Origin characters water out the narrative focus of the story, I feel. Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 were about a single person, Charname, Gorion's Ward, the Bhaalspawn. We could change the attributes of that person, but that person and only that person was the focal point of the story.
Depends what you expect from a character-focused story. When it came to Gorion's ward, even if you changed attributes, class, even alignment - most of the time there was no difference, especially since there were no such things like ability checks in dialogues. In BG2 you got strongholds, and romantic interests. Other than this, you were playing "charname", a character with no distinguishable features. It was a bit disappointing, considering that a game built on the same engine - Icewind Dale - which was a linear monster-slaying adventure, had character reactivity. There were special dialogue options depending on a character's class, stats, even alignment.
Even if the story in BG3 isn't as focused on the main character as it was in the originals, my impression so far is that my characters already feel more unique in BG3 than they did in the original saga.
There was a bit of stat reactivity in BG2, don't think there was a whole lot in BG1, but you're right that the story didn't go out of its way to change based on exactly what race and class and stats you picked. That's not really the point, though. The point is, there was one protagonist and only one protagonist and that one protagonist was the undisputed fulcrum of the storyline.
It was not a story about "some people", it was a story about one person and that person's fate as the person reacted to the world, grow, and happened to various people and places. The person would run into other adventurers, maybe spend time with some of them, maybe perform epic deeds alongside them, and maybe their paths would separate permanently or temporarily, and maybe they would stay together. But it was always about that one person. Charname.
Narratively, it feels different from writing a story where there's no chosen one and literally any from a bunch of dozens or hundreds of people with special tadpoles could take turns to be the main driver of what happens. It doesn't feel as focused. This is probably fine in an MP context, but if I'm playing a single player role-playing game then I expect to play an adventure about my character. Particularly in a D&D context, which is all about making "your character" rather than "min-maxing a toon".
Origin companions could potentially be a funny addition, if not overdone, but it is extremely hard for me to feel that they are "my character". They are rolled and designed by Larian, after all. Their personality is designed by Larian. Their backstory is written by Larian. Their hopes and dreams and aspirations and interests are all decided by Larian. How could they possibly be "my character", then?
And pregens with massive preferential treatment is exactly what DOS2 origin characters were, and what it feels a bit like BG3 origin characters will become. Further, it feels like any cool banter and interaction with companions might be limited exclusively to the origin characters (who for obvious reasons will have to start right with you in Act 1), and anything beyond that (if even possible) will be "mercenaries" with no depth at all. So not only does this detract from the story focus (it's not about "me", it's about whomever tadpoler is closest at the moment), but it also takes away from the companion options.
How about running into some gnome just looking for turnips and maybe looking for some nice faces to front him with regards to the representatives of "the law", but with no tadpole trouble whatsoever? Nah, can't do it. How about some beautiful elf lady cleric/mage who never learned any damn thing about actually being a badass cleric/mage? Nah, can't do it. How about running into one of the most ridiculous cases of racism, a supremely paladin'esque hafling lady fighter that was rejected from pally-school for not being a human? Can't do that either. Sorry Mazzy. And the list goes on and on and on.
The equivalent of where it feels like the origin companions are heading is that you could only play with other bhaalspawns as party members in BG1 and 2. How sad would that have been?
