238 réponses à ce sujet

[Utoryo]

David: I think there are three very important moments when I am nearly certain there is less dialogue than in DA:O, and this is why I feel people (including myself) feel they aren't as close to the companions as they were in DA:O.

1) Right after meeting your companion. I know you defended DA:A over this, but I feel it's much more natural to try knowing someone before you fight by their side than after. To take an extreme example, there were so many (unique!) questions you could ask Alistair the first time you met that you could feel like you knew him personally at the very start. This gives you a connection to the character that I feel gradually knowing him/her over time just couldn't replicate. For a given word budget, there is a sweetspot between dialogue at the front and throughout the game, and DA:O wasn't perfect (too little over time for most characters) but DA2 moved too far in the other direction. Of course, a much higher word budget makes that kind of thing much easier (see: Alistair), but I fear that's not very realistic.

2) Love Interest dialogues beyond the one-time scene. Even excluding kiss-at-any-time and sex-without-the-cutscene, I think there were a few more romantic moments spread over the game. This is especially (but not only) true for Alistair and Morrigan, who I assume were the most frequent love interests, so even if it's not a fair comparison it's still normal for people to make it.

3) Right before finale: DA:O had an absolutely wonderful moment at the Gates of Denerim where every companion talked to you one after the other and said what you meant to them. This is an incredible scene that truly made me care about them and see them as human beings - and it was wonderfully written. I genuinely feel it had more impact than the epilogue dialogues. But in DA2, you need to click on one companion after the other to do this (for no good reason), and none of it felt anywhere near as memorable as what was said in DA:O. This scene could have used a lot more attention.

I hope this might be helpful

Modifié par Utoryo, 13 mars 2011 - 11:07 .

[Taiyama]

I completely agree with Utoryo, for the record. I genuinely am surprised that the amount of dialogue is the same, so some of my previous statements (made without having read Gaider's post, unfortunately) should be revised. I'm not as thoroughly disappointed as I was, as this appears to be an honest mistake that Bioware can learn from rather than gross negligence of this aspect of gameplay as I interpreted before. I truly felt until near the end of the game like most of my companions were strangers to me. I didn't know them well enough to make important decisions regarding them. Hell, I waffled over going friend or rivalry with Isabela (again, because I knew so little about her) for so long that I lost my chance to keep her, so no more Isabela for me in Act 3.

[Cajeb]

Honestly felt the same way. No reaction from Merril about the stuff that happens in her life. I still have very little idea wtf happened with her mirror and her friend that died. Isabela was a gem except it was super slow paced. I felt like we never talked.

I didn't ever have Fenris in my party and because of that we only had two conversations. I tried to talk to him but I only saw his first wine smashing scene and then the scene when I gifted him a sword.

Aveline probably was the best when it came to involvement. Her companion quests were long so we talked a lot more

[Rykoth]

I beg to differ with the OP.
Within 2 days of acquiring DA2, I felt like I knew the companions more then I ever have a year later of playing DAO

[Stephanid98]

I too didn't feel connected to my companions. I was talking to someone about this the other day & even after 10+ more hours of gameplay since then I don't feel any closer. I'm even questioning if I'll give this one a 2nd playthrough, as I don't care if my companion friend/rivalry changes. It was what kept me playing DAO over & over - seeing their different reactions to my choices, trying a different route, etc.
As someone stated earlier about the banter, I never heard most of it because it always started right when I was ready to do something else. A few times I caught myself and got to listen through to the end but 90% of the time I only heard the start of it before my actions cut it off.

[RosaAquafire]

I think, David, if you're still reading this, a balance would be best.

The problem with Origins' system is that you get so excited to know your companions that you blast through all their dialogues before leaving Lothering, and then they're mostly mutes until the Landsmeet. At least. Instant gratification, and you get to know them pretty much instantly, but then you're disappointed at how "dead" they seem after that. I complained a lot about this in DA:O and I don't think it was a great system. I think you were right to try and change it. But you guys went a little too far in the other direction.

