So after going through the rigid requirements to get the real Briar she just ends up giving herself to the lantern king? Like wtf? You just beat his weak ass proving he is nothing and she is like "Nope he is so spooky and dangerous so Im gonna give up everything to "save" you mah luv!", felt so unrewarding after all that effort and then gaining nothing out of it. :-/

Is there any way to get a better romance ending or is this sad ending all we get for that romance option?

Okay did some research and found out you need to do a crapton more to get the "real" ending, cool that the dev´s got into so much detail with the game but sad that I just spend tens of hours to do this romance option in my playthrough and in the end not getting the good ending thus having to do the same rigid stuff again to see it. :(

FeelsBadMan

What extra things did you miss if you don’t mind me asking?

probably curse research.