I don't know if it isn't reproducible at all, but I could not reproduce it on my system (Windows) and have not seen this mentioned recently.
So does Hero II always start conversations, or is opposite of who you have selected? Have you tried a few different NPCs?
As for re-starting... I guess 5 hours in isn't too bad to redo, especially if you wanted to change your builds a little, or something. I'm not sure if support will have any suggestions or if it might get fixed quickly once they take a look at your save (assuming it is reproducible).
