Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Astarion romance improvements

I find it funny and sad, that on the thread about Astarion romance changes you'll get people try and talk about AA shouldn't get this added but you don't see anyone saying UA shouldn't have this and that...

Let's stay more friendly after all.

I wish AA would get a tender kiss, especially since it's already in the “evil ending”, it's in the game.

Well said, I agree so much with this. +100

I don't see why a suggestion for an additional romantic interaction to improve the romance should be shut down. Let Larian decide if it has merit.

How and why do you know about that disturbing game, much less where to get it? Please do not compare me to people who would play such a thing. The reason the patch 7 expressions are upsetting to me is BECAUSE they make me feel violated. I have absolutely no desire to play that game and it is basically off-topic.

D/s is your personal role-play with AA. I can see where it comes from and why you would RP it, but it is not what the route is factually showing. Here's information about what BDSM actually looks like. "BDSM...requires strict safety precautions." "Consent from both parties is critical when engaging in BDSM practices. Implied consent isn't enough. If you think that your partner agrees to participate in these activities and they don't, you could potentially be charged with sexual assault." "To ensure that consent exists, talk with your partner before engaging in BDSM. Discuss what each of you would enjoy, also sharing your limits or boundaries. Talk with your partner about what you will and won't do." The article also discusses safe words and the traffic light system as more safety precautions. None of these required BDSM elements are shown in the AA romance. Which is why I believe Larian is not trying to depict BDSM. Especially since they did it well already with Abdirak.

If Larian adds more kisses to AA, they should add more to UA first so that they have the same total amount. Regardless, I think it's better that they each have their fully unique kisses to show the differences in the paths.


Please do not twist my words and assign malicious motives to me. Nowhere did I belittle or say anything negative about anyone who enjoyed the change. I even said I understood where Kurophina was coming from.

Also, Purples20 is perfectly friendly and civil. They are calmly expressing their opinion and reasoning, which they have a right to do. Other people have repeatedly said a fix to the AA patch 7 kiss expressions should not be done, and they were allowed to express that opinion.

I'd like it if AA got a kiss in his ending. The weird AA doesn't want kisses argument is...weird considering this is the same AA content with throat grabbing PC. For the whole doesn't want to touch PC to be consistent I'd expect his kisses to be more like pecs where he's clearly uninterested in them.

rather than AA not wanting to be touched, its more that AA doesnt want his partner to touch him. he pushes tav away when they reach out for another kiss, pushes them down when theyre already on their knees instead of helping them up, etc. like Anska and Purple already pointed out.

Okay I don't see how him wanting to be in control of the kiss would stop him from getting a kiss in the epilogue though.

I have to agree. Tease and denial is a thing. He smirks. It looks cheeky when he stops the kiss when Tav touches him. I think he's just being playful. I don't think that's any signal he wouldn't kiss his partner in the epilogue, or that he legitimately doesn't want them to touch him? That's a bit of a drastic read imo. Let's not forget he had tender kisses in patch 5 as well as the one on patch 7. I'm pretty neutral on it, but I don't think it's unreasonable.

Yeah I'm not a fan of how patch six changed up the kisses frankly. I rather have the peck than patch six kisses. Even the fixed expressions still make them pretty meh for me. They're too extra for something that's repeatable.

But yeah either way a nice kiss in the epilogue would be great

Spawn Astarion also pushes Tav in the graveyard. All of Astarion had a kiss with a peach in patch 4 and everything was ok.
The face-grabbing kiss was in Karlach Original in Act 2.
I think Astarion has been given some control and cheekiness in his kissing.

Agree. To me it doesn't remotely read "I don't want you to touch me." He's clearly enjoying his LI. More "I finally get to be touched under *my* terms." And he gets to be deliciously indulgent with it because he's a master vampire. When are they not indulgent? Which is really fun to me.

Though yeah, @Ryzaki, I would've been fine with just patch 5 kisses too.

When the spawn/Karlach kiss was leaked, people were asking for it for AA, too. And no one was calling it anything drastic then. I do think there's a bit of a double standard in judgement. When spawn does it, it's fine, but when AA does it, it gets a really... unnecessarily harsh view, in my opinion.

Don’t know where you got that from, personally I don’t like the Astarion x Karlach kiss. I think it fits way more for AA, a little less for act 2 Astarion and not at all for UA. I’ve never seen anyone be ultra happy with the kiss with Karlach. It’s too harsh, though you could argue that it was just because Astarion had been waiting for so long to kiss her and is just overly excited, and Karlach is just happy to be touched again. Also I’ve been saying multiple times that I like AA kisses, as have been many others. Barely anyone wants AA kisses to change. Only a handful of people here (!) who all of a sudden want new kisses for him. Why? Patch 5 kisses don’t even count because none of the companions had proper kiss animations. Patch 6 introduced new one’s for Everyone, whether or not they should’ve advertised them as Valentine’s Day kisses or not is a different thing entirely. I don’t understand why larian should change AA entire kiss animation catalogue when we all have been playing the same AA route and had not one complaint about it until now. What changed? We got smiling faces now, we should be happy with that. Meanwhile UA still has so much less than AA.

It was on the YouTube video that initially leaked the Karlach/spawn kiss. I can link it if you'd like!

Yeah that was always my read. That Astarion was just excited, and admiring what he was finally going to get to bite into >:) I don't want the kisses to change? Overall I'm neutral on the hug request. Not a hugger myself. I enjoy the kisses we had in 5. I enjoy the ones we have now with polished faces too! But I don't agree patch five kisses "never mattered". They very much did matter. They were a great upgrade from the peck. And people loved the little grab by the waist. So glad to have it back. I'm confused where you're getting the idea I'm asking for an entire catalog change?

