First rule of RPGs: Talk to everyone all the time, no exceptions.
Do you talk to NPCs between quest goals? No? Replay the game and do that.

I have a friend who used to just...not read in RPGs. Ever. I told him, you can't get away with that. He asked me "what's going on in the story now?" and it was all because he wasn't reading what was being said. Sure....he saw the words but he wasn't READING the words.