So. We need to talk about Wyll.
I'm going to start with his involvement in the new Karlach ending. I do like that Karlach gets a new ending. I really do! The new ending puts a nicer bow on Karlach's story arc than it did before. Granted it is still lacking, but it is an improvement over what we once had.
That said,
that Karlach's new ending requires Wyll to take her to Avernus means that now anyone who romances Wyll gets locked out of that special post-credit romance scene that the other players get. And the only way to get that post-credit romance scene now is to let Karlach burn to death after saving the city. Which is kind of fucked up. Yes, Wyll does need to take Karlach to Avernus for her to live, but shouldn't that mean that Wyll's post-credits scene with a romanced character happens in Avernus rather than not at all? It shouldn't be that players who romance Wyll get *nothing at all* when other characters get *something*--especially since the lack of a fulfilling ending was a big complaint with regards to Karlach's ending. Wyll's ending shouldn't have been cut out/dismissed in the repair of Karlach's.
How that was handled brings me to the main purpose of this thread:
Wyll's romance needs amending.Wyll's romance, simply put, is just not as fleshed out as the other companions. Going from a save where my Tav romanced Astarion to one where my Tav romanced Wyll, the difference is like night and fucking day (no pun intended). It's very clear that the writers favored certain characters over others, and it's really sad to see some companions (and their romances!) fall off the wagon after Act 1 or 2 while other characters remain strong across all 3 Acts.
Romancing Wyll:
If you try to romance Wyll, you exactly TWO special dialogues/scenes with him in three whole acts of the 150+ hour game: 1) let's get together in Act 2, and 2) Marry Me! In Act 3. No joke, that's it. There is no filler in between. None. You can't lock in a romance with him until Act 2 when he asks your character to dance with him, where he also he tells your Tav/Durge that he wants to take things slow. But taking things slow, and the writers filling two entire Acts with nothing, are not the same thing. Nothing (and I do mean nothing!) happens with Wyll's romance again until Act 3.
Even in Act 3 when Wyll's story proper was coming to a head: going back to Baldur's Gate, dealing with Mizora's pact, rescuing/failing to rescue his father, reuniting with his father, etc. etc. there are no choices what-so-ever for a romantic weigh-in on Wyll's journey. None. On Astarion's romance you can weigh-in every which way until Sunday, but for Wyll it feels like no matter what you do the writing always treats Wyll & Tav/Durge like they're only ever arms-length friends. Wyll *never* changes what he has to say to a romanced Tav/Durge. If the characters involved in a romance don't acknowledge the romance, does it really exist?
So you can imagine how jarring it is in Act 3 after doing the quest in the Wyrmway (when after almost 2 whole acts of no special romance or sweet dialogue or learning about each other in a meaningful way what-so-ever) when Wyll gets down on one knee and proposes to Tav/Durge with an acorn. I remember thinking to myself "... Aside from Tav talking to Wyll at camp and my Tav constantly asking 'what are we' in hopes of some new dialogue or scenes popping up, there has been not even a crumb of romance between these two for almost 100 hours of gameplay. Sure, I'll take the proposal I guess, but I really hope we have more real scenes now after waiting for so long" but, alas, after the proposal scene we once again go back to nothing. Nada. No comments from the companions, either.
As I had said before, I went from romancing Astarion to romancing Wyll. Astarion has so many special romance flags and dialogue from making certain decisions and how it affects how Astarion sees the player really fleshes his romance (and his character!) out really, really well. Going from a rich narrative like that to Wyll's sea of nothingness is just... so disappointing. Sincerely so.
If Larian was able to amend Karlach's ending, then perhaps Wyll's ending can finally get a little bit of love. Wyll, arguably the party's biggest green flag, deserves it.
