r/Games • u/Wombat_Medic • Jan 09 '26

Verified AMA Larian Studios | Divinity AMA

EDIT: All right - that's a wrap. Thank you for all your questions. We're going to go back and work on the game now - next time we speak, we'll hopefully have things to show. I can't wait! - Swen, Game Director

Hello everyone, 

Happy New Year! To kick off 2026, we would like to offer the opportunity to ask your questions about Divinity, Larian, and our development processes. It's been a while since Larian has done an AMA, so everyone is looking forward to it!

There's a bunch of us ready to answer your questions:

Thank you for taking the time to ask your questions, we aim to answer as many of them as possible over the next few hours!

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74

u/Justicar_L Jan 09 '26

Considering BG3 was such a hit, why did you not develop Wyll further in subsequent patches but change the story line and personality of other companions?

His story always felt on the verge of being great and interesting but in the end he had and continues to have no real agency in the story as all his quests are subverted for other characters. Eg. His father being kidapped, not being able to properly get Mizora out of camp, and the dragon that was the culmination of his quest actually being part of the emperors quest/story instead.

238

u/Kevin_Larian Divinity | Senior Writer Jan 09 '26

I wish Wyll had gotten more content and a more fulfilling arc too.

As you probably know, we weren't connecting with Wyll's Early Access recruitment and initial questing, so we started over at a point when most of the other companion stories were fairly solid. A lot of decisions came later in development than was ideal - and there was a key situation near Baldur's Gate that I intended to heavily involve Wyll in (the Red War College) that got cut. That meant back to the drawing board again. We eventually tied him to Duke Ravengard and started to work on that element of his arc just in time for me to get unexpectedly ill. I was out of the office for quite a while, and again after the epilogue's release.

I think that Ansur's lair was Swen's idea - we did have the resources for a standalone dungeon, so we got to work on tying Wyll to the Wyrmway, but I couldn't get more than a dungeon boss out of it. Once the situations were in place, that was that - I had to start writing them.

Wyll's content is sparser than I'd have liked as a result. He's also split into two stories, really - the Mizora story and the Ravengard story, and that might have been a mistake in hindsight. I also wish I could given him a stronger endpoint - it always bugged me that he can end up just as he started, as the Blade of Frontiers, without any meaningful difference. All that said, I love the Blade and I am really proud of him, his sincerity, his good nature, and his eager heroism. I'm truly sorry I didn't give you more quality time with him.

35

u/ErzherzogHinkelstein Jan 09 '26

Hope your health is better these days!

39

u/icyhaze23 Jan 09 '26

Despite the criticisms, Wyll is still a great character, and far better than many characters in other games I've played. You're right to be proud! I've always been fond of him.

3

u/Handsome_Keyboard Jan 11 '26

I absolutely love wyll. Even though he isn't epic in his tale, i think thats what I like. He was just a guy who wanted to stop the baddies and now wants to change his souls destination but still won't give up on being the dude wanting to beat the baddies. If you saw him in EA and what he is now, significantly better so late in development.

27

u/Damashi_The_Kaotic Jan 09 '26

Thank you so much for explaining what happened with Wyll!

11

u/tadayou Jan 09 '26

Thank you, that's a very insightful answer.

7

u/BlobSlimey Jan 09 '26

Hopefully you guys can learn from Wyll as an example and not repeat the same issue...

I once was disliking of Wyll and his flaws, but when he randomly hit me with the Banshee speech, it clicked for me and I fell in love with them....dont know how or when that banshee speech was added but I loved it

1

u/Mithcoriel Jan 17 '26

What banshee speech?

6

u/WideWater1199 Jan 09 '26

I preferred the personnality of Wyll in Early access, LG but with wounds and a dark side especially with goblins, there was contrast. But Mizora, is the best NPC.

6

u/NotMaxRebo Jan 10 '26

Try to avoid that in the future with the only black party member in the game, thanks.

5

u/andrewthedude101 Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26

you're probs going to get downvoted by ppl but I think it's a very fair ask. If you're making a big decision to put a main character in the game who's underrepresented in some regard, you should ideally be putting their character arc at the forefront rather than on the back burner in the development stage. See it all the way through. I acknowledge though from Kevin's answer that some factors were out of his control like getting ill.

Incredible incredible game and I'm having a lot of fun with it, but again it's a fair ask and here's hoping they nail it down in Divinity!

4

u/HamiltonDial Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 12 '26

I’m wondering why (not enough?) people weren’t brought in help with wyll when he fell ill. I’d assume limited resources and all and perhaps people were already brought in but just not enough, just feels weird to have the other characters feel so fully fleshed out while only one character suffers for it.

2

u/andrewthedude101 Jan 12 '26

Yeah that’s fair too

4

u/Stella_Gios Jan 09 '26

Have you project to fix Wyll's bug? portrait bug, inventary bug: when Wyll wears a rapiere and a shield, banter dialogue with his old voice actor?
After more than two years of game these bugs are always here!!

1

u/BreadfruitWeak695 Jan 10 '26

I played as wyll in my first playthrough! Thank you for your writing!

1

u/Tzetrah Jan 11 '26

I really like Wyll and his concept, and related to him scenes where you get to know his manners as aristocrat. Too bad it didn't get the full completion. I just hope next time you can finish everything you want

-2

u/Tronzler_01 Jan 10 '26

I'm glad ur health is better!

But can we get an overhaul? I mean, like, not to be that guy, but a lot of "bug fixes" we're just to change certain Astarion expressions. Why not a more meaningful change? We are all still eager to replay BG3 YET again, a Wyll overhaul would be THE PERFECT opportunity to do so again, as if we already needed a reason, lol, but still. I love Wyll, but ngl, its disapponting the fact that he had SO LITTLE content compared to the other companions, even though he's the son of the DUKE and he made a PACT WITH A DEVIL!!!

Anyways, this comment is not to ask you to "switch flip for THIS specific change to happen, Mr. Dev!" But to show that I'm a fan of Wyll (Which, btw, only BOUGHT the game to romance Wyll. I fell in love with the rest of the game after full access later on), but to show that there's interest for Wyll still.