I have no issues with companions leaving or dying because of my actions. I do have an issue with Larian's act 1 is done, now for 'replayability' kick half your party.
Pretty much every RPG with a party I've played found ways how to handle companion quests when the party member was at camp. Each of those was far better than DOS2 method. I don't have the time to replay a game 3-4 times just to see all companion stories. If the game is really great, I might do it, but not just to see a handfull of scenes hidden behind some mechanic like this party lock.
