It’s almost like the “correct” answers are also part of his facade. When you answer about freedom and being enslaved he’s upset that you would bring that up in front of anyone else. He’s still hiding. He’s projecting the “correct” answers as what others would expect of him on the surface, the dramatic (breaking a nail), “evil” (gore) doesn’t care Astarion. Even when he’s learning to trust and truly care for Tav, he can’t talk about those true answers in front of the other person. Those are still buried too far deep. 😭
i like how it feels like he knows you know what the 'true' answers are, but he approves of you playing along & giving kind of flippant answers bc he doesn't want a stranger to know all his secrets & fears. like you're in on it together. WAHHH :')
I really loved this scene with him. It shows exactly where he's at in the slow, winding road of recovery. Right at the start of Act 3, he's built some base level of trust with Tav/Durge, but crucially he still does not trust other people. The answers he approves of are not the fully honest ones, and he disapproves of the fully honest ones because this is a STRANGER. He even says it, "You're not wrong, but...do we need to tell every stranger we meet our business?" Astarion uses his dramatics to appear dangerous, vain, and callous to shield the fact that he's very, very afraid of ending up back where he was. AND, he's very particular about having control over his decisions (for good reason) and that includes not just his body but also his secrets--he doesn't like when you share things he trusted you with in confidence. Even if Tav/Durge knows the truth at his core, well...that isn't theirs to share with strangers. It's his, and it *is* sad to watch but it *does* make sense that he doesn't like his vulnerabilities named in front of somebody he doesn't know. (Potential spoilers) In my playthrough where the dryad turned out to be Orin in disguise, that was a *particularly* pronounced demonstration of why he might have trust issues like that, on our journey.
i kid you not, i did not know some people were not getting orin messing with them like i was! I was on EDGE the entire time we were in riverington, cause she was EVERYWHERE and when i find out that not everyone got her to appear i was like, what the heck did i do?? Cause yes, I agree with you that only further cemneted the "we know each other enough, lets mess around' banter and the fact she popped up later doing the same thing and astarian made a comment about her getting info on us i was like-- ahh! I still need to know how no one else was getting her everywhere cause i'm not even playing with dark urge so wtf..... Tho i'll admit i kinda wish i did the 'me' option, but I was playing into our banter bit like we do all the time, so its nice to see the reaction when i just continued the role. Like i love messing with him and he's like 'you're lucky i like you' even back in act 1, so this really didn't seem that abnoraml for me to do with him, but it is sweet to see that response regardless.
@@Toonkid4life1A bit of a late reply, but Orin is scripted to show up exactly three times before reaching the Lower City. She has a number of NPCs she can shapeshift to (the dryad from the video, the journalist, the blacksmith, the flaming fist, etc), just like she can kidnap a few different members from your party. If you encounter her 3 times before doing the love test, she won't show up at the end. If you encountered her 2 times or less, she'll always show up.
I really like this test, because while with the others it's just a trivia test about them with Astarion you have to know the correct answer, know how he would react to them, know that he wants to keep a mask while interacting with strangers and not tell them about his trauma and finally purposefully choose the wrong answer... And you even can't just lie... you have to lie in a way that he approves.
@@Usergh5374"I don't know if he was happy" is an incorrect answer. he does express to you that he can, in fact be happy. the other two are the "correct answer" because he makes note that you did answer correctly, but he's disapproving of airing it out to a stranger. it's still very confusing what counts towards the good outcome of this encounter. after all, this is a guy who is approving of jokester answers and disapproving of some of your real answers.
Good tutorial thx. But I find it disappointing tho that after everything Astarion is still that vengeful, self-centered creature that he’s been since the beginning.😢Pity.
I think this is a good example of recovery not being linear. He makes so much progress opening up to tav/durge (in my case a redemptive durge) in act 2 especially. He starts being honest and vulnerable and obviously that's really scary after shutting oneself off for so long. In my view, at this point he's barely had a chance to experience something different; all he's done is take orders and commit violence for 200 years with no choice otherwise. I get why he would want to push boundaries and see what he can get away with, outside of Cazador's control. The elbow deep in gore answer is terrible but may change later. I went with not being a slave/freedom answers and he was ticked off but ultimately admitted they were right. He seems to be on a long, complicated journey. I know I was angry and vengeful to begin with (not to the extent of bloody violence, but the fantasy vampire can kinda get away with that 'cause it's not real lol). Idk when this was for OP but I did this scene before Cazador, so he hasn't had a moment of catharsis or anything yet. Maybe if you were to take it again in the future the answers would change? I just think this is such a great example of subverting the 'good victim' trope personally he's not gonna change 200 years of ingrained behaviour overnight. It'd be really rewarding to see him fully heal at some point, though!
@@Candlekeepdeep Well said! Ur right recovery is indeed not linear. And I also agree with u that the blood and gore was really too much for me. I thought he’d be better than that. But, it’s just an author’s choice after all.
