Every time there is a thread about companions, I get a load of deja vu. I do not believe (and correct me if I am wrong) that anyone on this forum is satisfied or has ever been satisfied with the number of companions and their corresponding quality/depth, or the direction datamining indicates Larian is going. 12 classes, 9 races, and 5 companions, with the only information that we have indicating it could go up to 8. That's not even enough to cover all the races, let alone the classes (which are the categories that define play-style and utility in this game). So... we fill it with custom companions who likely won't have any personality whatsoever? And the story companions we get are all crafted with protagonistization in mind, making them rather uninteresting (not to mention that two of them are the same race). I hate the DOS3 jokes, but this approach ain't Baldur's Gate at all. In fact, it is aggressively ANTI-Baldur's Gate.
The right number of companions is AT LEAST between 9 and 12, with at least an attempt to cover all but one race, or all but two classes. I've seen an idea floating around that some companions might be able to have their class changed upon recruitment. I hate this idea with a passion. It is immersion-breaking and lazy to its core. Are we to accept that Gale, whose entire plot and characterization is built upon being a wizard, can easily switch to a Sorcerer or Cleric of Mystra? Is Lae'zel also a Barbarian? Karlach and Shadowheart Paladins? It's lazy! Wyll's entire Act 1 story up to this point deals with his Fiend Patron... what else is he supposed to be, if not Warlock? Make Astarion a druid while you're at it!
I also hate, and this is a passionate hate, that all companions in this game must be origin characters because... reasons. The Origin System seems to have a pigeonhole effect on character-writing, keeping deep motivations and morals of characters just vague enough so that they can conceivably be the hero or villain of the story, while casting "Characters" as a race or class, and only as that race or class, just in case someone wants to play AS them. There's the multiplayer argument, but I'd be fine playing a multiplayer game where we recruit someone that we cannot play as a PC. Also, I don't buy for one second that we have only been given a "small subset of companions." That sounds like a Cover-Your-Ass if I've ever heard one.
I don't understand why they would shoot the property in the foot like this.