The problem with DA2 is that you don't know much about your companions right out and you really want to get to know them better, but they won't talk to you and you can't approach them and it makes them seem standoffish and frustrating. They have a stronger overall burn length, and their arcs develop more naturally as opposed to stnading around talking to them for five minutes = ROMANCE!, but it's incredibly aggravating to want to have a conversation with a dude and just not have the option. There were also times when your character really wants to talk to a companion about something specific, but you have to wait for the plot to flag it. Yeah, I'm thinking about the big Fenris breakup, here -- I get he didn't want to discuss it, but damn I would have liked the option for just a quick "So about our night of passion." "I don't want to talk about it, I'm sorry." conversation tree option. There were things like this for all the characters that the option to explore would have made them feel more open and personable. It didn't feel like WE could react to our companions, only that they could react to us when they were ready.

My advice would be to take out a bit of the words for the "certain intervals" conversations, and make them "any time" conversations. Give all the companions dialogue trees like the Origins ones that can be accessed either on the field or just in their home bases, I don't care. Just make them far, far less robust than the Origins ones. Two or three trees per companion, one or two extras that unlock in reaction to other things going on in the story/relationship. And then have the other trees all tied to plot progression and quests like they were in DA2.

That would be awesome, IMO. Instant gratification when you want it, and the choice to feel like you can initiate dialogue with your dudes, without being able to blow through the entire damn character arc 2 hours in.

[YamiSnuffles]

As to David's post, I am extremely surprised there was as much dialogue. If that was the case then I must have played the game entirely wrong somehow. While I got a fair number of talks with Varric, Merrill, and Aveline, that was about it. I think I talked to Fenris twice. Once after recruiting him and once when I happened to find his gift. I only talked to Isabella for a couple seconds when I found her gift, then she left. I suppose the problem, then, lies in how to trigger dialogues. Even though I did every side quest I could (those that did not bug out at any rate), I missed gifts or whatever it was that was needed to talk to people more and thus never was able to talk to or help most of my companions.

I am mixed on my interactions with Anders. I think he was compelling enough that I felt attached to him despite it all- and I think I got most of his dialogues though I never found his gift- but something felt like it was missing. Maybe I was spoiled by Alistair, but I felt like I should have had a chance to have one more convo once he moved in. Instead he just stood there in my house and felt more like a statue than the man that had moved in with me.

Quick side note- loved the additional party banter but as someone else posted, it always triggered at a bad time. About 70% of the time I was leaving an area or got into a random battle and thus was pissed because I either cut off whatever they were saying accidentally or couldn't hear it above the fight.

Modifié par YamiSnuffles, 13 mars 2011 - 12:16 .

[Epicrandom]

I am sort of torn. Fenris, for example, I only ever interacted with during his quests, and I would have like more dialogue than one every 7 hours, however Varric and Merril, who I had in my party for pretty much the whole game, had real personalities. I also loved the way that my companions interacted with each other, and seemed to have lives of their own.

[Theragen]

I’m so glad to see I’m not the only one who feels this way. At the end of DA2 I didn’t feel any genuine/lasting connection to anyone, short of Anders, and even that was a stretch. Only because of his personality and my previous knowledge of him from DAA did I really like him, and I was so disappointed to see the changes in his personality (though I completely understand why he was different considering the Justice situation). I don’t fault anyone for the change, it was just a shock. 
 
In DA2, I very much missed the multiple and random conversations in any setting that could take place like in DAO. Often times in Origins I would accidentally start up a conversation with someone if they got too close when I was trying to unlock a chest or pick up some loot, and then I’d be thrown for a second. But I loved those little surprise encounters. I never knew when a nice long conversation with any one of them might pop up, and it was always a pleasant treat or an unpleasant frustration if the conversation went wrong. But despite those wrong turns I would take in Origins conversations in my early playthroughs, another aspect of DA2 that I don’t really like is the prompts you get to tell you the tone of your comment. Part of the real fun for me in Origins was the guesswork in what was the exact right thing to say. I’ll never forget how I spent my whole first playthrough trying so hard to get Alistair to romance with me and invite me to his tent, just to later screw it up by making him king without hardening him and then saying all the wrong things when he confronted me about it afterward. I was devastated and extremely glad I had an earlier save to go back to. With the new system, there’s not a whole lot of guess work involved which took out some of the fun of it for me.  It's not so much the amount of conversation time you do and don't get, but the quality of what is said in that time.  It just felt lacking to me. 
 
