📌Pls note this: ❗ *Astarion’s Ascension is not supported on this humble channel, and any cutscenes with AA (shared here) serve only for critical analysis. Also, it's is not an invitation to a discussion (if AA could be a good outcome), but a clear statement that it is not. So, any discussion about it is out of place here. I want to keep and design this channel for like-minded people, so thank you for understanding^.^* Made this comparison additionally to the whole romancing Party Banter (ua-cam.com/video/ers9ph_1LuM/v-deo.htmlsi=Toi0JGSwafygxnZV) to show how the companions react to romancing Astarion versus romancing the Ascendant. Lae'zel and Shadowheart seem to still be bugged, so they don't say anything:/ And just to remind you, Astarion's ascensionis triggered only for educational purposes on this channel ^.^
So I merely ascended him at first because I wanted him to be able to live in the sun. That was my only reason. I was romancing him and when he suddenly became so controlling I have never reloaded to before the Cazador fight so fast. AA defenders don't realize that there are people out there that get triggered by this behaviour, especially since they may have gone through controlling and straight up abusive people themselves. Spawn to me is so much better. Breaking the cycle of abuse >>> Becoming the thing you swore to destroy. Besides he is so sweet after that. He needs to be healed from his trauma; overcome it. Not the power. I hate people who romanticize abusers and who sugar coat the dynamic as "dark romance vampire". I don't care. Thank you for being a spawn-safe channel
The comparison is so sad honestly. Especially when you know how excited he is in the epilogue to meet with friends again and realize how important they are for him. In the alternative timeline nobody likes him, which is understandable since he is openly plotting to kill everyone standing in his way. Too bad Shadowheart's banter with Ascendant is still buggy. It's pretty funny. "Our friend has change a bit. Red eyes, paler skin, I can't put my finger on it..."
I agree. If you don’t ascend him he has a line where he says “I am enough just the way I am.” It’s so touching and heartfelt to see him finally be a peace with himself. But if you ascend him he becomes this ball of raging insecurity and narcissism. It’s so sad.
As someone who often tries to explain how much I empathise Astarion's journey to my own trauma and survival story and then gets attacked for not "liking" or romanticising AA - thank you 🥺 Thank you for always showing the significance of his growth and the realistic tragedy of his, potential, spiral into what becomes AA. It seems lately like most big Astarion creators here are mostly just objectifying Astarion and are very adamantly against spawn and pro-AA and try to hide all of the downfalls, longterm unhealthiness and danger of his A form and its consequences and I'm getting to a point where even when I just express worry and slight discomfort about the romanticising of this viewpoint, I get villified and hounded and I'm getting scared to speak up on youtube much anymore because of how much I personally relate to both Astarion and as someone who's been destroyed during my times of abuse by relationships with people who were also victims of something and so ended up eerily like AA... I'm happy there's amazing Astarion supporters and big Astarion content creators who see both the good and the bad in his two possible endings, and the good but also the bad and the bad consequences in the AA option (and not just a "sexy dommy hubbie so what if he pushes me around a lil and lashes out at me if I dare to disagree" viewpoint which, frankly, triggers me horribly cause I've, well, lived the reality of that... I loathe to use the word "trigger" but I hope you understand what I mean 🥹) So thank you for showing that as a big Astarion fan, there's creators who view his character fully, with logic and reason along with kindness, and who I don't have to be worried about judging people like me who don't feel too comfortable with AA and who won't romanticise views that landed a lot of us into dark situations irl... 🙏❤️ I know it may be silly about how much that means to fellow survivors and Astarion fans like me, but thank you so much
FR. I hate ascended astarion, i dont understand some fans defending it just because of the "kinky" aspects with romancing. He feels different, like you can actually tell AA isnt astarion anymore. its really sad that he goez back to being probably fake but more so condescending, like another cazador, its similar to god gale in a way.
