OK, so no puzzles but what about dialogue triggers? Let's say the protagonist stays at a certain family's house, as in
Laura Bow 1. There are various issues going on between the family members, which in LB1 you mostly learn about by spying on people having conversations. I can imagine it would make a fun game if you had to uncover all the people's stories simply by asking questions. At first, you know next to nothing about anyone, but general questions will provide clues which in turn trigger new dialogue options, etc.
