It depends on the group that you're playing with. Catan with my family is fun because we chat the whole time, try to get each other in trouble, etc. Quiet time is pretty rare in Catan for us.

Actually the one game that really tells you the character of a group is Codenames. In certain groups, the entire game is super serious and quiet with lots of time spent on thinking, while in other groups the game is fun and filled with discussion and jokes and so on.