this kind of lame ass dialogue doesn't belong in an AAA product.
Well, to be honest lame ass dialogue is a staple of an AAA product.
I feel it might be that Larian is treating dialogue as just a system, rather then a core pillar. In many other RPGs - Witcher, Dragon Age, Pillars of Eternities - dialogue is the main way of telling the story and giving player decisions to make. If you can convince/threaten/poison/initiate combat etc. an NPC, those will be done through dialogue - essentially if you have a choice, it’s presented via dialogue. In those games, if there is an option to talk, you talk. If you can initiate combat you often HAVE to do it through dialogue.
Larian games seem to be closer in that regard to Tim Cains RPGs (or immersive sim design) - decision as to what to do and what you can do, doesn’t come exclusively through a dialogue. You have ways of interacting with NPCs, without initiating dialogue. Those games tend to rely less on “setpiece” dialogues - like mentioned Landsmeet. While it might be an extensive scene, you are limited to it - you can’t stealth around, pickpocket, steal, attack in addition to talking.
