Evil characters first but you can *turn* them good!
The bruised women in Family Courts can testify to the ease of such "I can change him" endeavours.
Hmm, setting aside the slightly questionable taste of that joke(?), I don't think that's what should be happening in well-written RPGs where companions can develop in different ways. The characters I tend to enjoy tend to have a mix of traits and motivations that pull them in different directions and could potentially lead them on balance to become more good, evil, chaotic or lawful depending on the events of the story and choices of the player, though they still have contradictions and complexities. Admittedly this can be done clunkily (Viconia's potential conversion to neutral if romanced in BG2, for example, does feel an unconvincing "love can change her" narrative to me), but done right it could add hugely to the replayability of a game as we get to see how our companions can become slightly different in different possible worlds, and also give more bang for development buck as companions can fit into multiple different parties. There's nothing wrong, and perhaps it makes it more realistic, if there are also companions who are unapologetically and unchangeably themselves, but my preference is that most have potential to have different stories. As people do.
