2D vs 3D, the Battle for Entertainment!

[Lochmacher]

It is with a heavy heart that I acknowledge the slow death of 2D artwork in videogames. *sigh* I, for one, prefer the grittier, paperdoll-in-an-isometric-world style. It allows me to focus on the gameplay and also can yield some of the prettiest and memorable settings I have experienced in gaming. When done well, 2D art blows the 3D away. Combine that with the ease of use factor (no annoying camera to shuffle around) and you have a true winner.

 

Aside from gamers getting to focus on gameplay, developers also seem to get tied up in graphical improvements, often at the cost of said enjoyment. What would HL2 be like with a real physics engine and real AI? We won't know, because ValVe chose to dazzle us with rippling water and flashy particle effects. Oblivion? It might just go there, all the while I will still be booting up the Growling Spider (you know the one! Diiiing... RAR!) and settling down for another romp through Exile (or Avernum, though I wish the two would get back together and share ideas).

 

So there it is: for my money, I want 2D graphics, intelligent design (not the religious kind**), and tons of details in items, spells, skills, and NPCs.

 

**See "Buncombe"

[Dark Mage]

i personally like more 2d games, at least for spiderweb games, because they are very simple and can be played by anyone with a decent computer.

the simplicity is one of the things that i like most of avernum.

because when i firsts played exile i have a really CRAP pc, i dont even knew dont even a word of english (im from chile , i talk in spanish!)

i had about 10 years but i just liked the spells and sounds(really they were funny).

after a few years i played exile 1 and 2 knowing a little more of english, but then i discovered that the game wasn´t complete!

more years leter i discovered e3 and boe.after that i discovered avernum, it was awesome for me, to that time i had a somewhat decent pc.well i dont know why am i telling all my history, but is quite rare, im sure that almost anyone else in my country knows this games .and i got my first 2 demos from a cd from a spanish magazine

[Kingy]

When I first played Avernum it was brilliant, because barely anything would run on my old computer. I was amazed that I could run a game I liked so much.

[Frobozz]

3D doesn't always mean lower quality. The current engine being used for Geneforge could be remade to be 3D and quality wouldn't differ that much (except in any special effects that could be added). Remember, 3D doesn't mean just first-person you know.

 

Also you wouldn't need a very impressive system to do isometric in Direct3D or OpenGL. Homeworld, while not isometric, runs nicely off of my older system's 8MB video card.

[Alorael at Large]

There's nothing wrong with 3D graphics, but rotating cameras make me get lost, first person views irritate me, and isometric sprites suit me just fine.

 

—Alorael, who would still rather have isometric and better gameplay than nifty graphics to hide inherent boringness. Nice graphics and nice gameplay together are best, of course. Throw in low system requirements and you have a sure impossible winner!

[Dark Mage]

i remember that in exile 2 i have all my 6 characters above level 50, just wandering in the shareware areas.

before exile was one of my favourite gamnes, now i prefer avernum.

anyway i play it because i like and i dont care that dont have impressive graphics, in that case i could just play diablo II