It isn't needed to make a D&D game but it is the most widely recognised one out there, and considering they are not an existing D&D game studio, it makes plenty of sense.
And, what do you mean "without any traits of Baldur's Gate"!?
It's a character and storytelling-focused D&D game set in the city of Baldur's Gate.
Those three traits are if anything MORE significant to the series than the subgenre they spawned.
Like, dude, there's more to a game than the specific exact way you fight people in it. Or, there should be, in order to make an actual good game. And if there's a SINGLE genre which should remember that the most, it's RPGs.
