I'll reiterate suspension of disbelief has nothing to do with the criticism.
I said I was questioning the entire foundation of the game narrative. This was meant to question the execution of that foundation. I could see how it could be confusing and perhaps it should have been worded better. A very small number of the reasons why were included right after that statement. Funnily enough, in the post where we got stuck on suspension of disbelief I specifically clarified what I was or was not criticizing.
To me the lead up to the Heist featured some cheesy dialogue, tried way too hard to drive home the themes it was attempting to explore and didn't offer enough contrast among the options presented in the flavor choices along the way. The end result is no matter what character you make it creates the sense you are supposed to agree with Jackie when he loses his mind over drink names, a blaze of glory, etc. You're supposed to say "yes sir" when Dex tells you to jump. We know with absolute certainty, based on hindsight, the job is supposed to go bad and V ends up completely screwed.
I'd point out that last one is different from those first two. That last one is an event occuring the player is involved with and, due to forces beyond their control, it goes badly. This would be those periods where the narrative must take command to progress itself. Those first two are hijacking the persona of the player character and saying "this is how your V thinks". That doesn't belong in a game with a player generated player character. Those moments, or choices, should have the player in the driver seat when they appear.
Now sure, you do have a "choice" when those events play out. Unfortunately there is almost zero contrast built into the options attached to those choices. Tell me, what the hell is the point of providing three options if they all functionally mean the same thing? At the very least meanings along similar lines. They couldn't at least build suitable contrast into those options and put that work on voice-overs, animations, etc. to functional use? As it was included it serves no purpose. It's wasted time and resources. This is what happens when you have to rush because your leadership is dysfunctional. Things slip through the cracks, get gutted or otherwise end up as a shadow of what they could be.
A more simple way to say this is the Heist going poorly is fine. The hijacking of the character persona is not. V accepting the job would have been far better if it were presented in a way where you could challenge what the game was trying to drive home. Present the themes. Don't force them upon the player. It's unnecessary to do so to get the point across. It's not the only example where this was done either.
The endings are probably a better example of the above. The decision you're presented plays the ambiguity card. The results omit choices the player should have been able to decide upon independently to drive home themes the game had already sufficiently covered well beforehand. It was an innappropriate place to incorporate any ambiguity if those themes were going to be incorporated as player world views and outlooks. It was arguably lame the way it coupled so many "choices" into a single decision.
I didn't say robbing Arasaka was dumb. I said the way it goes down is dumb. There is a difference. It was a little silly me to waltz right in there, no questions asked, when your fixer teleported out of nowhere with such swiftness it even manages to rival NCPD, drops a "let's retire" level job on V and Jackie specifically and the doll providing the BD footage asks you to fuck over that fixer. All of those elements could have easily been done any number of other ways without creating these type of "what the hell?" moments and preserving everything else.
We got even more what the hell moments because the conversation with Evelyn about cutting out Dex is pointless and goes nowhere. The shop talk with Dex about your cut is pointless and goes nowhere. The Maelstrom vs Militech part of the spider bot quest doesn't really maintain a respectable presence throughout the game. Adam Smasher gets hyped as a super cyborg villain all game and only has a single direct interaction with V. It goes down via him jumping out of a bush from nowhere and emotionally sabotaging the player. Clearly showing Smasher's teleportation rivals both NCPD and Dex.
Forgive me but you can feel this all went splendidly and is the pinnacle of epic RPG storytelling and execution. You're welcome to that opinion. I'd probably think you have low standards though.
See above.
There was no concrete, 100% confirmed evidence. There was a wealth of circumstantial evidence. At the very least there was a ton of information available suggesting the job was sketchy beyond belief and probably a bad idea. What didn't make the cut is the ability to select options to indicate your V recognized it.