The fact that people were constantly in and out of your party was a big plus for me. It made it seem like a much more dynamic adventure. When you have party members dropping like flies it really puts the journey in perspective. I do agree that having everyone come back was a gigantic cop out, and probably my biggest objection with the game.

As for back story, I'm of the opinion that not everyone needs some super developed back story. Often times it just distracts attention from the overall narrative of the important, world altering, story events. I would way rather see more world altering events than worry about how a characters daddy never loved them. (As you can see I am not a people person. )

It's certainly one of the better ones, but definitely not the best.