I agree that they could look more "cool" but that's not what makes a good companion.
Solas from Dragon Age is a perfect example of what we're talking about. He's one of the most popular characters in the DA series, if not THE most popular.
When concept artists first designed him, Solas was interesting. He was bald, and had several small imperfections that highlighted his character. Over time, through refinement, the character slowly changed and became more generic. He got hair, he was cleaned up, he got more handsome. By the end of that process, he was boring looking, and some of this art made it's way online. Near the end of development, Bioware took another look at Solas and said to themselves, "Why isn't this character working anymore?"
They went back to the drawing board and made him "uglier" as he was originally designed. The end result was a very compelling character. And he is NOT ugly. These things are subtle and the reason why you need good concept artists. It's the little details that make these things work.
