Astarion becomes Ascendant Vampire after beating Cazador | Baldur's Gate 3
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- Gather your party and return to the Forgotten Realms in a tale of fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival, and the lure of absolute power.
Mysterious abilities are awakening inside you, drawn from a mind flayer parasite planted in your brain. Resist, and turn darkness against itself. Or embrace corruption, and become ultimate evil.
From the creators of Divinity: Original Sin 2 comes a next-generation RPG, set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons.
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Baldurs gate 3 bg3 early access Gameplay Walkthrough PS5 steam xbox No Commentary HD let's play playthrough guide side missions upgrades companions
ritual translation (from Latin):
Behold master!
I offer these souls in sacrifice.
Now I want the power you promised me.
It's times like that when I wish I spoke Latin
Cazador just oozes oblivion character energy
"HELP! There’s a psychopath on the loose!"
the male elf voice in particular, i absolutely love it lol
By Azura, by Azura, by Azura!
Because he's a minor antagonist with little to no backstory😂
"Do you get to the Cloud distance very often?"
Neil Newborn deserves an award for best voice actor, just in this scene alone; let alone the entire game.
Yeah, he made me want to enter the game and kill Astarion with my bare hands. He made the character feel this annoying.
@@abnnizzy On my playthrough, I slit Laezel's throat cause she was more annoying.
shoulda practiced the latin pronunciations more tho, that tiny slip ruins the scene for me
And he just got one well deserved. Idk how I didn’t get this scene though.
@@hyena436man, who cares? It's a dead fkn language
Bruh this game isn't afraid of horror, nudity or any length of theatrics....dude someone give the entire Larian team some awards, yeezus.
Yeah, people just recommend some messed-up things and larian was like “F*ck it, why not?!” And it was awesome.
Ok done
@@cccmmll most satisfying ending ever
Yeah but also Zeh Horny which has always been larian speciality
Can’t believe it took me so long to play the game. My jaw was open from beginning to end. Favourite RPG of all time
and suddenly the techno music starts thumping and in walks...Blade..
Blade: "There are worse things out tonight than vampires."
Karen: "Like what?"
Blade: "Like me."
@@BeardedSockHubBlade: "Some motherfuckers always gotta try to skate uphill."
Everyone in the world: "What?!"
turns out its Wyll..
@@lettucelad He just needs a hightop haircut and to say weird wesley snipes shit like "Some motherfuckers always gotta ice skate uphill"
It really is the plot from Blade 1 😂
The fact that when you speak to him later when you don't let him ascend, he says that he's grateful you stopped him from being powerhungy, makes this even sadder.
yeah... this scene is horrifying but more than anything it's deeply sad. He's giving in to the cycle of abuse, meaning he'll never be free of Cazador's influence, not really.
And he'll go on to create more victims who will, like him, seek to destroy their abuser one way or another
Hearing that bastard Cazador scream was cathartic after learning about all the cruelty he put Astarion through.
All the cruelty Cazador put Astarion through was the same abuse Velioth (Cazador's former master) put him through. Astarion is next in line, and he'll be just as evil (if not more so) than Cazador ever was.
Astarion becoming worse than Cazador is such a depressing end for his character
Never let him ascend before. I feel like it's a much better outcome if you "free" him and his siblings in another way
@@SadRussian-bq8yy
How?
Ascended Astarion is basically a different person, it's such a sharp cut from how he is on the good path.
@@meris8486 I think this is the logical outcome if you let him ascend. When we first pick him up, it was first time in 300 years he felt freedom. But still shadowed by Cazador. He felt so under power compare with his master and unconsciously lay low. We kind of turn a blind eye on his 300 years of vampire spawn history, which was nothing good but pure horror and evil, to himself and to hist preys.
@@meris8486 He's a different character based on how you choose. This is his default. Every time you enable a character, this is who they really are. You can try fulfill your ego with fantasy power-tripping and say you made them the best they can be... but this is their organic character.
Astarion was never a nice or good guy, he will happily kill you to drink, think nothing of it and move on. Sure he may show signs of remorse, but that doesn't make him a good guy.
There's no right or wrong way to play and that's why BG3 is BG3 and not some hot mess that wouldn't of won the GotYA.
I disagree. How is he worse?
One of the interesting things in cazadors palace is in the dungeon there's a scroll that has the list of all the vampires before him. None of them lived more than 70 years except cazador, despite having "eternal life"
I must not have found that, that's very interesting
Your character’s smile while watching Astarion got me dead.
He’s just like “Way to go buddy 🙂”
That shit had me rolling. What a dumb smile with the epic music lol
@@frootloopvml9804 thats actually the legit route I wanted for my character. He was like "Now THATS some power! Marry me!"
And later that evening, Astarion actually DID 😂
Neil is an amazing VA. And what I can really appreciate about the ascension is you can finally visually see what Astarion went through as Cazador's slave. I always keep him not ascended for my own reasons, but this was such a good parallel to witness.
