They were pretty good in Fallout 3. Especially in Megaton, where NPCs called each other by name and could have entire unique conversations depending on who they were talking to.

Really? I don't recall any random conversations in Fallout at all, none-the-less to that detail! There were a few scripted, one time conversations for when you first arrive to megaton. Then again, I haven't played Fo3 in quite a while.

The best I heard was something like::
NPC 1: Any news from the other provinces?
NPC 2: Nothing I'd like to talk about.
NPC 1: Go on...
:facepalm:

Sure, but even so, that problem is part of the bigger picture too. It'll probably get some improvements as well, although it's hard to say how big an improvement, because the main component of that is to have enough actors and dialogue lines randomly combined to make it feel truly random. After awhile, you'll always end up hearing things you've heard many times before - unless they're making the convos less frequent and use just a few more actors. Those two things combined will create a better randomness.

But I don't expect anything revolutionary, though.

There were quite a lot.

It's funny how Jericho talks to everyone and everyone hate him. There are a few funny ones between raiders too.
And of course http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXZAOtSSRLE&feature=related.

Ah yes, I forgot about the supermutants. However, these conversations just 'seem' more relevant because all the lines spoken by the mutants were written in a manner so they would fit together. Now, this is better than random sentences, but still not as nice as actually setting up legitimate sense-making conversation stacks with dialog lines. :/

yes please i hated the random stupid conversation between OB NPCs

NPC 1: Hey Hrogar
NPC 2: What
NPC 1: Seen any... ELVES?
NPC 1&2: HAR HAR HAR HAR...

Or my personal favourite:

NPC 1: Good morning
NPC 2: Good afternoon.

Always made me chuckle.

1 "deadra worship has become increasingly popular in the summerset isles"
2 "i saw a mudcrab the other day and stayed clear of it"
1 "have you heard tthe news about kvatch?!"
2 "if you need light armor see maro rufus"
1 "tuesday is coming did you bring your coat?"
2 "i live in a giant bucket"
1 "my spoon is too big"
2 "even electronic brain pancake crystal elderly"
1 "goodbye"
2 "bye"

I lol'ed

That made me laugh so hard!

Also, yes, the random conversations, entertaining as they were/are, need some help!