I suppose it's a reasonable question then: do you think players would buy versions of Portrait and Ecclesia that omitted the Sisters Mode and Albus Mode for the above reasons, or had those modes SERIOUSLY reworked to the point of no longer being mechanically similar?
No they need to be included, X is totally correct here.
Albus mode could actually work with no stylus, if using R3 temporarily stopped gameplay while the player chose where to screen spawn. It wouldn’t exactly make things easier given you’re restricted to moving within the confines of the screen you occupy.
From a challenge perspective, all modes need to be included. Once you’ve beaten both games on Hard with Level 1 Max Cap, you need the additional character modes to do the same. (Richter/ Maria in PoR and Albus in OOE)
They should release it as it will be minimum effort for a lot of financial gain, then LRG will jump on board etc. That’s one CV collection I would buy physical and digital copies of.