Yea... from what my friend said, there was a big fear of management to drive away the people that didnt want to get into the lore too much. Like original drafts for quests had you have options of speaking in specific slang terms, and making a difference on what terms you use, how people would percieve you.
But this kinda stuff was dropped to make sure the game would remain accessible for everyone. To not drive the people that dont have the patience to get into a game that deeply away.
And thats of course the saddest thing to know... what could've been, and that the reason it sucks now is because they tried to create more mass appeal. That people are now unhappy, because marketing was too scared to make people unhappy.
I mean, you see that time and time again, devs have a great vision and idea for a great game, and then there are compromises made to appeal to a larger audience, and in the end it appeals to noone, but people buy it, cause its the only option at the time, or it is hyped up.
To quote Panam in the ending I got. "You'll miss the night city you imagined, the city of endless possibilities... the city that was a lie"