I understand, I wouldn't have minded even a purely cosmetic day/night system. It is unfortunate, and Larian probably shouldn't have promised things they couldn't deliver on (and hopefully they'll learn from this overreach).
But I have to disagree that it was just a simple matter of cutting out things like killable NPC's. Day/Night cycles are not an easy thing to do, never mind bug-test. We're talking potentially several thousand bugs just from that.
In the Twitch.tv Q&A, Swen didn't say whether it would be patched in or if it was completely scrapped, but from the tone, I don't think he's that optimistic about being able to get them in. He said that to get them in the way it was envisioned, it'd cost about 30-40% of what the whole game cost to make.
Personally, I don't think it's getting patched in. At best, we may see a cosmetic day/night thing, but even that could disrupt the atmosphere of some sections and ruin the mood.
