[Mathai]

Hmm, I actually feel the opposite from what seems to be the going opinion. I like both, first of all. Quality is quality, and this is quality for me so far. The difference to me between the two is that the rendering on the first version has always struck me as off in this style of art. Its too real to feel fake, but too fake to feel real. Its like that super high deffinition but computer generated Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within movie. It looked great, but tried too hard to look like real people. Because it was so close while still obviously not real actors on screen, I was never quite able to let my own reality go and just be absorbed by the world on screen.

That may make no sense on its own, but in comparison to the cartoonish rendering, which seperates itself from reality so much that I dont have to constantly be thinking about all the little facets where it tried to look real but failed. The cartoon version doesnt present that conflict in my head, and so I can ignore the buzz saying that its not real and immerse myself in the art on a realistic level.