When the game first came out, a friend and I got through about an hour of playing COOP Multiplayer before giving up; we couldn't stand to continue due to the coop dialog clunkiness.
There is so much conversation and exposition in the dialog system that it was exceedingly painful and immersion-breaking to have to keep opening the journal and read the active conversation as it progressed.
No, the work around of using the journal is not one we can live with. It completely spoils the mood of the game.
Despite the co-op dialog, we both liked the short bit of the game we saw. We'll get back to playing it if/when they implement a way for us to both be able to start, follow, and contribute to a conversation without having to jump through hoops. Until then the game is shelved. Hopefully they make a very clear announcement regarding this fix (if it ever happens) since I only have so much patience of coming back here to check if they've addressed it or not.
