Originally Posted by Natasy
I agree with most of this. Definitely! As for your question, as I've said since the beginning of all of this, my interest is in keeping non-con/dead dove things out of the game. There is no content warning for it. And players would have to metagame to avoid it.

absolutely noncon should not be included (canonically) with a companion. haarlep is a different story in my opinion so its irrelevant here. but just because tav's expressions shows them shocked, i dont think you can assume its for noncon narrative. personally, when patch 6 came out i found it very fitting for my own game. as a side note to explain, i will quickly run through my narrative for the game just to make it clear why i found it fitting: my durge wasnt a murder hobo but very dark grey leaning. even before astarion finished the ritual she was incredibly powerful and basically the most powerful being they have met thus far. so suddenly taking the more submissive role between her and AA was shocking and she just didnt know what to do. nothing like noncon or similar, just the sudden change in dynamic between them, thats all. and in this dynamic patch 7 would not fit for me personally. it wasnt about her enjoying it or not, it was just new for her that she was supposed to submit to someone in public. like i said, i would have preferred patch 6 to be a bit less extreme, but it did fit my narrative.


Originally Posted by Natasy
I do not see his kisses as him slapping or choking Tav. And I believe the faces for patch 7 accommodate for plenty of dark RP, as dark roleplayers themselves have also said.

personally, like i said in my long post, i can see it from both sides. because there is no slap sound i think it makes it less clear. but if i think of the movements in the context of him belittling tav, it does seem like a slap or at least a push in a non sexy way, almost as to say "I (AA) have had enough, i dont need more from you" disregarding what tav wants, because they do lean over for another kiss. on the other hand i can totally see it as a playful "thats enough for now, we shall continue this later in private" gesture. same with the choking move. on one hand, he is vampire of course he looks at the neck, neck kisses are nice. on the other hand, it may be seen as him admiring the bite marks he left as a sign of ownership or some-such. one narrative doesnt take away from any other. but personally i dont think its about dark romance, my durge run was a dark romance and it didnt require tav to smile. both can be dark romance.

my main point is still the fact that 1. people are getting triggered by both patches so one should not be in the game without the option of the other (without mods) and 2. more options are always good, why limit ourselves?
both patches can be played in different ways