It’s a matter of taste, isn’t it? I’ll admit that while I appreciated the additional depth of companion interactions in BG2 and love the game, I actually didn’t much like the vast majority of new companions it introduced and probably prefer any of the BG3 EA companions to any of the new companions introduced in BG2. Which isn’t to say that many of the latter didn’t have their moments, just that on balance, and judging on the basis of the partial info of EA, BG3 is averaging better to my mind.
And you may well be right that catering for a wide variety of tastes, as opposed to just happening to coincide with mine, is partly a numbers game - I certainly found more companions to like in BG1 than BG2 - and that expectations with respect to animation and voiceover are a barrier to modding. But in the same way that I’d not personally trade the improved companion interactions in BG2 for the wider variety of companions in BG1, I will happily accept further reduced choice in BG3 for yet more depth and complexity. And much as I like the BG1 companions I can admit that they’re mainly fairly one-dimensional and played for laughs, which isn’t what I’d have wanted in BG2, let alone BG3, and wouldn’t support the sort of character development I’d want to see these days. Of course, appetite for such a trade off is going to vary from player to player, but so far (and on the assumption that there will at least be some additional unannounced companions) Larian are hitting the mark pretty well for me.
I also wonder if they might bridge the gap with “mercenaries” to some extent. I think we’re still expecting this functionality. If such custom party members are wholly characterless then that probably won’t help much, beyond meaning folk don’t have to populate their parties with NPCs they actively dislike. But if they have at least rudimentary personalities, or such personalities can be modded in, then that might give an option for those who prefer more companions and are willing to trade depth for choice.
But apologies, that’s digressing from the topic of Lae’zel specifically, and probably retreading ground that’s been well-trampled elsewhere.
