Being an "old school" Rogue-like player, I have this small part of me that says anything but original ASCII is for nubs. Luckily, that little voice is getting fainter and dimmer all the time. This project looks pretty sweet.
 

That's neat. I have no attachment to ASCII myself, not at all. In fact, I'm currently playing the May Green graphics version of DF, which is a definite improvement over the standard game.

Well, actually, I'm not playing much at all right now. I've been trying to wait for the next version, but it's been more than a year already. Looks like a new version might be out by early next year, though.

This is a great game, and I can understand Tarn Adams wanting to keep firm control over his own creation. But I really wish he'd loosen up a bit and accept some help from his fans, at least for improvements in graphics, and maybe with the interface (which is terrible right now).
 

I'm personally more comfortable with ASCII than any graphics pack. I might give this a shot if it didn't reduce my already horrid FPS. When FPS is single didgt, no risks can be taken.

@WCG
It'd be nice if he'd let someone help him get DF to support multithreading, but interface be fine. Honestly, there is enough stuff to do that changing the interface, even objectively positively, may produce more confusion than it resolves.