I've noticed your comments on other channels. The response you've gotten actually shocked me. I used to vehemently defend people who are into villain romance. It's not my kink, but I can still see what someone might find compelling about it. And as long as it remains a fantasy, there's no harm in it. But there are people who genuinely call ascended Astarion a cinnamon bun, when he tells you, that you will live the best life - by his standards - whether you like it or not. And they attack you for pointing out, that he is not sweet. Not every treat we enjoy has to be sweet. Some people are really into dark chocolate with chilli flakes. Why is it so hard for people to admit that the treats they are into are not sweet? And much like you, I find it concerning and uncomfortable. Ascended Astarion never stops to negotiate consent with the player character, when he shifts the relationship into the D/s dynamic. That's a huge red flag. And the only reason we can let it slide, is because the player controls the game and ultimately it's the player who needs to give consent, which they do by not reloading an earlier save. But I think it's important to acknowledge said red flag, because if your partner treats you like this in real life and you can't see it for what it is you're in a dangerous situation. And I really don't get the argument that this behavior isn't toxic, if you have decided that your Tav likes it. It's toxic regardless, but it's safe for you as the player because Astarion is only a fictional character, a bunch of pixels on a screen, and he can't hurt you no matter what he does to your Tav. And people get so defensive when someone points that out, as if it was a personal attack. Like, I am not the one assigning moral judgement here. Alcohol is literally a toxin and yet it's perfectly acceptable to go out for drinks. You do you. But can we please call a spade a spade? Halsin puts it really well in this video, when he is warning Astarion not to let the fantasy become too real.
@melinnamba thank you so much, I agree 100% and that's exactly what I mean, though I know my view may be a bit bias because I believe I've basically /been/ and then /dated/ an AA type of person (a man from a very traumatic background, initially good but suspicious and anxious, that suddenly got a spike in finances and power due to taking control over handling of some very dark stuff - just that in this real life case it wasn't ascension but rather illegal substances - who was happy as long as I listened to his power trips and didn't speak a word to oppose him, but heaven help me if I did disagree or want to leave - I became the worst person in the world, an idiot, a snake, a focus points for all sort heavy personal of insults etc. at worst, and a target of his paranoid threats at worst. It was /not/ sweet. That was /not/ someone who is totally not manipulative and dangerous and selfish and actually a 'good husband' or whatnot. It was a /nightmare/ that so many of us barely escape. And I actually love BG3 for how realistically they portray some traumatic responses and behaviour developments because I've seen a lot of us recognize familiar responses and reactions of either themselves or former loved ones in AA, and like you say it's cool if someone wants to just roleplay the whole villain thing, while being also fully aware of how broken, unstable and unhealthy an AA-like behaviour and AA x Tav dynamics are, but people flat out denying any negativity about it and call him a sweetie pie caring husband and a perfect devoted partner? Oof, it literally makes my stomach turn with unease... Like roleplaying a game is one thing, but vehemently romanticising toxic behaviour of an unhealthy individual and literally attacking others for just pointing out the reality of it all is just... incredibly ignorant and disrespectful towards real life victims of similar situations that are very real and frighteningly similar... I mean, hell, they even twist /Neil's/ own words and their meanings to fit their 'preferences', which just adds a whole extra parasocial layer of unhealthiness to it all... And still after a few of these types of fans' responses to me I almost did feel like /I/ was the crazy or bad one, just because of how determined and intense they can get.
@akaruiasatsuyu you're definitly not the crazy one. There are people claiming that if you don't let Astarion ascend you're abusive, because you condem him to a live in the shadows and never let him heal. That's such a twisted idea of a healthy and stable emotional state. And by what code of ethics is it ever selfish to not feed 7000 souls to a devil? I am no abuse survivor, so that's not a bias I have. And it gives me a veey uneasy feeling to. Kinda like watching frogs sitting in a pot of water that's slowly heating up. What surprises me most about it, is that I felt like it's currently quite accepted and somewhat popular to talk about all of the problematic favourites of the last 3 decades. Like, isn't it consesus now that Edward Cullen is a creepy stalker and the relationships in twilight are pretty messed up? I don't get why we should apply different standards to Astarion.
