GOW4 has no connection to the older games apart from the main character and that character is a completely different person as well. Also there are no platformer-type gameplay elements in the game which were plenty in the previous titles. Yet no one is bitching about it and everyone acknowledges it as a sequel. So your assessment is not universally true, I guess.
Agreed.
I also find this to be a bizarre complaint given that the whole game hasn't released yet. Who knows what is in Act 2 and 3 story/character wise? Who knows how much Act 1 might change upon release? The answer to that is no one. Though I can certainly see potential complaints upon the game's release if it has absolutely no connection to the original games. Larian has also hinted/teased that more connections to the original are coming.
In addition - I think GOW4 is not only a good example, but serves to show that the game is being made for an entirely different generation and audience. The very goal of sales and marketing for video games has completely changed in that time - as well as other expectations. I believe (though could be wrong, given that the data is all over the place from what I can see) that BG/BG2 combined sold about 4-5 million copies and came out 20ish years ago. Odds are Baldur's Gate 3 has already outsold them given that Sven indicated sales numbers were "insane" for Early Access... and they have to target a completely new audience.
Bringing a franchise like this back is no easy feat given that you have to appease the older audience who played the originals while also drawing in a new audience. As an example if you look at people reacting to the trailer a lot of them are like... "why is Kratos coming out of a chest?" or "who is that?" because they have no idea who Minsc is.
