I guess there is a time for change... *sigh* The days of sprites, or 2D graphics in games are going. There was a certain art to it. With newer graphics I have seen games and movies ruined. There is a certain grittyness to the older styles at their zenith that allowed for a certain believability. Now it seems almost cheapened by it's widespread acceptance. I am still more impressed when I see worlds that have been painstakingly crafted by hand rather than digitally transfered from another medium.
It has always been the smaller details that made me love a game, but not the graphical. Exploration is a major part of any great RPG. But you have to have a variety of tangible places and persons providing an atmosphere that is believable.
It's rare that I even get through half of a game nowadays, as they don't seem compeling. I feel that it is this lack of freedom caused by modern games as they have a "vision" that they wish to share. This manifests itself in forced game transitions, linear worlds, and shallow characters that simply dole out quests in an obvious fashion. The focus has shifted from the players desires to the programmers designs.
While there are some perks to 3D graphics in terms of immersion, it is almost always in terms of visual immersion, not intellectual. Games, and even movies now, are far too blatent in their structure and goals. It's almost insulting to sit there and have things explained in a bad radio drama style without any ambiguity for the recipient to mull over. Thought is not encouraged and is actually frowned upon. People want faster, dash-in-and-out access at the cost of depth and meaningfull experience.
There is a balance between the two. It is possible to make a product that allows for multiple approaches and lets one walk away with what they want and discard that which they do not care for. But you must let the user decide, this is key. It is ok to provide for those who wish one way, but do not force it on everyone.
Now RPGs are sensitive to the slightest deviation from this middle path. A tap in one direction sends the whole thing end-over-end and it is ok to do so, as long as it can right itself again. I do not pretend to know how to achieve this from a programming perspective, but as a gamer I can see it. I know that this does not provide any actual result in stating these facts, but I fear that such things tend to snowball out of hand once sent along their way. Games can fail by cutting corners needlessly, or by over ambition and poor implementation.
I will have to see where it goes...
