I didn't like the dialogue checks while playing because of how it felt like you needed to be perfect to hit them (I think I only actually succeeded on two my whole playthrough), but hearing you describe the dialogue as "hidden decision trees" has actually changed the way I see them now and I've done a complete 180. Many other games give indicators that a choice might be important, but Pentiment doesn't at all. This seriously might be Pentiment's biggest strength--everything can matter, no matter how innocuous it might seem in the moment