This hurts because I want astarion to be happy but I don’t want him to be an evil vampire but I want him to deal an extra 1d10 necrotic but my character is a druid and hates those who choose undeath but also having an ascendant vampire would be really nice when fighting a god
I just finished this part. I talked Astarion out of ascending. Afterwards he seemed genuinely happy and appreciative that I did.
@@banx757 yeah I also got there and talked him out of it. Was glad he appreciated it afterwards but sad he had to go back to the shadows
Lmao my girl is a Druid but more of the shadow kind. She’s good , mostly , but has some bad in her especially if it’s wrong things for right reasons regarding the ones she loves or cares about. So she ascended him ( romanced ). She wants him to no longer have to be afraid and get his confidence back.
He's not evil, he is a vampire afterall, it's in his blood to be what he currently is, it's his nature, much like how it's in human nature to use violence when words are meaningless, it's instinct.
I wanted him to ascend. I think a reluctant Durge would want Astarion to ascend and want Gale to ascend. I would think my character fearful of Bhaal.
“uNgRaTeFuL cHiLdE!!!!!”- The guy gloating about how worthless that childe is minutes earlier.
Typical abusive parent
I came here to say the exact same thing!!!@@0912sooli
Ascension gave him free eyeliner and mascara LOL
0:03 is my dad 0.1 second after i lay down for a nap
This fateful day was the day that Asterion finally ascended.... into being indistinguishable from a cat.
This is why cats need to be arrested
A long time ago playing a D&D campaign, one of the players was a vampire similar to Asterion. He managed to kill his master and ascend, and during his super power trip speech... I killed him. An attack with a Stake, using my wizard portent, whose in the very same day, foresaw a 20... so... I decided to use there.
Sometimes the spawn is worse than the master, it was the case. No one complained and the Vampire player actually smiled when he was killed because it was a really cool and fun ending to the campaign.
This actually made me like Asterion.
This time I will try to use a bag of garlic as a flail.
Dick move LOL
@@edodejoode2197 of boths sides I would say.
@@blueveil3277why? Powers is only as bad as the person holding that power not everyone is a villan some people can do a lot of good
@@roggonval because he literally started his speech threatening the people of the nearby village and saying that we would cast a greater shadow than his former master.
I wrote it there. "Sometimes the spawn is worse than the master."
And he actually was.
@@blueveil3277I think the issue is you said he was worse but not why initially.
"He said he would enslave the nearby village and be a more frightening master, so I knew I had to kill him." If you said it more like that it would be clearer he actually had to die.
Neil did a great job, buit holy god Graham Hoadly and those screams...he definitely sold that shit, I actually felt uncomfortable.
I know a lot of people dont like Ascended Astarion, but that guy is the definition of satisfying revenge.
He takes the power his master sought after, brutally carves the runes into his back just the way he did 200 years ago, lets him explode in excrutiating pain - serving him the end cazador intended for him, steals his entire palace, robs his bank account by literally using his ascended power to get to the safe, then marries the guy who helped him destroy cazador, settles down in the palace and throws one party after another.
What the heck Astarion? He is so much fun on a dark grey playthrough 😅
Hahaha. The look on MC's face at 5:22 is absolutely priceless. Total derp face haha
Cazador popping makes me smile
Ill never go this route unless maybe if i do a durge run but i really have to admit, him carving it into cazadors back is so gratifying.
I’m planning on doing this on my second playthrough. As I was a good boy paladin for my first, I’m making a power obsessed sorlock who won’t do evil if it’s not necessary, but is willing to do anything for more power. Basically a stereotypical villain lol. Especially since I was pissed finding out that using the parasite has no repercussions in the ending.
TLDR: me and astarion are gonna be power hungry buddies
During the Cazador fight, my first instinct was to try and have Astarion rush over and bite him so he’d become a full vampire. You have no idea how infuriated I was when the game was like “cAnNoT tArGeT uNdeAD”, like come on! Astarion literally says that that’s how you become a full vamp!
EDIT: Alright guys I get it the master has to be willing you can all stop roasting me now
Except it’s not. A full vampire has to willingly let themselves be hit for someone else to become a full vampire
@@Chadius_Thundercock exactly, that's what Astarion says in one of dialogues, the master should let you bite him.
Lol that's not how it works. I pity you.
