So Raphael is a perfect example if why I wrote this post. I am currently doing a playthrough where I haven't long rested at all because I haven't needed to. Im at the druids grove. Im going to meet Nettie. So no Gale Dialogues for me. I miss them entirely because I played well and didn't End Day after playing maybe an hour. Unless I adventure for 30 minutes, rest 24 hours, adventure 30 minutes, rest 24 hours, and then head to the Grove to meet Nettie, I am punished. No character development for me all because I didn't need to rest twice before the Grove.
So good playing. What is the result? No character development. Punished for good playing. Rewarded only if I waste 2 full days all before I reach the Grove. Maybe 1 hour of adventuring has been done by then, but you need to end day twice when you think every second counts makes no sense unless I really did poorly against the few enemies I have to fight before then.
So like I originally said. Good RPGing, punished. Bad RPGing, rewarded.
And this continues in other ways as well. Again, I should get better items, better story and better endings to different story plots if I played well and not so good results if I don't do so well.
Maybe I'm wrong but it looks obvious to me that this part of the game is work in progress.
The rests mechanic is not really appealing and the companions dialogues or even the story scenes (i.e Raphaël) trigger often but not always... And usually we don't really know why.
If "good playing" (to quote you) is a problem for the story telling... They could just allow us to level up at the camp and only at the camp during a long rest like in DnD. That makes sense and you won't miss dialogues anymore if the remaining bugs are fixed.
I agree that something could/should be done for this fake sense of urgency but I guess it's not really complicated to solve.
I'd also like a living world instead of a world in which everyone is obviously waiting for me... But it's probably another thread.
