I'm totally ok with Thaniel as the spirit of the land, that needs to be cured in order to get rid of the shadow curse. I find that story quite interesting, especially if you stumble upon the strange boy in the woods, who sics his even stranger 'family' on you after a creepy game of hide and seek, only to realise later, what his story is. I didn't feel left out here, I took care of Oliver, found the soldier and his lute and helped Halsin to find Thaniels second part and restore him. I mean, it wasn't like we had no involvement in that, so yeah, I was invested.
I was less invested with act 3 Halsin, being totally pointless storywise, but Thaniel made for a good storyline for me.
