Damn, dude, it's really tragic to see this go.
All of this happened during my brief break from Smashboards and during my current moving predicament so I have been out of the loop, but I had to say my piece over it all...
First off, the aesthetic you chose was fine. The concept art evoked classic Guilty Gear X art and the setting evokes a darker toned world so the current style is fine. What I do agree with though is better resonance with the characters. If we got to know the characters a little beforehand then we could support seeing characters like Tesla, Chain and the rest. That is why I think the comic suggestion is a wonderful idea, as it helps further establish and create this universe you created. It gets people invested in the cast and their struggles and get people wanting characters in the game. Part of the reason why stuff like Smash, Injustice, and the Naruto games all succeed is because of this reason. Hell, even Skull girls did this even as the characters and universe existed long before the game on Oh8(Alex Ahad)'s deviantArt account.
Secondly, crowd funding. The pricing cannot really be argued with, and logically it makes sense(anyone who saw the Skull girl's cost breakdown can attest to that), but at the same time I feel the issue that ultimately hurt the game was that it had the same prob as Worlds of Wander had in that it didn't factor in the mainstream example. What is logical to 10 is insane for 1000, and that amount mattered. To the casual observer, it looked over priced and from surface elements didn't have much to stand out. Also the main platform of the game was too cryptic as well like Worlds of Wander, which main point was it was made by the creator of Commander Keen(a game which very people remember this generation), and likewise the only sell ADO had was it was developed by professional fgc players like Mike Z and M2K, names not commonly known( in fact the only major player names really known in mainstream are Ken,JWong,Daigo,lil'Poison and Fatal1ty.) That means the market left was fgc and Smash...and with such low marketing it was impossible to succeed. It took everything the community had to get just 95k for EVO. Even the whole drive combined only amassed 225k.
I guess I do agree that the project should take a break for revision, but not with killing it(as alluded with the site being gone). Build up the public attention by creating the world in another form of media, like a comic or a web series to get people invested. Spread interest with the game by creating as much as possible with a playable version that is like a demo that could be done with a budget of around 40k. Try and market it to people who could help get the project attention, like Max did with Nidhogg and IGN with SuperComboMan and Project M. Aim for a more conserve Kick starter, namely with a goal around 70-125k. But ultimately take some time to get this set up. This project is a hell of a lot more important in the forseable future for this community then many would think, and the potential that this has cannot be denied. Don't let this go to ruin.