Mods like Luki's Grand Capitals and other such mods overhaul vanilla structures like villages to make them look more in-line with the modded structures, though there are still plenty of retro style buildings throughout the world.
Admire the new biomes with the wide variety of shaders to pick from.
Alongside the First-person Model mod by tr7zw, exploring gets the very neat and immersive touch of actually holding out torches and lanterns in front of the player. Don't worry though, if the new view model gets in the way it can be disabled with a hotkey.
With the large variety of biomes to explore, landscapes and terrain become varied and exotic, while remaining mostly logical. Forests next to other forests, deserts next to other deserts, that sort of thing.
Various mods expand previously existing block types, allowing for interesting new builds like this prismarine throne I made using the new prismarine brick types and the new prismarine coral blocks that spawn in ocean ravines.
