I don't buy the "it needs to be controller friendly" excuse.
"Controller compatibility" is a poor argument, generally speaking, both because the game currently doesn't even have a working controller interface/scheme (so they could adjust that area at will) and especially since (as already pointed more than once in the past) we have the example of WoTR that uses a classical CRPG RTS-like control scheme if played with mouse and keyboard and THEN plays pretty much in the same way as DOS 1 and 2 (and so like BG3 most likely will, as well) when using a controller.
Which goes to prove the two solutions (a competent M&KB UI and a controller-friendly one) are in fact NOT mutually exclusive.
In fact, WOTR arguably plays even a bit better in some areas, since if nothing else it allows for formation control, while the Larian solution doesn't.
Plus, a little detail: you CAN'T use the exact same control method on console, anyway. The toilet chain isn't fit (poorly) for any other purpose than using a mouse, having to drag portraits around to unlink characters on a controller would get Larian people lynched on any console-centric internet board.
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On a totally CHAIN-UNRELATED side note, in the past I had complaints about the Playable Character over-acting any reaction as an alcoholic destitute street mime every time the camera lingered a single second on his face...
So I'm glad to see that Larian... Extended this behavior to the companions, too, for some reason.