@@radvin1417Virgin
Knuckles
That comment about the Pale Knight is in reference to another, very powerful vampire Mordoc Selanmere, who once summoned the Onyx tower in Baldurs Gate
omg really, i didnt realise that. ive been trying to find any hints to the dark alliance games but ive heard or seen any until now i guess. the dark alliance games were my first and only bouts in the dnd space until this game. infact my main focus in my first playthrough was seeing the elfsong tavern, but i guess i was meant to be disappointed, since there is no song, but i did like the nod to the whole rats in the basement which lead to the sewers bit i guess, and of course the beholder
I think the song comes when you are resting in camp in the tavern, there is lyrics to the tune. I also had a mile wide grin when their basement was full of rats.@@mrmeaty2140
After you beat most of his thralls in his tower ,he has a great speech in which he taunts you, saying " You've pushed your luck too far, instead of turning back to safety, you kept pushing ,..until now you've met me , Mordoc Sallamnier, who has drained entire races into extinction.."
I was sitting here like “did he really just call back to the White Prince?”
yes sir@@lemmeshowusomething
It would be amazing if Astarion could then turn you into a vampire thrall and with high charisma you could convince him to let you bite him back to become 2 ascended vampire lords. =D
You wouldn’t be ascended though
Wait..... Don't you need to complete the ritual to ascend?
@@cooperblackwell1392 If you go through the same ritual you might be
You make torturing and sacrificing thousands of souls to the forces of hell sound romantic - and it isn't
He can turn you into a spawn, if you romance him.
Lol that is a hard no for me. Can he not see that he became Cazzador 2.0 ? just a new skin on the same dark desires and disregard for his underlings. Power corrupts even if it is little.
Well, this makes him and Shadowheart the few who will be loyal to an evil MC
>Can he not see
He does. That's his goal. Astarion is *evil*, he's not trying to beat Cazador because Cazador is a piece of shit, he's doing it because HE wants to be on top.
@@bwcmakroHe is not evil. He actually is what you let him become. All he wants is freedom and his first intention was to become stronger than his master. But if you show him another way and remind him that there is also another way his logic also completely changed. If you choose that path he knews that all these people are innocent and he thanks you for showing him another way (or how you impact his thinking). I mean it is like every origin character in the game. There is no black or white on each of them. They all can completely change in their behaviour and thinking... it all depends on how you choose to play.
@bwcmakro He's not evil, he is driven by fear. Fear of being used again, if he becomes the most powerful being, no one can use him, be above him.
His lust of power is driven by trauma and fear
@@bwcmakrohe’s not. Shadowheart laezel and astarion have paths that make them evil if you let them (follow the queen, worship shar, become a vampire lord
Latin:
Ecce dominus
Has animas offero in sacrificio
Nunc volo potestatem quam pollicitus es mihi
English:
Behold master/lord
I offer these souls in sacrifice
Now I want the power you promised me
I know it wasn't the best choice but I chose to free the 7000 spawn. I know instantly killing them would have been the ethical thing to do to society, but there's a diary/book upstairs talking about how they think vampirism isn't a condition but a disease that could be cured with more research or something related to that one dead girl in the room with the dictionary. Vampire spawn are victims, and my hope is that maybe we could go out and find the doctor guy who was writing about the cure, and try and see if theres any way to help the underdark vampire spawn since their master is dead or something. I hope that Astarion treating them with kindness and justice will inspire them to break the cycle of abuse even with the entirely consuming hunger.
I freed them too, Because why not after beating the absolute my character will back to boring adventure soooo If this Thousand vampire spawn will become "Feral, unable to contained their hunger or aggressive" Well Its a new whole adventure again with "vampires" involved or maybe ima choose that my character will turned into vampire and hunt other vampires, what an adventure behind the scene.
That’s like starting a bloody zombie apocalypse
In DND lore there is canonically a cure for vampirism :)
@@JustDeranged what, using true resurrection? Wish?
Hope they expand on that later
Durge in the end: "Don't worry, You're still a part of my design."
It is what cazador deserves tbf lol
Cazador wasn't lying. He *was* consumed in the ritual.
All this power but you can't even go with me, sit at camp as a good boy, Astarion, and wait when I need to lockpick something
Oh... we created a villain. But this villain works for me, and afterwards, its someone else's problem
I was a Paladin in my playthrough, I wanted to help Astarion getting rid of him but when he became mad with power ... I had to take him down. It was hard, but my oath is sacred.
you can convince him not to do the ritual, actually more satisfying and good for his character ar
The average oath-keeping virgin
@@JonathanJoestarJuicefest Successfully defying the enchantment of the sassy vampire's magic, relying solely on unwavering faith in God at his side - truly a gigachad in the making
The only sacred and unbreakable oath is the oath of conquest. Which is not in the game sadly for a very good reason i suppose
Douse the Flame of Hope. It is not enough to merely defeat an enemy in battle. Your victory must be so overwhelming that your enemies’ will to fight is shattered forever. A blade can end a life. Fear can end an empire.
Rule with an Iron Fist. Once you have conquered, tolerate no dissent. Your word is law. Those who obey it shall be favored. Those who defy it shall be punished as an example to all who might follow.
Strength Above All. You shall rule until a stronger one arises. Then you must grow mightier and meet the challenge, or fall to your own ruin.
