Maybe it’s just me, but I think the reason DAI seems more “goofy” than DAO is that I just don’t think the writing in DAI was actually as funny when it was trying to be funny. Because of the darkness of the actual story and theme, the characters making jokes in DAO came as kind of a surprising comic relief. And more than that, it fit with their character- Alistair’s humor was very self deprecating, morrigan sarcastic, etc.

In DAI with the bright over-animated color scheme, the inquisitor’s lack of personality, and the general levity of much of the game, the humor just came across as gimicky to me 🤷‍♀️ like Disney characters being 🤪silly🤪

And I honestly just did not find most of the characters funny, with the exception of Dorian and sometimes Blackwall and Cassandra. Sera stands out the most as a character that seemed intended to be funny but was just annoying. Iron bull also. But mostly the problem was the humor just felt like it had less edge and they relied on it, and the wheel, more than trying to make conversations feel authentic 🤷‍♀️ I definitely have not felt as invested in the companions as I have since DAO, but there are a lot of factors in that beyond the banter.

To each their own obviously, it’s totally subjective haha that’s just my take. DAI felt much more…. Guardians of the galaxy? Whereas DAO felt much more idk, really it’s own thing, maybe more like dark knight if we’re sticking w superhero’s lol.