The boat scene with romanced Gale and stargazing scene are my two top favourite personal scenes in the game.
That's so nice to read. I always thought, I was alone in those two being my favourite scenes.
The boat scene also plain simply leaves me in awe. I once spent and evening going through different variations of it, from the righteous "you shall not desire such things" route, to edging him on, to letting him sweep you off your feet with his plan, to telling him that you are very fond of the man and don't need him to be anything else. Each gives you the impression of deciding your future together with Gale. I also love that if you talk him out of the Crown and have shaken up his self-perception, he is not ok. He is so much not ok, that right at the brain stem, he might make that last ditch effort to do one big, grand gesture instead of having to live with himself. Only after the brain fight and in the time between the end of the game and the epilogue, does he come to terms with his situation.
I also get the impression that there are character flaws which are considered cool, so it's ok if they go unchallenged as long as the character's backstory is tragic enough. (BBG Astarion is a prime example for that.) While there are other flaws that are decidedly uncool, so they are held against the character even if they are fully acknowledged by the story and get resolved through the plot. Gale's need to please and impress, as well as his mix of desiring power while at the same time being scared of causing harm with it, are examples of this. All get resolved over time and you can see him gradually become less tense more at ease with chaos - even going so far as to joke about his bomb. (You could probably make a video about Gale's character development told through scenes about booze and socialising.)
With Wyll it's all a bit more buried, which is a shame. I like the party conversation with him if you kill Karlach and he has come to realise that he can never be the hero he wants to be as long as he is bound to Mizora.
