Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Larian please give Spawn Astarion one more kiss!

I think it has been generally established, that after the Act 2 scene, he isn't afraid to mention if something bothers him in the relationship, so I really don't see anything wrong with the line. Though I am surprised that his kiss lines don't become less theatrical after aborting the ritual, unlike his romanced greetings, which become more casual after the graveyard scene. But I assume they wanted to keep some of that original flair in there.

If I was to make a wishlist for Spawn-Astarion it would be:

1. An alternative to the "I will always protect you" line that allows the player to show how much Astarion means to them. It should be something profound that tells Astarion how he (as a lowly spawn) has been just as important to our journey as we have been to his. I'd want specific lines for the Origins for this too. Resist-Durge could remind him of the night when Astarion talked him through the compulsion and Avatar-Gale could tell him that Astarion is the reason he is still alive (he has this option when talking to Mystra after all) - just to name the two that come most readily to my mind. I think this would be important to show that he and the player character really have the kind of partnership Astarion talks about. (And this is my top wish by a long stretch.)

2. A scene of Astarion and the player character overcoming some kind of obstacle together that isn't tied to romantic drama - Halsin, the Drow, trying to break up as a Half-Illithid or cheating with Mizora all are romantic drama for me. The Araj-scene is nice and so is the conversation about him not wanting to transform into anything again, but they are not directly linked to overcoming the obstacles of his spawn status. Gifting him the portrait would be one idea or maybe digging up a lead about some sun protection item. Though I think the portrait could be a nice emotional moment.

3. Have that angle of the second kiss fixed - and maybe in general fix musicial instruments popping up during the cinematics.


As for Halsin. In my opinion it would be cute if, when you have been strictly monogamous during the game*, you could complain to your partner about how fricking horny everyone is. In Astarion's case this could lead to you telling him that you only ever went with him that night during the party because you really liked him and not because of the pick-up lines or his looks. Wouldn't that be sweet?


* Rapture is allowed, bliss is important!

I wouldn't even be surprised if he wasn't the most romanced male companion. He wasn't in EA.

Number of times kissed does seem like valuable info to me, though of course it isn't the full picture. I've always wondered how Larian counted "most romanced." Like, does it start in act 1 when you can start "dating," or does it not count until you make a commitment in act 2? If it's simply "X % of players romanced character Y," does that mean that one playthrough with character Y is counted the same as doing 10 playthroughs where you romance character Z? I think that is what it means, so it wouldn't tell us much about which romance people wind up appreciating the most.

The "most romanced" in the stats recently published counts how many people have played the act 3 romance scene for the characters. It does not say if this is scenes triggered in general or scenes triggered per playthrough. I think the kiss counter is very skewed. In another thread it was pointed out that Minthara's kisses were bugged for the longest time. You can also factor in that Astarion not only has a very loud, romance focused fanbase (as shown by the feedback section in general) but was one of the characters who got a new, beautiful kiss first while many of the others were stuck with only their little peck until patch 6. Lae'zel stating that she does not want to be kissed and her kisses requiring an intimidation or persuasion roll in order to become available possibly also has a say in the matter.

I think those stats are good fun, but using them as leverage, especially with the statement that someone is the "second most popular character" which is in no way supported by any of the statistics provided, irks me. And because it slipped past me in the last replay: I want the epilogue hug to remain a hug. I like the hug, the hug is very fitting for Astarion's story - in my opinion.

Good points about things that would have skewed the kiss data. To be clear, I wasn't saying the kisses info was definitive data, I just wanted to point out possible issues with the "most romanced" statistic, and find out if anyone knew more about it. You did! so thanks for that.

Please, pay attention. I said:


Nowhere did I say that he is the second most romanced companion.
I said what I said: that his kisses i.e. "romantic stuff" is the second most popular after Shadowheart's.

And his fanbase is evidently much more dedicated to kisses, than fanbases of many other companions.

Please do the same.


Made bold for emphasis within the quote. We can split hairs about the difference between character and companion. But that Astarion is the "second most popular companion" is your own fabrication and my general statement was, that it doesn't really matter who's up in some poll. I mean, you can also understand the poll to indicate that Astarion doesn't need any more kisses because his old kiss apparently did well enough on its own. (quipping here)

In general I hate how made up "facts" or polls with no real relevance to them are thrown around in all the Astarion threads to garner sympathy for one's cause by means of giving the illusion of some fact-based necessity for the desired change. As has been written in numerous threads before, Astarion and his romance have gotten a lot of extra treatment in the past, especially if you play as Durge or Karlach, this constant demand for more is not very charming - neither is the underlying sentiment of spite towards other companions or other romance paths which permeates many posts in Astarion related threads.

