The companions are great in both games. Minmaxers sucking is messing everyone up, just like Owlcat intended. That's the sadistic part. The writing is subtle enough for many to miss and banal and prolix enough for many to tire of.
Well, I mean personality wise Kingmaker's companions were largely ok, I didn't actively dislike anybody except Reg and Octavia and was bummed out when I found out that I couldn't bang Amiri. For a game that advertised itself as character focussed, they were far too weak.
Owlcat doesn’t have great writing generally speaking, thought jubilost and nok-nok were really great though
Calling them great is a stretch I would say. Nok-Nok was surprisingly bearable for a comedy relief character and Jubilost was a bit one-note for me. Though I absolutely love his one near death quote: "I'M BEING KILLED OVA HERE!". That made me lol.
I only really liked Tristian, because his twist did actually surprise me and his character ties into the main story. His voice actor also surprised me with his incredible screeching, after exclusively doing the anime supporting character voice before that point.