[quote=Alyssa_Fox] You can certainly sit there and hope that BG3 will turn out to be another PST - in terms of both style and writing quality. "It worked" for PST, yes, but why? Because that game was never about combat. It's about dialogues, philosophy, story, and it has a superb story. Does BG3 look like it's trying to be another PST - not about combat and going to have PST-level writing? No, it looks like it's going to be another Larian game instead.
Here's another thing, what if you dislike certain companions? Oh these NPCs are sooo DYNAMIC and DEEP but you know what I hate their personality, so can I choose other NPCs to fill my party? Oh wait but I don't have much of a choice, do I, because there are only a handful of them. In fact, it's only reasonable that you have at least two options for each major class, so if you need someone to fill a certain role, you have at least two NPCs to choose from - 2 tanks, 2 rogues, 2 archers, 2 mages, 2 clerics, 2 whatever. This explains why BG2's big roster serves it really well - you almost always have options regardless of what kind of role you're trying to fill..
Adding to this many companions in BG2 were also multi or dual classed, <fighter/druid, cleric/ranger, mage/thief, cleric/mage...adding even more options to you party comp.
