Just my 2c as far as the narrative/story-- I think narrative designers and writers are often in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation when it comes to marrying a generous amount of player choice with airtight plots and character arcs, and I think there is actually something of a proportional relationship between the amount of choices and available solutions a game has and the likelihood of odd plot holes and weaknesses developing along the way. And if designers want to prevent or fill those holes, that usually means limiting options and/or consequence from the player, which also risks aggravating people. I don't think any game will ever get it completely right for every person, but that's OK.
So for a game like DOS2 that goes HAM on player choice, I give it a lot of latitude in the other direction of story. It makes my head hurt thinking about the work cut out for those involved with the story elements, and I'm still kind of amazed they managed to corral it all into something coherent, much less into something thoughtful. And then make characters - who I thought were actually pretty consistent in how they respond to your decisions and their attitudes toward you - AND also fill the world with quests and letters and books and all kinds of shit like that. Whew.
But yeah, I was kinda bummed I didn't get to gallivant off with Ifan there at the end. Sigh.
TL;DR- I consider my belief suspended when necessary
BTW I thought the fought you for/did not fight you for Divinity entry refers to what happens on the Nameless Isle? I could just be misrememberatin'...
