I don't like any of the companions or their romance options for two major reasons.
The first reason is that all of the companions felt to me that we where treading the same ground and rehashing the same tropes from Larians previous games. The old its not plagiarism if I word it differently meme. This is more predominant with some companions(I'm looking at you shadowheart) than others. It even feels like some Dragon Age was sprinkled in here and there and I'm genuinely disheartened that they didn't set out to write characters after making a list of common game companion tropes and removing them from the pool of ideas. There was no reason for them not to push forward in this department when they have dedicated writers and there are some notable figureheads in the modern high fantasy literature department that would have been abundantly happy to offer advise and expertise pro bono had they asked for it.
The second reason is that the companions are... off. I understand they are all being written so that they can be main characters but this not only makes them all feel inauthentic and artificial but also detracts from my experience with my own character just like it did in DivOS2. My MC feels lesser, like he is a side character and just along for the ride. I was not a fan of this mechanic in DivOS2 but it didn't bother me so much on account of it being Larians IP but this time it isn't and I don't feel it should have made a comeback. I am hesitant to actually dole out criticism for them individually as my reading on these forums so far has given me the impression that it will be met with hostility rather than earnest debate but when it comes to the romances I feel as though they are unnecessary and when coupled with sex scenes very tasteless.
I feel exactly the opposite, companions being build like this makes them more realistic, everyone is the MC of their on lives, companions in most games are build as Just followers, here they are build as actual independent characters ready to Go their own way If need be. That doesn't make you MC Lesser, just more equal, which is exactly the feeling an adventurer should have on a DnD party. And I'd argue that saying companions are like those on DOS is very much a stretch, for instance this post was started because someone was frustrantes because they didn't have a companion like those on DOS. And I also don't see that many similarities without doing that thing where you put so little datail in a description that any character ever fits it
