Things were simple and basic back then. Now, for some reason, characters have cheeks protruding from their face at enormous distances, things appear to be gross and overly detailed, and the way the characters themselves look has significantly changed.

This is mostly notable if you look at, say, The Graveyard Shift, and compare it to The Splinter. Look at Spongebob, and notice his changes. I like how things are more round and detailed, but some things just have too much detail and just look weird.

I DESPISE when people say the animation is worse now. Guys, the animation is better, crisper and just generally sharper-looking. Judge the animation on the actual animation, not on the quality of the episodes.

Now I understand some people actually do judge on the animation itself and not the quality of the episode, but I strongly feel the OP is judging on episode quality.

(dont bash me for this!!!!! ) To admit it, I kind of like season 3 animation out of all animation SpongeBob ever had. season 1's animation looked sort of rough, and same with season 2. Also, for the recent animation, I think it looks too sterile and messes up the new looks a bit. I think the only few characters that look "identical" to what they used to are Plankton, Patrick, Mr Krabs, Sandy, Gary, Squidward and The Flying Dutchmen.

I have to say the same thing to Family Guy animation.