I was mostly disappointed by the romance relationships in DA2. I absolutely adore Alistair from DAO, and love how it takes a good long time to get anywhere with him. It’s a real effort (well it was before the Thoughtful Gifts came out) which then makes you want to cling to it until the bitter end. I was also crushed at the end when I had to persuade him into sleeping with Morrigan just so we could both live. With DA2, like someone before me said, it’s like hey one minute your friends and then suddenly the next you’re the love of that person’s life. Just like flipping a switch. There’s no gradual progress or challenge to get to that point. Or at least I didn’t feel that way. And then with that quick and sudden relationship, we get further denied intimate moments by a total lack of a good sex scene. I’m not trying to be a perve or anything, it’s just that that intimacy/closeness was what I was striving for the whole time I was hoping to start the romance with Marian/Anders. Instead there’s a slight tease then fade to black. It felt more like a Fable sex scene to me (just without the horrid sound effects). Then last night I got the Garrett/Isabela scene, which wasn’t any better. I wasn’t wanting hot, tawdry sex but instead that feeling of intimate closeness. I wouldn’t expect that with Isabela, but I particularly wanted that with Marian/Anders. And I didn’t feel like I got it at all. 
 
I don’t know, I just overall felt a little empty at the end. I was definitely more excited and emotionally involved in those few cameo moments with Alistair, Leliana, Zevran, and even Nathaniel. Those were enjoyable character moments for me. 
 
That said, the combat system is excellent! That’s the one thing that will keep me going back for more playthroughs in DA2, whereas with Origins it was, and still is, all about the characters and their interactions with each other. I still don’t tire of reliving those same conversations with Alistair or Morrigan over and over again. 

[Space Kookie]

I kinda liked all my characters except for Fenris. He hated mages so I hated him =3 and I also killed him
In the end it's right. Too few time to talk to your men. Even in ME2 you get more chances to stop by and have a little chat with your crew even if it's just small talk.
But I wouldn't say that DA:O was better because of that. I think the two games are equal with both pros and cons

Modifié par Space Kookie, 13 mars 2011 - 01:17 .

[Sonris89]

I missed regular interactions with them, being able to click them and talk to them about this or that. I loved the ME elevator banter, but thats in every bioware RPG now. There were charecters I loved and hated from both games though so I don't think the charecterization was a flaw. I just wanted more interaction.

The charecter owned homes was a great inclusion and helped me accept staying in Kirkwall for the whole game.

My only problem is that Fenris and Anders were too polar in their position, but they both have legitimate reasons. I think I loved Varric more then any of my DA:O companions and Aveline really grew on me.

[Crimsoneer]

It's also true that because you can't necessarily take who you want on missions - I couldn't take Merrill, because 2 mages and no healer is suicide - you miss out on a lot of random dialogue quips.

Not to mention the Merrill romance bug didn't help either.

But I understand the frustration. I liked being able to go TALK to my companions in ME2. Merrill just has the one line about how dirty her house is...

[FutileSine]

Hmmm....I actually disagree as well. I was actually amazed at the companion development - and I didn't even bother, really, with Fenris or Isabella. Thats for my second play through.

I absolutely *adored* the storyline they wrote up about Aveline - I mean, trying to get her hooked up with Donnic? The environment might be different, but the situation was so believable, and I loved how....shy she could be. I felt like I was actually her friend, and helping make her life better and it wasn't by killing lots of baddies/her arch-enemy. I mean, come on, inviting Donnic to the Hanging man and watching my Hawke squirm as she waited for Aveline to make her move was full of win. I really hope they do more non-combat oriented companion quests. My Lady Hawke gets tired of having to constantly wash that blood out of her lovely hair.

One of the few things I didn't like about Anders is that there really wasn't any build up to the romance - I believe during the first conversation I had with him I flirted with him and then he went all crazy saying that he will only end up hurting me...blah blah blah. That was way too much emotion for me at the beginning - I was used to, and preferred having a few little flirtatious conversations (Alistair's rose!) before getting dumped on emotionally. So Anders was too much, too soon. But perhaps that goes with his character being emotionally...disturbed.

I loved the companions in DA2. Of course I would have preferred more conversations, but short of actually finding myself in Thedas and being able to live in this world 24/7, I doubt I will ever be fully satisfied.

[YamiSnuffles]

I didn't think there was anything wrong with the romance scenes. I've only played through once, so I've only seen Anders' scene, but I loved it. It felt emotional to me without being cheesy. I literally laughed out loud at the Origins scenes I thought they were so bad. The build up with Alistair was sensational but the actual scene just felt... I dunno, wrong? Weird? It certainly didn't look natural. Also, the fact that your LI would comfort you was an amazing addition. For anyone who played a Lady Cousland, something along those lines would have been nice after dealing with Howe. Or, considering all the tragedy with every origin story, some sort of comforting talk with your LI would have been a huge bonus. That it was in DA2 made the connection feel more real to me.

