Um, yes. That was exactly what I was trying to do. I may have failed, but that's different from misunderstanding the challenge.
I mean, I wasn't really blaming you of misunderstanding anything, so not sure how we got there.
I just answered to your inquiry about what can be done explaining my method/thought process.
Conversely, I have to admit I'm not sure why you keep mentioning/involving the chain system.
Aside from the fact that on a personal note I have nothing but contempt for it and I'd love to see it expelled from the face of the planet and YEETED past the Oort Belt with a nuclear-fueled SHOVE, it doesn't really seem that relevant to the dialogue system at all, on a mechanical level.
The involvement of characters in a dialogue seems to be (and should arguably remain) based on the proximity to the conversation more than anything else.
If I "unlink" Shadowheart from the party and leave her 1 meter away from the NPC I'm talking to I still expect her to be able to cast guidance, butt in in the conversation IF she has something to add, etc.
And when it comes to "swapping characters at will with a button" I already pointed that without an extensive revamp I think that system would have too much of an artificial feel to me. It would feel like having several parallel conversations rather than having all the characters be part of one.
I also don't happen to think that just relying on the general rule "NPC shouldn't start dialogue on their own" could solve much. While you mentioned a couple of examples where it's arguably unnecessary and we could do without it, there would be several circumstances where the designers would feel basically forced to do it (i.e. an "Ambush" doesn't really work if you are the one that needs to trigger the dialogue manually, etc), which is why "Point 2" should be the priority rather than the follow up. The system in place to prioritize the main character/favorite leader is basically a necessity that has to be put ahead of the suggestion to "not force the dialogue if you can help it", because often you really can't.