Though, if your concern is for UA, starting a dialogue on that apart from AA would be a great start! I agree the newest kiss he got was very unfair for you guys. Back of the head angle...come on.

Yeah I'm upset because I actually liked my AAxDurge relationship and those kisses really messed it up for me. (Well that and the drama around them). So I'm pretty salty a ship I enjoyed got ruined for me because of a post launch patch.

But agreed about the double standards I see it pretty often too.

I am aware of the kiss. I am wondering where you got the double standard from as I have never seen anyone say the kiss was good for spawn act 2 Astarion and not good for AA. All I’ve ever seen was the exact opposite. That people found the kiss odd for act2 and perfect for AA hence larian added it for AA specifically.

I’m not saying *you* want new kisses specifically but in general. this conversation has shifted to discuss changes to do with AA only like adding a hug or kiss in the epilogue. While UA is still lacking so much comparatively. In general I think both routes have great romances already and I wouldn’t be mad if larian didn’t change anything. But if something needs to be changed it is UA.

I was still on patch 5 when I played my first AA romance and it felt off. He was so very dominant in his words and behavior and his romance didn’t represent it at all! I was very happy when patch 6 came out. Since then I enjoyed AA romance a lot more with the new kisses from patch 6. I’m playing AA romance specifically for this dynamic. If not, I would’ve just played UA. This is why I don’t agree that AA should get kisses like UA. There is a different between them and I’d hate it if the route we choose doesn’t even matter anymore for the romance. The path of UA / AA has a huge impact on the romance and Id like to keep it that way.

Yes, I'm saying the comments in that video are what I'm referencing!

Oh then I'm missing context because I didn't realize others were asking for no more patch 6 kisses. But, tbf, since they dropped people have been suggesting tweaks to them. Myself included. Though I do think it's valid not to like them. It's a big dynamic shift from all previous patches. I don't personally play AA just for kink or dynamic/kisses. I do think it was an added bit of fun. But to me the dynamic stands out most in the non-skippable and essential parts of the game. So tender or domineering kisses don't change who AA is for that to me. I think it's possible that extends to others as well.

Sure, UA could use changes, no doubt. But I don't think that means no one else is allowed to voice their own ideas on other things as well. There is a UA specific thread if that suits you better!

Why shouldn't people be allowed to wish for AA to hug or kiss his loved one in the epilogue? At least these are clearly defined wishes.Whether Larian implements it is something completely different.

If Patch 8 should changes anything at all to the companions, wouldn't it make sense to combine wishes for UA? We can read here that UA needs improvements, but what improvements are always lost in the discussion that then arises about AA's facial expressions. I still have no idea what should change for him. I read things like "Equivalent to AA". What does that mean? Depending on who you ask, should he despise Tav and reject intimacy with Tav? Be careful what you wish for, it might come true."

I would also appreciate a small gesture in the epilogue, a nudge or kiss on the tip of Tav's nose or just holding Tav's hand, a smile and a blown kiss or a whispered “I love you”.

when I say equivalent to AA I mean kisses and maybe an extra saying to "what are we to you" given how AA has 4 dialogue options to that. I do not think its fair for people to say AA shouldn't have a kiss or hug in the epilogue bc I want that as well, in fact, I want more overall content for AA and UA in the epilogue bc it's so lacking. For me personally, I prefer UA but love the AA story and will switch between AA and UA each playthrough (currently I'm doing a UA one but my last playthrough was AA). Overall I understand people play their playthroughs much differently, my durge is okay with either option of UA or AA bc she loves him devotedly, wholeheartedly, unconditionally. We all have different opinions on Astarion but we shouldn't dismiss recommendations bc at the end of the day its larian who decides what they will add to the game

I would just like to see the angle of the new(ish) spawn kiss fixed for player characters that have the same height as Astarion so it's not just all hair. To be honest, the whole kiss is extremely awkward with these pcs, while it's cute for tall and shortie characters. I am fine with him just having two kisses in general, rather two okish ones than an additional weird one - the leaked animation with the neck kiss definitely falls into the weird category if only for the orgasmic face on the player character. I wouldn't mind getting the original peck you could give him back.

For the epilogue I would like the narrator to acknowledge if you settled down with UA or went traveling with AA, even if it's only to say that you didn't settle down / went traveling after all. Currently it feels like a bug.

All my other wishes are a bit more complex, getting a better alternative to the "I will protect you" line, and maybe an option to gift him the portrait from Oskar.


From yt, it seems the Karlach kiss also isn't the Karlach kiss anymore, her first kiss with Astarion seems to be a normal spawn one now.

I definitely feel like Astarions epilogues (both UA and AA) are rushed in this sense. UA seems to default to going travelling (unless you went to the Underdark), AA always defaults to living at the palace together. I know the cut epilogue cards had AA and his consort travelling the world together. I assume UA also has cards that reflected each different player option, too.
Cut epilogue cards can be found here if you're interested!

This would be nice, or at the minimum, have something similar to what AA has interacting with mirrors. A voiced line when Astarion clicks on the painting AND the statue from the circus would be a nice little detail.

I saw a post on Facebook yesterday in a BG3 group of someone playing Karlach Origin, they posted a few screenshots of the characters first kiss with Astarion. It was the same kiss that is also one of the AA kisses.

Thanks Jessie and Anska, these are suggestions or requests that other users or Larian can relate to.

I'm always for positive changes in the game. Even though I don't think everything has to be equal. For me it has to be a qualitative improvement. I see it more like Anska, rather less but then the already existing, from my point of view very sweet kisses, so fixed that you don't just see the hair.

And I find the line "I will protect you" just as inappropriate and should be replaced with something that supports him more as a person, something like "I will always be by your side when you needs me."