I don't know exactly when they changed, but the portraits for Leda (Grand Protector, starting mission) and Esther Bright (main quest npc) became rather ugly, to be quite frank. They were bright and colorful in prior nightly builds, and despite the lack of different faces, they felt like cartoons that you could like. Now, they're trying too hard to look realistic with the same palette. Giant noses, faces that don't fit with the rest of the game, and so on. They're as out of place as the placeholder sprites fossils once had (the shrunk jpeg files). My suggestion is that these new sprites be reverted to the more lively ones we once had. They were fine, especially since all the other characters have goofy cartoon faces and look just fine.
It seems that with it's turn towards darker subject matter, (Mass genocide, crazed cultists, even more lovecraftian horror, etc.) The game's trying to take its sprites with it... I'm a bit torn with this change... As much as I like the old ones, I also kind of like this new one with a bit of polish...
Personally I feel like I actually kind of prefer the new ones after falling on videos that featured the older ones.
I have to admit, I think the new portraits have begin to grow on me... They actually seem more in line with the portraits of the other characters with their pixel style.
I'd like to see the old and new portraits next to each other before I start pointing out differences and why a goofy cartoonish character should fit in with other goofy cartoonish characters.
