Square is damned if they do, damned if they don't on this one.
Like it or not there is demand for VI on mobile. If it didn't exist, some geeks out there would be whining for a decent mobile version and cursing SE's dumb brain.
If they leave the spritework exactly as it was, the geeks would criticize them for being lazy, the newbies would be nonplussed by this intentional-seeming retro looking game, and it would not live up to the FF brand name of being audio-visually full quality.
If they reimagine the spritework as if it were drawn today, fans will rage, it would change the feel of the game, and that would be a creative ordeal out of the scope of a mere mobile port.
If they redraw the sprites at a high resolution keeping the same features of the original characters..... well, here we are. GAF will rage.
I don't think it's purely nostalgia. I think people wouldn't mind this if the sprites were done in the style of the PSP FFI, II and IV Collection. Those sprites actually looked good. These, not so much.[/IMG]
There were threads where people raged at the redrawn art of those games too.
It's the exact same reaction as this thread.