Don’t get me wrong, companions should definitely be interesting and offer interesting replayability options depending on composition and choice but I don’t need all of them to have some instant hook, but I guess I’m not going to mind if they did.
This actually emphasizes my point even more. While we would love to take the most interesting companions, gameplay will dictate otherwise. The companions should be strong enough characters that we will be excited when that happens instead of indifferent. Gale in particular is so bland and generic that I legitimately wonder why they even bothered. He looks like random citizen #3 holding a staff. If he was a merchant in Baldur's Gate, no one would bat an eye.
If a character claims to want to be the most powerful wizard in Faerun... well that tells me he's a bit eccentric, or at least he should be. Nothing about his dialogue, personality, or design has shown that. Visually this guy should scream "wizard". Compare the iconic design of Elminster to Gale. Think of how interesting the Syous / D'raven characters looked in Shadows over Mystara. Even the whacked out DM from the old D&D cartoon has a stronger look.
