I don't have the game yet, but I can certainly see the point here. I definitely do not want to read a 4-page, in-game book to get a sense of the local history. But at the same time, the local stories need to be told somehow. I thought the bartender/tavern chat was a great thing to have in the original Baldur's Gate, just like in a D&D module. But in my first try at the Friendly Arms Inn, I got drunk from five golden meads, never got any real information, and then had to go to bed. They set the cups threshold way too high and ruined the feature. I never tried it again.
"Say there Bluffer, put up a dram to soothe me dusty throat. And while yer at it, 'afore I get clear this darkmans, pray tell, where can a willing ear with a rum bung be told of the place called ... City of Brass, eh now?"
