I'm a week into playing now and I've got to say I really don't understand why they didn't make hirelings customizable from the start - there's literally NOTHING to them.
Like their spatter of a backstory and their dialogue has absolutely no relevance. I would reroll my party with all hirelings if I could, but alas, I hate the design of all but 2 of them.
As for the significance of Companions and their relation to the story - I plenty enjoyed the hunt for Haslin... and the reveal and cheeky request of Astarion... and Gale begging for my magical resources and his explosive task.. Annnd the price Wyll had to pay for breaking his contract... and yet I still don't use them in my party. As for Lazael and Shadowheart, who are in my party based on their character designs alone... if anything, its kinda tiresome how blindly Lazael follows Vlaakith and Shadowheart follows Shar.
All in all, its not grabbing me as much as full custom parties would be.
