The testing continues folks and it looks promising. Though the improvements I like the most purely concern shaders, texturemaps and especially the new bump- and normal-maps, I think I can finally come to terms with switching to a new generation.
This is the default Victoria 8 Skin which I will use as a pattern for all my other Skin (i.e. Scarlett's, Janine's and all the other skins). I think, you can already see some improvements there. At least I hope so :)