But honestly even if the abusive relationship thing is intended (and I actually feel it kind of might be) it's too hamfisted with the over exaggerated clown expressions. It's cartoon villian yelling "I am the bad guy!" level. This is a game for adults not children. I don't need childlike "this is bad" messaging.
That said I'm fine with optional expressions. I would prefer it be locked to you picking dialogue options that say you're afraid of him or what not. (and it's a one time toggle).
Honestly I'd vastly preferred if the abuse angle is intended for their to be *dialogue* about it. Kiss clown expressions are not it. I'm an adult let's have some adult conversations about it please. (In game I mean).
Like you can't even turn Astarion down during the turning scene because you don't want to be his slave. Like why on earth given the spawn conversation can I not literally say that as a reason to reject him? Instead it's crying about him being Cazador (which I despise because PC knows nothing about Cazador outside of Astarion's filtered information. It's such a vile and ignorant thing to say).
Personally I am totally with you on the expression during the kneeling kiss, in both patch it’s too much. In patch 6 it looked like Tav was mortified which disappears once he kisses them which doesn’t make sense. In patch 7 many described it as “orgasmic” idk. Optional expressions locked behind a one time toggle is all we want. Nobody is taking anything from you, nobody is taking anything from us. Also agree on the dialogue about the dynamic, which is exactly why I think it is intended as abusive. Were it anything BDSM related, there would’ve been dialogue about it.