I don't think this is the case, problem is "right" doesn necessarily mean "true", think this is pictured perfectly, the "true" answers would be "happy right now" ,"freedom" and "feeling a slave" I think, however, that doesn't mean that this are the right answers for him, because EXACTLY what he said, while those points ARE true, you really don't need to tell everyone about it, he hates opening up to strangers or be vulnerable to them in any way, that's like his whole personna, to the point he will get pissed for you making him so, because that is the deep stuff he only shares with you (and the rest of your party technically, still a very closed group which he has full trust with), he approves of you bringing the superficial stuff (gore, vengeance, most things fear him) because they flatter him while not exposing him to the rest of the world, and they are common things he will use as protection or emotional shell for himself, and he will absolutely hate being pittied upon (exposes him, like "dont think hes ever been happy") or being mocked on the serious stuff ("a rat", which is what cazador fed him with) AKA anything that REALLY makes him feel inferior, however he'll be fine with eing mocked upon or mocking himself on superficial stuff (calling himself an elven prostitute when you meet the drow twins, flirting with him on the first place, remember how tou had to tell him "knowing you, it probably is", fearing "breaking a nail"), so yeah, that's not him being vengeful and self-centered but rather him not being happy about you making him feel "weak" in front of a stranger, thst's the core of his character
Well, I've gone some pretty shady stuff some years back and I'm still a mess, and sometimes it's get so difficult to cope and I feel like there's no amount of love that could soothe my pain, now mutiply that for 200 years and I would say his doing very well, I would have burned the entire Baldur's Gate by now. That said, romancing Astarion and seeing how much the fandom loves him felt very personal to me, I just wish people could be that caring and understandable about the pain of others in real life.
@@laylachristina5605 I understand. I am sorry for what you’ve been through. I was thinking more from a game design’s perspective in that, as a player, I hope my “good” choices are reflected more directly.
It’s almost like the “correct” answers are also part of his facade. When you answer about freedom and being enslaved he’s upset that you would bring that up in front of anyone else. He’s still hiding. He’s projecting the “correct” answers as what others would expect of him on the surface, the dramatic (breaking a nail), “evil” (gore) doesn’t care Astarion. Even when he’s learning to trust and truly care for Tav, he can’t talk about those true answers in front of the other person. Those are still buried too far deep. 😭
i like how it feels like he knows you know what the 'true' answers are, but he approves of you playing along & giving kind of flippant answers bc he doesn't want a stranger to know all his secrets & fears. like you're in on it together. WAHHH :')
I really loved this scene with him. It shows exactly where he's at in the slow, winding road of recovery. Right at the start of Act 3, he's built some base level of trust with Tav/Durge, but crucially he still does not trust other people.
The answers he approves of are not the fully honest ones, and he disapproves of the fully honest ones because this is a STRANGER. He even says it, "You're not wrong, but...do we need to tell every stranger we meet our business?"
Astarion uses his dramatics to appear dangerous, vain, and callous to shield the fact that he's very, very afraid of ending up back where he was. AND, he's very particular about having control over his decisions (for good reason) and that includes not just his body but also his secrets--he doesn't like when you share things he trusted you with in confidence. Even if Tav/Durge knows the truth at his core, well...that isn't theirs to share with strangers. It's his, and it *is* sad to watch but it *does* make sense that he doesn't like his vulnerabilities named in front of somebody he doesn't know.
(Potential spoilers) In my playthrough where the dryad turned out to be Orin in disguise, that was a *particularly* pronounced demonstration of why he might have trust issues like that, on our journey.
i kid you not, i did not know some people were not getting orin messing with them like i was! I was on EDGE the entire time we were in riverington, cause she was EVERYWHERE and when i find out that not everyone got her to appear i was like, what the heck did i do?? Cause yes, I agree with you that only further cemneted the "we know each other enough, lets mess around' banter and the fact she popped up later doing the same thing and astarian made a comment about her getting info on us i was like-- ahh! I still need to know how no one else was getting her everywhere cause i'm not even playing with dark urge so wtf.....
Tho i'll admit i kinda wish i did the 'me' option, but I was playing into our banter bit like we do all the time, so its nice to see the reaction when i just continued the role. Like i love messing with him and he's like 'you're lucky i like you' even back in act 1, so this really didn't seem that abnoraml for me to do with him, but it is sweet to see that response regardless.
@@Toonkid4life1A bit of a late reply, but Orin is scripted to show up exactly three times before reaching the Lower City. She has a number of NPCs she can shapeshift to (the dryad from the video, the journalist, the blacksmith, the flaming fist, etc), just like she can kidnap a few different members from your party. If you encounter her 3 times before doing the love test, she won't show up at the end. If you encountered her 2 times or less, she'll always show up.
