Suggestion regarding future tie ins (spoiler alert!)

I've been muddling through DA:I just to to complete the main story line, and today I hit the point at which Hawke makes his/her appearance.

This is obviously staged as a big reveal plot moment, however it fell a bit flat for me as I had never played Dragon Age II. There were only brief, somewhat ambiguous references to 'The Champion' and Kirkwall earlier in my run of Inquisition, so the moment didn't actually earn the gravity that was being trumpeted. As my companions carried on like this stranger was some sort of game changer, the total of my response was "Oh, ok. Who is this person again? Why is Cassandra strangling Varric?"

In the future, such tie ins might be introduced with a little more prep-work for those who didn't participate in a previous title.

Edit: It just occurred to me that having skipped DAII may have also impacted my opinion of Red Lyrium as a material and plot point. Frankly, even in a fantasy world with dragons and elves it seems silly to see humanoid mutants with enormous red crystals jutting out everywhere, let alone the absurdity of watching a person actually turn into a crystal. Perhaps more initial background - or toned down art design - would have made the stuff more compelling.