Yes, well, it's not like we didn't expect flak for the keywords. It's not even a cost issue, it's really about the amount of topics in the game - there's really a lot and if we put them as a questions, you get very large walls of text. (And you get character put in the way of questioning, because if we'd add several options for that too, then you'd a bible of text for each dialog)
We planned on testing the keywords in alpha and see how they went down - if it turns out everybody hates it, we'll adapt. But in the same breath I have to add - we had keyword haters play the game and come back to admit that actually, it worked quite well for them.
To be continued, for sure.
Perhaps that it could work out, but the intelligent dialogue system is something Larian can be proud of, can be identified with. Some other studio might get away with a keyword system, but we're talking about a major Larian attribute here. People that back DOS all experienced those writer skills, and they're counting on it once more. I am for sure!
