If it was just the combat system, I'd say that's a valid choice. The original games used the Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition ruleset, which obviously has to sacrifice a lot to be something you can reasonably simulate by hand. Turning it from a turn based RPG with a real time facade into a true real time RPG could be a good thing. But if they're also changing the race and gender of characters they're obviously just fixing things that aren't broken - I can't think of anything in KOTOR like Broxigar that needs to be taken out the back and shot.
If it was just the combat system, I'd say that's a valid choice. The original games used the Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition ruleset, which obviously has to sacrifice a lot to be something you can reasonably simulate by hand. Turning it from a turn based RPG with a real time facade into a true real time RPG could be a good thing. But if they're also changing the race and gender of characters they're obviously just fixing things that aren't broken - I can't think of anything in KOTOR like Broxigar that needs to be taken out the back and shot.