Rufusstan

I have to agree with the OP here. The trick as usual is to get the balance right. Like a few people have already said, new shinies are fun so you want your gear to matter, but it shouldn't be all-important. If you take the inspiration from the old-school PnP RPGs, all pitch the importance of gear differently, but all come within a band that I'd be happy with. Providing you avoid the MMO trap of dear dependency it should work out ok

Its too early to say for sure. I enjoyed both approaches when the game imposed it on me -- Loved building my own party in IWD for example, but equally have recently restarted a Balder's Gate play through and couldn't imagine not having Minsc around. In the end I'll probably use the preset companions for the first run through, and what happens on that game would determine what I did next