except you know there is barely any banter at all, especially during act 3 which is more than a third of the game.
I dunno, my Durge re-spawning was very twee!
I think overall the discrepancy between acts, and specifically the drop-off to companion reactivity and banter during act 3 is what makes the more quiet moments stand out so much. Going from Shadowheart practically screaming at the group in act 1 that the Zaith'isk is going to kill Lae'zel if we don't intervene (showing a surprising amount of care btw), to then look at your romantic partner almost T-posing as your Durge rejects Bhaal and dies because of it. Some party members have more extensive conversation, I loved bringing Jaheira and Minsc there for example, but some of the others just express a bit of relief or being proud of you at most, so that can be rather underwhelming. Platonic Minthara even skips over your whole dying and coming back part to talk about how "we" defeated Orin. For the last step of a redeemed Durge I would have loved to have actual conversations with companions involving dialogue choices, as a way to more properly put into words how your Durge views closing the door on their Bhaal chapter for good.
And there are other spots where a lack of reactivity really stands out, like meeting Kressa as Durge in the Mind Flayer Colony and hearing all she has to say about us and what's been done to us. It reveals we didn't get tadpoled on the Nautiloid and are thus an anomaly being on that ship at the start, as well as talking about the straight up repeated torture we had to endure during our time there. But then we just kill her and pretend that conversation never happened.
There are also other moments where there is an initial response, but no actual follow-up or consequence and that can also feel odd. Meeting Gortash at the coronation as Durge and having Karlach along brought out an understandable and emotional response, after which she says she doesn't want to talk to us right now and needs time to process. I fully expected her to be out of the party and having a follow-up conversation during a long rest to hash things out with her. However, she instead stays in the party and if you immediately click on her again, not giving her time to process, she'll just give her standard greeting instead.
Another moment that comes to mind is where a penultimate step in a series of quests getting more attention from your active companions than actually finishing the quest series off with a literal bag. After the Iron Throne everyone of the active companions has something to say about what you just went through. However, actually blowing up Steel Watch Foundry and finally being rid of the Steel Watch and a huge chunk of what made Gortash a threat goes by like it never happened. Not
All in all I'm also not necessarily one who'd want dialogue to happen for the sake of there being dialogue or the need to fill quieter moments with someone speaking just for the sake of there not being silence. However, when there is so much reactivity to smaller, less important things early, to then later having some huge events at most getting a one-liner or even completely being ignored, that really stands out.
That's why my approach for act 3 now is to rescue Minsc as early as possible, pretty much always bring Jaheira and Minsc along everywhere I go, and then as a third bring along any companion that I'm currently doing their relevant quests for. And of course when rescuing Minsc and entering the sewers for the first time, make sure I have the right people in my party so that Orin can babysit Halsin. Jaheira and Minsc have so much more to say about many events, like the House of Grief with Viconia and being a devil and angel on the shoulder on killing her or not, or of course the entire Bhaal arc with Sarevok and the culmination of rejecting or embracing Bhaal as Durge. Minsc had his own hurrah, then Jaheira had practically an entire speech where Minsc also chimed in again. Then there's Jaheira's home where Minsc has a lot of extra comments of course.
All the OG companions at that point feel largely detached from anything not concerning their direct companion quest and the lack of companion interactivity/involvement in other dialogue, party banter and all that plays a large role in my opinion. In act 3, depending on which companion you bring to certain quests and such, there can be hours and hours of gameplay where they're practically more of a hireling than an actual companion. For a large part when you're out and about, some of them are just hibernating and running on autopilot until you bring them to their designated quests.
P.S. Another kinda hilarious one that is more unfortunately timed rather than an actual problem in my opinion, is that depending on Long Rests, you can have your Astral-Tadpole transformation at the same time as Shadowheart has her hair change. So then when you approach everyone all changed and looking horrible, everyone starts out ignoring your predicament to comment on Shadowheart's hair first. Had a good laugh when I saw someone experiencing exactly this in their blind playthrough.
