[BagginsKQ]

Actually for conversation puzzles; if they are done correctly, you have to have learned facts from other locations first, before you can use those facts in a conversation.

Otherwise conversations will go in circles, or end without going anywhere.

In Indiana Jones adventure games for example, not having the right information to solve conversation puzzles could lead to scaring off the person you are trying to get information from. Or perhaps cause them to attack you! Turn into a fist fight.

In Gabriel Knight, you simply couldn't continue until you had learned some facts from somewhere else to initiate a new line of questioning.

Thus conversation 'lines' are similar to 'finding an inventory item'. If you didn't find the subject to question about, or bluff your way through a conversation, you might find yourself in a dead end, or forced into a more violent outcome.