On the note of more real, I did like that everyone had their own lives/home/etc. Camp made sense in DAO but wouldn't have made sense here, particularly with some characters. It felt more appropriate to have private conversations and moments, well, in private. My only gripe being that I didn't actually get most of those moments even though I tried.

Although, must say as far as private moments and romance- why in the world did neither Hawke nor Anders shut her bedroom door?

EDIT: as to the above post, I agree things were too much too fast with Anders. He was a possessed apostate warden. I didn't need him instantly freaking out to know that things were going to be fraught with trouble. That said, I still liked his romance. It mostly worked, despite his freak out, because it fit his personality/place in life at that point.

Modifié par YamiSnuffles, 13 mars 2011 - 01:49 .

[magnuskn]

I didn't really like the companion talk system in DA2, either. An approach like in Mass Effect 2, where companions will tell you to come back later, would work better to prevent blowing through conversation options too fast.
In any case, DA:O felt far superior to both DA:A and DA2 in regards to companion interaction.

The only thing that DA2 did better was that companions were sometimes seen interacting with each other. This feature should be exported to DA3 and ME3.

ME3 would benefit hugely from DA:O companion banter, btw.

[Nathan Redgrave]

This is largely a subjective issue, but personally I prefer the companions in DA2. This isn't to say that the ones in Origins are bad (I liked them enough to enjoy the Alistair, Zevran, and Leliana cameos, anyway), but the interactions in DA2 seem more fleshed out. The romance my FemHawke had with Anders started out a bit clunky, but once it actually got going it got much more believable (and the conflict between my neutrality/pacifist Hawke and the more radical/violent Anders in the endgame was quite interesting to think about, on my end).

[Ieldra]

I have to say that I find the companion dialogue very well done so far. And I don't have the impression that there's less of it. The forced spreading out makes it appear that they have more initiative in your relationship, which is sometimes annoying but mostly something that I appreciate, given that Hawke already has initiative in any other situation.

So while I'm extremely disappointed in parts of the game, companion dialogue isn't one of those.

[SnakeHelah]

Well this really depends on taste but I like the given companions in DA2 more than in Origins they have their own homes, it's like they think on their own not just rely on their leader to change them, like you couldn't change a certain view (Anders blowing up the chantry). However the way the dialogue was treated is a letdown to me, the whole quest to talk thing... Oh I don't know 9 years and so little dialogue and interaction? I mean, don't get me wrong I liked DA2, but seriously? The way they treated the romances - I know they are optional blah blah, but  the whole flirting thing is screwed up, in DAO you could at least go from friendly to adore, etc (this is what I liked where you didn't need to neccesarily have a romance but could still be friends and so on). And build up a relationship further this way, therefore over time. Here, it's so random, I just run around doing quests but no companion dialogue is available, but then suddenly I get a quest to talk to them, get to their home, choose a flirt option, and voila? next thing you see their at your doorstep want to make out with you? Oh what a nice way of doing this ! This was really a drawback, sorry, Again people can tell me romances are optional and no-one do them and all but apart from that I still felt very limited with the whole "rival or friend" thing. I really like the way there is more banter in this game and all but this can't make up for the way you treated companions BW. Sorry..

Modifié par SnakeHelah, 13 mars 2011 - 04:11 .

[aluanira]

I didn't feel connected to my companions. This is a direct result of the lack of interaction with them. There may have been just as much dialogue written for them (ie party banter AND talks with Hawke) but the lack of player control made it feel so much less. Being able to click and have a conversation at any time makes the player feel included. Including background stories for players to listen to (or not, since that's a good option too) makes the player feel more involved, like they're getting to know a character. I love the plot based conversations in DA2 of course, but if that's all we get for interaction, I think it's a step back from DAO. I think I had maybe 2 conversations with Merril before she hopped into my bed and told me she loved me. Very disappointing aspect of the game.

I don't mind the dialogue wheel so much (provided the text matches what comes out of the mouth) but I'm also perfectly fine with DAO's system too - perfer it in fact. I'd rather lose the voiced player character if it meant more interaction with companions.

