Man though wrt the soul food comment, I think that makes sense for a lot of people, but for me, when I was actually into the OLD FF games, I didn't like FFIX, and by the time I LIKED FFIX, I'd really lost interest in older, traditional fantasy jarpegs.
---edit---
So maybe another way of looking at it is this: Stylistically, for me, it's not so much a return to a cherished style from a bygone era, but rather RPG classicism informed by modern sensibilities. Actively working within a set style while moving away from some of the execution-related problems that hampered the full exploitation of that style's potential.
Actually maybe that kid of mindset is what's driving demakes, too. If you think of them less as minimalist re-interpretations and more as remakes of games that never existed...