We meet Yiguang living as a simple village doctor, with the respect of the people around him, and given the flashbacks we have through Fuchai, there's no reason to doubt that he's anything other than the kind-hearted soul he appears to be. The question really is why he never came back after the sacrifice, and it turns out to be a very mundane but relatable reason. He was afraid that Fuchai would have changed over the years and she'd no longer be the childhood friend he remembered.
Considering that was the one element of the unknown going into his route, it was harder to get excited about it. Yiguang is continually himself, with few ups and downs, and we don't end up seeing any new sides of him.
What makes his route markedly different from the others though, is that we get to visit two places that he otherwise visits alone in other routes. So we get to be with him when retrieves the Azure Dragon Sword from the hidden palace of the Shi family and when he goes to Haojing to find the Body of the Ding of Virtue. Both trips make for a nice change of pace from the march to attack Qi, though they don't sync up with the rest of the story very well.
For instance, Yiguang and Fuchai leave the army after the naval battle to go to the hidden palace, with an agreement to meet up with everyone else at Han City afterward, but when they come back, they apparently don't meet up with the army after all and head back to the capital of Gusu where they find out that the army has been sent north to attack Qi by a fake Fuchai (actually the Dragon God, though apparently without needing her blood to maintain the disguise as he did on Chenfeng's route). This sends the two of them right back out of the city to catch up with the army so everyone can head south again.
Though this happens to some degree on most routes, since there's usually a march to Qi, and sometimes a GuSu visit between the naval battle and the march, it feels particularly needless given how quickly they turn around. Yiguang is already tied for the shortest route in the game despite being the poster boy since his route skips having a chapter in Linzi, the capital of Qi.
As a love interest, Yiguang does all right as the unwavering childhood friend, and I suspect the reason Chenfeng ends up mind controlled is to mark a clearer difference between the two. There's little romantic angst on Yiguang's route save that Fuchai is aware she is likely to die before achieving any kind of happy ending with him, and unlike Chenfeng, Yiguang is not shy about letting her know his feelings.
Despite that, I felt a little let down. His Jade Fish talisman saves Fuchai many times over, and it's something he gave her years ago even though (or perhaps because) it's intended only for his soulmate. But I just felt the romance wasn't earned. They've been apart for most of their teenage years, but there's very little sorting out their feelings and getting reacquainted before they suddenly exchange marriage vows before the final battle.
I did like the climax of his route better than the others though, because the Dragon God is actually active around the ritual site where they prepare to kill him, and because Fuchai ends up doing it on her own without the ritual while Goujian is completely freaking out because she's discovered the Dragon God's hidden weakness. (She really hates Goujian for his betrayal on this route, which I'm all for.)
I'm less keen on the death fake-out though, because it's fairly obvious on Yiguang's route which are the good vs the bad choices, so the fact that it looks like Fuchai's dying in the good ending is pretty cheap. Much like in Chenfeng's ending she ends up faking her death, leaving the kingdom to her cousin, and this time leaves on a journey to see the world with Yiguang.
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