I think it's definitely about keeping in style of the original game. The kinds of green colors you see on the world map in the 8-bit game is the same kind you see in the DS remake. Also, I like how they kept the little screen transition and noise when you go between levels (town to inside house/world map to town).

Realistic FFIII might be cool, but I'm more than happy with how the remake turned out. Plus there was only one cutscene and that was before the main menu, so it really didn't mess up the consistency to me.