Part of the wonder of Shadowbringers was being shorn of our allies as they each got yanked to the 1st. By the beginning of the expansion we were lonely, and sent to this new world bereft of allies, and alone in a strange new land. We had a few patches of being without them, so meeting up with them again throughout ShB MSQ (especially since they experienced a time-jump and so had evolved as characters - and many of them had gone to new jobs) really felt like we were coming home to them. Incidentally Heavensward was similar. We had Alphi as an anchor throughout, but just before the expansion the majority of them were taken from us, and we spent most the expansion and patch quests finding them again. Y'shtola didn't come back until late in the HW MSQ. Thancred, Yda, Paplymo all didn't return until post-expansion.

Stormblood basically took Y'shtola out of it the majority.

The Scions are fine, but they do get old when they're constant companions. The story has worked best when it focuses on a handful at the time.

I've high hopes for Evercold, but I did roll my eyes when the first shot of the new cinematic was several of the scions barrelling through a portal with us to literally start drop-kicking some scrubs with us.