Ametris, thanks for the video! I agree with every suggestion you made, as well as your pointing out mistakes that would be good to correct.
Originally Posted by Ametris
3. Evil DU and AA ending.
Maybe it was to be expected that DU would turn into a complete brainwashed psycho with no free will at the end, but it contradicts some previous dialogues about them and AA. There is no sitting on the lap, the Tribunal priestess' prophecy is completely disregarded (DU and AA dying together in each other's arms), no dowry, etc.
If Larian decided to go this route, there should at least be an explanation why this is happening! As it stands now, DU is railroaded into a murder-hobo who seems to have no feelings left for their partner:
As mentioned here, like with Minthara, the same applies to AA:
Originally Posted by Crimsonrider
What the player truly wants after doing all this is to just butcher the entire world with her by our side, our Queen of Crimson. To see the Daughter of Lolth and the Child of Bhaal united, drowning the world together in blood. And despite knowing she'll eventually have to die alongside him, to have the passionate final killing kiss be the last act of kindness she receives from Dark Urge once the world was dead... NOT for it to be the immediate FIRST thing he does as some sort of sexual kink of his that makes him look like an uncontrollable psychopathic smirking imbecile with a crippling addiction that only gets off on murdering his lover who willingly wishes to be with him!
Yes, would love to have any explanation on this. What is even meant by this in the first place? Bhaal makes the DU insane either way, and it doesn't matter if the DU takes control of the Brain or not? Only in one case we have a demented person reduced to an animal state, and in the other case we have 'as some sort of sexual kink of his that makes him look like an uncontrollable psychopathic smirking imbecile with a crippling addiction that only gets off on murdering his lover who willingly wishes to be with him' (thanks Crimsonrider for a clear description of , what the DU becomes in their evil ending with Minthara and Astarion, because when I watched the video, I didn't even know how to define it). And pity poor Sceleritas - I wanted to stay an evil DU for his sake, but I guess that kind of ending put a stop to that.
Besides, what is the point of Bhaal doing this, why not let the DU stay themselves if they have already decided to destroy the world in the name of Bhaal? Why not let the DU do it along with their beloved? How can the beloved of the DU damage Bhaal's plan? The finale where the DU destroys the Brain and becomes an animal was also always going to make no sense logically, and, even in terms of Bhaal's understanding. The defeated Sarevok we see fully preserved his mind, and the fact that the DU didn't take control of the Brain and destroy the world right away is irrelevant. Time doesn't matter that much to Bhaal. Even a lazy DU who doesn't want to become a destroyer of anything and everything themselves will produce offspring for Bhaal, and Bhaal has absolutely no need to try to bring them into an animal state to do so. A much better and realistic ending would have been if the DU (female) or the DU's beloved (if the DU is a male paired with a female) was pregnant in the epilogue at the party, and then a shot of the new born baby with Bhaal's seal flashing in their eye, saying nothing is over, Bhaal will still get what he wants... That would have been a much better ending. But okay, let's say it was meant that Bhaal is evil, and the DU who has accepted his father must follow his evil to the end, otherwise there will be a cruel reckoning, but now... The only way to play as a DU is through the path of redemption, exclusively. Unfortunately, the attitude towards evil characters is often such in the game that the possibility of playing without spoilers in the path of evil is seen by me as something extremely imprudent as a player, and for good reason. Unfortunately, I never got around to completing my evil walkthrough with the DU, because now the only option for me is to reject Bhaal. But “knowledge is power” and the metagame is still better than suddenly seeing this ending in my game.
Why so much effort, aesthetically beautiful visuals, and music if it's impossible to play it on an emotional level?
Astarion has a face like a child just before the DU kills him.
Larian made great evil endings for Origins of companions, but the DU ending is just worse than anything else. Okay, they added other great improvements in patch 7, I can see destroying the evil DU path as a sort of payment for that. But it still doesn't feel right in my opinion.
Tav and AA can apparently only keep the romance if Tav chooses option 1 and perhaps 4 (in some videos we can see Astarion and the rest of the party members following Tav, in the others not, and I don't why). For some reason they cannot rule together in option 2 (where we can see Astarion kneeling near the scaffold with the other companions), and in choice 3 Tav kills him like all the others. I think this severely limits roleplay options. I would like to see Astarion being by Tav's side all the time (since they're supposed to rule together), and not just be their glorified sidekick.
Option 1 I consider to be the only possible option for my evil walkthrough. Option 4 is still pretty controversial, but it should be noted that this option has, in my opinion, the most spectacular and impressive video sequence, and of course, if Astarion was next to Tav the whole time and grinning his trademark grin while enjoying the spectacle of the dramatic carnage all around, it would be very interesting. Too bad Astarion won't even be standing next to me in option 1 either, which is frustrating. I'd like to imagine them leading armies to take the god sphere (find the sphere or kill the right deity). Astarion becomes a god, and already no paladins, no “good heroes” will ever threaten at all. We can then get rid of the Brain, which will no longer be needed, and live as happily as in the castle, only this time in our own domaine. And you can say, “Oh, my God! What on earth is going on here!” whenever Astarion pulls some kind of prank. In principle, option 1 can be considered as the only happy option for ‘evil’, and it allows to have a happy headcanon, but the beloved, unfortunately, is not shown in the frame and remains as if on the second role.
Option 2 is initially a great idea that was hopelessly merged at the end. The idea of “rule through love”, with the townspeople mentally in some sort of happy world of their own, is such an exquisite version of evil, which in itself is good (reminiscent of “The Matrix”) but... A huge statue of themselves? Pretty stupid waste of resources, I was sure they were going to go build something worthwhile. And the beloved kneeling beside the scaffold... Mhm. Too bad for a good idea that got such a realization as a result.
But thanks for the opportunity to kiss Astarion in the evil finale. It's worth becoming an Absolute for the sake of it. But why can't the same kiss be placed in the classic “good” epilogue as well? Dear Larian, please, the animation as we see it is already there, just give the possibility to kiss Astarion the same way in both the evil finale and the party in the epilogue. Spare the innocent citizens of Baldur! Why do they have to necessarily die so that Tav/DU can kiss Astarion? The classic epilogue needs a kiss just as much as the evil one too (even more, it's still the one players choose more often in their walkthroughs).
Originally Posted by Ametris
6. Astarion can become a Sun King in his origin ending:
I would love it if there was an option for Tav who romances him and is his spawn to have a unique ending where they behave similarly and can also decide to give the reins to him or turn them both into godlike vampiric rulers.
A thousand times yes! The Sun King ending itself is great and very beautiful! It would be ideal to make a transition to this from the usual ending. Having Astarion smile, propose to him via mind link, and Astarion himself stabbing Karlach and taking the power - that would have been the best ending. Otherwise, the only downside to the Sun King ending is that Tav can't be there.
Originally Posted by Ametris
Now that I finally had some time to test a couple of things I noticed that the mysteriously appearing once in a blue moon new animations of AA at the epilogue party that I mentioned are now working properly. I think they're better overall, Astarion looks more playful and his movements are more fluid.
Yes, Astarion's animations in the epilogue got better! I also really liked how he looks now when he says he's going to watch me. He became more loving and passionate in that moment.
In principle, option 1 can be considered as the only happy option for ‘evil’, and it allows to have a happy headcanon, but the beloved, unfortunately, is not shown in the frame and remains as if on the second role.