Hii, sorry for the late response and I'm really sorry that you experienced such behavior on this platform... But I'm not surprised:/ I want to encourage you not to pay attention to what these ppl are saying because they don't seem to be adequate at all, and there is a great possibility that some of them are the reason for creating such situations you experienced irl. There are plenty of ppl who say exactly the same about men like AA irl (just think of the recent hype around the killer Wade Wilson...), so it's no wonder that there are so many in communities around video games. I came into the 'Astarion fandom' just after I completed the game on my own (without any spoilers, I hadn't seen any edits or discussions on social media at all) and while playing, I never thought there was something to discuss about AA. But as I started to share my own edits, I noticed in the comments that there are really ppl out there who support AA seriously and try to open a serious discussion and defend their position. So I had to position myself early because I was just perplexed: there is nothing to discuss and to defend, I'm sorry, and I'm out of this. There are things which are that simple, like the fact that AA is, let's say, short, 'not ok'. I noticed that the most favorite defensive saying of these ppl is 'it's just a game' and that's true, which means you can ascend him to see what happens (unlike irl where you can't reload the game) and that is what you'll see in game: he's not ok. And that is the only thing one can discuss. Also, one could discuss e.g. if one would be worried to like AA even if one knows that's wrong and is seeking advice on how to help oneself avoid such obsessions irl. Everything else is not to discuss. So, my advice is to just avoid such people (especially irl too). They aren't willing to be helped, they are focused on their own world and its justification, and so they should stay there imho^^
![Astarion, if you're romancing someone else. Party Banter [Fixed in Patch 7] | Baldur's Gate III](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Tsoqn5oMzk0/mqdefault.jpg)
![All Party Banter If You're Romancing Astarion [Fixed in Patch 7] | Baldur's Gate III](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ers9ph_1LuM/mqdefault.jpg)
📌Pls note this:
❗ *Astarion’s Ascension is not supported on this humble channel, and any cutscenes with AA (shared here) serve only for critical analysis. Also, it's is not an invitation to a discussion (if AA could be a good outcome), but a clear statement that it is not. So, any discussion about it is out of place here. I want to keep and design this channel for like-minded people, so thank you for understanding^.^*
Made this comparison additionally to the whole romancing Party Banter (ua-cam.com/video/ers9ph_1LuM/v-deo.htmlsi=Toi0JGSwafygxnZV) to show how the companions react to romancing Astarion versus romancing the Ascendant. Lae'zel and Shadowheart seem to still be bugged, so they don't say anything:/ And just to remind you, Astarion's ascensionis triggered only for educational purposes on this channel ^.^
Very interesting, insightful contrasts, thankyou for showcasing them!
@@oldiebutgoodie79 you're welcome ^^ 🌷
So I merely ascended him at first because I wanted him to be able to live in the sun. That was my only reason. I was romancing him and when he suddenly became so controlling I have never reloaded to before the Cazador fight so fast. AA defenders don't realize that there are people out there that get triggered by this behaviour, especially since they may have gone through controlling and straight up abusive people themselves. Spawn to me is so much better. Breaking the cycle of abuse >>> Becoming the thing you swore to destroy. Besides he is so sweet after that. He needs to be healed from his trauma; overcome it. Not the power. I hate people who romanticize abusers and who sugar coat the dynamic as "dark romance vampire". I don't care. Thank you for being a spawn-safe channel
Wyll spitting FACTS in that last part tho
Yeah Halsin too and how AA calls this new 'relationship' 'arrangement' in there is such a fitting description
@@sinviel absolutely
ong⁉️⁉️
its the way he is still sassy but he is not arrogant
The comparison is so sad honestly. Especially when you know how excited he is in the epilogue to meet with friends again and realize how important they are for him. In the alternative timeline nobody likes him, which is understandable since he is openly plotting to kill everyone standing in his way.
Too bad Shadowheart's banter with Ascendant is still buggy. It's pretty funny. "Our friend has change a bit. Red eyes, paler skin, I can't put my finger on it..."