I very much enjoyed the party banter when walking around and I do think the companions are well written and lively (Aveline's love quest was just brilliant!). I also think the DA2 characters are as fleshed out and well done as the DAO characters were. They're all unique and fun and have definite personalities. But it's the lack of player interaction that makes the personal connection with them so much lower. A handful of conversations isn't enough, especially when we were so spoiled with DAO. I'd love to have more than 1 or 2 conversations before we dive into a love parntership.

[kane442]

i dont know if theres more or less dialogue ...but DA:O had a better way of doing it ...i hate the new way.....
in dao i could go do a quest come to camp talk to team and learn about them at pace i liked...... in DA2 i feel like i talked to them less over 10 years than the warden did in one

[berelinde]

aluanira wrote...

I didn't feel connected to my companions. This is a direct result of the lack of interaction with them. There may have been just as much dialogue written for them (ie party banter AND talks with Hawke) but the lack of player control made it feel so much less. Being able to click and have a conversation at any time makes the player feel included. Including background stories for players to listen to (or not, since that's a good option too) makes the player feel more involved, like they're getting to know a character. I love the plot based conversations in DA2 of course, but if that's all we get for interaction, I think it's a step back from DAO. I think I had maybe 2 conversations with Merril before she hopped into my bed and told me she loved me. Very disappointing aspect of the game.

I don't mind the dialogue wheel so much (provided the text matches what comes out of the mouth) but I'm also perfectly fine with DAO's system too - perfer it in fact. I'd rather lose the voiced player character if it meant more interaction with companions.

I very much enjoyed the party banter when walking around and I do think the companions are well written and lively (Aveline's love quest was just brilliant!). I also think the DA2 characters are as fleshed out and well done as the DAO characters were. They're all unique and fun and have definite personalities. But it's the lack of player interaction that makes the personal connection with them so much lower. A handful of conversations isn't enough, especially when we were so spoiled with DAO. I'd love to have more than 1 or 2 conversations before we dive into a love parntership.

I agree strongly with everything you say.

Of all the changes in DA2, the one I like least is the loss of the ability to chat with companions. I want to talk to them about things that aren't related to their quests. I would not even mind it if the only place we could talk to our companions is in their homes if they had something to say when we got there. Varric could tell jokes or make up spurious stories about people we met in the last adventure.

Varric: "Yeah, Hawke, I hear Thrask's quite the card player, when he isn't busy snorting lyrium."
PC: "You're kidding!" 
Varric: "Of course! Seriously, though, you have to wonder what kind of private lives those guys have. Talk about control issues!"

Even a quickie banter like that would be welcome, with maybe a dozen or so random dialogues for filling in the gaps when there aren't any active plot flags.

[Zan-sam]

David Gaider wrote...

You know, what's interesting about this is that there's actually almost as much dialogue per follower in DA2 as there was in DAO (barring perhaps Alistair and Morrigan specifically, considering their larger roles in the story). The primary difference is that in DA2 it's spread out. We took a lot of that dialogue you had before at the camp and deliberately put more of it into their personal quests and the intermittent dialogues you have at the follower's base-- that's where you get to ask them their questions, as they come up in context.

My impression is that some people miss being able to get all the dialogue at once. I think there's an urge to get an immediate response for interaction-- click-reward-click-reward, etc. --until they feel they've gotten to know the character and then move onto the rest of the game, even if there's not a lot of dialogue after that point outside of triggered moments.

Maybe that's better, I don't know. It's simply an interesting perception, but whether it's caused by some people simply missing dialogue or because the first act is so long and there's only one major dialogue for a follower there after you recruit them... or something else, I can't really say. I imagine it varies, and the fact that someone feels less connected certainly speaks for itself, but it's not from lack of dialogue. Not everyone feels the same way, of course, but we'll definitely look at the various reactions and tweak it some more. There are indeed some things we tried in DA2 that I don't think we'll try again, but I'm still willing to give it some time to mull over.

I would think a solid balance of role playing requires a bit of both. Being able to have a character become my best friend 1-2 campfires after meeting them detracts from the experience, but in the case of DA2 I recruited multiple characters in Act 1 in rapid succession and hardly got to learn anything about them shortly after meeting them. Relationship development should certainly have the sense of progression over the course of a story, but at the same time I'd prefer to be able to get to know this person I just met (and am trusting in combat) a little better.

