Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Parties made from scratch!
 

"Also, we are hereby confirming custom companions. A great deal of love and care is going into the companions, who will join you on your quest to tame the Stolen Lands. However, some of you have asked for the possibility to create your own party from scratch. So we are giving you that possibility in the release version. While these custom companions won't come with their own stories or campfire banter, they will give you maximum control over how you want to specialize your group of adventurers."

Always good news from these peeps.

I'd rather if we were able to customize the companions you get from scratch.

As in Icewind Dale? At the expense of any banter and character specific quest lines. I prefer to create the lead character only but hey I'm adaptable.

Its a good option for those that want it.

The more options available, generally the fewer complaints you get. I'm ok with this, has it has value.

I wasn’t clear if it was the only option. No concerns with options

What I mean is, I want to use the game companions, but I hate it when I get a companion at level 5 and it's already set up (usually non-optimal). I'd rather if they presented the companion and let me build him/her up to my taste.

I never understand why people care so much about party banter. I’d rather have full party creation any day of the week, snd create my own story through the gameplay.

I like having the option a lot. I played through Pillars of Eternity twice, each time with two custom made characters. The first time because I wanted to try a chanter, but didn't like Kana. The second time because I wanted to play a party with a melee and a ranged rogue. I enjoyed having both some banter and some mechanical freedom.

I enjoyed playing Baldur's Gate in multi player so I could create my own party. I'm always down for creating everyone.

Por que no los dos?
Have story characters but let me 'level them up' as I want. It can be like free respec like in Divinity Original Sin 2, or just making them be level 1 with your exp so you can level them up to your point immediately after they join you.

Word.

The perfect system for me would be similar to Baldur's Gate 1. There is some banter and a few minor companion quests, but there are a large amount of characters to choose from, each with their own gameplay implications. I'd like even more companions, with some banter but allow banter between every character combination possible, and keep the focus on making each character have gameplay implications that let you build a unique party of your own and make your own story.

Each companion could get 1 basic quest, not some epic 15 quest arc with 150k words of dialogue. Because once you get into those large quests you have to cut every other companion in the game due to limited overall resources. Then you're left with 7 possible characters to choose from in a 6 person party. The game then lets you learn every detail of their lives, even though 75% of it is boring and ruins your chance to use your own imagination.

Still waiting for a modern Baldur's Gate or Suikoden that uses these ideas. Someone needs to counterbalance the "story >>> gameplay" RPGs.

I prefer my own party. I always find provided companions kind of annoying, both the usually inane banter and sub-par character building.

It might be interesting to allow you to create your own NPCs and then assign them a background which is then linked to their personal quest line, banter, voice etc. No biggie for me, again, I'm not into companions and usually ignore their personal quests.

I'm an Icewind Dale fan but I'll take a Baldur's party any day of the week because it enriches the story. Icewind was a great combat game but weak on story.

Yah, I think having both is ideal. I mean I don't mind companions, it's just not my preferred playstyle.

It's weird because you'd think having both wouldn't be very hard to do, but that's not always the case.

I prefer NPCs with their own story and history, it does really add extra layer of enjoyment for me.

I never really liked the silence of custom made NPCs.

I don't know. I wish I did but I don't.

It doesn't have to be one or the other though. I like banter, companion backgrounds and companion quests, but I'd rather have a larger selection of characters to choose from, rather than just 6 or 7 characters that are (overly) fleshed-out and you learn every minute detail about their existence.

I'd like an RPG dev to take those resources and spread them out on 15 or more possible companions, so you can be more creative with your party-building (and have more interesting and personal gameplay.) Then you can use your imagination a lot more, yet still have banter and personal story details for each character. You just won't have 150k lines of dialogue for each one.

I'd like to see more along the lines of Baldur's Gate 1. More quantity in choice of companions, less density per character.

I'm just happy there's something for both the Icewind Dale AND Baldur's Gate fans.