It's certainly funny to see you talking so positively about MARDEK after all this time! As I said before, it's a shame that Sindrel Song didn't end up doing so well for now, but its understandable why it didn't. At any rate, I think that what you have here is promising! Having a project that is connected to your old games may have a greater appeal to a lot of people, especially considering that it's so clearly the story that you crafted that mattered to people. There's a certain satisfying aspect, as you saw, to having more granular gameplay, stats and skills and grinding and the like (as well as some of the challenges that there were - ooh, did you ever beat Karnos and Animus?), but I'm sure you'll find a way to make a compromise there.
It's great, the way you've been able to intertwine the old story with the new universe - there's some things I'll probably find a bit strange (like the dedication to sticking to six-letter character names) but that's a part of getting used to change, I suppose! Having deeper personalities is a good thing, of course - though I'm not sure I can ever get over the fact that Mugbert will not feature prominently in the remake, what a shame! Though, as you said, some of the appeal of the original games was having all of those fun side characters, but I'm sure you'll be able to work something out there too. I agree that especially the opening of MARDEK 3 felt quite bloated, but the game itself was, for a flash game, incredibly ambitious and deep, and that's what I think stuck with people more than anything.
Seeing the people who are doubting your ability to stick to projects like that is interesting... I think it only emphasises the importance of getting a playable demo (and a clear project outline) if you plan to go the Kickstarter route, since that may be an important factor in convincing folks in the first place. It's annoying, having to deal with doubters like that, but the way you've stuck with Sindrel Song in the last year, despite your predicament (and all of the doubters then!), surely shows that they aren't right. That's probably not much of a comfort when comments like that get to you so deeply, but maybe it helps.
But I think that crowdfunding would be a good route to go down! After all, a significant factor (IIRC) of you discontinuing Taming Dreams was the lack of interest and the lacklustre promotion - in contrast, having a Kickstarter campaign would necessitate to keep promoting your project right from the start, so you'd be able to gauge interest in the first place before you dedicated years to something that might not work out anyway. In that vain, the episodic approach may be a good fit as well. How exactly you will structure the episodes and what exact compromises you make in the combat, I think you can decide for yourself - it is, as I said, profoundly your own project - so I trust your judgement there, at least until I get to play it ;)
It's great, the way you've been able to intertwine the old story with the new universe - there's some things I'll probably find a bit strange (like the dedication to sticking to six-letter character names) but that's a part of getting used to change, I suppose! Having deeper personalities is a good thing, of course - though I'm not sure I can ever get over the fact that Mugbert will not feature prominently in the remake, what a shame! Though, as you said, some of the appeal of the original games was having all of those fun side characters, but I'm sure you'll be able to work something out there too. I agree that especially the opening of MARDEK 3 felt quite bloated, but the game itself was, for a flash game, incredibly ambitious and deep, and that's what I think stuck with people more than anything.
Seeing the people who are doubting your ability to stick to projects like that is interesting... I think it only emphasises the importance of getting a playable demo (and a clear project outline) if you plan to go the Kickstarter route, since that may be an important factor in convincing folks in the first place. It's annoying, having to deal with doubters like that, but the way you've stuck with Sindrel Song in the last year, despite your predicament (and all of the doubters then!), surely shows that they aren't right. That's probably not much of a comfort when comments like that get to you so deeply, but maybe it helps.
But I think that crowdfunding would be a good route to go down! After all, a significant factor (IIRC) of you discontinuing Taming Dreams was the lack of interest and the lacklustre promotion - in contrast, having a Kickstarter campaign would necessitate to keep promoting your project right from the start, so you'd be able to gauge interest in the first place before you dedicated years to something that might not work out anyway. In that vain, the episodic approach may be a good fit as well. How exactly you will structure the episodes and what exact compromises you make in the combat, I think you can decide for yourself - it is, as I said, profoundly your own project - so I trust your judgement there, at least until I get to play it ;)