an Ascendant. At the epilogue party, Ascended Astarion says things like this:


and this:


These are clearly signs of Ascended Astarion trying to isolate the player, which is a sign of emotional abuse. He's belittling the player for wanting a little more freedom, because in his mind he's given them everything else, so the player shouldn't be asking for more. He's refusing to interact with any of the other party members, so that if anything worsens between Tav/Durge and the other party members, he can blame them (the party) instead of himself. He's saying that if any of the other party members are unhappy with his arrangement with his consort, well, then that's their fault, and he'll be here for the player because no one else will. He's not watching the player because he's worried the player's going to hurt themselves or because he prefers to see the player indulge instead of partaking himself; he's watching the player because he doesn't want them saying anything that goes against his narrative that he and the player are happy together. The "always be watching" is an additional threat on top of that; no matter where the player goes, Astarion is always going to be watching out for them in case they say something wrong.

Ascended Astarion's original kisses were good because it shows the player how big of a mistake they made (if they ignored the several massive red flags along the way). Ascended Astarion is not gentle, despite claiming he is on the surface level (like asking for the player's opinion if they wanted to be turned gently or roughly). He sees the player as nothing more than a toy that he can use at his will. Him forcing the player onto their knees and grabbing them by the throat was an excellent choice in my opinion, because it shows how far gone he is and how trapped the player is. It's also very frustrating that players who want to see their Tav happy with the relationship had a mod available; it would've been a great way for Larian to show off installing third party mods by using this mod as an example.

There's also plenty of other Astarion fans who either agree with this reading of Astarion or are frustrated with Larian changing this specifically when there are plenty of other things that they should've changed before doing this: Wyll and Minthara, the companions' reactivity to Withers resurrecting Durge after Bhaal kills them, etc.

I think a good compromise would've been adjusting the reactivity based on how the player chose to be turned. If they wanted the rough option, they would've received the new kisses. If they wanted the gentle option, they would've received the old kisses.