I preferred the original version. The rewrite is a mess. Massive spoilers for all parts of game:
It's a pretty clear case of game logic interfering with good story telling. The problems start with Larian's attitude towards the DnD ruleset - they don't believe DnD combat can be made fun unless it plays more like DOS2 (*)
The devs poured efforts into a creating illithid powers that would make the game more fun and found that people weren't using them. So instead of doing what BG1 and WotR did - giving one set of powers for embracing evil and one set for resisting evil - the devs decided to alter the story to encourage people to use the powers they made.
That's where the problem starts -- Larian's CEO was working with a ruleset he didn't like. "We made these powers - analytics tell us people aren't using them - so how to get people to use to use them?"
The CEO chose to alter the story rather than make an alternate set of powers or some other sort of reward for avoiding them. Bad decision on his part.
The original story - remnants of which survive with releasing Mizora - would have been better. Do I let this thing eat more of my brain to save Wyll? Do I sacrifice neurons for Zevlor the traitor?
To be clear I enjoy playing DnD with additional powers but I wanted them to work like BG's dream powers or WotR's demon crystal powers.
And I'll keep saying this: this doesn't mean that parts of the game aren't truly fantastic! It's just that one of those fantastic things is not the main plot.
(*)Tangent: anyone who denies that the steel watch foundry fight is a DOS2 fight is fooling themselves. You are supposed to create a water surface and electrify it. And if you've been collecting your sparkwall gear this is easily done . . .
