It didn't abandon the gothic horror genre, Order of Ecclesia made that very clear. PoR was made in an effort to draw in a younger crowd, but despite that, it still maintained its clear gothic horror elements. That said, I missed Kojima's art style, to be sure, and I think neither Jonathan, nor Charlotte, nor Brauner are amazing characters. Good, but not amazing. I think PoR the weakest of the three DS games, but it's still very, very good.