This whole linking up characters bit is very much a huge step backwards.
How is that significantly different than drawing a selection box around characters that you want to group together, etc?
In the IE games you can look at your chars all the time. To select chars you just have to click a char or hold the mouse button to select an area.
In D:OS you have to change the order and links between characters all the time.
Example: You have 4 chars ABCD standing
AB
CD
and you want the left chars to go left and the right chars to go right. All of them are one group.
BG2: Hold the mouse button to select the left chars, click left. Hold the mouse button to select the right chars, click right. done.
D:OS2: Move the porttraits of 3 chars away from another so all 4 chars are separated. Move the portrait of character A and C together to link them. Move the portraits of character B and D together to link them. Click on character A or C and click left. Click on character B or D and click right. done.
You can play BG2 without dragging around character portraits all the time.
Multi player can also be done with BG2 controls. When starting a game you just have to select who controls wich character. BG1+2 had multiplayer and so far I have seen no complains that players had problems to select and control their chars.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Mad S. Tist 
