Got to say:
"The other thing that surprised me, in hindsight could’ve been predicted. We put in the evil and neutral NPC companions first, so there was a bit of backlash from people complaining that all the characters were so haughty and snarky, but it was really just those characters acting as their natural selves. I didn’t realise it would be such a thing, but in reality we just hadn’t put the good characters in yet. There’s a much wider variety, and hopefully it’ll settle down in time, but it’s interesting the conclusions people draw when there’s only a small selection."
Sorry, Larian, but no. That's not an excuse.
Evil and neutral characters do not have to be utterly unlikable - you chose to make them that way.
There is a Very Strong reason why, in the vast majority of video games like this that involve companions of variable moral stances and alignments, the games almost invariably introduce you to the good characters first, and the pink-to-red aligned ones later. There's a reason they all do this (or present you with all of them at the same time, ala NW1); it's not arbitrary.
Players who are coming into a game intending to play a red-aligned play through as a dark, evil or selfish character generally come into it expecting to meet resistance from theri companions; to a certain extent, it helps validate and lend credibility to their character's evil. By meeting the goodly companions first, they gain this immediate counterpoint, and for evil playthroughs, that resistance is a good thing (experientially speaking). They can then meet the more morally similar characters later, when they feel established in their personal set up - and if they swiftly backstab their former good companions in favour of these other like-minded individuals, then that's further playing into their character and affirming it.
If a player comes into a game intending to play an evil character, and all they meet initially are other evil characters, it either deflates their sense of initial character development, or it forces them to feel like they need to act supremely cartoonishly, game-destructively evil just to top them.
On the other hand, if a player comes into a game intending to play a more or less good or heroic character, and they meet the like-minded characters first, this has the opposite effect; it reaffirms and reinforces their choice to be good and sets them up with allies they feel they can trust and who will support them, which are usually important things for good character playthroughs. Meeting the darker characters after this is easier and smoother because the darker characters are more clearly outliers - being met after the good characters generally enhances their darker character traits, so they don't need to act like completely unlikable arseholes and rub everyone the wrong way just to assert their character.
If, however, a player comes into a game intending to play a more or less good or heroic character, and they meet all of the evil bastards first, they're put in a position where everyone that surrounds them reacts negatively to their efforts, right from the get-go, and risks making the characters feel like they're being treated as the bad guy, for no legitimate reason - which for someone aiming to play a more or less goodly aligned character is less likely to be enjoyed, and may even be discouraging or disheartening.
There is a reason that you generally are presented with the opportunity to hook up with the good characters earlier than the dark ones. It's actually a fairly nuanced thing, and Larian are shooting themselves in several vital organs by arbitrarily bucking that practice, when they don't appear to understand it in the first place.
