4 is such an arbitrary low number, like I know it’s multiplayer but cmon, theres absolutely no room for npcs in a human party. Also what’s the point of locking the appearance of the hirelings if they don’t get a backstory? Pillars of eternity 2 let you create custom party members and they had custom made companions that werent like full party members but some of them actually talked.
I know mods can fix this but I would really like to just be able to create 4 custom characters at the start even if im not playing multiplayer. Also maybe let us change the race and appearances of the hirelings if they gonna be blank slates.
I believe the battles etc all balanced for a party of 4. For games like this, creating a challenging battle for a larger party typically elongates the combat duration waiting for more enemies to make their moves or enemies becoming damage sponges. This may make the game's combat a bit too exhausting/boring for the general audience.
There maybe overhaul mods that could allow for larger parties without impacting or even increasing difficulty, e.g. long war for xcom EU and xcom 2.
Personally I would prefer a bigger party since I want to use more classes in my party, or troll around with a 6 paladin crusader party for the LOLs.
Yeah, Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous still has an option for real time with pause (like the old Infinity Engine games) that makes it work with a larger party. It'd get painful to play turn based combat with a larger party and pets etc for trash mob fights.
I agree, though, it's frustrating to see the BG3 camp grow full of characters that I know I'll sideline until a new playthrough.