Great points. It's never been the large features that made BG exceptional, but rather the small, often hidden details.
Just to gravitate in on a point you've mentioned, in BG every time you speak to an NPC, they say a flavorful little voice line that's separate from their dialog, which sort of functions like a greeting. Even characters of the lowest importance, like commoners, have these voiced lines, and there's typically around 3-5 variations per character, so you'll keep hearing new lines if you keep talking to them over and over. There are hundreds if not thousands of such voice sets hinted throughout the game, and there are a lot of characters, even minor quest NPCs, who possess fully unique voice sets.
Looking at this feature from a game design standpoint, it's an insane thing to implement in a game like Baldur's Gate. The writing and voice acting budget spent on this feature could have been spent on other areas of the game, and in any other game, it would likely be the very first feature on the chopping block. And it has been, in many cases, like in games such as Icewind Dale and Pillars of Eternity.
However, I too am certain that it's these kinds of small, detail-rich features that elevate Baldur's Gate above its peers. Without these, it would "just" be a great game. It takes going beyond what's expected, as well as what's reasonable, to reach legendary status.
Needless to say, Larian has almost impossibly big shoes to fill as far as us fans are concerned. Best of luck to them to successfully grow their feet to the required size.
