I actually soloed a good bit of the early part of the game, because I never liked Oghren, I didn't really want a Howe who looks kind've like Loghain, nor did I want Mage-Allistair. So I just said forget them, I'll see if I can do it all myself

. Eventually I ran across Velanna and kept her in the party, then later the same with Sigrun. Sigrun is my new favorite character, she has by far the best voice and most fun, upbeat, happy personality of any character in the game, it's a shame she wasn't in the main game and could've had more screen time. The banter between her and Velanna was awesomely hilarious, by the way. I also kept Justice around when i found him near the end, his help was most appreciated when we fought the shiny dragon.
The hardest part of the game was earlier, in the Architecht's lair, fighting the two dragons at once when it was just me and Velanna, but once we finally beat them and I found Sigrun, nothing was too hard. Even though I liked Justice I decided to leave him behind for the final battle to help guard the fortress, because I knew that me, Velanna and Sigrun could handle anything by ourselves, and sure enough we did.
So if and when I play through again, I'm going to find Sigrun first thing, she's just incredibly awesome, can't say enough good things about her character, I hope that she will be around in some capacity in the future, definitely my favorite Awakenings character by a MILE. I'd make Velanna my second pickup, and keep Justice at third.