This argument is only true if the game provides a rich background for your main character, which BG1 & 2 had no lack of.
I specifically said bg1 since in the majority of bg1 your background is completely unknown. By the time your character discover its backstory you already have a party of faithful companions who follow you for no good reason other than you are the PC.
There is also no real need to explain why he is fighting goblins, or where is he going, or who his companions are. You could just make up your own reasons for killing goblins and make up your own destination, and make up your own names for your companions and make up your own character traits and motivations for them. And there is no need for them to build actual environmental assets. You can imagine your own tree over there, and your own rope bridge here, etc. If you are going to be supplying all the content anyway, save yourself some money and just sit and imagine playing a game.
In any storytelling medium, any character who does anything ever absolutely must be given some kind of motivation for doing so. The essential drive of a character to follow another character is not something that should be left to fan theories and headcanon.
Totally agree. If you think it's important it's important.
