His story can be interpreted in many different ways, some see it as one thing, others see it differently. Why should one group cave to the interpretation of the other? If you think larian changed the expressions in patch 7 for a reason, sure they did. I argue that they implemented patch 6 expression for a reason as well. The interesting thing is that they received major praise for patch 6 while only being praised by a minority for patch 7. One is not better than the other just because you say it fits YOUR interpretation of his story. Patch 7 doesn’t fit mine at all, I’d rather have patch 6 only, but that’s wouldn’t be fair to those who want patch 7 so I voted to keep both. Objectively speaking, no interpretation needed, his story is one of abuse. If you saw this behavior in any other situation you would immediately think it’s abusive, no questions asked. You can recognize the abusive tendencies and still enjoy the character instead of doing mental gymnastics to convince others of your own interpretation. Majority of AA romancers realize the dynamic and enjoy it because of it, uncomfortable faces and all. Also saying NOW that you don’t want AA or Astarion in general to be worked on further is such a bad take honestly, now that you got what you wanted, now they shouldn’t work on him anymore? Funny that before patch 7 all you were asking was more stuff for Astarion. Having both options isn’t taking anything from anyone. You can play your own interpretation and I can play mine, who is losing here?
