I don't think I'm alone in saying that a party made up of mercanaries can't compare to having fully fleshed out companions that you can interact with and who have their own stories. I've talked to a friend who knows the system better than I ever will and she reassured me that things are flexible enough that even with such a small party we wouldn't be completely screwed out of being viable by accident so long as encounters and such are well designed to accomodate the possibilities. I'm choosing to accept that reassurance, but I do hope that if we end up with a non-viable party composition by accident, swapping out for mercenaries and missing out on our companions stories isn't the only option to fix that.
