I actually think that the EA period has drastically changed the game. I. e. Sven himself said that there was no plans for non-origin companions! But I think they took all the feedback about a topic, turned it into a statement and then looked for a compromise between that statement and their creative vision. Those who monitored the feedback had to weight it against what the creatives at Larian deemed to be the fun way.
The result is different from even the loudest feedback, which can make it unrecognizable to those who gave the feedback in the first place. Though I think weekly Dev Diaries like those from Paradox Interactive would really lessen those feeling, since they explain their reasoning behind certain decisions.
