I completely agree with you, even made
a thread about it ages ago pointing out exact same issues and similar suggestions, but unfortunately it seems at this point Larian just couldn't come up with a proper solution to solve the issue.
Having story bits about our companions locked behind manual resting and losing out on it because we progressed too far by taking 5 steps from the beach is just terrible design that clashes against both gameplay and narrative perspective. It came to the point where I instinctively know exact moments when I need to rest solely for the sake of not missing story content, so my every playthrough starts like this;
- Clear everything on the beach up until the Grove's introductory fight = REST
- Then do everything in the Grove except talking to Zorru, Nettie, Ethel or Sazza = REST
- Then talk to Zorru, Nettie, Ethel, Sazza = REST
- Then go out and explore a bit until Raphael shows up = REST
- Then go rescue Karlach = REST
The amount of times I had the long-rest queue system skip over my scene with Gale looking at his projection of Mystra and locking me out of his romance because of it... urgh. Don't like the long rest mechanic at all because of this, to me it's just a
'CLICK ME FOR MORE STORY' button or otherwise lose it. Awfully done in comparison to Divinity Original Sin 2 where the party would seamlessly have their own moments to reflect on everything that's happening.
