From the article:

More recently, Baldur's Gate kept the party going with a six-person team, though sadly lacking the mouse as an individually playable character.

Dude needs to give Boo more credit. I mean sure he wasn't playable, but how often do you come across a minature giant space hamster?

I'm on the fence about turn based play. Granted, I am no tactician (I had some awful times in BG2). I do however absolutely love Civilization (I celeberate the entire cataloge) which is turn based, but I didn't care for the combat in Escholon or ToEE (granted I didn't play far into either).

Maybe it can be done right in a modern RPG, I don't know. I still enjoy it when I crank up something like Ultima IV.

I think the fundamental problem is that most games are done graphics first, then a distant interface, story, etc. Bioware certainly puts far more effort into story than the other companies, but they are about it.