Being connected to the original games is about a holistic connectivity to them across the board. SImply throwing in a few characters from the old games does NOT achieve what people are talking about when they complain about a lack of connection with the old games.
The actual city of Baldur's Gate is a pretty strong connection, imo. I hadn't realized how faithfully it's been recreated until I saw a video breaking down the trailer. I've never finished BG1 or tried BG2, so I've never experienced the namesake city. If Larian can do it justice (which it looks like they could) it would be more than a cosmetic connection between the games.
Well, the city of BG, as has been mentioned, was never really the 'thing' about the original games. In a way the original games were effectively mis-titled, because they never really were about that city. The games should've carried a title along the lines of "The Bhaalspawn Saga" or some such thing. Relatedly, even though the Neverwinter MMO uses the city of Neverwinter, no one considers that to be a connection to the NwN games. Ditto for the city of Icewind Dale in the new Dark Alliance game and the old IwD games.
