Please just keep it the way the predecessors were meant to be, artistic hand-drawed portrait and customizable 3D character model and colors.
There's proof that it will work, just look at either Tides of Numenera, Pathfinder Kingmaker or the two Pillars of Eternity. Art is something that should be preserved in this type of RPGs, since they're more than just line of codes, they're stories and books in which we're able to interact and to choose the course of action according to whichever moral we decide to adopt.
Although, by deciding to keep the portraits, you'll open the market to future DLCs where you'll be able to sell just additional artwork and not just big expansions.
