I remember people hating on Skyrim when it came out, then Fallout 4, surprisingly not Fallout 76, you are right they never lied about it or promised stuff we didn't get, I don't really have interest in the game so I haven't been following it to much but I don't recall there being any classic Toddisms either
Starfield is as Generic Bethesda as it gets(which is a good thing) they didn't introduce shit from other AAA games, like you said, no annoying Battle pass, day one DLC etc and other than early access, was there preorder bonuses?
The hate just seems odd, I can get the hate for most AAA shit but it seems really misplaced for StarField
You're right about the branding, nothing to me sticks out for the series's brand, maybe they didnt want another vault boy esq thing, so the game could stand alone, I dont know
Also, I guess also the cutscenese/animations everywhere, launching ships, docking, landing can get annoying, I understand the complaints about those