In my first playthrough, my PC romanced Wyll, as I mentioned in the brief earlier chat about this romance at
https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=890875.I thought it started off well enough. My PC tried to flirt with Wyll at the post-grove party but he was determinedly oblivious and horn-negative, which as a tiefling she was a bit grumpy about, so she told him he was impossible and went off and slept with Astarion in a fit of pique. Astarion suggested continuing the relationship but she was getting iffy vibes from him at that point, and he was clearly trying to manipulate her, so she said she wasn’t interested, though they did later become good friends despite this. Then there was a long period where no one seemed interested in my PC (Withers felt the need to rub that in), but eventually I got Wyll’s prancing scene, where he said that he’d nearly missed what was in front of him and he and my PC made some first tentative steps towards a relationship.
Other than the fact that there was perhaps too long for me to worry I’d missed all chance at love in that playthrough, I really enjoyed the romance arc up to this point. It felt right for my PC and I think was exactly what Larian were aiming for with respect to naturally developing relationships.
But I agree that it was disappointing from there on in. Partly because, as others have commented, it went from zero to sixty emotionally in a way that felt really odd. Immediately after the Act 2 scene, I think, my PC asked Wyll what he thought of her and he gave a really flowery speech that seemed way too much too soon. Then there was the dryad scene at the circus and the acorn scene, where apparently Wyll had decided he and my PC were in love, and as others have noted, that also felt too fast and unearned. I think this could work if it was at least acknowledged that it was quick, eg if Wyll explained that he’d fallen hard and fast for the PC and asked if they felt the same. But the game seemed to act as though they’d been in an ongoing relationship for months, when by the number of rests by the end of my game it had only been a month (plus possibly a few days between the cursed lands and Rivington). The only natural thing for my PC to do in the acorn scene was turn Wyll down, and I’m not sure there was even an option for “maybe one day, but certainly not yet”! That said, it did feel right for my PC to suggest just having sex instead, even though I had to waste a couple of inspiration points to let her persuade Wyll
After that, the romance still seemed to be active as I still had the dialogue with Wyll to talk about us, but the game didn’t seem to reflect it at all.
I know that the romance subplots are only a small part of the game, and I’m perfectly happy to use my imagination to fill in gaps within reason, but for me there were just too many of them and we really needed at least a few more instances where the relationship was acknowledged in game. Just the odd line in the course of Wyll’s personal quest would have helped make it feel as though there was an ongoing and developing romance.
And don’t get me started on the ending. My PC’s story did not end well at all. She
ended up turning into a mindflayer despite resisting that fate, as she felt she couldn’t let Orpheus do it, and then as she didn’t feel she could live that way, she killed herself in the epilogue.
Wyll’s response to these events did not impress. When she transformed he just gave what felt in context a very ill-judged rousing, heroic speech. And it felt like he barely blinked at the end. He showed more emotion when poor Karlach went up a minute later. Though I guess it is possible that by this stage the game wasn’t treating the romance as active given my PC wasn’t ready to settle down after about a month of knowing Wyll.
TL;DR I agree with many of the criticisms of Wyll’s romance that others have mentioned here!
