First, the obligatory warning to remember your spoiler tags when mentioning specific plot points, folks.
Second, still too early to tell who my favourite companion is. My three faves in EA were Gale, Astarion and Shadowheart, but of these I've only had Shadowheart in my party regularly in my playthrough. Even mainly staying at camp when I'm not progressing their own quests, Gale and especially Astarion have impressed me and I'm looking forward to actually having them in my inner circle. It might just have been the choices I made, Shadowheart wasn't quite as spiky and slyly funny as I'd expected from EA so is probably going to slip down the ranks.
Wyll was my least favourite in EA, mainly because of what I saw as his really unfocussed background, overcomplicated characterisation and janky animations. Certainly these have been sorted out, but now I just think he's kinda humourless and and a bit boringly heroic. Not sure if this was partly due to Larian trying to have more straightforwardly good characters in response to player feedback, but I could have done with a bit more grey and some more funny lines. I've had him in my party for the full game and my character is romancing him, so I feel like I've given him a fair chance, and he's definitely out of the running for my favourite.
Karlach is fab, and i've enjoyed having her in my gang for most of the game.
I've not had Jaheira, Minsc, Halsin or Lae'zel in my party much either, and though they've been in camp neither Lae'zel nor Halsin have made a big impression. That'll need to wait until I have them in my party more in a future run. But even though I only really brought her along for the hunt for Minsc, It's pretty clear Jaheira has been done justice by Larian and I think she's great. And I've enjoyed getting Minsc's impressions on our party and perspective back at camp, so looking positive there too.
Minthara I have no idea about. I only went along with her once in EA so don't really feel like I know her - or particularly want to - but I'll see what I think on a future playthrough once I've actually recruited her.
