Oh I agree,
if there are other options available to take with you. It shouldn't be a choice of playing Lone Wolf style
or deal with a party of bickering, is my point, but if there are a few "less savory" options to take with you that aren't also the
only options to take with you, I'm fine with that.
![smile smile](/images/graemlins/default_dark/smile.gif)
This is it exactly. Nobody would complain about these companions if we had a very wide range of companion options available, both in number and in range of personality. Yes I know they are supposed to add a few more eventually, but even keeping that in mind I can't see myself coming up with enough companions I like to fill out my preferred party, which is a party of companions that are both good-aligned and likeable.
OP, very nice write-ups, but I strongly disagree with just about everything you claim. None of these five companions are well written, imo, and I would not want any of them in my party.
@Bossk_Hogg, Durance was easily my most hated companion in PoE. Everything you liked about him are precisely the things I hated and do not see as some sort of virtue in an RPG companion that makes them "interesting."
Oh, and just to be clear, playing the game with empty-suit mercenaries is absolutely out of the question.