...such as the goblins in the Blighted Village accosting you of going around, or the first encounters with Astarion and Lae'zel. It's very bummer-y when a character whom I am trying to play as a no-nonsense, merciless killer suddenly stops and has a chat with somebody clearly presenting a potential threat.

I understand that in some cases it's there for the purpose of preserving quest / dialogue tree logic, but considering how you can finish the dialogue and then attack anyone manually anyway, not having that option always be available is strange, to say the least.