The public seem to love it but there's a vocal minority of people who really hate it. I also do not like it at all.
I think all the complaining about it is overblown and privileged whining. If developers could have made games with the tech we have now in the past, they absolutely would have. A lot of what was done in games back in the day was workarounds to the things they actually wanted to do. Super-scalers and isometric games were attempts to do 3D when 3D couldn't be done. Cutscenes were trying to do cinematics when the tech just wasn't there. Dungeon crawlers were simulating the 3D real-time first-person gameplay the genre almost always has now. And so on.
So if these overhead-view RPGs could have done 3D to correct
the odd perspectives they used to show the world of their game, they would have done it. In fact, they would have gone even further than HD-2D does, as they wouldn't have nostalgia ideologues demanding they stick to using 2D sprites for characters like they did "back in the day" because there would be no "back in the day" to compare to. And if we did get 2D sprites, they would probably be in true HD quality, not pixel art.
And yes, the public does love it, because these games are mostly fine. Are they missing a few little extras here and there? Yes, but usually nothing substantial. Are they not being 100% loyal to the original art direction? Obviously, but that's not what they were going for. Are they charging you full price for
the exact same thing you already bought decades ago? No, and that's a good thing.
Look, if you bought the original game already, or you're pirating the original version, there isn't much reason to complain if you just want to play the same exact thing. A new remake isn't going to steal the original out of your hands. So if you are a real stickler for getting the same thing over and over, then you can just ignore the remake. And if you actually wanted a remake, then why complain about them doing something new with it?
And I'll note that I didn't like everything about the FF Pixel Remasters (which were made for the very type of people complaining about them), but I thought they were fine overall. They didn't have bonus dungeons, but you know what does? The PSP/GBA versions I already have. And honestly, some of them were the definitive editions: FF3 & FF6, and one could even argue for FF1 & FF5. That leaves us with only FF2 & FF4 that were missing a substantial amount of content
exclusively from remakes, and yet they improved on the originals enough to make them worth a play anyways. (And yes, I know the PR series is not HD-2D, but it gets hit with the same criticisms from the same people.)
Of course, not all HD-2D games are remakes, but in those cases, why complain?
Octopath Traveler did something new nobody else was doing. It was an all-new game with a new art style. The only real problems with it were the writing sucked and the last dungeon was convoluted to get to, and you can't blame those on graphics.
And yes, everyone is free to have their own aesthetic views. But it's ridiculous that some people argue that games are being "ruined" purely due to subjective reasons. Saying "It's the worst thing ever because I don't like it" is a baby's argument; a grown, educated adult commenting on the arts actually either gives substantial evidence for why something is actually horrible or admits that it's simply not perfect for them because of their taste and thus not actually horrible. It's possible to have a logical argument against something even in aesthetics, and the fact that so few ever even try doing that makes their subjective opinions have no weight.
So yes, most of us, including old-school pixel gamers, are going to enjoy the new art direction. And many of us hope they go even further in the future and quit relying on SNES/PS1-style pixel art to compromise with people who never intended to compromise in the first place. And it'll continue to sell no matter how much old men yell at clouds.
