I've not progressed very far and have been playing a few characters through to just before entering Drezen but I have to agree that the companions are disappointing. I actually grew to like the companions in KM, to varying degrees, but importantly I was happy with the parties you could form with them and I don't find that here.

The paladin so far is fine for a companion but the personality is not great. Overly naïve to a ridiculous point in this demon infested hellscape and just not serious enough for my personal tastes. Makes me miss Valerie and I am shocked to write that. This carries over to some others in the same way. Lann has been doing solid work but unfortunately is an abomination that must be cleansed down the line and Ekundayo was just better, personality wise especially. Ember can do well for you but I'm now carting round a little girl and it just doesn't work for me and makes me wish for Octavia's personality/character style. Also, I'll pay full dlc money to get my man Regongar as an option.

Sure, not everything needs to suit all people but it would be nice if there could be a way to improve the playthrough for those of us who end up using mercenaries and losing a decent chunk of content or at least dialogue.

The game itself is great and I am enjoying it a lot but the companions have definitely been mostly a downside. Did the Hellknight with a good personality really have to be a bloody gnome?

Similar to Kingmaker (and I guess Pillars of Eternity) you talk to a person to recruit them. Their blank slates with a 25 point buy.

You are not forced to recruit custom party members (or call them mercenaries), but (like the aforementioned games) you cannot have a full part right out of the gate; you need to finish the prologue with a few vanilla party members (though I guess you could ditch them but I have not tried doing so).

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The vanilla companions in this game (naturally) have a different set of personalities compared to Kingmaker. The way they are is somewhat understandable in a story that is basically paladins versus evil which is as cliche as it gets.
The point is add enough variation and some subverion to the cliche to spice up the story, keep it interesting.

Won't go too much into spoiler territory, but it won't be a story of just good versus evil but also evil versus evil, which is still in line with pathfinder (and general dungeons and dragons if you know about things such as the Bloodwar) lore.

But yeah, its still (somewhat) good versus evil. Even if there are 50 shades of grey; all of them are still grey. But that's the case for virtually all (fantasy) rpg's.

Also, at least the gnome is a hellknight and not some wizard or alchemist. Hmm, time to roll a gnome two-handed specialist fighter.

I'll add my own thoughts to this as well. Yeah, the memey-ness of most of the companions is a bit off-putting. some people like it, i dont. I) liked the cast from kingmaker far more to be sure. If they add dlc companions i hope they will be of the more serious kind. And while i am playing as a warrior type now, the early game team (where you most need the warriors) is sorely lacking. i know some people who frankly will uninstall unless their mc is a wizard, so think of those people. Also, i would request that every time a companion is introduced we will get a few options on how to build them, with a few different archetypes or build paths, preferrably from level 1. the game is pretty hard after all.

The tiefling rouge that you can recruit in the Defenders Heart basement has both sneak attack and 0-6 spell-casting because of his archetype. Many cases of class combinations can be filled out with an archetype.

From a gameplay perspective maybe. From an RP perspective I like to stay at least two loading screens away from her, and even from that distance I still feel like I have to keep one eye open when sleeping.

I maybe think I wasn't all that clear in what I was trying to articulate. The tiefling rogue you can recruit can do that *because* the designers gave the NPC that archetype. What if I want that NPC to *not* have the ability to cast spells but want a thuggish rogue who beats people with bare hands? Or a 2nd-story halfling burglar? I shouldn't have to make mercenaries to achieve that when companions should be able to be fully customized. Want to say "this companion is a male tiefling rogue?" Fine, but let me pick the archetype, let me level them up from 1st level, let me pick the feats...

hey Camelia, what do you think about this?

"I am useful, am I not?"

of course -_- ....

sorry I had to do it :D

Reminds me of Tommy in NeverWinter Nights...every time I hear it...;)

lol. Camelia is a real nut case, I don't know how I still can be lawful good when I let her get away with it.

Sorry, I have seamed to miss the part where you wanted more control as to how your npc companions were put together. :( But the mercenaries do work, as long as you do not mind the absence of chatter, or the coins it takes. Which seems to be a complaint that you need to resort to that.

Edit: Just read a post saying that there are mods that let you do a full re-spec like you are wishing for. While it may not be available as standard it is still available.