Dragon Age: Origins does not make it easy for the main character to assemble a happy and content adventuring party. You've got three character slots which you need to fill up and at least double the number of choices for the gamer to make. And, before you specialize, you'll see easily two people competing for the role of tank, backstabbing rogue, and healer. In my party, I tended to rotate members every two or three medium-sized quests. The only member which seems to have gained a permanent slot until now is the witch, Morrigain.
A lot of people have said that the experience would be much more enjoyable if
BioWare had gone back to the Baldur's Gate II system of 5 members beyond the main character in one party. It would allow for a wider variety of roles to be filled and for more tactical play and more epic engagements. There's a side of me which also wishes that BioWare would have made six men parties the standard.
But I also understand that the limitation arguably enhances the enjoyment of the game. You need to switch members in and out for various situations and this means you get to know all of them better through on-screen dialog and the banter which they share when you are on the move. It also means that players are forced to try out new things when they fail a battle for a few times, resulting in an experience which is less monotone than in the traditional role playing game.
The best things which
BioWare could do would be to actually allow the player to select the party size so that it could be anywhere between, let's say, 3 and 6 members. This could actually serve as an alternative difficulty slider, allowing tougher players to go in with less people and more casual gamers to experience the same story, while having numbers on their side.
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