Probably better way would be overwriting display palette without touching original one. And new shortcut to toggle between them.
This will allow maintaining original look without sacrificing UI usability.
Or even more, have long list of different palettes and toggle between them at will. This would be very helpful if you want do some palette tricks.
Over all I think 256 colors isn't limitation but opportunity
Each index can have its meaning not only color (vide solders face&hair recoloring, and overall idea of shade in OXC).