Im gonna give my opinion as an actual artist (and art director), becuase i dont think many people here that dont like the new stuff know how to explain why. Ive played the game with the original artstyle, but this shots are the first time ive seen the artsyle change, so I know the personality of the characters and how the old arstyle tackled their designs.
Screenshot by screenshot:
1- Undoubtely better. Like anyone that says thats not really the case is out of their fucking mind. I also think that it stays in a similar artstyle to when the characters were better drawn in the original style (like the mc in screenshot 3)
more than the crude photoshop first drawing that the original was (really great for your artist to have improved so much, major kudos to him or her)
2- Much better, better composition, the new artsyle actually works for the uncle, I think it still captures the same feeling as the original character, but actually well drawn.
3- This is actually were we start running into problems. The MC lost what I think made the original artstyle special and not just a replication of a mediocre anime. If i had some time I would actually try to make for you a drawing with a mix of both so we get a better quality drawing that still captures the style of the original MC (the facila expression is a little bit to neutral now also). I think this is the most egregious change, BUT the scene as a whole has changed drastically, again, the guy in the back just looks now like a random anime character, there could have been a happy medium of the two designs. The composition is also worse, yes, the forest in the bg is much better now, but changing the colors has drastically chnaged the whole mood of the scene (same with the shadows hitting MC's face in the original which i think were really nice as a mood settler). Fnnily i do think the original shoulder strap coloringwas superior in quality to the new one, that looks a little bit cartoony and out of place with the rest of the drawing. The enemy towering over the MC is also better as composition and what you want the player to feel in that scene.
4- Exactly the same as screenshot 1 with the sword. Million times better and actually respecting the artyle when it was drawn well in the original.
5- This one is interesting. The new one is great... BUT as a second image to reference the first, so you can start with the new one, and the scene moves along you show the original. Now, the original can be imporved a lot quality wise to be more in vain to the new artsyle, but i do think its posing is really powerful, and the tongue detail is a super nice touch.
6- Another really interesting one. IMO here i prefer MUCH more the new one, it tells a lot more story wise, its better drawn, it has a really cool composition... it does have a different vibe though. From what i remember, this teachor was a clutz right? so being inside a small locker made sense with her character. But then, i dont think the chage of scenery is totally unreasonable either. The glasses stuff, did that character design trait change or she just lost her glasses in tha scene now? Im usualy not a huge fan of characters with glasses (and i have glasses lol) but thats a matter of opinion and its one of those design choices that can be interesting for a character, so if she doesnt have them anymore, could be a pity in this case (IIRC she is the only female character with them right?).
I would like to see how the characters do look now in normal dialogue. Have they chnaged? For example would love to see the transition to the new artsyle of this last character, but in a normal pose, to know better ifeverything has received themore random anime style of the MCin the forest shot which indeed would have been a pity, becuase while it could have been imporved the original drawings, the characters when well drawn, did have a lot ofcharm in the original artstyle.
And when i mean the original artsyle when it was well drawn i mean stuff like this banner:
View attachment 4016471
I think this is how characters should look in the actual game and scenes, and the MC, right now in that forest screenshot, doesnt look at all like even the same character as here.
