The point of having companions of different races is to get a different insight into another culture. Especially if players only play human and elves
Honestly, even IF someone plays other races, companions are still important for diving into other cultures.
What with the whole schtick of having blank slate player characters that have no background and only generic dialogue options.
Like even if they do include every race as playable and someone actually does play those races... They will still be heavily reliant on a companion of said race to actually learn about its culture and the minutiae about life as one of those races. Thanks to Larian's heavy focus on blank slates and lack of proper Origins.
This is the reason I personally advocate for actual Origins. So that people who pick a race can experience the game through the unique lens of that race, with a proper background and unique prologue whereby the character is living in the culture of their race before events cause them to get sucked into the Act 1 main story (But will still have lasting alterations in NPC interactions based on their unique background).
As such a thing will bring more insight into the race, its culture and overall place in the world than if you can just randomly pick some exotic race and you just play the same blank slate game as if you were just a cardboard cutout...
