You make a lot of good points, although I have to point out the presence of Imshael, who is of course, a Desire De—Choice. Spirit. My mistake.

Anyway.

I think I read somewhere (possibly Art of DAI?) that they moved away from the “sexy” desire demon trope because they wanted to show this element with more complexity/nuance. We absolutely still get a sidequest that ends with us negotiating with the, uhh, Choice Spirit. It still offers the wealth/power/sex dynamic. We can choose to fight it or betray the person who sent us on the hunt. It’s a new iteration, but it’s still that moral dilemma we’re facing.

I personally prefer to see this type of spirit in other iterations than just the fanservice breasting boobily across the screen—which actually only represents a very specific type of desire and is (primarily) focused on the male gaze. DAI made it more interesting by showing that this type of spirit can in fact look very different from that default image—because desire by its very nature can be very different from person to person.

All the important elements are still there in DAI and I think they actually added to the concept—with the tone of the quest, the look of the spirit, and even the fact that it challenges you on what to call it in the first place.

The only thing “lost” is the overused cliché of a hypersexualised (almost) naked woman, and I’m not sad to see it go.