Being in a DOS game gave me, and I am sure many many others, of being in a D&D game (even with it not being based on the D&D rules).
I find this remark contradictory.
If you find that the game you are playing is not based on D&D rules, how can you feel like playing a D&D game?
The only way to get the feeling of playing a D&D game is to play a game that reproduces D&D rules as closely as possible.
It is no accident that WotC released a new campaign for the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop game: Baldur's Gate: Descent in Avernus last year when Baldur´s Gate III was announced.
Absolutely!
So, I think that in spirit it's still the successor of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2. Because there are so many things that people who did play and like Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 will still recognise in the new one. It's still about your party. It's still about big personalities clashing with each other and relationships. It's still a party-based game, you still need to do combat, you will recognise a lot of D&D rules - even if you haven't played D&D in 20 years. You will still recognise all the spells, et cetera. So, to me it's a true sequel, but we are bringing it into the 21st century by saying, "Look, it's glorious 3D."
This example is very eloquent. It shows how David Walgrave, executive producer at Larian, doesn't seem to understand anything about what the Baldur's Gate franchise has represented for 20 years.