Delixe: As for the Ogre and Hurlocks well that's a design choice good or bad.
Thing is, redesign of stuff that is contemporary to DAO should have been toned down instead of changed to the point where you wouldn't recognize a character/npc if they hadn't told you it's the same character/npc.
Regarding Flemeth, you're probably right when you say they got it covered lore wise, but just like Leliana's Song that doesn't make the incosistencies any easyer to swallow. If it was just Flemeth, ok then, shapeshifting, but looking at Merril 2.0 or Isabela the fact that Gaider somehow has a loop in his hole for Flemeth doesn't make me feel much better ;)
Delixe: I'm not keen myself
I think the darkspawn redesign is questionable to say the least.
Gersen: Well the fact that it's there for nightmare and no available for other difficulty level, especially if it's only an "option" make me suspect otherwise. Unless the final version makes it easier to effectively control your companion, having it on would definitely make the game a "nightmare" and not just because of the difficulty level :).
I just checked a few posts on the Bioware boards and FF is on by default on nightmare only.
Check
this post.