I wholeheartedly agree: Japanese videogame franchises always had more long-standing franchises (some of them are still launching titles like Fire Emblem, Kingdom Hearts, Shin Megami Tensei, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Pokemon, Shenmue, etc)than western ones, with a few exceptions. The older JRPG franchises have more than 25 years of history because of the things you already stated and a solid fan base.
EDIT: Yes, I know dealing with a character that is made by the player is harder to work with but it shouldn't have been too much trouble importing your BG2 save and adding a few lines, statues or NPCs based on your previous choices. Especially if they were the main character of all the previous installments and DLC! A shopkeep who is descended from the Bhaalspawn and their romantic partner, a temple housing the Bhaalspawn's remains (if your character was a cleric) etc. So much could have been done. It would have added some semblance of continuity to the series. Now series' veterans (or semi-veterans) such as yours truly will be alienated from BG3.
They made it without much fuzz in Dragon Age series, KOTOR, Gothic, Castlevania or even in Devil May Cry series, each one with a different approach. I think Larian took a stance of getting distance with the previous games, and that showed in all the interviews and tweets about the upcoming BG3 game. Plenty of winks to WOTC but little to none to the old bg videogame series.
