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I have a question...How do you guys think it is better to play the game? With a specific set of companions or by changing at times in order to adapt with the needs of each quest?

I have the habbit of frequently changing party companions because..well...I am a pretty indecisive person, but I have noticed an experience gap between my main and my current party (mainWarrior lvl 13, Stern 11, Wyne12 and Liliana11)

With the gift system most of them like me enough, so that is not an issue.

Do I have to stick with certain companions for the entire game or is it ok to change every once and a while? Willl that make me reach the end of the game with an unexperienced party? (that is one lvl under my main)

I like to trade out characters. It's good to have two warriors, a rogue, and a mage, sure. But there's other times when two mages are better for crowd control, or other variations are necessary for certain fights. Trade out your group for tactics or character development as necessary.

I typically alternate Sten and Wynne in my group. After an extended stint with Wynne, when I brought Sten back in I was able to allocate all the points he would have earned while with my party upon his next level up.

I'm still in my first playthrough, but I always have Alistair and Morrigan and switch out the last spot with Wynne, Leliana, or the Mabari depending on my mood and the situation.

Even with having Alistair and Morrigan in the party almost the whole time, my main character always levels up quite a while before, and is usually at least 2/3 of a level ahead.

A small trick/exploit is that if you level up, and are then two levels above an active NPC, just go back to the camp. The NPCs will be automatically leveled to one below your current character level.

I've gone with Wynne and Alistar as constant members for tank and healing. I was rotating the final spot and this really depends on my character. With my rogue, I'm using the mage as the fourth. With a warrior, I added the rogue as the fourth. As a mage I added Sten or the dog as a second offtank.

I tend to look at it more from a roleplaying perspective and choose the party that would fit the best with my main character.

For example, I have two games going at the moment:

My first is a Dalish Elf Rogue/Ranger who doesn't follow societies rules but is essentially a good person. She has Alastair as her love interest, uses the dog as her main animal companion, and then the last spot is currently filled by Morrigan simply because she is curious about how she also doesn't follow societies rules and laws. As she meets new companions, her choice of party may change accordingly.

My other character is a human mage who dabbles more in the necromantic side of magic, and is essentially power hungry and more evil in the eyes of society. She resents being taken at an early age and effectively being put on a leash and this has given her a more chaotic personality. As such she shuns Alastair and Leliana, but is more receptive to Sten and Morrigan. She also has little interest in having a pet dog.

I'm not that far into the game, so the choices of party could well change, but they will still tend to surround themselves with people that would naturally be drawn to their personalities and/or be of interest to them.

mr_sir wrote:I tend to look at it more from a roleplaying perspective and choose the party that would fit the best with my main character.

Yes, I know the roleplaying aspect is crossing my mind frequently...but you will be surprised with the "mental acrobatics" I am performing in order to justify my choices of companions!
For example,regardless the fact that I am making the "good" choices I like to see my main and Moriggan as the classic Warrior-Sorceress couple (I bought her off with a ton of jewlery so she loves me pretty much!)

Anyway I made the difficult choice to put some healing spells to morrigan by using Tomes, I am now using her for crowd control and healing!

I always make sure that I have a tank, a healer/controller and someone that can disable traps & locks.
My personal style is to stick with the same group throughout the game, but as long as every role is filled, I'm happy.