Astarion learns to value Tav and himself (Act 1 - Act 2 - Act 3) | Baldur's Gate 3

[@pikajulie_art]

For a non-Durge, mostly pacifist Tav run, here's my Act 2 alternative: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpurdJunh8iSjpI I played as a half-orc, and I didn't get the "bleeding heart" dialogue. Feel free to reply how you were able to get it!

[@oceanicGrimalkin]

That reminds me if you ask Astarion how exactly you guys are gonna take over the cult, he just stumbles, realizes he has no plan of action aside from vague goals, and is speechless. You can also ask him strategy in other occasions and... he admits he's not one for detailed planning, just chaos.

[@katiatall]

Exactly, the same happens with his nice simple plan 😂 And understandable, he didn’t plan anything 200 years. He even didn’t have control over his body. What could we say about plans. He doesn’t know what he wants also because of the same reason. 200 years pure shit and suddenly everything is changed. His behaviour is really good even, given the circumstances

[@oceanicGrimalkin]

@@katiatall That and he's a chaotic Rogue who just does things even if the rules say no now that he's free from Cazador.

[@anska7475]

After Astarion's little "let's take over the cult" conversation while on Avatar-Gale, I got a narrative moment when going to bedroll, that prompted me to consider Mystra's orders and the powers of the Absolute from a more magical perspective. It was such a powerful narrative moment because it picked up on some of the topics from Astarion's conversation and applies it to Gale's situation. Just beautiful.

[@knightsotl796]

That sounds interesting. Care to go into detail?

[@theredheadwiththread1275]

If you're a super goody-two shoes in Act 2 he will call you naive and lacking in ambition and even accuse you of ruining his fun (if I remember correctly, it was the second time he accused my druid of that lol) I just wish what I said to him and when it happened that made him call her a bleeding heart 😆

[@katiatall]

I missed a lot playing durge. There he calls two souls walking the same path and bhaal babe 😂😂

[@theredheadwiththread1275]

@@katiatall He said something like "we're alike, you and I" and was saying my druid was ambitious...until she told him that she wasn't interested in taking the power of the Absolute for herself 😂

[@oceanicGrimalkin]

This makes me wonder now. In a romanced route, when do you think was the moment he started to feel genuinely attracted to you? Depends on approval rate on how he finds you that way and affects his responses, of course. But, I am curious.

[@pikajulie_art]

This is my speculation, but here's how I found the romance with him. I feel like he started to be "aware" of the player during the mirror scene. His expressions were really sincere when he said "I want to know what the world sees when it looks at me...(ponders but gives a rather sad, worried expression)...what you see." This scene follows that of knowing he is a vampire from the bitey scene. When you give him compliments, he begins to catch himself and mask it with his snark attitude; though he appreciates it. After spending the night with him in the forest, where you can only see his scars canonically in a cutscene, he then starts figuring out what to make of the player upon the good dialogue choices. He was reluctant to be vulnerable to turn around and to say thank you; I don't think I can say he already started catching feelings then. What I felt like he started to catch feelings are during the times his dialogue kind of "repeats" to say that he wants to spend the night together again. I believe this was from my "slowly falls in love through greetings" compilation where he says "I hoped you would come. I have missed you. And now you're all mine. And I'm all yours." Since this dialogue succeeds the "Here's my little treat with their cheeks all flushed" after offering your neck for him to bite. With the recent patches, it's possible that the sequence will be different for us, players, but in my run this was how the sequence went. 1) First bite scene 2) Drunk from a bear 3) Mirror scene 4) "Here's my little treat" 5) "Darling, I was just thinking about you" 5 aftermath) "A quiet evening for once" --> forest night 6) scar scene 7) Goblin camp scene 7 aftermath) "I have missed you" I find it out of character for him when I was replaying and just exploring the dialogues, for Astarion to miss the player after a "one night stand"--the forest scene. So overall, I speculate that he genuinely caught feelings after the "I have missed you" scene which I only got after the forest scene. I think this might be an easily missed interaction if players went straight to the creche or underdark after the goblin stuff. I always do partial long rests before going to the half of Act 1 just to exhaust all cutscenes. So with these in mind, when Astarion tells the player "You're not just one night it's better to forget" it kinda aligns.

[@katiatall]

I think when he suggest sex second time, if we reject him there, he is really upset

[@oceanicGrimalkin]

@@pikajulie_art I remember him saying that he misses you, but only vaguely. My memory's janky. How do you get the "I have missed you" line? I wish to hear him say that again :( When do you think he realizes that he has genuine affection for you? When does he accept it?

[@oceanicGrimalkin]

@@katiatall Maybe because he's still used to using sex before the scene where he realizes that he's unsure about sex?

[@pikajulie_art]

Here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2fZep-gZ96Eqa8si=BoAWL3fB4n1_HiEX ; timestamp: 2:56 ! iirc, I got it after I received his "Darling, I was just thinking about you, and that delicious moment we shared another night." But this was because I already went with his forest night scene. So it's his second invitation. Honestly, the facial expression says it all... XD The smile and his little eye flutters. He looks very genuine compared to his other earlier greetings. I'm certain he starts to accept his genuine feelings only in Act 2, particularly his confession. If you got the "Do you have a moment?" confession rather than the "I want to thank you" version, there's one dialogue option that prompts him to say, "Imagine how stupid I felt when started to...genuinely feel...something for you."

[@mem0mwra155]

how did u trigger the act 2 dialogue?

[@Nana-to6ft]

NUNCA ME SALIO LA ESCENA DEL ACTO 1 😓

[@thearcanamodernau8130]

Es es la tercera noche. Está raro, he jugado 2 runs y en una si me salió, en la otra no. Creo que porque hablé con él primero antes que Shadowheart