Having been an avid player at the time I can see how a specific well written narrative as opposed to procedural generated stories would have benefited the overa

Having been an avid player at the time I can see how a specific well written narrative as opposed to procedural generated stories would have benefited the overall player experience, but in all honesty I don't think it would have made that much of a difference in the games success. You either enjoyed playing or you didn't; the story was always somewhat secondary to just solving the missions and ideally getting the mastermind. Cryptanalysis and circuit logic weren't everyone's cup of tea especially when you consider games like King's Quest 5 & Ultima 6 came out the same year and the years that followed were a blitz of games with much improved graphics and gameplay like Wolf 3d, Wing Commander 2, Dune, etc...