[Loc'n'lol]

David Gaider wrote...
My impression is that some people miss being able to get all the dialogue at once. I think there's an urge to get an immediate response for interaction-- click-reward-click-reward, etc. --until they feel they've gotten to know the character and then move onto the rest of the game, even if there's not a lot of dialogue after that point outside of triggered moments.

An interesting point. I think the structure of the interacitons (home-base or quest-specific only) is interesting, but most companions could use a more lengthy introduction. I think that's the problem, before entrusting someone with watching my back on a regular basis, I'd like to get to know them a little more, sooner rather than later.

[Sjofn]

David Gaider wrote...

You know, what's interesting about this is that there's actually almost as much dialogue per follower in DA2 as there was in DAO (barring perhaps Alistair and Morrigan specifically, considering their larger roles in the story). The primary difference is that in DA2 it's spread out. We took a lot of that dialogue you had before at the camp and deliberately put more of it into their personal quests and the intermittent dialogues you have at the follower's base-- that's where you get to ask them their questions, as they come up in context.

My impression is that some people miss being able to get all the dialogue at once. I think there's an urge to get an immediate response for interaction-- click-reward-click-reward, etc. --until they feel they've gotten to know the character and then move onto the rest of the game, even if there's not a lot of dialogue after that point outside of triggered moments.

Maybe that's better, I don't know. It's simply an interesting perception, but whether it's caused by some people simply missing dialogue or because the first act is so long and there's only one major dialogue for a follower there after you recruit them... or something else, I can't really say. I imagine it varies, and the fact that someone feels less connected certainly speaks for itself, but it's not from lack of dialogue. Not everyone feels the same way, of course, but we'll definitely look at the various reactions and tweak it some more. There are indeed some things we tried in DA2 that I don't think we'll try again, but I'm still willing to give it some time to mull over.

The only thing that *really* bugged me was from a romance standpoint. You move your sweet pea in, but there's not even a useless "just saying hi/kiss 'em/suggest you go to bed" thing to do with them like there was in DA:O, so they just ... stand around, useless. You can't even do their "OK, let's talk now!" quests in your house. In DA:O, I liked checking to see if new dialogue opened up with my love interest, seeing there wasn't, and suggesting going to bed or whatever to close the conversation rather than "OK, see ya!" There's also no way to tell your LI that maybe you want to break up outside of very specific circumstances, and that's kind of annoying too. My mage Hawke has apparently gotten locked into a relationship with Isabella he doesn't actually want, and since we never talk about it ever, I can't dump her. It's weirdly frustrating.

Otherwise I think spreading the stuff out worked nicely, and in spite of my complaints, I think it worked nicest for the love interests, rather than potentially blasting through a relationship and having virtually nothing left long before the game is over. It's just ... sometimes a girl wants to give her honey a smooch for no reason. 

[FeriIuce]

David Gaider wrote...

You know, what's interesting about this is that there's actually almost as much dialogue per follower in DA2 as there was in DAO (barring perhaps Alistair and Morrigan specifically, considering their larger roles in the story). The primary difference is that in DA2 it's spread out. We took a lot of that dialogue you had before at the camp and deliberately put more of it into their personal quests and the intermittent dialogues you have at the follower's base-- that's where you get to ask them their questions, as they come up in context.

My impression is that some people miss being able to get all the dialogue at once. I think there's an urge to get an immediate response for interaction-- click-reward-click-reward, etc. --until they feel they've gotten to know the character and then move onto the rest of the game, even if there's not a lot of dialogue after that point outside of triggered moments.

Maybe that's better, I don't know. It's simply an interesting perception, but whether it's caused by some people simply missing dialogue or because the first act is so long and there's only one major dialogue for a follower there after you recruit them... or something else, I can't really say. I imagine it varies, and the fact that someone feels less connected certainly speaks for itself, but it's not from lack of dialogue. Not everyone feels the same way, of course, but we'll definitely look at the various reactions and tweak it some more. There are indeed some things we tried in DA2 that I don't think we'll try again, but I'm still willing to give it some time to mull over.

Its quite interesting to hear that theres the same amount of dialogue, because it really doesn't feel like it. It might be because you could always check if your companions had something new to say in DA:O, whereas here they'll just tell you how clean their house normally is over and over again.
The fact that there was multiple immersion breaking bugs probably didn't help either.

I did like the fact that your companions had their own houses though, and when you actually did have conversations with your companions they were well done, if short.