@ Ccoa: That is a skirt, and it's semi transparent, so you can see through it, and see her legs and her mini skirt, so there isn't much room for shading in it.
@ Myonosken: The characters are perfectly sized for those environments, each map is drawn using that sprite for size reference, so there won't be any weird size differences. when you move the character to that small cabin, he's just 2 or 3 pixels smaller than it, which I think is a good, realistic size. also, they are bigger than RTP, just not that obviously deformed.
@ Seer: Personally, I've found that style to be quite good, having characters that are somewhat crisp (when you play full screen you can notice the smoother shading in the characters that I've applied, while keeping the edges intact) While it may not seem that great in screens, it definetly helps you not get lost in the maps, as well as be able to DEFINE where your character's head starts and where it ends, having characters that blend in with the maps turns out to be confusing with more complex images as backgrounds.