2. But them I'm fine with the the "you have to lock in, for the following acts".
Yes, with #2 you'll miss some of the story options, but that's life -- and replayability.
I think everyone is blowing this way out of proportion... You can't return to Act 1's area, so if you do not pick up the companions, they are gone forever. That is what they are saying, not that there is a choice: "Choose 2, the rest die!" just that if you have not recruited them, they will not be recruitable in the future. You don't have to recruit any of them, and by not recruiting them by the end of Act 1, you can't recruit them in the future. I constantly kill Gale everytime he pops out of that stone wall, shifty bastard.
