Yeah I have to agree that the party size reduction automatically makes it impossible for me to be willing to take along not just animal companions but even other odd-ball or unusual or quirky companions. My three companions would be chosen in a very structural way to cover what I consider to be necessary party functions, and NOT on the basis of who's most interesting. A sad fallout from the party size reduction decision.
Didn't Larian say it would be possible to beat BG3 through dialogue only? I imagine you would be able to complete the game with any party or just going solo, so personally I would take all the odd-ball, quirky and unusal companions.
If this turns out to be the case, then that alone would sell me on the game. But I am not at all convinced of this at this point. So let's wait and see.
But to this discussion, yeah it's always the odd-ball, quirky, unusual companions that I tend to love having in my parties in party-based games. The whole point of playing a party-based game, for me, is those companions and having interesting and fun interactions and relationships with those companions. I never ever use generic characters or mercenaries in place of NPC companions in any game.
