You guys found the companions of other games better? I mean, could you stand Viconia or Jaheira, or Aerie? Keldorn or Anomen? Edwin, besides comic relief? If your only experience with them was in a starting portion of the game, i would probably have ditched them altogether, but during the game, their characters blossom, and you can actually bond with quite a few of them. Don't get me started on the EE new characters, who were beyond horrible.
Also, evil characters would leave if you did good deeds and reached 18+ reputation, and the opposite for good characters. So it's not new to Baldur's Gate to have NPCs being against something. Keldorn could even try to kill Viconia if you didn't intervene, and there were other occasions where characters would not get along. You could also reach high reputation pretty early, if you were a good character and went after it.
We also have no idea how the EA area will be implemented in the official release of the game, so i don't really get why people are so concerned about the NPCs. Let's see how they are after we actually play with them, when they are fully fleshed out. Some people are already convinced that the writing is bad. They seem to forget how the writing was in other popular games.
P.S. I think to this day, the most annoying character i have ever met in a game has to be Morrigan.
P.S. Dragon Age Origins. To unlock the reaver specialization, you had to desecrate the ashes of Andraste. If Wynne was with you, she would turn and attack you. If you did it while she wasn't there, she didn't even care.
I agree about Morrigan - horrible character, but great voice actress with the talented Claudia Black. Anomen was even worse, he might be my most disliked companion ever ( yes, even worse than Astarion).
Not hardened Leliana will attack you too, since f you desecrate the ashes btw.
