i think exactly the opposite way, i think AI did bring life to this game, the animation are so hot, the facial expression etc...did you rly prefers the olds animation?
Now i know some ppl like to shit on animated game, witht he main argument that it takes away the devs energy / time to make the story and else....Idk if that is your case, but AI is like the compromise (even if for me its even better) for both camp cause it take way less time to create thn regulars animations. (and imo it look even better than 99.9 of any porn game animation ever)
AI is just getting better and better, i don't see how ppl can ever think this will not rule
is it AI? a developer writes a very complex algorithm and calls it AI and everyone swallows it. the bandwagon gets jumped on by those also writing complex algorithms as it makes them all look good. i have no doubt AI will rule when it gets created but will an awareness really be enslaved to creating art images? i find that hard to fathom yet it is no different to your shock at others.
this new art i like to call VI in reference to mass effect's Avina, started with serious teething issues. ugly scenes of weird fingers and morphed bodies were everywhere. some programmes are free so they were flooding out as devs cut costs and looked good in image counts. effort put into photo shop meant time, so we the consumer got the unclean crap. first impressions only happen once and it was not good for most, from what i could tell across multiple sites.
this put many off, myself included. now it has gotten better over a very short period of time and people are slow to adjust from those negative first impressions, which is normal. once bitten, twice shy is a common idiom for a reason.
now we are in the door, so to speak and the art is not only infinitely better but is also becoming animated. it still has a little way to go but the concern in hollywood from actors is understandable. artists are already being replaced easily, like robots replacing humans in factories and shops. some push back because they see an unemployed future and some see the great art and relish the prospects. some of us are just slow to let go of the recent extra thumbs but are coming around, myself among those. after all, no one builds sets like they used to in hollywood now. they just green screen that shit and use a pc instead. away with those human wages! *insert whip cracking sound effect here*
there are many reasons why some dislike this new art as we cannot even get devs to let go of the 90's with rpgm still in mass use. look at steam and see how many pixel games are currently being released and made on godot alone. it's all nostalgia to me as someone old enough to have had a zx81

. how can we expect their customers to let go?
i agree that the future of gaming is looking amazing as what a dev can do for absolutely no cost and in no time, compared to before, is astounding. it is just a pity that size and speed of updates is not even close to comparable.
this game alone has been very slow to progress and has squandered any hype. i only came here because there was a completed tag earlier, which has gone again now, otherwise i would still be giving it a miss. anything that slows story progress is seen as a negative unless the dev has a golden reputation. few do so i can understand the complaints, even if i disagree with their content.
this has not in any way been an attack on your comment, certainly not my intent but intent is taken by the reader, not the writer and wrong end of sticks create social media sites. given my unstructured delivery of conversation it may seem clear that i am far from compos mentis

so i apologise if offence has been taken.....or even an entire shed

but as i exit stage left because of bad puns, i just wanted to offer a different opinion, just food for thought, nothing more