Well, you are pointing to the elephant in the room, for me at least. To me it's very simple; in terms of this being a fantasy game set in a DnD scenario, they are just not very engaging and do often not add to the immersion, often they feel misplaced, most of them feel like they belong in another type of game or would just be more suited as NPC's.
Btw: the "approves" / "disapproves" is connected to the characters backgrounds [edit: there might be more to it with the companions actually, than just the standard background reactions - probably also some individual reactions on top of the background ones], just like your main character can actually approve and dissaprove of stuff you do (even though you ARE that character and might not agree with your own character (this is where it gets a bit schizophrenic)). You can get a very good analysis of the backgrounds here, but a fair warning; it is filled with spoilers regarding EA content:
https://www.pcgamesn.com/baldurs-gate-3/backgroundsLet me try to walk through them in terms of how I see their litterary and narrative quality. This will be a little hard to do without making spoilers, but I will try.
Lae'zel: Lae'zel is a militaristic character, with the "soldier" background and of the Githyanki race. As such she fits the role perfectly, she is one-track minded, desperately trying to save her planet from the mindflayers and not caring too much about anything or anyone else. But she is also utterly boring and completely unengaging - I find her dull and without individual character, you could more or less just describe the Githyanki race, and you would have a perfect description of Lae'zel. And this is how the Githyanki society is, so what can you do? She fits the bill, but the bill is boring as hell. To me she would be more suited to be an NPC you encountered and not a companion. As such I would give her 0/5 as a companion, but 4/5 as a stereotypical NPC Githyanki.
Gale: Gale is like that dude you knew in college, that kind of annoying know-it-all type ("sage" background), but all in all a kind and open dude - probably smoked some weed. He studied history and later on he became a custodian in the museum down town. Nice enough fellow. Married, with 2 kids. But in the game they tell us that he is supposed to be this great big wizard prodigy, but it is just so extremely hard to buy that story, to me he's Gale from College. Sure Gale has a secret that will blow you away (literaly), but that doesn't change his character as such. Compared to other great wizards of fantasy settings Gale is by far the most unengaging and un-wizardly I have ever seen. They could have made this quirky Forest Gnome character with a long green beard and a speech impediment that would ramble on for hours about all sorts of arcane stuff. They could have made someone like Durance, from Pillars of Eternity, a completely crazy dude that looked and acted the part of a wizard prodigy (he was actually a cleric, but that's beside the point). But no... no.... Larian made Gale. Gale from College. 2 kids. Works at the museum. Gale as a companion: 0/5. Gale as a custodian in a museum in Baldur's Gate (the city) 3/5. Gale as a custodian in Boston: 5/5.
Astarion: Astarion is funny. He really is. The "noble" background makes him a snob, but in a funny way. That makes him likeable and annoying at the same time. He is a wellwritten character, the writing on him is better than Lae'zel and Gale at least. But is he an interesting companion? Wouldn't he be a FAR more interesting adversary? Yes, yes he would, he would be the PERFECT bad guy, someone with a history and a meaning to why he became the bad guy, perhaps a perfect fit for the Dark Urge. I would love to square off against him in a boss fight and then of course spare his life in the last moment and see him redeem himself. Astarion is someone that, if you knew what he was, you would never fucking ever have staying in your camp, if it wasn't a game and the worst that could happen was that you had to reload. Astarion as a companion: 0/5. Astarion as an adversery (with a twist) 5/5.
Wyll: I liked Wyll's story, the guy who wanted to be a hero so bad that he made a deal with a devil (background "folk hero"). That's a great story. It is also quite possible more or less the story of all Warlocks, except the half of them that made a deal with a devil to do evil instead of good (probably background "criminal"), but that is more or less the same story with a different context. So the story is great, but it is also completely the run-of-the-mill story for the warlock class as such, so, as with Lae'zel, Wyll's story is not really individual, and there is not really a lot of character depth to it. To be fair, they have since changed Wyll's story completely, even hired a new voice actor, so I don't know how it's going to be in full game, but I guess there is still going to be the part with the deal with a devil. Wyll as a companion 2/5.
Shadowheart: The more I think about Shadowheart, the more confused I get. Let's start with her background; "Urchin", which is related to a rough childhood. Dictionary says: "a mischievous and often poor and raggedly clothed youngster (street urchins)". Shadowheart had a though and rough childhood, her heart became dark, she began cutting herself and dyed her hair black and started listening to the Cure and Goth music. She cried in the darkness but no one listened. Then she found Shar, the Goddess of Darkness, Shar listened. And all of a sudden the poor girl found herself on a dark path doing the bidding of an evil Goddess. Shadowhearts story appeals to me. It is a pretty good story, for an adventure game made by DON'T NOD (Life is Strange etc.) - but for DnD? I don't know... It feels like she is a character from another game forced into the DnD universe, not a bad character, but just somehow not a DnD character. She almost has too much depth, definitely compared to the 4 others. Imagine her and Minsc having a conversation. It just seems she is from a completely other world than him, somehow forced into the wrong game. I like Shadowheart, but I don't know if I like her for BG3. Shadowheart as a companion: 1/5. Shadowheart as a character in the next DON'T NOD game: 4/5.
Karlach: To be fair, we don't know very much about Karlach. Yet, I feel somehow that I know enough already. I know enough to know, that I don't need to know more. We don't know her background yet, but it doesn't matter. We know that Karlach is bad-ass, that she is on fire! Literaly. She escaped from Hell, she is a Tiefling, and she has one twisted horn and she is Heavy Metal incarnate. Wow! She is gonna kick some ass, right!? Wrong. She is going to date you. Yes. You will be taking her out to a restaurant in Baldur's Gate as shown in PFH, in a cringeworthy scene that looked like something taken out of the Sims 4 (if they had Tieflings in Sims 4). Matching the Karlach we saw in that scene with the Karlach mentioned above leads us to a mindsplitting cognitive dissonance. The illusion of her character has broken apart even before she has been fully introduced to us in game. Karlach as a companion: 0/5. Karlach as a quirky funny devilish character in the Sims 4: 4/5.
Halsin: Halsin is the only character so far that I can actually see in my party. He is a wood elf druid, we don't know his background. He is wise and powerful and might have a unique wild shape. He fit's the DnD scenario, he looks cool, he feels cool, he is the "good" hero you can trust. Apparently. Does he have a dark secret? Of course he does, this is Larian. We just don't know it yet. He probably made a pact with a God or a devil. I mean: they all did, so why not Halsin? Halsin as a companion: 5/5. (Yes, that's right, we don't mention the bear sex scene at all, that shit didn't happen, not in my playthrough!)
Minthara: As I played "Good" in EA, I only ever got to kill Minthara, so I don't know too much about how she would be as a companion. But she definitely seems to fit the DnD scenario and she seems to have a pretty nuanced personality. Minthara as an adversary: 5/5.
Jaheira & Minsc: We know both of them from BG1 and 2, and people liked them in those games, so they seem like Larian's "safe bets". Unless Larian changed them a lot, sure, they would make good solid companions with reasonably good backstories and definitely fitting the DnD bill. Jaheira & Minsc as companions: 5/5.
So yeah, like you I don't feel a great URGE to play with most of the companions we have seen so far. But later on in the game I hope for more interesting ones. I find it a shame that they have spent so much energy on characters that I find so utterly unengaging, but that's just my opinion, a lot of people seem to disagree, and that is part of what is going to make BG3 a great game, that we can all find something that appeals to us (hopefully).
