Within the years since Baldur’s Gate 3’s launch, Larian has put a lot of time and vitality into updating the sport with tons of recent content material, together with new content material for some beloved character who bought the quick finish of the wizard workers the primary time round, like Karlach. However one character continues to be arising quick for followers: Wyll. And a minimum of one author at Larian is simply as annoyed by it as you.
This comes from a Reddit AMA today performed by a variety of Larian workers, throughout which one individual requested why Wyll wasn’t developed additional in post-launch patches, whilst different companions bought storyline and even persona updates. We have identified for a whereas that the “Blade of Frontiers” warlock Wyll was (*3*).
The query was answered by Larian senior author Kevin VanOrd, who defined that he additionally wished Wyll had gotten extra consideration, and that the shortage of content material in comparison with different companions was principally the results of a sequence of unlucky timing coincidences. Here is how VanOrd places it:
I want Wyll had gotten extra content material and a extra fulfilling arc too.
As you in all probability know, we weren’t connecting with Wyll’s Early Entry recruitment and preliminary questing, so we began over at a level when a lot of the different companion tales have been pretty strong. Numerous choices got here later in growth than was ideally suited – and there was a key scenario close to Baldur’s Gate that I meant to closely contain Wyll in (the Pink Battle School) that bought lower. That meant again to the drafting board once more. We ultimately tied him to Duke Ravengard and began to work on that aspect of his arc simply in time for me to get unexpectedly sick. I used to be out of the workplace for fairly a whereas, and once more after the epilogue’s launch.
I feel that Ansur’s lair was Swen’s thought – we did have the sources for a standalone dungeon, so we set to work on tying Wyll to the Wyrmway, however I could not get greater than a dungeon boss out of it. As soon as the conditions have been in place, that was that – I needed to begin writing them.
Wyll’s content material is sparser than I would have preferred as a consequence. He is additionally break up into two tales, actually – the Mizora story and the Ravengard story, and which may have been a mistake in hindsight. I additionally want I might given him a stronger endpoint – it all the time bugged me that he can find yourself simply as he began, because the Blade of Frontiers, with none significant distinction. All that stated, I like the Blade and I’m actually happy with him, his sincerity, his good nature, and his keen heroism. I am actually sorry I did not offer you extra high quality time with him.
It is price stating that it is not that Wyll acquired no updates post-launch. Patch 7 made some gentle tweaks to Wyll’s dialogue that helped these pursuing him romantically have a extra fascinating time, although it did not actually give him any new story content material. However that is nothing in comparison with Karlach, who bought a completely new ending in the identical patch. Karlach, like Wyll, was thought-about to be one of many character who had been given the least love when it comes to story content material within the 1.0 launch, and has constantly been a standard favourite. Just lately, one fan broke down what number of minutes of dialogue each character in Baldur’s Gate 3 had, and Wyll’s down beneath a lot of the different companions with slightly below 9 hours talking. Nonetheless, it is not as dangerous as Halsin, Minthara, Jaheira, and Minsc, although admittedly these 4 companions are a little extra advanced to recruit and you may’t even get them till Acts 2 or 3.
So, maybe chilly consolation to Wyll followers, nevertheless it’s comforting to know that he wasn’t deliberately sidelined. We’re happy with him too.
In the identical AMA, CEO Swen Vincke addressed considerations about generative AI use on the studio’s subsequent sport, Divinity, following a controversy round a few of Vincke’s feedback from an interview final yr.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Acquired a story tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.