What's with the RPG trope that everything the main character doesn't touch or fix personally, tends to go to ****? I did a playthrough as a stoic death godlike, who had little concern for the affairs of others and while the end doesn't upset me, it feels kind of boring that all companions end up being sad the rest of their lives, and every town and village which you do not personally save will end in ruin. Does the main character always have to be a Messiah for the world to have any hope?

 

Also, the story itself emphasizes often that time is short. Does anything change if you go spend 3 months solving every little problem in the country? If the passage of time doesn't have an effect on the critical path, it feels rather annoying that the game basically berates for you not fixing everything in the world while it simultaneously tells you to hurry and stop Thaos.

As far as I know there is no effect on doing everything besides stopping Thaos.

 

I saved pretty much everything but didn't like how the recruited paladin ended up of my companions.