While this thread initially only asked for more top-down gameplay, the discussion so far has made me realize how important the control system is in order for the top-down party play to work well.
I disliked feeling like you weren't really controlling a party in the DoS games. I much preferred the strategy game-like control system of IE, where you could create control groups and shift/ctrl click the selections you wanted. Much like StarCraft, and pretty much every RTS ever since then. It['s a good and fast system for controlling a unit of characters.
Again, BG is allowed to evolve and improve beyond what it once was, but I don't think what they've shown so far is much of an improvement.
