I agree everything you said, I feel the lack of choice in this game is by design because someone thought it was a good ideia to make a RPG without much freedom in dialogues, most of the time the "choices" aren't really choices, it's more "go to next page of this conversation" than a choice.
TiTS is similar in design but is more enjoyable, I don't know if it's because of the story, the content or the writers, I don't really know but CoC 2 feels more like you're reading a book that you're in but your "choices" don't really matter because that's only for the story to move forward or something (does that even make sense or I'm crazy?).
Look, I don't know if it's Wsan fault or Savin fault (probably Savin but idk how deep Wsan influence on this game is in regards to the development), but I think Wsan still the best (if not the only) writer of this game.
TiTS has the benefit of much lower stakes, among other things. You're out there to have fun in the galaxy, that was your dad's implicit wish. CoC2 is supposed to be about saving the world, but you never make any progress towards that, and the world becomes less appealing the longer you inhabit it.
(Edit, wait, no, I forgot, the game is meant to be about saving Cait's sister from demon portals, but she tells us not to bother about that because her sister can take care of herself and doesn't need our scrawny arse. My bad, that blowjob she gives in the tutorial completely made me forget about her screaming sibling being sacrificed on an alter by Tolus.)
Also, TiTS is more consistent in how Donut Steel is written, with your responses being in your head rather than canonically words you say. Aaand, you do actually have cosmetic choices you can make that change the game world, even if they don't change the grand scheme of things. Free the eco-terrorist or send him to a sexy-super-max, do the latter and you can actually go and see him and have some fun. Give Penny dangerous dick-growth meds and actually have her character change, she doesn't alter the plot in the slightest, but you (the player) can indulge in the repercussions of your actions.
You can kill Frosty, locking off a large portion of optional content, something CoC2 is scared to do. Or perhaps, too vain to do, can't allow PC's to avoid someone's magnum opus of self-indulgent fap writing now, can we?
And most important about the Frostwyrm content, and your ability to gate it off, is that they're still adding to it. The closest equivilant in CoC2 is the Cait sex temple, which you can elect not to build. But they haven't added any new content to the place save one update post inception. Because the design ethos at Savin and Co is, "Why bother writing it, if people aren't going to see it?" Which was the excuse they gave for not focussing on Corruption content, because most players play good guys. So why give a choice?
