Years later you can ask about how you can kill wyverns for xp and heads and not much people know about what are you talking about, but if you say "Go for the eyes, boo, go for the eyes" or a joke about your "boot of justice" and everybody knows who you are talking about.
I think companions are a big part of the essence of the game. I hope they will keep it that way.
DOS companions are not that bad. I liked Sebille, Wolfgraff, Bairdotr and Ifan. Maybe not the same charisma level, but most of them have more dialog and character development than the BG characters in the unmodded game, to be honest.
Plenty of people play the IE games solo or with a party created by them, and it is nice that you have this option, but you miss a lot if you do not take a the bg companions at least once.
