I think it's a problem with most crpgs I played. I've seen much worse cases (the persona series for example) and some better cases (I think most of bg2 but even there you have characters like Anoman who defers to you for no good reason other than you are the PC)
Btw Baldur's gate 1 is also a big offender in this case.
I’d argue that since our mainchar is a point of attraction. The overall plot is designed around him/her. So there’s no real need to explain why anybody joined him, he’s just a main protagonist. The thing is you can describe yourself why they joined you, e.g. you are overly charismatic, agile, strong or maybe you’re super kind and those people feel safe with you.
There is also no real need to explain why he is fighting goblins, or where is he going, or who his companions are. You could just make up your own reasons for killing goblins and make up your own destination, and make up your own names for your companions and make up your own character traits and motivations for them. And there is no need for them to build actual environmental assets. You can imagine your own tree over there, and your own rope bridge here, etc. If you are going to be supplying all the content anyway, save yourself some money and just sit and imagine playing a game.
In any storytelling medium, any character who does anything ever absolutely must be given some kind of motivation for doing so. The essential drive of a character to follow another character is not something that should be left to fan theories and headcanon.
