It seems to me that the Galaxy Client, by itself or in combination with Windows 8.1, may be causing at least some of the problems.
When I played through the game on a Windows 7 (x64) system I can't recall having any crashes or other issues in this thread, yet when I played through the game this time on a Windows 8.1 (x64) system the crashes are more and more frequent (Ch. 5 is dreadful), hair flips and some cut-scenes don't load. I've taken to now, just now, like an idiot, running the game in Compatibility Mode for Windows 7 and not through the Galaxy Client. Where I had crashes beforehand I was suddenly able to proceed without issue.
Unfortunately neither this thread nor support was helpful to me. When I contacted support and provided my DxDiag.txt they simply threw the kitchen sink at me in a canned response. When I tried to do the things advocated in this thread the issues didn't change and, specifically, there seems to be no way to force the GPU to be preferred instead of integrated graphics given the new nVidia Control Panel.
Worse yet, given the intermittent nature of these issues I won't be able to say that playing in Compatibility Mode for Windows 7 and not using the Galaxy Client was the fix for me. But if I don't encounter any further issues I'll come back and post that is the case.
Addendum
After finishing the game again, sans Galaxy Client, I can say that I did not have any further crashes but did experience occasional 'hair flipping' during conversations.
This last is likely a GPU driver issue and something that is genuinely minor, though it would be helpful if GOG would provide us with accurate information on what drivers we should be using and how to go about the whole thing in order to mitigate the issue. For the rest...well, the Galaxy Client is currently in Beta and Windows 8.1 is Windows 8.1. Given that Steam users also report the same issues noted in this thread it seems that the Galaxy Client may or may not contribute and the OS is perhaps the larger factor.
The bottom line is that there is too much uncertainty and too many problems. GOG is a CDPG company; they should do better with, especially, 'family' titles.
Post edited March 05, 2016 by TheBitterness