I'm honestly confused and annoyed by the concept of these Origin Companions and I personally LOVE good(as in well made) companions in my games.
Wyll and Lazeal are actually ok imo overall nothing OP/off about them. They are basically equal to a custom toon though maybe not min/maxed. Personally I don't care for Wyll he is a bit to fake and try hard for me. Lazeal I'm overall fine with and seems to offer an interesting experience with a race not generally seen a lot.
Shadowheart & Gale I'm just not understanding how playing as one of these makes any sense. How do you define how often I have to eat items as Gale or blow up, especially without a fully implemented time system? Do we get a page or 2 write up about SH and the mission we are currently running involving the artifact & our being a "Maybe" cleric of Shar? Even just as companions, Gale I actively avoid meeting or getting close to his Waypoint. There are only 1 or 2 items so far in act 1 that I'd consider letting Gale eat and even if I do let him eat something he'll still potentially run off and make his own deal ticked off at me cause I took to long. SH is potentially an interesting character as a companion but omg Light cleric is soooo much better than Trickster for having a cleric in your party. Admittedly to me cleric = Blessbot(especially with Arcane Blessing staff) so SH can function but not remotely to the lvl Light does.
Astarion I personally find cliche and cheesy sorry to all the fans. He isn't bad as a standard companion and possibly BiS for anyone who wants to be a Rogue due to self heal/buff.
At release I'll likely be running a 5 toon custom party(modded if not default optional). I was thinking 3 custom and 2 companions for story but I'll admit there is 1 currently datamined Origin Companion I may MC with 2 customs and 2 other companions. I'm hoping though that the current custom party mechanics are fleshed out more.