I agree. If you don’t ascend him he has a line where he says “I am enough just the way I am.” It’s so touching and heartfelt to see him finally be a peace with himself. But if you ascend him he becomes this ball of raging insecurity and narcissism. It’s so sad.
But what do you mean by 'sad'?^^ they are all friends if he is not Ascended ^^ and if he's Ascendant, he doesn't care about anyone anyway
@@samday414 true^^ but Ascendant is even worse than just insecure and narcissistic, his whole personality is just gone , it's a tragedy
Jaheria and him have the best banter no matter his choice
As someone who often tries to explain how much I empathise Astarion's journey to my own trauma and survival story and then gets attacked for not "liking" or romanticising AA - thank you 🥺 Thank you for always showing the significance of his growth and the realistic tragedy of his, potential, spiral into what becomes AA.
It seems lately like most big Astarion creators here are mostly just objectifying Astarion and are very adamantly against spawn and pro-AA and try to hide all of the downfalls, longterm unhealthiness and danger of his A form and its consequences and I'm getting to a point where even when I just express worry and slight discomfort about the romanticising of this viewpoint, I get villified and hounded and I'm getting scared to speak up on youtube much anymore because of how much I personally relate to both Astarion and as someone who's been destroyed during my times of abuse by relationships with people who were also victims of something and so ended up eerily like AA...
I'm happy there's amazing Astarion supporters and big Astarion content creators who see both the good and the bad in his two possible endings, and the good but also the bad and the bad consequences in the AA option (and not just a "sexy dommy hubbie so what if he pushes me around a lil and lashes out at me if I dare to disagree" viewpoint which, frankly, triggers me horribly cause I've, well, lived the reality of that... I loathe to use the word "trigger" but I hope you understand what I mean 🥹)
So thank you for showing that as a big Astarion fan, there's creators who view his character fully, with logic and reason along with kindness, and who I don't have to be worried about judging people like me who don't feel too comfortable with AA and who won't romanticise views that landed a lot of us into dark situations irl... 🙏❤️ I know it may be silly about how much that means to fellow survivors and Astarion fans like me, but thank you so much
FR. I hate ascended astarion, i dont understand some fans defending it just because of the "kinky" aspects with romancing. He feels different, like you can actually tell AA isnt astarion anymore. its really sad that he goez back to being probably fake but more so condescending, like another cazador, its similar to god gale in a way.
I've noticed your comments on other channels. The response you've gotten actually shocked me. I used to vehemently defend people who are into villain romance. It's not my kink, but I can still see what someone might find compelling about it. And as long as it remains a fantasy, there's no harm in it. But there are people who genuinely call ascended Astarion a cinnamon bun, when he tells you, that you will live the best life - by his standards - whether you like it or not. And they attack you for pointing out, that he is not sweet. Not every treat we enjoy has to be sweet. Some people are really into dark chocolate with chilli flakes. Why is it so hard for people to admit that the treats they are into are not sweet? And much like you, I find it concerning and uncomfortable.
Ascended Astarion never stops to negotiate consent with the player character, when he shifts the relationship into the D/s dynamic. That's a huge red flag. And the only reason we can let it slide, is because the player controls the game and ultimately it's the player who needs to give consent, which they do by not reloading an earlier save. But I think it's important to acknowledge said red flag, because if your partner treats you like this in real life and you can't see it for what it is you're in a dangerous situation. And I really don't get the argument that this behavior isn't toxic, if you have decided that your Tav likes it. It's toxic regardless, but it's safe for you as the player because Astarion is only a fictional character, a bunch of pixels on a screen, and he can't hurt you no matter what he does to your Tav. And people get so defensive when someone points that out, as if it was a personal attack. Like, I am not the one assigning moral judgement here. Alcohol is literally a toxin and yet it's perfectly acceptable to go out for drinks. You do you. But can we please call a spade a spade?
Halsin puts it really well in this video, when he is warning Astarion not to let the fantasy become too real.
