Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Poll.Which option of facial expression do you want to leave in kisses with Ascended Astarion

Both facial expressions fit his path, so I don't care.

Where's the poll option for "have artistic integrity and ignore the so called fans who should just mod the expression they want instead of incessantly complaining about things that don't matter"

Expressed in that way, that option would breach our forum standards on being constructive and respectful of others' preferences, and not antagonising other fans, as your own post does. Please review my post at https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=950554#Post950554 if you would like to continue to engage in this thread, and perhaps take another look at the rest of our forum rules as well. Thanks!

Wow, the poll is moving. Very interesting. Thank you for voting

Well, it is in essence asking the general community their opinion on Astarion, it's no secret that many see him as an ass, especially the Ascended version.

It does not surprise me that the results are so tied.

I would have liked it to be a blank vote too, an option like "I don't care." to include the members who feel that way. Especially since you have to vote to see results.

Well, I think the "I don't care" option is to simply not vote and ignore this poll.

I think it's important to be inclusive, some members may be curious without caring too much. But it's totally fine if you feel differently.

Of course being inclusive is important, still, also people who don’t romance him have their feelings which patch fits better. If they really didn’t care, they’d just not vote at all and wouldn’t care to see the results either. Especially those who kill him immediately, why would they care if he’s never in their game? I just want to point out, that you can see that even with the option to include both, still a lot of people would have liked to get patch 6 only back. Those people I’m sure would be happy with the option to choose as well as long as patch 6 is an option.

Being inclusive is important, indeed. That's why the most inclusive thing for all players would be to be able to choose between both facial expressions.

I think analyzing what other people would or would not choose isn't really serving anything other than showing ones own bias. People voting can type why they chose what. I still think having a blank vote is important, like I said to be able to see the poll without taking a side. And to include those members in this forum who don't care.


In my opinion; being inclusive is important, but not at the expense at the character personality or a beautiful creative romance story. I'll leave it at that, because we will never agree.

That's exactly how we feel too though, that changes shouldn't come at the expense of the original characters and stories we had. We just see differently what that personality and beautiful creative story are, and what would be a detriment to them.

Like I said, lets leave it at: We will never agree.

Alright, fair enough.

I see it that way too. If someone doesn't care about this topic but wants to see the results out of curiosity, I'd guess that they'd probably just choose whatever.

I fully agree. Larian seems to have made their decision by changing facial expressions in different places throughout the game where they see fit.

Personally I chose "Keep only the Patch 7 expressions" because:
1. That's what I think fits his romance path (and character) and works best as a repeatable romantic action, as intended;
2. I'd like Larian to move on to other issues and stop focusing on AA's Valentine's kisses at the expense of all others at this point;
3. I don't want AA to be the only one with a toggle (which has unfair and awful implications), nor do I want Larian to have to implement such a thing at this point.
*Even adding Patch 6 faces as a toggle would hurt him as a character. My opinion.

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?

@Purple You can go into any of the other locked AA threads to see "Why" some players feel a certain way. No need to derail or get this one locked as well.

@Purples20, as the OP said, this thread is not for arguing. Please let others give a short explanation of why they voted as they did without directly challenging them, especially with such obviously inflammatory language as you use there. If you wish to continue to engage in this thread then please review and comply with the rules of engagement I posted above at https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=950554#Post950554.

Just wanted to say that I’d support both expressions to be in the game, even though I do prefer patch 6 a lot more. I don’t want to get into why I think it fits better with the story, but I realize many like different styles of the game. Personally I would always pick patch 6 when romancing AA though and don’t understand why we can’t just agree to have both

I said I don't want them to have to work on his *Patch6 Valentine's Kisses* anymore.
I've asked for things to be added for Astarion in the past, but I didn't get any of them, except that the facial expressions were eventually changed (as for why that happened, only Larian knows).

Having the two options *would* take away from his character in my opinion, and I would hate for anyone to have to come across those old facial expressions again. I can have my opinion, and I gave my reasons honestly. I don't have to justify them.

That's exactly the same thought that many other players may have now.
Besides, at the cost of the character's personality or a "beautiful creative romance story" - which is based on your personal interpretation - it would be if ONLY one of the two expressions, either the one from Patch 6 or the one from Patch 7, remained as the only true one.
That's why being able to choose one or the other would be the solution to this whole problem, and everyone would be able to freely interpret the story as they wanted. No one would impose their way of playing on anyone and no character's personality would be limited to having to react in a specific way.