I agree with the main companions aside from Pallegina. I'm finding as Herald actually makes her useful, as she can just be chanting the whole time, giving buffs and heals, summoning stuff while she swings her big sword. Don't miss the paladin high level abilities in the slightest.
The sidekicks have been fun to multi, Rekke and Mirke are ridiculously powerful (think Rekke's particular ability synergy will be removed at some point so get it while it's hot)
Haven't played with Ydwin as my main is a Mindstalker (also ridiculous) and Konstanten came a bit late to the game.
I made Fassina an entirely summoning based caster (summoned weapons included) and it's cool seeing her flood the battlefield with beasties