It was not at all in Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 because there were TONS of companions.
Whatever your role, you would have find the appropriate companions.
Most of them had a story that could be described in two sentences (bg1).
In bg 2 it was better but some characters still had a lot of history and some were quite the opposite.
Not to mention that any one companion in bg3 has more voice acting than all of the older games together.
So I wouldn't consider it an advantage.