For you palys out there that don't know the conquest tenets. Literally cannot break the oath is you're killing people and "being evil"
Wouldn't it be a bit of a shame for Astarion to be just your companion at this point? He has a great deeds ahead
Well he says he hasn't fully unlocked his potential yet, so he's just sticking around to fulfill his obligation and get the parasite out of his head.
@TsunzucchiniTzatzikiSanascendant vampires are immune to sun Raphael says that in act 2
@TsunzucchiniTzatzikiSan spoilers for anyone not at act 2
How he puts it they get all the powers of a vampire with none of the drawbacks
@@kurtcobane1762 I thought only gingers were daywalkers
@@Th3Chuzzl3r gingers and highly evolved vamps apparently
*stabs violently* looks like it was drawn with a precision colored pencil
Would be funny allowing him to ascend only to challange and slay him after
Who are you, Vegeta? xb
That is what i exactly did
this was the best thing i ever saw while going down this route, it was so satisfying to see cazador get sacrificed
he became toxic after ascended .. nope i want my sweet old sassy asterion back .
@@gojira6347 but its kinda hot, in my personal opinion
Tho id hate him if he was real
BIG Lestat vibes from Astarion lol
Nah, he call me his treasure and twirls his arms like love puppy. And forgets his world dominance plans because i wanted to travle. He is still a good boi.
I think you just created a villain for another game.
This is what our DM does. If we Finish an campain and are evil he uses our old characters as villains sometimes
would be great if this was cannon and 20 year from on in baldurs gate 5 we have a sidequest in killing a vampire lord
This reminds me of a Danish theater piece it's called "Jeppe på Bjerget". The piece is about a lowly peasant named Jeppe. Jeppe gets beaten by his boss, his wife and everyone else, therefore he seeks to drink his pain away. One day, a rich and powerful baron and his hunting party finds him black out drunk in a pile of dung. The baron, seeking to make a feel out of Jeppe, asks his men how to ridicule him. One of the men suggests that they put him into the Barons clothing and pretend that he is the lord, just for one day. In the beginning, Jeppe is confused and humble, but as the day goes by, he actually start to believe that he is the lord, and starts to threaten the staff with hangings. Though as in his nature as an alchoholic he drinks himself blackout drunk and they throw him in the pile of dung where they found him. Afterwards they do a mock court and thus sentencing him to be hanged.
The moral of the story is that the oprresed most likely will be opressors, given the chance.
They will be even more enthusiastically oppressive because they will feel they are doing justice
I get serious Tim Curry vibes from this performance
Boss was a dick but i just kicked him over the edge.
Same with Orin. 😂
But then… the loot though… :
i did the same but he still teleports to the coffin i think
@@fd7reel103 To heal himself
cazador pissed me off so much while fighting him that it was actually satisfying seeing astarion carving into him
Astarion: I am the greatest vampire to ever walk this land!
Strahd Von Zarovich: I think not, child...
Can't hear Strahd, too much planar barrier and insulating mists in the way. :P
I cannot BEAR when Astarion says “please” to helping him.
I was so scared I wasn't going to be able to stop Astarion from Ascending and then I completed the ritual a week ago and he didn't even TRY to. I was so relieved - I think I must have made it abundantly clear with our interactions that he would get no help from me lol
5:17 oh my god I cannot believe they're pulling on the 2014 Malificent film. The way the energy sublimates from him is straight out of the scene where Malificent curses Aurora, iconic staff included. Not at all subtle how both Astarion and Malificent (in that 2014 film) are both applicable to SA survivors in their stories. I really do love the art and story teams for being willing to dig into these range of stories for this game
I know ascended astarion route is 'bad' but goddamn is it beautiful
i will NEVER let him ascend. it turns him into cazador, he loses his soul & becomes the very thing that destroyed him for 2 centuries, therefore making every bit of effort you put into helping him recover end up being a complete waste of time, & it turns your romance with him from something incredibly sweet/vulnerable into something sick & twisted, & just as abusive as his relationship with cazador. & it makes me sick to my stomach seeing him become the man who abused him for centuries. it will NEVER happen in my game, EVER
Yeah, but the really cool part is that Larian made it so that you COULD do it if you wanted! There are so many choices they made possible, it's beautiful!
That's the beauty of good rpgs, there's always another choice and many ways to play, sadly triple A studio's have forgotten this fact.
@@BowTie8Bit yup that is why it is called rpgs....most of them are pretty good in this regard. Pillars of eternity allow you to do some seriusly messed up shit as well if you go down the pure dark semi hidden route.
Why is ascending bad? Because he kills off 7000 spawns? What's the other choice? Let them go free and ravage the underdark?
You can not ascend and still kill them off but what's the difference between that and just ascending?
