Right, I thought so too! I was surprised that he says it and I am genuinely curious what will it be if we WERE romanced, but it's a topic for the next playthrough.

It lost a bit of impact due to how the game makes everyone try to romance you incessantly, unfortunately. It just made me fear he was going to seduce me again.

@@ChristophelusPulps Astarion is perfectly okay with being just friends as long as you don't break up with him in Act 3. He's had such a shit life that he just wants someone he can trust even if it's platonic

Is this of you pick "Maybe you need a friend rather than a Locer" after his confession?

@@JasmineGeminiDragon Yes! The hard "friends only" option where there's no more romance involved at all! No scenes trigger after Ascention or after you kill Cazador and not ascend him. In any case, we miss so much of the stuff if he is not romanced!

I've done 6-7 playthoughts now. Sometimes I just ascend him, just to make sure he will be ok and not have to run from the sun as you said. Just to be sure that he is powerful and can take care of himself... You are so right that if we are friends, and help him, his ending is kinda worse, than if we just help him achieve his goal, no matter the reason for it! Thank you for this comment! I haven't thought about it, but you are 100% right! 🖤🌹⭐

Hey, hows patch 5 treating ya?

@@alisonoconnor6864 as normal

welp, we got the epilogue and we now know he hid on purpose, which is sad on its own, but hey, now we can keep in touch

Thanks, but, please don't tell me 🤪I will get there on my next playthrough and see it and make a vid if the difference are a lot :)

It was interesting to me as well playing non-romanced Astarion and what the differences will be as I never not romance him 🖤

Actually in my playthrough (were I romanced him) he really wanted to ascend, but in the moment of truth he just killed Cazador, and didn't even try to.

@@GameGems It depends on all the pther previous times that you have spoken about the subject of Ascention and taking the power... there are maybe 3-4 conversations that it is mentioned and it depends what YOU say there, it changes his choice in the fight and the DC to persuade him. 🖤

​@@resonatinglo I was really surprised and glad that I was I able to influence him :D

@@GameGems I had the same thing happen, but I also remember him shouting I was an idiot mid battle, so I probably roasted one of his siblings with a not so well placed firewall without realising and thus his only option quickly became not ascending :')

So true! And sometimes I click an option expecting certain reaction , but I get something completely different and it's amazing, but also requires f8. 😁

When you are in act 3 Lower city, go the Elfsong tavern, speak with the bartender and say you are looking for a room. He says there's a murder investigation so I will need to give you the whole floor and there you have it 😊 for 200 gold

@@resonatinglo Thanks A LOT!!

Haha. It's funny you say that. My first solo playthgough, when I was alone and knew what to do was a mean Dark Urge actually and he did fit perfectly on the mocking everybody lady I had with urges to kill everything with a pulse 🤪 . But if it wasn't that playthough I would have not seen Astarion's story tbh. And because she was an Ahole, she ascended him as well and they were 2 Aholes trying to rule over a brain ... It was fun 😁

@horsepuncher4206 I really don't see how people with at least an ounce of empathy can kill him instantly in every playthrough. Every over the top thing he does is part of the facade to protect himself as he's deeply traumatized by chronic abuse of multiple human lifetimes. He doesn't have a heart of gold, it's just not black and white good guy/bad guy. But clearly the nuance of his character flies above the head of a portion of the playerbase, and they proudly and happily announce he doesn't deserve to live. And that's their 'good' playthrough? :D Wow. So who's the sociopath now? :) You know, even your name says a lot about you.

@@andaredvex Yeah I get his character and his arc I've played it through a couple times, doesn't change the fact he's a self serving prick who at every opportunity will hit that disapproval button if you don't decide to mindlessly kill someone who doesn't deserve it. Yeah I'm sure its his trauma and centuries of servitude that make him clap his hands all giddy with glee if you kill isobel and everyone in last light and massacre the innocent teiflings in the grove. Cope harder

He detests heroic acts cause he prayed for centuries for a hero to show up and save him, and none did. Brain eating, soulless mind-flayers saved him. To him, the world is just a merciless place, and everyone is out for themselves. He's chaotic evil aligned, he can be cruel and does enjoy mayhem. But he's not devoid of positive feelings and empathy. If you don't throw a hissy fit over every little disapproval he might give, you might see what he actually does like other than ultra sadism that you think he's all about. He approves when you feed the owlbear (showing compassion to an inherently evil creature hits home to him), when you feed Yenna the orphan, if you're just up to some banter with folks, even him - of course you need to be sensitive about topics like vampirism and Cazador. If fucking Scratch disappears, he practically cries over him while throwing his ball, for Christ' sake. And if after 200 years of slavery and torture you actually make an effort to not condemn him right away and treat him like a freaking person instead of some bloodsucking scum, support him in his quest to defeat his old master, he starts learning to overcome his traumas. He then trusts you enough to drop his facade and you're the catalyst to his trauma healing. Some people just fail to realize that what he says and what he thinks are entirely different for the vast majority of the game, and you need to get truly close to him for him to open up to you. It doesn't really happen until mid act II. He's equally content with either having you as a friend or a romantic partner as he had none of those genuine relationships for as long as he remembers. There are just so many interactions with him that layer his character that people like you never get to see or experience, cause you just can't look past the surface level of the "annoying bastard" archetype. I just feel sorry that Larian's incredible efforts remain overlooked/hidden for so many, cause they truly are the highlights of the game. Lae'zel and Astarion, the two evil aligned origins and their arcs are literally the best parts of BG3.

@@andaredvex "He detests heroic acts" ah yes, the heroic, admirable act of not mindlessly killing dozens of people in the grove and lastlight. Bonus points added for the "if I can't have it noone can" touch. And are you really praising him for being fine with feeding kids an animals (something at the absolute baseline of good morality)((even funnier that in those specific instances it's you, the player helping, not him. He's more than happy to help when it doesn't cost himself any effort lol)) I've seen his arc through a couple times, just saying at a baseline he's a prick and I don't ever carry him around. Comparing him to laezel as an "evil aligned origin" isn't totally fair, laezels arc is just better imo