One additional comment... it is just so unfortunate. It's a very impressive framework for a game and had the writing been up to par, it could have been epic I think.
I was really hoping it was going to be BG3-like roleplaying but with the action RPG style third-person view. I thought that would have been great. But it just doesn't deliver anything remotely close to BG3 roleplaying.
Bioware's strength had always been it's writing starting primarily with BG2. Everything else aside, I wish the studio execs kept that in mind, but they really haven't and it shows from Andromeda, Anthem and now this.
Reading about how they've basically retconned Logain from DAO villain to 'a guy being manipulated behind the shadows' is painful. That was a fantastically written villain and they've wasted him. Like you mentioned it seems there's too much 'the power of Friendship!' type stuff in this one and that's fine if this was 'Spongebob the RPG", but not Dragon Age.
Imagine they did this kind of visual and narrative switch to another established 'Dark' franchise like Doom or Dead Space. People would be livid, but so much of the defense for this game seems to boil down to "Well you just don't want Dragon Age to change!" which is a lazy defense.
A new IP like this would be fine, but nobody was really clamoring for "Baby's first Dragon Age"