@melinnamba thank you so much, I agree 100% and that's exactly what I mean, though I know my view may be a bit bias because I believe I've basically /been/ and then /dated/ an AA type of person (a man from a very traumatic background, initially good but suspicious and anxious, that suddenly got a spike in finances and power due to taking control over handling of some very dark stuff - just that in this real life case it wasn't ascension but rather illegal substances - who was happy as long as I listened to his power trips and didn't speak a word to oppose him, but heaven help me if I did disagree or want to leave - I became the worst person in the world, an idiot, a snake, a focus points for all sort heavy personal of insults etc. at worst, and a target of his paranoid threats at worst. It was /not/ sweet. That was /not/ someone who is totally not manipulative and dangerous and selfish and actually a 'good husband' or whatnot.
It was a /nightmare/ that so many of us barely escape. And I actually love BG3 for how realistically they portray some traumatic responses and behaviour developments because I've seen a lot of us recognize familiar responses and reactions of either themselves or former loved ones in AA, and like you say it's cool if someone wants to just roleplay the whole villain thing, while being also fully aware of how broken, unstable and unhealthy an AA-like behaviour and AA x Tav dynamics are, but people flat out denying any negativity about it and call him a sweetie pie caring husband and a perfect devoted partner? Oof, it literally makes my stomach turn with unease... Like roleplaying a game is one thing, but vehemently romanticising toxic behaviour of an unhealthy individual and literally attacking others for just pointing out the reality of it all is just... incredibly ignorant and disrespectful towards real life victims of similar situations that are very real and frighteningly similar...
I mean, hell, they even twist /Neil's/ own words and their meanings to fit their 'preferences', which just adds a whole extra parasocial layer of unhealthiness to it all... And still after a few of these types of fans' responses to me I almost did feel like /I/ was the crazy or bad one, just because of how determined and intense they can get.
@akaruiasatsuyu you're definitly not the crazy one. There are people claiming that if you don't let Astarion ascend you're abusive, because you condem him to a live in the shadows and never let him heal. That's such a twisted idea of a healthy and stable emotional state. And by what code of ethics is it ever selfish to not feed 7000 souls to a devil?
I am no abuse survivor, so that's not a bias I have. And it gives me a veey uneasy feeling to. Kinda like watching frogs sitting in a pot of water that's slowly heating up.
What surprises me most about it, is that I felt like it's currently quite accepted and somewhat popular to talk about all of the problematic favourites of the last 3 decades. Like, isn't it consesus now that Edward Cullen is a creepy stalker and the relationships in twilight are pretty messed up? I don't get why we should apply different standards to Astarion.
Hii, sorry for the late response and I'm really sorry that you experienced such behavior on this platform... But I'm not surprised:/ I want to encourage you not to pay attention to what these ppl are saying because they don't seem to be adequate at all, and there is a great possibility that some of them are the reason for creating such situations you experienced irl. There are plenty of ppl who say exactly the same about men like AA irl (just think of the recent hype around the killer Wade Wilson...), so it's no wonder that there are so many in communities around video games.
I came into the 'Astarion fandom' just after I completed the game on my own (without any spoilers, I hadn't seen any edits or discussions on social media at all) and while playing, I never thought there was something to discuss about AA. But as I started to share my own edits, I noticed in the comments that there are really ppl out there who support AA seriously and try to open a serious discussion and defend their position. So I had to position myself early because I was just perplexed: there is nothing to discuss and to defend, I'm sorry, and I'm out of this. There are things which are that simple, like the fact that AA is, let's say, short, 'not ok'. I noticed that the most favorite defensive saying of these ppl is 'it's just a game' and that's true, which means you can ascend him to see what happens (unlike irl where you can't reload the game) and that is what you'll see in game: he's not ok. And that is the only thing one can discuss. Also, one could discuss e.g. if one would be worried to like AA even if one knows that's wrong and is seeking advice on how to help oneself avoid such obsessions irl. Everything else is not to discuss. So, my advice is to just avoid such people (especially irl too). They aren't willing to be helped, they are focused on their own world and its justification, and so they should stay there imho^^
Gale almost seems offended at Astarion hating on his Netherese orb when he touches it at the end
I love him so much 🥹