If you're only on the 2nd palace you've got a long ass way to go, from the sounds of it you might not make it to the end. I'm about 90 hours in on the 6th and I still have it to complete and then the final last palace which I hear isn't as long though.
Labeling the PS4 as high performance is extremely generous ha! Still though it has some variety I think that's a bad choice of words. A better word would be creative. Nintendo has always been in the forefront in that regard.
Gamers are hypocritical. They are perfectly fine with some sequels being exactly the same as the first, like Dishonored 2. But then other times totally outraged at Bungie for Destiny 2 looking too much like the first. AND then if it was changed too much they would bitch about that! Just can't please them.
Yeah when I first saw Mario in a realistic looking city I was pretty taken back. Wasn't really liking it at all. I think I eventually just grew to accept it because the game overall looks brilliant.