It's just nice to be able to see where you are and to see how far in the friendship/hate meter you have to go to get certain things for future reference. In Origins, if I was speed running I would know what level to get their quests. It's not really that important but it also leaves you a little uncertain... but I guess they'll make it obvious in how they talk to you.
I don't disagree that the totals are useful, especially in letting you game the system (oh, Fenris is already at max friendship, but Aveline is only at 90%, so I'll take her on this quest instead!).
But the post I was responding to was seeming to make some sort of weird jump to Inquisition automatically being inferior, for no logical reason.
Then again, I like how organic that could feel. I think NWN2 had the same, am I correct? Or MotB did. FFFF I LOVE THAT GAME SO MUCH.
I think so (I don't really remember). They had a comprehensive influence system, but all I really recall is that I never got Neeshka to side with me at the end (I only played it the one time).
I do know the BG series worked like that, NWN worked like that (the expansions at least), Jade Empire worked like that, and ME3 works like that (though really only for Kaidan and Ashley IIRC). There are variations in each system, but none of those had meters that you could look at to automatically know your relationship status without even needing to talk to the character.
I think people may be assuming that it's going to be like Origins and DA2 in every way except with the inability to see the meter; I believe it's a mistake to expect that. Obviously, if you removed the meter from DA2, it would be very difficult to tell the status of your relationship with a particular character, as there are relatively few plot or dialogue cues—but a game designed without the meter would obviously handle it differently, since it's essential to have at least a general idea of the current status of your various relationships.