That’s a fair point, someone took the time to code those aspects of the game, and if it adds to your enjoyment and engagement with the game, more power to you, it’s just not for me.
Thanks for replying, it does give some context to why my friend enjoys those parts of the game.
I recall seeing NPC faces a lot more in game than I saw my own PCs face, even with helmets hidden, but it’s very likely that is just confirmation bias on my part, since I invested nothing into the PC appearance, so nothing stuck.
But that doesn’t discount your point, and of all the games I could have named, BG3 is probably the worst example.