I like companions in cRPGs. Of course in many games they are uninteresting or stupid (like in NWN2 or new SJW-infested games ala DA:I), but it’s not the point: you could scamp everything.
My favorite “living” companions are in BG2 and Drakensang games. One of the greatest aspects of PnP RPGs are interactions with your friends and those games simulate it pretty well. Companions with their own quest, opinions, dialogues make an impression that the game is not totally player-centric. Good DM always designs adventures around players personal stories, families, motives. Companions quests are a quite good adaptation of this approach.
BG2 companions are especially similar to your friends trying to role-play their characters. You do not need to like everyone – as you probably do not equally like everyone from your co-players in PnP session. Conflicts in an adventure party is part of fun. The only thing I do not like in BG2 is that some banters show up in very impropriate moments (ex. just after hard battle when you are thinking more about healing, curing status effects and gathering loot than chitchatting) – but it is a minor problem.
I’m replaying now BG series. My current party: Minsc, Jaheira, Valygar, Jan Jansen, Xan (NPC from mod). It’s so cool group, Valygar is the only one I do not like (I’m keeping him only because I need a scout/backstabber). Minsc is a straightforward and exaggerated character, but quite funny and friendly (he is someone like a nice new player in your group, who is still learning how to role-play). Jaheira is just so great companion – with interesting story and good, long personal quest; she is an equivalent of very experienced player. Rest of them are somewhere in between. Xan from the mod is also a good character.
In BG2 all characters are unique, but still very classic. None of them is just strange only for being strange. I really do not like freakshows from some games: for example in Swordflight 2 (NWN1 module) we have just terrible companions: LG gnoll cleric of Tyr… CE assimar rogue/black guard… what a shit design (as whole this overhyped module).
Progenerated companions have also one more advantage (I have elaborated about it somewhere on this forum): they force you to play with un-optimal party. You are discarding some strong character because his alignment do not fit your group, you are hiring someone else only because you like him even if his skills are not essential. It is much more interesting from tactical point of view than a typical super-duper-optimal party from IWD.
In fact I do not like creating of whole parties in cRPGs. In this way you receive a boring group of battle puppets which change all experience from RPG into a simple tactical challenge. I like tactic in games, but only as a one of many elements. And trying to squeeze the best results out of poor classes is also much more interesting than leading a party of bests-of-the-bests. Thought BG1 I have played with Garrick because (with BG1 NPC mod) I like this character very much. An he was not nearly as “useless” as everyone in the Internet claim. In fact he was quite good supportive character, even despite poor stats.