Problem with DA-2 compared to BG-3 is that every companion in DA-2 follows you voluntarily ...
They had better(? ... well, certainly different) things to do, but instead they decided to follow you for some reason.
In BG-3 most characters dont want to go with you, but see no other option.
As I see it, none of the BG3 companions are forced to go with you. If Lae'zel wants to find a creche quickly, she can just go and search one for herself, Astarion can murder hsi way to Baldurs Gate to confront his master or whatever else he wants to do. Gale and Wyll both make it very clear, that they think of themselves as the gods gifts to humanity, so no need to follow some noob. Shadowheart might be the only one, who might gain by following you, given, that she has no memory. But she does seem mostly ok with it.
Basically, no one forces the companions to follow you and quite frankly, I always thought it hilarious, that they do so (yes story reasons blabla, but still).
And there is one character, that follows you volunteerily and he is refreshing drama free: Halsin. I already see him as teh big brother, my girl never had - it's kind of refreshing compared to the rest. So yeah, someone like Halsin as companion would be great. And I'm not talking romance here, but friendship.
Yeah:
Shadowheart's story is pretty stock, but I'm okay with that. She has drama, but it's in the expected range of drama for a fantasy character. Also, for all that she has main character drama for the people playing her as the main character, she's still reasonable in her attitudes on the boundaries of our relationship.
Astarion just comes off like a spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum. I know he has trauma as well, and I'm usually fine exploring a vampire storyline, but he makes me a bit tired.
Wyll is a drama queen, out and out, and he is very selfish. He's very much about doing the "right thing" but loses the track when his personal issues cloud the situation.
Gale is a bit casually condescending and also fairly selfish, and he's not as upfront about "there's things I have that are not your business"... and when you're less up front about your issues than the Sharite....
Laezel is a stock githyanki, which means we're her subordinates, she expects us to do what she tells us to do and she's perfectly willing to sacrifice us in the name of her goals. I'm willing to explore her story to see if there's something interesting beyond that... but if Alfira and Karlach are on the companion list she's likely going to not make the cut for my first run through.
I'm hoping they allow for expanding the party size so that you can get more versatile party builds, but I'm cynical about that. 4-person parties seems to getting more standard on RPGs and games like this. Which is a bit sad because a CRPG can much more easily handle a 6-person than a TT GM can.
