It seems that people still fail to understand the difference between a 2d infinity-engine type game and a game made in full 3d. You don't just draw a picture and slap a name on it, and your animations are no longer 3 frames. This is great, but it comes with a tradeoff. Sadly, that tradeoff is content. Not necessarily story and dialogue, but item diversity is one of the first things to go.
so, the better the quality of items and animations, the more work they require, thus, the smaller the number of different items in the game.
