[jackmott42]

That is a non charitable but fairly accurate way of phrasing it. I would say more accurate would be to say the user interface was completely rethought and much more approachable.

I couldn't play the game before, now it is a joy.

[0xffff2]

On the other hand, for DF veterans "just replaced the ASCII graphics with sprites and changed some hotkeys" would have been the most charitable thing they could have done. I haven't played the Steam version yet, but my reading of reviews gives me the strong impression that they've changed so much that I will have to approach it as an entirely new game.