Answering in general but also tagging
@BelgarathMTH because my post refers to NPCs and alignment.
First of all, let me talk about the recruitable companions:
"Noble by birth, Wyll made his name as the heroic 'Blade of Frontiers'. He keeps his pact with a devil well-hidden, and is desperate to escape the hellish bargain - even if that means rescuing the seductive creature that made the deal."
I don't want to spoil anything for people who haven't looked into Early Access footage or played it, but Wyll didn't make this pact out of greed for everlasting riches, beauty or long life.
He's just a person who made a hard choice for a reason very important to him, and it doesn't seem that he was fully aware of what he got into.
Does the past matter? I think we all have done things we regret at some point. What matters are the lessons we learn from that, if we own up to our mistakes, try to correct them, and what kind of choices we make here and now.
So I'd prefer to judge people by how they behave.
As my favourite Turian once said "I'm all for second chances. Not so sure about third ones."
"One of Shar's dark disciples, Shadowheart was sent on a suicide mission to steal an item of great power. While wrestling with her faith and strange, untamed magic, Shadowheart has enemies on all sides - and a long-buried secret to uncover."
Yes, I know, Shar. But "wrestling with her faith" can mean anything, and there are those hints leading to discussions among fans about Selune.
I also know D&D rules, especially 2E, were very rigid about alignment, but we've had countless discussions about that in several places and mostly agree it's not realistic. This is not a chess board, it's a video game with interactions and real people, and real people are complex and contradictory, and especially capable of growth and change.
I remember how some people felt about the companions in D:OS2, like Lohse with the demon possessing her (although she didn't invite him in), Fane as an undead, Red Prince as a lizard, Sebille as an assassin and besides that thing that elves eat flesh, etc.
I played as Lohse, and she's a wonderful character. She could have committed "heroic" suicide, too. Instead she went out to try to save herself and others, to face her fears and her demons and to counter the cold of the Void and the cruelty of the magisters with her music and her humour.
Fane, the undead. He's not a lich, he's a scholar, a scientist. He has some skeletons in his closet (bad pun fully intended), but it's more of a tragedy than an "evil" choice in his path, he makes choices along the way, and your talks with him and relationship with him (if you don't play as him, obviously) can influence the direction of those choices. Once getting to know him a bit better, his comments were always thoughtful and compassionate, and in several situations he was more inclined towards showing mercy than Ifan, for example.
To say it with Fane's own words: "Fear of the unknown, fear of change: These are the things that poison civilizations."
What am I trying to say with this? I have full confidence that the writers at Larian can give characters a complex background story without a future set in stone. Change, growth, evolution, people who feel like "real" people with real personalities, who have their own motives, who don't either obey the protagonist or get killed, I vastly prefer that over a full party with 5 Ajantis Ilvastarr clones.
Personal preference plays a role of course, but to have a full cast of complex, interesting companions that cover every possible class or team roll in every possible variation of gender and alignment was simply never realistic. Not in a game that has voice actors, 3D graphics, cutscenes and more than 2 lines of banter for every character.
But even in older, isometric games, there are complex characters who don't fulfill the stereotypes of their heritage.
@BelgarathMTH have you played Planescape: Torment? I haven't finished it yet, but there's a recruitable companion, Fall-From-Grace, the owner of the Brothel for Slaking Intellectual Lusts (and doesn't that name deserve a prize already? If I ever open a tavern IRL, I think I'll give it that name). She's a succubus by heritage, but her alignment is Lawful Neutral and her behaviour definitely skewing more towards good. You'd miss out on all of that if you just wrote her off by thinking succubus=evil.
Interestingly, she belongs to the Society of Sensation, whose motto contains the sentence
"Know the universe by experiencing it fully."
(also that the multiverse doesn't exist beyond what can be sensed, but that's not the point here)
And of course there's the most famous question from that game:
"What can change the nature of a man?"
(Oh and I just remember there was a very touching side quest with a love story about a succubus and her lover in D:OS2. But I kissed her so maybe I just think she was kind because I'm her thrall now)
I'm not telling other people how to play their games of course. I have done fully roleplayed paladin runs too, in the Baldur's Gate series and in Neverwinter Nights, and it was quite the challenge leading to some unusual approaches, decisions and extra difficulties in unexpected places. It was also very satisfying in its own way, to say I got through without the "tricks" and all. And yet, even there the balance between "lawful" and "good" always led to complications and interesting discussions about ethics.
What makes a good protagonist a good person? Surrounding themselves with perfect people only? Opting out of the situation (the tadpole, the less-than-perfect company you find yourself in) through suicide, or making the best of a difficult situation, trying to work with what you have, save who you can and find a way to protect the rest of the world from being taken over by the mindflayers?
Would a good person rather fail at their task than cooperate with someone they wouldn't be friends with if they met in the town square, or would they work with them for a time until they get out of there and all bets are off, unless maybe getting to know them better makes you realize you might have been prejudiced?
A vampire can't possibly have any good left in him? A cleric of Shar can only be ruthlessly evil and one glance at her tells us that's all there is to her?
"The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air."
Not so long ago, people in our real world have considered some very normal and human things inherently bad, sinful or evil, and too many still do. (Did you know that some people actually complain about the narrator's voice in BG3, that she sounds too distractingly sexy and seductive?)
I'd say, (and I believe I use that quote about twice per month so bear with me ) Terry Pratchett got it right when he let Granny Weatherwax say
"Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things."
There's also the fact that Larian devs have said there will be the option to recruit mercenaries. So even if someone can't even find one of those origin characters that resonate with them, they can create a custom main character, treat chapter 1 as "get out of here no matter how, because dead or transformed I can't save myself and the world from being taken over by mindflayers", ditch every temporary ally after that, and later when they're available just team up with Minsc, Jaheira and a custom mercenary or the other one companion you could live with.
There might also be a "Lone Wolf" option again like the D:OS games had.
I'm not saying someone should play a game they're not comfortable with. Just trying to broaden the horizon a bit by pointing out that even "classic" D&D based RPGs weren't as rigid as we might think, and that my experience with the Divinity: Original Sin games gives me confidence that there will be character development or discovery for companions beyond their stereotypes, that there will be multiple options which sides to ally with during the game, and multiple approaches to solve situations that should appeal to people favouring non-violent solutions and still getting XP for it. Sometimes tough choices happen, but being ready to make them and live with the consequences can feel quite heroic too.
I think the main reason that all of that isn't as obvious in chapter 1 is because it's Early Access, not all content is ready even there and some things will be kept secret so that even people who played it to death can still discover new stuff at release, and also it's a very restricted situation considering the narrative and the location. "Get out there in one piece" leaves very little room for roleplaying, but as I said, considering my experience with previous Larian games, I fully expect the game and the options how to play it to open up significantly at a later stage.
