Do they honestly do that?
Yes. And if they don't answer because they don't like you, you have to shout "Joke!", "Boast!", "Coerce!" or "Admire!" in their face until they do like you. There's very little evidence that this works in real life.
Ouch! That sounds like a horrid dialogue system.
Thanks for the exposition. I, nevertheless, prefer the Bioware/Obsidian system of PC/NPC interaction.