How else are you going to get this cast of characters to be motivated to work together? All of us start in the same place, after all. The only thing that separates us is where we land when the ship crashes. But the plot forces us together because we're all in the same boat, metaphorically, since we all have a new little friend in our heads. I'd be more outraged about that, but since it ties into the main story, I'm not sure why I should be?
The cast of character is not really the problem here. It's more about the origin system and how the multiplayer mode works imo. The fact that everyone has the same main story, the same problem, the same introduction, the same goal is very specific to Larian games.
A druid could become a companion because he wants to learn more about the strange things he noticed right next to his grove. A bard could become a companion because he wants to reach Baldur's Gate after being captured by goblins in the middle of nowhere. A fighter could become a companion because his mates are dead but he wants to share the reward for a powerfull artifact he has to bring to BG.
You know... companions that are living in the world despite the main character's story and that have different reasons to follow you. Of course it does not exclude that "some" other companion(s) have a tadpole in the head.
This would preclude many of the game features and story options, I think.
I don't know anything about how this will unfold eventually, but I can imagine that those with the special tadpole 3.0 (1.0 is the one that turns people into bread and butter mindflayers, 2.0 turns them into Absolute cultists, 3.0 makes them BG3 player characters and companions) will eventually have to fulfill a mission of extraordinaire importance.
Also we have things like "resurrect" and "Illithid spells" and "psionic transfer of data between brains", all of this would be gone if the average Joe could join the party.
No, no, it's good as it is, but I start to see your point.
