I'm not sure the question of scale and realism really operate on the same level. I'm not sure what you guys are arguing, now.
Just random discussion of preferences, I think
As to size/scale/level, the general assumption seems to be 3 acts, although I don't remember see/hearing that being confirmed ( many of Swen's statements contain a degree of uncertainty ).
Actual buildings in EA seem to be at the scale of the actors ( compared with, say, NWN1/2 where outdoor maps had unreasonably small buildings ). If Baldur's Gate is modelled anything like reality it would require a map many times larger than the EA map.
Level cap will be purely down to which mechanics they are willing to introduce, since there is already enough content in EA to exceed level 8, so I can't imagine reaching, say, level 13 would be an issue. Even with the brain-damaged 5e rules ( compared to 3.5e ), introducing a high level cap greatly increases the development cost, so I wouldn't expect them to go anywhere near level 20 ( even though I would like them to ).