@@nolp2898 the problem i have with him ascending doesn't have anything to do with whether the spawn live or die, it has to do with the way astarion behaves after ascension, especially in relation to the MC. i never did the ascension path, obviously, but i watched the aftermath on other videos, & that version of astarion is a million times worse than non-ascended astarion, & it just makes me physically ill to see him take the complete opposite route of the redemption arc that i've been waiting to give him since my first day of early access 3 years ago 😢
LoL
Tav looks like an absolute sociopath! 🤣
He is the greatest vampire ever... until he meets Strahd Von Zarovich!
So many of these comments are ignoring so much of character background and concepts that make it feel like things need to be spelled out to get it. Like yes, there are only hard choices that have likely bad outcomes [freeing all of them resulting in potential mass destruction or suffering but they'd live or ascending and having to deal with the personal fall out that comes with that] but this is the point; what is personally ethically better to you? What is morality, how do we follow it or ignore it?
This follows that people call him evil even before this when it's very clear that's not true? Astarion goes on about not wanting to be a monster despite all he's done. a slave, killing, using people, being used. Suffering with starvation, abuse, isolation-- he isn't going to be morally good/pure after 200 years so yes, he'll be jaded and enjoy killing. From the start he likes power because it's the only way he feels control-- something abuse survivors generally crave more than anything. Astarion has a point; we have companions who similar were abused and used for something [Karlach] but this isn't always the case of being able to remain the same. Nevertheless under it all he still cares when you do make some good choices, because he isn't evil just forced to adapt to a brutal life much like Lae'zel. Knowing this it makes becoming an ascendent again a moral choice; doing so Astarion get his freedom from his past, free of the constant hunger in 200 years, and the power is not just for strength but a notion of safety from Cazador yet ascending is the removal of all things humanity [soulless]. Becoming a full vampire in any way removes empathy and only a drive for power, and that's the price to pay for strength reasons but the overall difficult ethical/moral choices the audiences makes in regards to an arc. Not everyone gets happy endings, not every character wants to be good at the end and Astarion is a perfect character to carry that idea within his story/motivations.
Blud forgot about dragons specifically metallic dragons
So either Astarion becomes evil or you unleash 7000+ vampire spawns (with little to NO control) into teh underdark, that will become a HUGE problem in the future? Why are there so many quest conclusions with NO good endings?
You can just choose not to free them on a good path
You can also tell him to delete most of them
Killing off 7000 Spawan is a good choice, if you don't want to unleash hell in to underdark. Astarion also mention hunger alone could drive one mad if they don't know how to control it.
You have the option to use Cazador's staff to instantly turn the imprisoned 7000 spawns to dust in an instant (not the other six vampire spawn thralls who were up in the ritual chamber)´... and after seeing the horrified reaction and arguments from Astarion himself, from other companions _and_ from the Gur tribe if you decided to open the cells and let the 7000 spawns go (including the vampirized Gur children who previously told you _not_ to let them free or they'd become a plague on their own families) to "give them a chance" in the Underdark, despite most of them being insane and all of them are starving, I firmly believe the better choice is to give them a merciful death. Otherwise you are responsible for the hundreds of thousands of people they will attack and kill in the Underdark and in Baldur's Gate while trying to feed. And likely a lot of those spawns would be killed off anyway.
Many players seem to think the choice is between killing the spawns (Rite of Ascension) or not killing them, and that the Rite is evil because it kills the spawns... no. The Rite is evil because it is of diabolical origin and because it _destroys the souls_ of all the 7007 sacrifices; something which is a huge deal in D&D cosmology. Whereas killing them afterwards, while breaking the promise to free them and help them, means their souls are now free to go to the Afterlife or be reborn anew.
It is strongly recommended you let Astarion pick up Cazador's staff and make the decision (free the 7000 or nuke them) himself. Then go talk to the Gur tribe. If you-the-player chose the "free them and then send them into the Underdark" option, the leader matriarch of the Gur will be horrified. The Gur will decide to venture into the Underdark to find their undead kids.... with the implication they might die there.
If you let Astarion talk to the Gur leader, and he tells them he killed Cazador and stopped the Rite of Ascension, she will praise him for it. She will ask if we found their abducted children. Astarion will at first only tell them that everyone who was brought to Cazador was turned into a spawn, and you can tell he's uncomfortable with it. blaming himself (despite the fact CAzador gave him the explicit order to abduct the children and the game established that a spawn literally physically and mentally _can't_ resist a direct order from the vampiric master, so he had no choice). When she pressures him, he admits he used to staff to destroy all the 7000 spawns in the cells, including their children. Then -- and you shouldn't interject, just let him talk -- Astarion tells the Gur leader he made the decision so that the Gur parents wouldn't have to. So that the Gur wouldn't have to suffer even more having to face what had become of their children. So that they wouldnt have to venture into the Underdark and potentially die down there. THis way through could remember their children the way they had been, mourn them, then move on.