Again. I said:
"second most popular companion's romantic stuff "
i.e. "this companion's romantic stuff is the most popular one after Shadowheart's"
ROMANTIC STUFF. I.E. kisses, for example. Like it's shown in this statistics.

It's Larian's own statistics and nothing is "made up" about it.


Asking for equality with other companions is in no way "spite" towards them. No one said or implied they shouldn't have gotten their content. Please, stop putting your words into my mouth and stop disrespecting my opinion.

reading through the thread just now, if we are talking about wishlists here:

1. agree that we should be able to tell tavs partner about halsin even if we already rejected him, i think it is nice to have some transparency, but idk if its possible to implement now. seems like a lot of work on the devs and VAs

2. i didnt see anyone mention completely new kiss animations for UA, so i will just say what i would have loved to be added: a kiss where tav cups his face and looks at him for a while, just taking him in before kissing him, echoing the cutscene where he asks what tav sees when they look at him. i think that would fit very well for him.

as for the neck kiss that he had with karlach that is now part of AA rotation, would not mind it being brought back for UA but way more gentle than it was with karlach and AA.

That's a cute idea Blue. Edit: The one for the long-gaze-kiss I meant.

Always enjoy a good echo of a prior scene!

@Anska & @Rote90, please let's not derail this thread with an argument, and Anska the comment about spite is not helpful, which is why we have a rule about not inciting conversation around community infighting.

Please let's draw a line, and try to keep calm and carry on discussing constructively and civilly even if we're feeling provoked, rather than escalating.

Support. I think multiple versions of the alternative to "I will always protect you" would be hard for Larian to implement at this point (same to the extra scene). But it is very cute, and at the least I think we need some type of alternative to that tone-deaf line. Anything that affirms how we're in it together and as equals.

That would be SO sweet! I'm asexual, so Astarion's horny pick-up lines were just funny and off-putting to me. And I thought he looked like a grandma at first. I love Astarion for his playfulness, wit, humour, sass, internal strength, and the vulnerable softness he tries to hide. It was never about anything shallow, so it would be amazing to have some way to affirm him of this in the game.

Cute!! Love that.

Oooooooo these are all very good!! I like the idea of the kiss staring out as admiring him, I feel like they could make some changes to one of Gales kisses because he has something like that!



Like something like this?? Obvi add Astarion flair to it

I of course don't know for certain but I don't think it is - technically - that hard to implement. What they do in some cases, is to have all the factual details in the player dialogue, which is only text, while the recorded character response is emotional but a bit fuzzy on the hard facts (e.g. no names), so you can have a conversation that feels very personal to your own character's story but recycles the assets of the game.


I am not a fan of the act 1 romance either. I hate the raspy voice aka the cough-drop voice (because he sounds like he desperately needs one, or maybe some warm blood with honey darling?) and I find the jump from playfully flirting with him during the party to the full on bad-romance-novel-vibes of the scene in the clearing quite jarring. Mostly because it is a noticeable (and I'd say deliberate) change in his whole demeanour and you can't address it. So having a scene to tell him that it was only ever about him being him, is kind of missing.

I'm not sure if this came up yet, but another route could be a kiss that switches to a hug instead. Bonus points if it's a melt-into-each-other kind of hug. I just want all the spawn sweetness pretty please.

please! yes! i firmly believe that Astarion actually really likes hugs and cuddles, and that him and tav do sleep together just cuddling, so i'd love that

Yes, please! I would also love to see a kiss that involves hand holding.

YESSSSS as for a spawn Astarion's fans, I'm glad someone brought this up. I registered this forum account just to reply this post.

I’m glad this thread isn’t being buried in the pages and I hope someone at Larian sees it.

Giving spawn and ascendant Astarion the same amount of kisses is the most straightforward solution, I think.

I’d love a kiss that included a hug or maybe a playful lip nip or a neck kiss.

Also I wanted to make this known since I think it is relatively unknown. The single new kiss that spawn Astarion got in patch 6 is bugged.

I’m like 99.9% certain that it is. There’s a free cam clip floating around that shows that the kiss is supposed to have a cheek caress at the end with the back of Astarion’s fingers, but this animation only triggers with the short races (halfings, gnomes etc.)

For any of the taller races the animation bugs and Astarion does the caress gesture with his hand as he pulls away and the player character makes a face like they’re slightly confused with a raised eyebrow. Shouldn’t they be all smiles like Astarion is after a kiss like that?

Here is the clip
[img]https://imgur.com/gallery/astarion-s-bugged-kiss-Nc58gMn[/img]