I should preface this by saying: I really love this game. The following is not meant as criticism and certainly not as a bad review.
So, confession time, and SPOILER ALERT. I have now tried a few variations on sending Asterion out to the valley. And let me tell you, it was a very rough read, especially since I know the morally right variations from several previous playthroughs. Even if you just send him out one time, and do your very best afterwards to make all the right choices, it just makes your heart sink in your chest. He won't trust you, and his mental health takes a serious turn for the worse.
And it worsens with any further morally wrong choice, which is just pityful and frankly difficult to watch. In one version, his sanity is utterly destroyed in the end, and I cannot even fathom how things are supposed to proceed from there.
The thing I didn't quite expect to happen at all though is that the MC can change as well. Not just making mistakes because he's naive, mind you. Given the wrong choices, he is starting to give off some unsettling Clément-like vibes, which is pretty much Asterion's worst fear. And it made me feel extra seriously bad, because it was my choices that made this happen.
("What do we say if someone gives us a gift?" AAaaargh, nononono, ick ick ick, I need a long shower to cleanse myself of this!)
Again, all this is very well written, and clearly a lot of serious work has gone into this, but consequently it just left me feeling genuinely bad for Asterion.
I guess my recommendation is... if you know you react sensitively to any of this, and, like mine, your original instinct was to never send him to the valley... well, that might just be a good instinct.
Again, love the game, can't wait for the next build - but as far as I am concerned, Asterion is staying the hell out of that fucking valley from now on.
