If that's their aim, then I accept that, but in that case, I don't think they're really getting that across very well. Personally, I feel like these characters wouldn't be coming together at all if the players didn't know this was a game and we needed a full party. I feel as though the characters have too much freedom for your idea of things to really work neatly. I find that for the "ragtag, conflict-filled group thrown together by circumstance" dynamic to really work, then they have to realy be pushed. But the situation as it stands allows everyone to go in their own way and pursue their own routes to a solution. But they don't, and they follow Tav because Tav is the protagonist.
Also, once they're in the party, we get plenty of opportunities to bond with them and get to know them more deeply, which goes against the idea that Larian doesn't want us to care when we're divided.