You must have hated that landlord quest in Dragon's Dogma, then.
Can Astarion become this OP vampire without being a power hungry dick?
because I try to make him a better person but I don't want him to lose the ability to live a "normal" life
I haven't play this game yet, but imho it is unlikely that you can redeem him while allowing him to gain ultimate power at the same time. Power that is gained by sacrificing innocents tend to corrupt, and the end is not always justified by the means.
That would unfortunately be no. Its worse if you romance him. Spoiler alert.
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You can read his mind as he offers to turn you into a vampire.. He thinks your degrading yourself and he will forever think that. you go from being his love to his pet. I mean he still loves you I believe. It just becomes one giant red flag. Try and break up with him and he tells you basically no you are his forever. Its a bad summary of it, it is just my opinion.
@@Silverharafox Adult game with adult choices, no goody two shoes bending. Nature of a vampire is after all vampirism!
@@Silverharafox we should all remember this is the FIRST installment. there is almost certainly going to be DLC.
@@Silverharafox On the plus side, you can reject him with a swift kick to his balls during his power trip and he slinks off crying. No seriously. That's actually one of the outcomes.
He resisted in my playthrough he just brutally murdered the guy. And I was ok with that.
The greatest middle finger a neophyte vampire can give their master, is usurp the masters power.
Am I the only one gettin hella Tim Curry vibes. Love it!
By choosing this route… I guess he’s finally free of the torment, yet lost of himself even more… but his mortal self was dead long ago… 😔 I don’t know 😭😭😭😭😭 he’s endings pain me so much either way😭😭 HELP ME
He deserves to die
The ascended vampire lord route is unambiguously heinously evil
Yall just listen to whatever he says huh.. I never let Astarion make his own choices he's horrible at it. I say "no! Bad Astarion! No more evil vampire rituals!" And rub his nose in it like a dog. He may whine about it or get mad but I'm his owner so I have to make the tough decisions and do whats right for him. Like telling your dog no when he's begging at the table.
The ascendant route is the same as encouraging Shart to be a dark Justiciar or Laezel to remain loyal to Vlakkith. They may believe they want this for themselves but it's ultimately bad for them and are desires born from their backstories of abuse. Astarion's interest in the ritual is born out of his terror of being enslaved again, if you don't do it, he later thanks you for saving him from himself. If you're doing an evil run or don't care about his wellbeing, I guess go for it, but if you're genuinely unsure what is best for him then the game is pretty unambiguous about the fact that Ascending him is killing his soul and turns him into a narcissist who wants to take over the world. If romanced, he starts treating tav/durge as his little pet instead of as his partner too.
I chose this route just to see Cazador suffer, then loaded and convinced Astarion to not go through with it
3:20 feels like a TLOU2 reference
The best path for the world. Better he get all the power than release thousands of hungry thralls who cannot be controlled or stopped.
You know that the thralls don't necessarily get released if the ritual isn't done, right? If you talk Astarion out of trying to ascend, he can then use the staff to non-ritually blow all the thralls up to neutralise the threat. Or you can choose to just leave them in their cages to presumably go completely feral and starve, which seems both cruel and disastrous if they manage to break out or somebody stumbles onto them, IMO. You can do those without needing to kill Astarion's six "siblings", who've been vampires long enough to develop self-control.
5:05 right in the middle of his chanting an ad for Napoleon cuts in. Next time why doesn’t UA-cam just castrate me while I’m enjoying myself?
Cazador deserves it
I really wish there was a way to have Astarion both ascend AND stay on the good path...
Even so, he's still no Strahd von Zarovich. To call upon vermin is one thing. To command greater undead... that's something only the highest can achieve.
Astarion is a vampire - a nobleman - a charlatan, as a nobleman and a vampire - gnomes in the forge, devils in the grove, the Gur tribe treats them as servants, serfs. He will not get his hands dirty to help them, because they are not equal to him, they exist to serve him, they have no importance. Astarion Ascendant behaves like a great lord from the 16th century, an aristocrat, and treats Tav that way - look at historical films, how the king talks to the queen - every conversation is an audience. The Astarion-Karlach romance is a misalliance and misunderstanding, he has his own standards. this affair should be impossible. He always wants to be a vampire lord. He says to Tav - I don't know who you are to me - when he has a low status - he has no wealth, he is pursued by his siblings, he is weak and threatened. Once he kills Cazador and takes his power, the palace (and everything else) can decide who Tav will be to him. The ruler is not denied. For me, the foundation of his personality is the desire for freedom, combined with it is bravado and unbridled fantasy. Freedom is freedom from moral norms and commands. He is like Don Giovani, in the name of his freedom and bravado, he will go to hell (what was his deal with Cazador?!). He is a nobleman - an anarchist, everyone is to serve him, he will not serve anyone. Love - it is pleasant, but it is power, authority and money that gives freedom. He wants to be able to do everything! that doesn't mean he will be morally bad. he is not a sadist. He says trust me, I won't do anything bad to you. I can do everything - I don't have to do anything. Sexual trauma - this is not the axis of his character. He wants Tav because he is very intelligent and knows that Tav can be useful, but he wants her as a wife for a prince - with him, he must loyally build his power, his dominion. She is supposed to help and support him in this. This is the duty of a duchess or queen. Tav is worthy of it - together they defeated 3 gods, Absolut and Raphael. He won't do it again with anyone. He is a charlatan - he pursues his goal using absolutely all available means, I think he is honest only at the end when, as a great lord, he wants to reward Tav - because that is what his aristocratic ethos tells him to do. Tav will be allowed to love and admire him because it is a pleasant feeling (why should he give up this pleasure? love is a game for the nobility, not the commoners) and this will make her so obedient. Astarion always believed that no one was equal to him. Astarion Ascendant has already won in his game, Astarion spawn continues playing... Astarion always plays Tav (the player) not player plays him. The best RPG character ever
(google translator)
I let him become fully powered, and he did not turn evil for me. There was one scene right after where he was like, all will serve me aditude. But he was basically a more confident astarion on my run-through.
