Another point in favour of any-companion-can-initiate-conversation - how about situations where the protagonist is far away from the rest of the party, locked in a dungeon, for example, and the only way out is to talk to some npcs? The rest of the party *needs* to have this ability to be able to resolve these kinds of situations.
Good point. But actually these situations are pretty rare. Why should you split up your party in SP if you're not forced to do so? And in these rare cases another companion could be allowed to speak on your behalf (quest or situation related).
I mean in whole act 1 there is exactly ONE situation in which the player character could get imprisoned.