Bless you for posting this! I was hoping someone would make a good, thorough video of this part!
I really like this test, because while with the others it's just a trivia test about them with Astarion you have to know the correct answer, know how he would react to them, know that he wants to keep a mask while interacting with strangers and not tell them about his trauma and finally purposefully choose the wrong answer... And you even can't just lie... you have to lie in a way that he approves.
i loveeee how the “me” answer in the second question is still counted as correct, sweet little detail even if I picked it jokingly the first time lol
rat line is just vile
Came here just for that and expected him to flip out far more than he did.
He should break up with the player after that
The rat one was just funny
very well cut. thank you for uploading the video was perfect!
Wait, so are the "correct" answers the ones that he approves of, or the real truth even if he disapproves of us talking about it?
I answered correctly but dryad still said it was wrong because bond is false. What to do
i could have said 'me'.... ahhhh! I thought we were doing half truths, damn it!!! nooo~! -bangs head against wall-
Okay, but what are the correct answers?
Correct answers:
1. I don't know if he was happy.
2. Freedom
3. Being enslaved
But he's angry that he's been exposed to another person.
@@Usergh5374"I don't know if he was happy" is an incorrect answer. he does express to you that he can, in fact be happy.
the other two are the "correct answer" because he makes note that you did answer correctly, but he's disapproving of airing it out to a stranger.
it's still very confusing what counts towards the good outcome of this encounter. after all, this is a guy who is approving of jokester answers and disapproving of some of your real answers.
Actual correct answers:
1. Gore
2. Revenge
3. Breaking a nail / Most are afraid of him
Good tutorial thx. But I find it disappointing tho that after everything Astarion is still that vengeful, self-centered creature that he’s been since the beginning.😢Pity.
I think this is a good example of recovery not being linear. He makes so much progress opening up to tav/durge (in my case a redemptive durge) in act 2 especially. He starts being honest and vulnerable and obviously that's really scary after shutting oneself off for so long. In my view, at this point he's barely had a chance to experience something different; all he's done is take orders and commit violence for 200 years with no choice otherwise. I get why he would want to push boundaries and see what he can get away with, outside of Cazador's control. The elbow deep in gore answer is terrible but may change later. I went with not being a slave/freedom answers and he was ticked off but ultimately admitted they were right. He seems to be on a long, complicated journey. I know I was angry and vengeful to begin with (not to the extent of bloody violence, but the fantasy vampire can kinda get away with that 'cause it's not real lol). Idk when this was for OP but I did this scene before Cazador, so he hasn't had a moment of catharsis or anything yet. Maybe if you were to take it again in the future the answers would change? I just think this is such a great example of subverting the 'good victim' trope personally he's not gonna change 200 years of ingrained behaviour overnight. It'd be really rewarding to see him fully heal at some point, though!
@@Candlekeepdeep Well said! Ur right recovery is indeed not linear. And I also agree with u that the blood and gore was really too much for me. I thought he’d be better than that. But, it’s just an author’s choice after all.
I don't think this is the case, problem is "right" doesn necessarily mean "true", think this is pictured perfectly, the "true" answers would be "happy right now" ,"freedom" and "feeling a slave" I think, however, that doesn't mean that this are the right answers for him, because EXACTLY what he said, while those points ARE true, you really don't need to tell everyone about it, he hates opening up to strangers or be vulnerable to them in any way, that's like his whole personna, to the point he will get pissed for you making him so, because that is the deep stuff he only shares with you (and the rest of your party technically, still a very closed group which he has full trust with), he approves of you bringing the superficial stuff (gore, vengeance, most things fear him) because they flatter him while not exposing him to the rest of the world, and they are common things he will use as protection or emotional shell for himself, and he will absolutely hate being pittied upon (exposes him, like "dont think hes ever been happy") or being mocked on the serious stuff ("a rat", which is what cazador fed him with) AKA anything that REALLY makes him feel inferior, however he'll be fine with eing mocked upon or mocking himself on superficial stuff (calling himself an elven prostitute when you meet the drow twins, flirting with him on the first place, remember how tou had to tell him "knowing you, it probably is", fearing "breaking a nail"), so yeah, that's not him being vengeful and self-centered but rather him not being happy about you making him feel "weak" in front of a stranger, thst's the core of his character
Well, I've gone some pretty shady stuff some years back and I'm still a mess, and sometimes it's get so difficult to cope and I feel like there's no amount of love that could soothe my pain, now mutiply that for 200 years and I would say his doing very well, I would have burned the entire Baldur's Gate by now. That said, romancing Astarion and seeing how much the fandom loves him felt very personal to me, I just wish people could be that caring and understandable about the pain of others in real life.
@@laylachristina5605 I understand. I am sorry for what you’ve been through. I was thinking more from a game design’s perspective in that, as a player, I hope my “good” choices are reflected more directly.