This question will be around as long as there are people with differing opinions and styles as play. True, the NPCs in BG2 don't add as much flexibility to your party. True, there are less of them. True, some of the more interesting classes eg monk, sorcerer, assassin etc were not put in as NPCs. And true, three of the best "pure" classes are evil.
BUT, less NPCs though there are, they are so much more detailed and alive. Think of how difficult it would have been to program each one of them. Also, they are not meant to be perfect, that would make the game too easy. It really does teach you compromise. And having some of the really good ones as evil force you as the leader of the group to make some moral choices about including them or not, and if you do it does make for some interesting dialogue with the *good* characters. Adds a lot to the intrigue. Even statistically useless HaerDalis has a lot of good dialogue, especially when he challenged me to a duel over a certain female winged elf (that i didn't give a shit about anyway!). So they are meant to be more than walking stats.
Anyway once you've completed the game you can always personalize your copy of BG2 by using editors like Shadowkeeper. Don't like Mazzy's strength? Increase it to 18! Or think Keldorn should be a Cavalier? Change his kit. Just be careful with the innate abilities, they can be a bit tricky.
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