Seeing the new art, I have to say that on some scenes the AI is better, but on the others not. It was necessary the change to an only one art style, because it was clear that they were drawn by different artists or styles. It is a game made by pure patches, not a solid core. So I hope it works well, eitherway if on some scenes are worse than the original, it would be good that they remake them until it fits to what it is intended, so they dont feel like dolls and have better expresions. About the rest , I expect massive bugs because they dont know how to fucking code, they are amateurs trying to act like professionals, and never gets the job done. One example is their new game that worked so much.Damn I have hopes but my expectations are very low.
This was not necessary, never necessary.
Bug fixing was necessary because it improves (and in worst cases allows) gameplay and satisfaction from it. New content was somewhat necessary because it gave people more things to do, allowed them to experience game is slightly different ways.
At worst inconsistent art was a matter of taste, not necessity. Personally, I prefer variety of styles so I can enjoy different approaches each artist put into their work and find something that suits me. Roundscape had this in spades before and much less now. And counter-point to you whole point of view is Legend of Queen Opala. That game series has varied artstyles, yet variety wasn't an issue, but a selling point.
As for the opinion that AI made some scenes better - in most cases its an illusion that does not hold the scrutiny. Besides elven priestess scene I struggle to remember at least another 1 scene (though I recall it was some 3-4 scenes total) that was improved by AI. And by that I mean made better overall, not better in some aspects and worse in others. Almost every time with AI-replacements even a surface-level scrutiny brings on aspects that were made worse - often MUCH worse.
The most common case is portrayal of emotions. Even the best AI pictures lack in this department - and that's the best. Usually, you encounter doll-like faces or emotions that does not fit the action.
Another point is that AI draws eyes very poorly. Irises inside irises as circles within circles, eyes that point in different directions at once, eyes that point in wrong direction.
And the last part is that AI-generation usually makes very soulles pictures that look alike. They lack personal touch that makes art interesting, instead looking like a result of mass-production. You've seen one picture of particular AI-generator - you've basically seen them all.
Those are glaring issue, objective issues, issues that go beyond mere question of personal preference. And I didn't even took into consideration many purely technical mistakes - misshaped or miscolored bodyparts, for example.
None of this shit was necessary. And it would probably not happen if not for people who tried to push their personal opinion about phony "necessity" to make artstyle uniform. The result of your collective actions and expressed opinions is a game that made noticeably worse in art department - the most important department given the genre.
Not by opinions - by metrics, measurably worse, objectively worse. Dozens of posts in this one thread delve deep into dozens of examples of AI-replaced images and their many issues.
It is not a matter of opinion anymore. AI-generation as it is now is lacking - plain and simple. And wish for unifrom artsyle was a mistake.