Really hate that IMO... just look at Arkham Asylum and Arkham City... the open-world gameplay made the story completely lose focus and gets drowned out... the respawning enemies are horrid, and the game's distorted in it's progression.
Somewhat the same in D:OS I think. Personally I think it would have benefitted of being more linear than being this open. It worked in Baldur's Gate II, but that was since all the stuff in Athkalala was side-quests, not main-quests. Sadly, the story got worse there when it become more linear from the Asylum on...
It's one reason why I personally am not looking forward to The Witcher III or Dragon Age III at all. Open-world is a blimp upon proper storytelling.
Also I think from the moment you started save-scumming rather than roll with the punches the game got ruined for you. Of course reloading a game for an hour isn't fun. But the first question you have to ask yourself is "why are you"... and the answer in this case isn't the game but your greed. Probably would have had more fun if you didn't resort to that methinks...