Same for me
Even in my evil playthrough I didnt let him do it.
I mean what kind of a evil character would I be if I let someone become more powerful then me :D
Well, ascended Astarion may be the best and funniest choice for evil playthrough.
Shoutout to these voice actors man!!!!
When I first learned Astarion was a vampire my first thought was to kill him, but with me a gnome illusionist, Lae'zel the fighter and Shadowheart the cleric, I needed a rogue. And he was good. He had already cracked so many locks, and disabled so many traps. I already had withers so my aversion to undead as a player had to be put to rest. As time went on I grew to like him, understand the pain Cazador put him through. I was mainly a good person; always trying to do the right thing so the number of times the message "Astarion disapproves" was plenty. When it came time for this ritual I was more curious than anything (as gnomes tend to be). It really hurt me when Karlach and Shadowheart practically begged me to put an end to the ritual. I saw it through to the end. Mainly because this ritual destroys 7000 spawn. Dude had a point about that.
But then Astarion talked about making thousands of spawn under him. I thought "what have I done?" But I still control him. Haven't finished the game yet but my plan is to destroy the elder brain. I hope the game gives me a chance to put an end to him before he can accomplish this.
I am in the exact same situation as you, I didn't even like him in the first but learned to. And in this scene I tought that would be best to kill 7000 spawns instead to expect that all of them would learn to control themselves (probably would, because it is a videogame)
@@MatheusMMSS you could still kill all the spawn and leave siblings of astarion(ones shown in altar) alive if you didnt go thru with it since these could control themselves
Dont worry. Even 6 months after the elder brain, Astarion hasnt sired a single spawn beside your character if you are romanced (even though you are not a spawn but a bride/groom which is a full vampire).
That whole spawn talk was basically drunk talk. Heck, he even agrees to just travel the world with you for a couple of centuries, so you are probably safe there 😅
honestly he doesn't change much he just gets a new bite attack that is more effective. and can become a mist that can fly. still not that strong he can only do it once between rests. i'm curious about his ending though since there are far more endings than people are talking about. it makes me wonder how cool his would be.
There's an ending where he breaks up with you for killing cazador without him.
The scene is slightly brought down by the Latin obviously being English sentences with the words swapped. It should be more like:
_“Ecce, dominus! Has animas in sacrificio offero! Potestatem quod pollicitus, nunc volo mihi es!”_
Literal English: “Look, lord! These souls in sacrifice (I) offer! (The) Power which was promised, now I wish mine to be!”
(Latin sentence structure is Subject→Object→Verb while English is Subject→Verb→Object)
At the same time, it's not really Latin for them in any case. It's supposedly some ancient form of Infernal, that doesn't necessarily need the same grammar. We just know them to be latin words
@@snowpoler Fair enough
5:22 that smile... Looks like he sent his 6 y.o. child on first school bus, not seeing ascension of vampire (followed by death of thousands) xD
I'm so glad I was able to get the good ending in my first playthrough when I romanced him. Now I can do this route in my dark urge run hehe
I’m currently doing an Evil Playthrough and I Just finished making Astarion ascend.
My Half Orc Barbarian is basically more of that toxic friend Influence while. Contrast to my Dwarf Paladin who I’m making into a true Hero walkthrough.
That which you have taken will be you undoing.
Thank you greatly, my audio broke mid cutscene so this was a godsend
and the vampire cycle is set a new - it will repeat again!
continuing the cycle of abuse all by yourself handsome?
I am so tempted to have Astarian do what he wants and then fight him
Ascended Astarion is best Astarion imo, he’s like Tim curry and Lestat rolled into one ❤
Imagine going through all this for a stronger bite attack
My first run was an evil oriented character, I was planning on helping Astarion reach his goal. But to witness this... It was sublime! He has other dialogue options when you support him.
