I even wouldn't be totally opposed to a slightly unrealistic system where every one in the roster was 'present' for dialogues and banter, but only a few were 'on deck' for combat.
This is how Tower of Time did it, and it worked really well IMO.
I don't particularly like this approach. I never understood why you would journey together and NOT fight together.
Big mama boss spider. You COULD have 6 people fighting together to kill it but for no reason you just fight her with 4... So that it's more of a challenge? If you COULD have 6 fighting tough enemies, why wouldn't you? It just bugs me in video games. I don't mind if there's a logical story reason, but when there is no legit logical reasoning, it bugs me.
That's why party of 4 in BG3 bugs me. The whole, "You're full up" with only 4 people makes no sense. None. It might make sense for a stealth mission into the goblin base, but if I'm wandering a hostile countryside, the more party members, the wiser you are. And especially if you know you're going up against a serious for, like a Gith patrol, why would you NOT bring everyone?
I just think it should be left up to the player to decide. The game should not limit you for no good reason.
Now, if they gave us a reason, like you need to leave people at camp to guard it or random encounters might occur and you might lose food and resources, that makes more sense. But again, that should be a player decision, not the game forcing you.
