#same dynamic where they mostly give players options where our female characters should submit and NEVER the opposite I will always be salty

[silver-horse]

unfortunately I have opinions about the ascendant astarion ending and I have been holding back from saying it. but it's a problem that applies to the whole game and it's been annoying me

what's actually weird about the ascendant "romance" scene is that the writer considers it a tempting option for the player. They wrote it to be bad, but they also think it's a fun and sexy option. Same goes for the haarlep scene which they also wrote that way because they find it sexy. Except finding this sexually appealing entirely hinges on the idea that the player is a submissive. So RIP to a scene that the rest of us could have found sexy because the lead narrative designer was a submissive. lmao

In this game you can have a scene where you have to kneel for a male character. But you can never have a male character do the same for you. (Halsin doesn't count. It's a vanilla scene, he is not submissive there and we are not even asking/telling him to kneel down) You don't get such options, not even if you play a drow female! RIP the number one reason for playing drow female to be honest. lol You can kneel and fully submit to ascendant astarion or fully submit to mizora or fully submit to haarlep or submit to lae'zel or submit to minthara. you can get whipped by abdirak or you can tell him "touch me and lose a hand" he even responds positively to this remark and yet the possibility to flip the dynamic doesn't exist. There is never an option where a male character truly submits to the player. RIP to a scene that would have been the opposite of the traditional dynamic. the potential that existed but they never used the opportunity

By the way, how interesting that Lae'zel is dominant but she is a woman so ofc you get the option to tell her “no you will submit to me”. You never get such switch options with any of the male characters... Obviously it's not ascendant where they could have made that an option. My point is that it's NEVER an option among so many male characters.

It's a cool idea that the bad ending in a romance means "I saw this character as a sex object" except it falls apart when the scene is very sexually unappealing to anyone who is more dominant leaning. If I see a character as a sex object then I would place them in sexual situations which are appealing to me. so the message doesn't quite work. because there isn't anything that I can selfishly choose for myself just because I like it and I find it sexy.

#it's the old traditional setup where male characters are never submissive. either vanilla or they are dominant. and no other options exist. #I just find it a bit funny how they seem oblivious to the fact that these scenes being “sexy”and tempting entirely hinge on the possibility #that the player has the same tastes but a LOT of us don't. and then these scenes aren't even remotely sexy #don't get me wrong it's cool to have these scenes in the game but there could have been something different as well #rather than the same dynamic multiple times. and if you are super not into that then you only have the vanilla options #meanwhile the subs get multiple ''fun'' scenes. I just find this very unequal. if you are not into that well your character #will be placed into situations where characters make these unappealing propositions and sometimes it's fight or submit. that's weird imo #for a game that has storylines about consent. sexually weird scenes would be fine and interesting if it wasn't SO unequal and always the #same dynamic where they mostly give players options where our female characters should submit and NEVER the opposite I will always be salty #bg3 #larian studios #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 mine #haarlep #astarion #my post #abdirak #my thoughts #my posts #it's like the whole reason I like to play drow women if I am honest but it's been so utterly pointless #as a drow female on a rare occasion you may be allowed to say a barely rude dialogue to males and that's all lmfao #mildly rude to men is just what I do in real life but it's a viddy game and I should be able to be a bit of a nasty aggressive female #(sure they can frame it negatively. that's fine. but let the ''fun'' option exist for us as well)