I love Kelsey. If I want someone who's great at IDing, I drag Keto along, or buy those glasses of identification.
Minsc... isn't that great of a tank. He's better at comic relief. I've found Anomen to be a better tank, frankly. I give him the Flail of Ages and let him kick butt. Kelsey and Anomen's bickering gets on my nerves, but it stops once you have to choose between them, so that's something at least. I try to just get through that part and then enjoy the rest.
I don't take evil characters often because I'm too much of a freaking goody-goody, so even with Ease-of-Use's Happy running, they still bolt at reputation 20.
Yeah, Keldorn will be happy with a day or three with his wife, and then it's off to help you save your friend, and then he'll be right back home, promise. Whoops, he'll hang out to help Imoen and you save your souls. Then it's TOB and he hasn't quite managed to leave Suldanesselar yet, and hmm, guess he'll postpone that whole retirement thing to help save the world... OK, so he'd suck as a husband, but he's a pretty kickass tank.
Jan's best to watch and see how the other characters roll their eyes over him. He nearly drove Mazzy into a murderous rage, I swear.
Cernd seems bland, plus I don't need another druid along. Typically I either want Jaheira (RP reasons and/or she can rez), or I don't want any druid at all.
Aerie's annoying, plus dual-classed characters lag behind so far in levels. Yet another reason for me to not pick up her, Jaheira, or Jan.
Nalia drives me up the nearest wall (sorry, Jason). Her whole poor little rich girl schtick is annoying, and every time I hear the "I don't like cities; they're built on the backs of the less fortunate" line I want to scream. Oh, and her bitching about "how are we helping the less fortunate?" when we're doing so by clearing Firkraag's dungeon/Amaunator's temple - or even her own family's keep? - that has to go. Find this girl a gag, please. The last couple times she's approached me in the tavern, I've hit Ctrl-Y on her... very satisfying.
I like Mazzy, hate her inventory screen figure, though. Cute little accent (NB: she also voiced Dynaheir in BG1, and Bastila in KotOR), and sympathetic in her dream of wanting to become a paladin. The knight-squire thing with Valygar is cute, and he's a decent enough fighter if a bit squishy (like Minsc).