CynicalThought

Exactly this. I don't know how many times I've went into stealth mode with my rogue in order to scout ahead or disarm a trap and been forced to watch as my entire party goes into stealth with him. It's ridiculous seeing a paladin, priest and a fighter all in plate mail crouching low and somehow walking around "stealthily" while simultaneously encased in pounds of metal. It makes mores sense from a role playing perspective to have the party wait in a safe area while the thief/rogue does the sneaking. I mean think about it - none of the dwarves followed Bilbo into Smaug's lair because he was the burglar.

I'm also experiencing this issue. I created a companion today and was pretty sure I selected "stoic" for his voice, but haven't heard a peep out of him.

I created a forum account specifically to add my name to the list of people requesting this feature. As mentioned, in previous IE games the default movement animation for your sprite was a normal walk so it didn't seem out of place in an inn or similar indoor area where "jogging" everywhere is silly and immersion breaking. I never even used the "boots of speed" in BG/BG2 outside of combat. The issue in PoE is that changing the speed via "Fast" or "Slow" mode doesn't modify the animation. We know a walking animation does exist in in-game cut-scenes so it seems to me like implementing a "toggle" wouldn't be a very difficult thing to do from a developer standpoint. And in the event that anyone from Obsidian reads these things, I'd also like to add that being able to go into stealth mode with an individual character as opposed to as a group would be nice. My Old Vailian aristocrat wizard doesn't skulk in the shadows or scout ahead, he has his minions - err, party members do that for him.