I suppose I play a bit differently, with more of an RP mind. Each battle that I face, I see it as a life and death situation, which for 1st through 4th level characters is actually true. Unless the battle is blatantly one sided, where even novices can discern that the battle will be easy for them, characters will ensure their own survival. So far, unless the characters know exactly where the enemies are (multiple play throughs and reloads), then they are going to be going into it with a feeling of dread and with their lives at risk. Too much long rests? Well, if you die before you can even get a chance to get the tadpole out, then it won't matter much. This type of play style does cause me to long rest more then most of you here, I imagine, but as such, I haven't missed any of the cutscenes. For me "immersion" (Hi Ragnarok. :-D) is playing the game as if I'm the actual characters dealing with each situation as they arrive. Would be great to just run straight to someone who can remove them, but alas, that isn't the case, and there are monsters and enemies galore trying to stop me.
Perhaps, this is the intention that Larian was going for. It's easy to run through a game with using minimal resources because you know where every enemy is and how to position your party to defeat them easily. Not so much when you are traveling a strange land with surprises at every turn.
Bu this is just my opinion. I could be wrong.
