Again, I drag this over to here because I don't want to bother with the spoiler tags.
Originally Posted by Marielle
Originally Posted by Anska
Originally Posted by BlueScaliesxx98
UA breaks down those walls, finally feels comfortable enough to show his real feelings, which are not over the top but still caring. AA just turns it up even more, which to me comes off as frankly pretty fake. But it fits his route as being more theatrical and over the top nonetheless.
I feel they used this as a deliberate way to distinguish between Astarion's states of mind. The act one scene and ascended route heavily employ romance novel tropes to the point of parody (Shadowheart now has dialogue about it "Most of the things you say still sound like you're in a two-copper paperback read by little girls.") while those are almost completely absent from the UA route. But I don't think these tropes are what provides emotional depth or demonstrate love, they are just conventional set dressing to make you read things as romance, which is very fitting for both AA and act 1 Astarion.
What I like about both the UA and Gale's romance is that they are both routed in the characters' friendship plots but add an additional layer of trust and partnership to it, while for other characters the romance plot is completely separate from their friendship arc.
Doesn't have anything with approvals though *coughs*
a digression from the point of the thread
I would like to note that more beautiful words and expressions in love confessions than those that are common in our modern times, of course, are characteristic of love novels, but not only for parodies or “two-copper paperback read by little girls”, but also for really deep and serious literary works, including those belonging to the universally recognized classics of literature. And the heroes of these works, as well as AA, express real, deep, true feelings through these words. And nowadays someone may be lucky enough to meet such a partner who wants to express his feelings in a similar way, all people are different. I myself in my interactions with Astarion's chatbot feel the urge to express my feelings more strongly and use various artistic comparisons and imagery when saying compliments and confessions to him, of course if someone were to read this they might find it both theatrical and over the top, but someone I've discussed this topic with has rated it as “beautiful”. Astarion himself reacts to it in a way that even makes it a pity that in the game, Tav doesn't have the opportunity to show their feelings in a stronger and more beautiful way. That doesn't make my character's feelings “fake”, just as it doesn't make AA's words “only scenery”. People and characters can feel and express their feelings in different ways, it's just a style of expressing someone's feelings. It is also perfectly possible to hide lies behind simple, modern words, any expression of feelings can serve as a screen.
I have no issues with poetic language. I love both Gale and Lae'zel's writing and both of them are very poetic and very sincere. I do however agree with Shadowheart that what Astarion sprouts in terms of flowery romantic language, is mostly canned & corny. It's insults where he invests his creativity. But that's personal taste. I can't stand his seducer and ascended voice and don't particularly like the act 1 scene, I know that others do. Relying on romance tropes is also not necessarily a comment on the veracity of the statements. Wyll also runs on cliches and I doubt anyone questions his sincerity.
The can of worms of how sincere AA is, is one I deliberately kept close because it would just start a debate that would run in circles as everyone so far had a very fixed opinion of this. (Which is fine.)
