Many thanks for the suggestions!  I agree with your comment on the clouds - they are a bit odd compared with the rest.  It's the rest that's been the problem, really, which is a big part of why I haven't gone back to this piece for nearly a year now.  Inventing those other solutions has been the biggest challenge - I'm actually considering reworking the style for this game idea and seeing where that takes me. Thanks again for the constructive feedback - always much appreciated!

As for suggestions to make the piece better, I think I`ve got one. Those clouds in the middle looks quite flat, especially on the left. You could add some shape to them using highlights - just the same colour you used for the light parts of the clouds.
Here is what I mean. This is a part of one of my pieces still waiting for their time to come. It`s not the best example to show, but I`m sure you will understand me better this way. :)
http://i.imgur.com/TqGEfY6.png

As for the rest, I believe it will be wonderful once you invent solutions to the problems you mentioned in the description. =)

Thanks, Agent!  Regarding the lack of details, I think that's partly due to my style choice - for most of the stuff I've posted, I was imitating early games' art styles.  There's only so much space for detail when you're trying to make a character with 4 colors or less, or keep your maximum tile size at 16x16.  However, I admit that I also have a lot to learn on finishing techniques - I don't use AA very much due to the aforementioned color limitations, and I struggle mightily with the art of dithering.  I'd never attempted 'true' pixel art before about a year or two ago, so it's all a learning process.  At any rate, any suggestions you have on how to improve are most welcome, and thanks again for your constructive response!

I was looking through your works and now I really want to say that some of them are magnificent. May be they lack detalization and seem a bit unfinished, but surely they have a soul. Great.

Thanks for your response!  I was going for a fairly minimalist style, which Knytt does tend to make use of as well.  Re: clouds, I agree - in fact, that's the thing I've been working on most recently.  When I post an update, it'll probably address that issue.

Thanks for your critique!  I always appreciate constructive feedback, and in this case most everything you said hits very near to the mark of what I was thinking myself. 

The banded sky thing was something I initially developed for the pits between islands, just to add effect/show distance; I used it up top because I could not, at the time, think of any way to connect upper clouds with lower clouds without giving off an empty vibe.  Regarding the clouds themselves, I've done a bit of work since on figuring out the way those parallaxes are going to flow and precisely what each layer of parallaxing ought to contain, so when I do get around to posting the next mockup in the series, it'll probably improve on that point dramatically.

Re: textures, yes indeed.  In fact the textures have been the biggest problem since I started this project; it's supposed to be vaguely 8-bit in style, but with a higher color count.  Unfortunately, my history is in spriting things in the style of the 16-bit era and later, so it's been a struggle to get it right.  The main things I've been hammering out are the grass and the foreground cliff faces, both of which feel awkward to me in comparison with the rougher background stuff.   

That said, the 'style inconsistencies' you speak of - particularly between the natural objects and the more geometric ruins - was partly intentional.  This game contains two separate groups of people - Mr. Protagonist's Tribe, and the Angels.  Each has their own architectural style, with the Tribe being mostly a people of roughshod cyclopean architecture and the Angels preferring highly geometric forms.  This scene in particular shows the place where Tribe territory ends and Angel territory begins - hence the beehive house and scraggly graveyard in the background and the hollow pillar in the foreground.  If it's too jarring, I'll be sure to keep working on it; just the same, there should be a contrast between the two cultures.

Re: palette, I would have to say I agree with you that the grass should be a different color, especially since most of the vegetation I've developed for backdrops is light blue in color.  I'm just worried it won't contrast properly with the main character's people, who are also blue - but that's something I'll just have to figure out as I continue working.

Thanks again for the feedback, and I look forward to improving on this piece in the future.

Two-fold? I don't think so.

Interesting project, I love the smaller island to the left (with the portal and blue guy) and the overall atmosphere.

There are style inconsistencies though, mostly between strongly geometric parts and more random stuff (clouds, grass, rock textures). The clouds especially need nicer shapes. The upper banded sky is confusing, although it works better in the bottom. Probably overtextured anyway.
The green grass doesn't work. Grass doesn't have to be boring saturated green, in this atmosphere bluish or purplish greys would look way better. Whatever color you make it, it could also blend better into rock.
Foreground should have more contrast than middleground (aerial perspective).

In a wierd way it reminds me of knytt. This would look gorgous if the backround was animated. The clouds in the backround look a tad unfinished though.