Contrast that to BG2. First NPCs we get are :
Jaheira (good), Minsc(good), Korgan(evil) : pretty great.
Viconia(evil), Yoshimo(?good?)), Edwin(evil) : pretty good.
Jan Jansen(good), Imoen(good) : love them or hate them
Nalia(good), Anomen(good) : meeeeh.
Aerie(good): bad.
I pretty much agree with your assessment of the earlier BG2 companions, though there’s not a lot of story for Minsc so I’d put him in “pretty good” rather than great, and while Aerie is in a category of bad of her own for me, I find Anomen and particularly Nalia fairly awful too. It means that nearly half of them are, in my opinion, bad, meh, or irritating if occasionally endearing, and for me the balance doesn’t shift significantly with the introduction of the further original game companions - if anything it moves towards more meh. Sarevok is my only other great, and of course we don’t get him until ToB. I’m ignoring the EE companions who I do think raised the overall score, as they were added years later. Certainly in original BG2 I’d struggle to fill a party of six of either a good or evil bent with only companions I like.
BG3 is batting a much better average to my tastes, as I’d certainly happily include any EA companion in my party even though I enjoy some more than others.
Of course responses to companions can be very subjective, and while your suggestion of just having lots of them and hoping enough stick for everyone to find a few they like can work for some games, I’m personally glad BG3 isn’t taking that tack as I’d rather have fewer, more complex and deeper characters, even if I didn’t like some or even most of them, than a ton of shallower ones. Just as I preferred the BG2 approach over that of BG1 despite having more affection for my favourite BG1 companions, liking more of them on average, and not being a great fan of most of our BG2 gang. In a party cRPG I would prioritise depth and complexity of interaction with party members over actually liking them every time, particularly one like BG3 which I desperately hope will give a proper adventuring group feel even in single player (of which there are glimmerings in EA even though there’s a lot of work needed for it to live up to its full potential).
Though I guess if folk respond to all of the BG3 companions as I do to Aerie, that would be unbearable! They have my sympathy.
