I would have rather for them to let the player pick one of the origins as a back ground for your created character, instead of having the player pick one of these premade characters to playthrough the origin.
Well, so far we dont know what will be set in stone about origin characters ...
Maybe we will be able to make Gale as a Gnome for example.
Also ...
Im still quite convinced that Origin companions will work as our Guide to Act II.
My prediction is that in finale of Act I. we will somehow (seemingly) resolve our tadpole problem ...
Then our party will no longer have any reason to stick together ... therefore they all would lead their own way ... but our character would need to pick one of them (aka commitment, Larian mentioned in FAQ) to follow in their personal quest on the way to Baldur's Gate ... and all other followers will either never be seen again (wich would be huge waste) OR in style of Ironbull from Dragon Age: Inquisition they return later, potentialy not as friendly as we would expect.
