The new concept screenshot is a real-time in-game render!

[Ark_mage2]

Umm. They are using a new graphics engine that is better optimized and future proof. They are NOT changing the art direction of the game. All the same artists are still working on it. Zenaku, your signature suggests you are an Akihiko Yoshida fan. Well he is still the person behind the game's art direction, as he has always been. I think the problem is in your head. At least give them the benefit of the doubt until you have seen more than a single alpha quality screenshot of a battle.

To quote David Hume:
"In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable degrees of assurance, from the highest certainty to the lowest species of moral evidence. A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence."