Well, one of the exact quotes is "You may be controlling a different character in Dragon Age II, but the choices your Grey Warden made in Origins are still imported from your save and reflected in the world."
From reading that section of the article they seem to say that the PC version is pretty much the same, while the console versions have been upgraded to have the action feel faster and more responsive than Origins did.
PC combat is going to remain pretty much the way it currently is. It's the console versions that are being upgraded.
It doesn't talk about the conversation system in great detail. Just says "Dragon Age II uses a conversation system similar to Mass Effect's, where players select paraphrased versions of the dialogue from a wheel. An icon in the middle of the wheel even illustrates the line's basic intent (like aggressive or sarcastic), so you can focus more on the interaction rather than reading and analyzing your dialogue choices."
It made no mention of the dialogue system with party members.
All it really said was that the PC version will have the same ability to "examine the battlefield closely, make decisions from a top-down view, and direct your party like a general." They say they got to play the Xbox 360 version and they can "confirm that it is faster, more responsive, and more fluid than before. As soon as you press a button, something happens. As a warrior, Hawke threw down special strikes and used a new dash move to slash through darkspawn with ease. It isn't on the Dynasty Warriors side of the spectrum, but with obvious improvements to the targeting system and animations, playing Dragon Age II with a controller finally feels natural."
Why can't I be an elf?
