Hi Dave,
Let me give you some background to who am I and how I ended creating a login to answer to your agree/disagree question.
I found your blackwell games by total chance. I am a point-and-click fan, and doing some research I saw a link to the convergence game. I rapidly understood it was not the 1st, so I bought the complete bundle.I loved it. (still playing convergence, so please no spoiler ;o). Discovering the theme, the mood, the ambiance, the characters (love the cynicism of Joey...) I was more and ore deeply 'aspirated' in the story and decided I just like the work you did. On all the 3 releases. By the way give a huge thumb up to your voice actors. I never took the time to let you guys know of my satisfaction and how happy you made.
So now... to the point and to your initial question :
I never had a problem playing in low-res, this was even somehow nostalgic. However, seeing your 2 screenshots, I am negatively shocked by the contrast between the hi-res background and the increased low-res characters.
This answer obviously does not help you, but I would like to see a screenshot with the downgraded background, I am sure I would find it less disturbing.
Now you are the boss so you decide

P.S : I would be honored to be part of the beta testers, as I always try everything in all the point-and-click adventures I do. I save before all dialogs to be sure I can try all combinations. I also save before every choice to see the difference in the dialogs like i.e stay or leave the party at the Park Gallery. So if you seek for testers, I am proudly accepting ;o)
Thanks for your time to read my lengthy post and sorry for any english mistake it's not my mothertongue as I am in Switzerland. (If you need a french accent english voice let me know too, I am playing theater in my hobbies ;o)