I’d agree that by default its not as pretty (just started playing again a few days ago). Mineclone2 isn’t bad visually, with the exception of some mobs. However, it seems most mods aren’t compatible with mineclone, since it doesn’t export “default”. There are some impressive mods coming out though (techage), so I’ll definitely be playing a bit and keeping an eye on it.

One thing IMO it does better is mods (which makes sense). Just took a look at Minecraft after ~6-7 years and mods are still multiple versions behind. When I played, I recall they were going " improve" the situation.