I am also against this and do not agree with the OP's subjective views at all. With thread after thread being opened asking to put
abusive-looking intimate scenes
back into the game, I feel the need to speak out against it. I really don't think that Larian wants to keep any
depictions of SA/DV against the player character
in the game - and I hope they don't bring it back. It meant so much to me when I finally saw my character with him in the happier kiss animations when Patch 7 came out.

And to everyone, please be careful to NOT blame other fans for decisions that LARIAN themselves made. That can be very harmful, as it can incite hatred and encourages further harassment and aggression against a certain fanbase, who are already so often put down, mocked, and berated.
Fans can make suggestions to Larian (as they always did from the beginning) but that doesn't mean Larian always listens/agrees with it. If you look at the full patch notes, it's a huge list of changes and bug fixes; changes to facial expressions (not just for AA) was just a tiny portion of this.

You could roleplay/hc him being
abusive
before Patch 6 if you wanted to. You do not need to showcase that through a repeatable kiss action. There was nothing to explicitly show our character having to be scared of him for 7 months before Patch 6 came out (and why should they be scared? SOME of us may be roleplaying certain type of evil characters ourselves, or strong leaders who would never react like that to some kisses from their romantic partner).

Originally Posted by Rote90
Larian's own words about the ritual:
[img]https://imgur.com/a/FhNMGSV[/img]
That has nothing to do with his romance.

Quote
this game is not a dating sim. These characters have their own personality. They don't exist just to satisfy fans' wishes
That statement can also apply to you and the requests that you're making. Larian wanted to put romance, kisses, etc. in their game from the beginning.
Every other romance gets to be happy. I don't think Larian should be criticized for fixing their previous mistake and allowing players to have a happy romance with him.
Astarion's personality doesn't get altered by changing Tav's facial expression... what?

Originally Posted by AnnaMyrk
None of the developers ever referred to the AA route as the Abuse Cycle. Yes, Spawn spoke of a cycle of terror, but the meaning could be much larger, such as in the cycle of power struggles that empowered vampires are obsessed with.
This. I wish people would stop spreading this narrative around as if it were an explicit fact. And it wouldn't automatically mean he would treat his romantic partner that way.

Originally Posted by FairyAnatomi4ki
So I think that those who are unhappy with Larian's decision would be better off using a new mod for unhappy faces. I think Larian Studios knows how many people wanted kisses with happy facial expressions and why, so they made that decision. And I want to thank them for that decision.
I second this.