Having many genuinly different permutations greatly improves replayability of the game, be it fully or partially. I assume many people will appreciate replayability. I think Larian should be applauded, not derided, for taking that aspect of making an RPG seriously.
Those are not genuinly differenet permutations, though. It's a game awkwardly retconing player's actions so it's intended plot can progress. I see two main issues:
1) Some narrative progressions are inferior and unsatisfying - I personally experienced bit where
box just appears in your hand when nearning the map exit
. It didn't feel good - from linear narrative perspective, and player choice. I can imagine how weird it is if you never meet Shadowheart like in the video.
2) It's a lot of work to ensure the player has the thing. It's expensive, it's inelegant, and it still doesn't feel natural or good. "make sure player has/understand the thing before..." is a classic issue - this is just a not good way of handling it. It's work that could be spend implementing proper reactivity - the one that responds to players choice and gives feedback to PC actions, rather then retconing them. It reminds me of Alexander from D:OS2 - a guy you can kill multiple times throughout the game, you even get one "scripted" moment to kill him or spare him, and the game constantly retcons it, because at some point it was decided that he is critical to the story. This is a horrible implementation of "plot armor".