Basically he now embodied the 3 vampire tennets Vellioth taught Cazador (found in the Vellioth skull with a scroll)
- Dominate: it is the role of the true Vampire.
- Solitude is the road to power: what is done and found in secret, remain yours to consume.
- Patience for conquest: Wait, strike only when the enemy attacks you, with all the advantages you can collect beforehand.
The ritual can be translated from Latin to something akin to this (paraphrasing from memory)
- Oh Lord Behold!
- I offer these souls in sacrifice...
- Now I want the power you promised me...
Absolutely loved the outcome of this quest. Astarion becomes what all vampire kind seeks to attain. At the back of the dungeon, you can find a scroll containing the names, titles and epoch of influence of all the prominent vampires in Faerûn. Cazador Czarr was the last, Astarion's reign begins... 😈
I feel a degree of pity for astarion, its not like he asked to be a vampire or did he?
No, he didn’t, but his corrupt ways in his mortal life is what thrusted him into the way of this. Ether you can remind him that his corruption is what brought him all of this suffering, or you watch him sink into the abyss of the corruption he courted.
He kinda did. He said it was either dying from being ambushed or becoming a vampire. He just had no idea what the vampire who turned him was such an ass
He didn't. He was bleeding to death and Cazzador shows up and offer him: bleed to death or save him. But Caz didn't told him about his future life.
No he was a magistrate beaten close to death and coincidentally (or not) Cazador was there to save him
@@Xxsorafan given how the Gur are under his puppet strings, I’d say definitely wasn’t a coincidence.
Surely nothing bad will come of this.
Guessing Ascended Astarion gets bodied by Bodhi in DLC in a battle of vampiric supremacy in Faerun. Seeing as she's a Dread Lord in the Shadowfell now.
Possibly, but the book that comes from is a bit unclear in it's official-ness/canonicity, I thought? Like it's semi-endorsed content but not actually by the WoTC D&D team?
this makes no sense, if the scar is a binding contract between cazador and astarion, copying wouldnt make it astarion to cazador, it would just make them BOTH be consumed
I think it depends on which position each of them was in in the ritual at that point because Astarion pretty much forced Cazador to take his place. If Cazador wasn't given the same cuts/contract as Astarion the ritual wouldn't have worked because it needed someone to be in that position with that 'contract'.
Really makes me want to do an Asterion run and respec him to Oathbreaker, melee warlock/fighter, or shadow monk/rogue
Strahd Von Zarovich: I guess your technically right. I have not walked on YOUR land.
He became that which he despised.
I didn't even bother talking to any of the prisoners when I was playing Astarion, so I had no idea one of them was his sister when I performed the ritual. Nor do I particularly care, I wanted full vampire powers, damn it!
The whole reason that Astarion can't turn the main character into a vampire is because as a vampire spawn, Astarion is too weak to do so... But now that excuse doesn't work anymore, right?
@@DarkAdonisVyers Yes, as a vampire ascendant, he can turn people. You can even ask him to turn you if you're romancing him in this route.
@@Nyrufa Playing as a straight male, it's really unfortunate that, while romance is a thing, sworn brotherhoods are not. Where's my vampire equivalent of a Peach Garden Oath?
two of them are in wyrms crossing, including the sister. seems you talked to literally no one lol.
@@DarkAdonisVyers lol if only there was an option to change astarion to astarianna.
Astarion was in no uncertain terms, evil from beginning to end. Great character that they put in the game.
Well no if you get to know him and help where possible you can make him a better person I mean he spent 200 years being tortured it’s bound to leave a mark
He’s evil because of your influence. He can be good.
Unless you actively try to make him better, yeah. I agree he's a fantastic character either way.
Even on a good playthrough, to me this is the correct choice.
Either unleash thousands of uncontrolled vampires into Baldurs Gate, or purge them and give your ally a powerup against a greater evil.
It's the equivalent of Shepard saving the collector base in Mass Effect.
You don't have to free the spawns if Astarion doesn't ascend. You'll be given the choice to 1) free them 2) kill them 3) let them in their cells (presumably to be killed by the Gur hunters waiting outside)
so like.. if you're playing a dark urge character... this kinda works...
Dark Urge couple. Sounds awesome for a villanous campaign!
I don't need the Dark Urge to make a decision, like this.
When Cazador said that those who wear the scars will be sacrificed I was like "HELL NAH, WE'RE NOT GOING THROUGH WITH THAT!"
I know he could have lied in attempt to save his skin but I was not going to gamble on that!
Is it bad i ascended Astarion just so cazador could get a taste of his own medicine lol, the pain clearly on his face when runed are carved isnt enough after what he didto Astarion and his other spawn
And I still think unascended astarion is the best route, after doing it on my first play through.