This is just not true. Yes, they did merge some of the original movie elements into the Old Republic, but you have KOTOR influence everywhere, but mostly in Empire areas.. Tales of the Jedi armor setpieces are everywhere, pureblood sith running around, korriban, dromund kaas... a TON of areas have the Old Republic feel to them.
Just check out this all of these screenshots http://imgur.com/a/IHXIl
In fact its mind bobbling how you can even say that... everywhere I go in this game I am reminded of KOTOR and Tales of the Jedi.