The only effect these twists had on me was just increasingly unpleasant eye rolling. By the time I got to the Balduran reveal I could only shrug my shoulders at the game.
I also disagree that the twist was intended from the start. There's numerous things pointing to that which other people have already explained in great detail (stuff like concept art book, soundtrack etc.). The original appearance of the Dream Visitor was prompted only by using the tadpole - which still gives you an unscrubbed voice line from the narrator implying that the tadpole eats at your brain - only to reward you with powers obviously granted by the parasite. If Daisy really was the Emperor from the start then what's all that talk about "letting her in" and the visions of destruction and world domination? Even if it's not the tadpole/Absolute but some mysterious third party it's most certainly not the Emperor we got to see in the final product.
