I haven't really played the original Baldur's Gate games much as I'm personally not a fan of RTwP gameplay. It tends to get too messy for me.
I do kind of agree with your statement regarding aesthetics, though. The world looks like DOS and the world in DOS is very bright, colourful and cheery. I don't think this will change based on what we've seen so far. I'd definitely prefer something a bit less "fantastic" looking.
