Neil and Smith explicitly said that AA is Astarion as is.(...)
Neil Newbon: With Lord Astarion, we talked a lot about the idea that the cover is now off completely. So that you see him at his most terrible, and it's completely honest and he doesn't have to pretend anymore.
Adam Smith: So with Astarion, his evil ending is actually him...
Rooney and Smith deliberately avoid saying “bad ending”, they say “evil”. Because for people who know RPGs, there's a difference between evil ending and bad ending. Evil characters aren't miserable by default.
(...)Also, the script for the intimate scene says that AA and Tav look at each other with love: “Player and Astarion standing facing each other. They gaze lovingly at one another.” I.e. it's a normal bed scene between people who love each other.
(...)One of Velioth's basic rules is that strength is born from loneliness. Sharing with others is weakness. The first thing AA does is share his blood and Mephistopheles gifts with Tav. In the epilogue he also expresses bitterness, because of his loneliness (If Tav broke up with him). AA seriously deviates from the principles of Cazador and Velioth. AA - This is Astarion 2.0.
Thank you for sharing this. You make such great points.
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I also believe that the smiling kisses were not a good idea because they "force a narrative" on Tav/Durge in the same way that the patch 6 kisses did.
Then the happy kisses of the other companions would also be ,forcing a narrative' on the player. Everyone is only fixated on AA's kisses, but if it applies to him, then it should apply to all the others, too. I just don't understand these double standards.
Originally Posted by Natasy
Dead dove/ non-con should not be in place without a trigger warning. The only way to avoid it would be via meta gaming. The doubt that general audiences want to play an ab*** victim that is sprung on them as a surprise. And the fear faces create a character dynamic the story does not support, and it turns a favored and loved character into something that is triggering and harmful to many players, as well as creates an extreme inconsistency with what's already written.
I see few people arguing against RP. More simply the points above. In fact, as I and a few others have already said (/gen), "it's not about the roleplay".
For me personally it's about protecting other a***e victims, unwitting players, and myself. From my perspective, the number of players triggered by non-con being *in* the game will outweigh the number who are triggered by it *not being* in the game. So I will continue to propose it stay out of the game.
Thank you Natasy. I agree completely. This is so important to keep in mind, and for THIS reason above all else, I hope Larian never brings back Tav's old Patch 6 expressions. Even if his romance were an ab**e narrative (which I don't agree with at all...), I find those overly exaggerated faces were extremely inappropriate for them to use to illustrate that.
My suggestion to Larian is still to never implement those facial expressions in his (repeatable) kisses again. Not even with a toggle. I feel they simply have no place in his romance and were a bad choice, which I think is why Larian called the changes "improvements" in the patch notes.
Originally Posted by Mordred92
Another thing I'm in favor of, if it's something that can get everyone to agree on even regarding expressions, is to soften AA's kiss animations, since they are perhaps the thing that trigger the most. It was a proposal that had already been put forward in the other thread about patch 6. I personally like AA's kisses, but I'm absolutely not against changing them.
Agree. Since they softened some of his other animations in this patch, I feel like this would be doable with a few tweaks. I'd be for it. I've seen some people talking about how AA already has "plenty" and UA doesn't have as much / comparing the content between the two paths. AA still doesn't have any romantic interactions during the epilogue at all, but you can hug UA.
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Also, DJ Shadowheart doesn't choke you in her kisses. She doesn't put Tav on their knees.
AA does not "choke" Tav. All we can see is that he puts his hand on their throat.
Originally Posted by AnnaMyrk
I also know that spawn and lord have neck kisses that were not included in patch 7 for some reason.
Now this is much more interesting. That's what I'd really like to see implemented in the next update!
