A few guiding questions for panniers:
1. How much touring do you anticipate doing?
2. How concerned are you about things getting wet?
3. Based on type of touring, how much might you carry?
In my opinion, if you tour one or two weeks a year or on a single trip across the US, I expect you can likely make most panniers work. When it gets wet, you'll either need extra bags or a good waterproof panniers. You'll also want to size things for amount you carry (and carry amount that fits).
I toured for multiple years including trip across US and a trip across Canada with basic Cannondale panniers. Eventually, the zippers started failing, one was ripped open and I replaced things. They weren't waterproof and bags inside worked mostly.
As I prepared for a 10 month trip on the road, I wanted panniers that would last, would carry what I needed and be a reasonable solution for all types of weather.
I did end up with some Ortlieb panniers. Not because I was trying to impress people with a brand (somewhat the opposite, I'd rather people in countries I traveled think "he is too poor to avoid motor transport and not worth bothering" than be a lycra clad foreigner with expensive lucrative equipment).
They have worked moderately well. Eventually, clips break and drawstrings pull out. One split open after a door incident and was repaired. However, excellent at being waterproof and otherwise more durable than my Cannondale panniers. As I've done further longer trips I did replace a few panniers with newer ones and then use older ones on daily commute (don't own a car) where keeps my laptop dry back and forth to work and carries changes of clothes, etc. For my uses it has been worth it to spend a little more and replace panniers less often - than what I had before.
However, I don't know your intended uses or frequency and fo believe one can make most work depending on the situation.