Aesthetically pleasing early 3D (<= 1998) computer graphics.

[Nutmeg]

I present some examples, and encourage repliers to add more:

 

[Nevill]

If 1999 counts, Outcast might fit.

Spoiler

 

[Nevill]

Ah, yes, LBA. Though to be fair, only the second part, the Twinsen's Odyssey, was truly 3D, and it cost it a bit of its charm. Still a cool game all the same.

Was Dark Earth any good? It looks fantastic!

 

[Astral Rag]

+ other LG games

+ other id games

Was Dark Earth any good? It looks fantastic!

Sorry, I deleted my previous post.

Doesn't it, I liked DE a lot back then. I remember I enjoyed exploring the game's fairly open world. I recently reinstalled it on a virtual machine but haven't really replayed it. It still looks and sounds good though. If you enjoyed or could stomach the combat found in games like AitD, Bioforge and Ecstatica you will probably be able to enjoy DE. It's also not a very long game IIRC.

 

[Nevill]

There also was a game 'Time Commando', early 3D models in a 2D environment. Don't know if that counts.

 

[LESS T_T]

I thought Vagrant Story, and shit, it was 2000.

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

 

[deuxhero]

Super Mario 64 still looks passable, largely because the same things that made Mario work in extremely limited pixel count work well with flat textures, few polygons and limited lighting.
The OTHER N64 launch title, Pilot Wings 64, I'd actually say looks GOOD and could pass for a relatively recent budget title/minigame with some basic touchups (uncompressed textures, modern resolution and maybe some more polygons on the humans).

 

[Nevill]

Spoiler

I can't find the sourse of these. What games are they from?

 

[H-K]

Spoiler

I can't find the sourse of these. What games are they from?

The bottom on is Outlaws by LucasArts.

 

[Astral Rag]

Nevill H-K is right, the other one is a screenshot of Under a Killing Moon's Chandler Avenue.

 

[deuxhero]

Honestly giving a sprite game from that era is way too easy. Model heavy stuff is a real challenge.

 

[Nutmeg]

deuxhero,

Please humor us.

 

[deuxhero]

 

[covr]

It just has to be Trespasser from 1997

Gallery here: http://www.trescom.org/image-gallery/?catablog-page=3

Terrible game, though.

 

[Icewater]

YOU POST LIKE A KOBOLD

 

[grudgebringer]

This is fucking brofisting thread...

Spoiler

and yeah trespasser looks superb

 

[Astral Rag]

UE1 still looks great, Wheel of Time was released in 99 though

Ecstatica II, Dark Omen, Myth, SWARS and Magic Carpet

 

[potatojohn]

Frontier
Half Life
I-War
Rainbow Six
Falcon 4
Thief

 

[grudgebringer]

UE1 still looks great, Wheel of Time was released in 99 though

... yeah, and there are others which are from 00s... but it still falls under that category outlined by OP, imo.

 

[Nevill]

I would hesitate to add pseuso-3d games with sprite models here. For example, Myth and Myth 2 are one of the first successful takes on 3D tactical strategy games, yet the lion's share of their aesthetical charm comes from sprite graphics, beautiful art in cinematics and briefings, and superb music and narration, none of which have to do anything with 3D.

I assume the point of this thread is to show how many things may be conveyed even with a low polygon count and SD textures if the art direction is right.

I think Homeworld deserves a mention, even though it is technically 1999.

The mechs in Mechwarrior 2 didn't look half-bad.

Though of course, Mechwarrior 3 improves on that significantly. But that is 1999 again.

Overall, 1999 is when the games became detailed enough that you would not want to tear your eyes out even if the style wasn't anything to write home about. I guess limiting it to 1998 to keep things interesting was a smart move on OP's part.

 

[DwarvenFood]

I'm a sucker for Voxel personally,
EDIT: Magic Carpet is not voxel, it turns out. Landscapes still look great though.

 

[H-K]

Gex: Enter the Gecko:

Carmageddon 2:

Sin:

Dark Forces II:

Robo Rumble:

All released in 1998 and not overly reliant on sprites.

 

[Nevill]

Vangers. Voxel graphics. Don't know if pleasing, but certainly unique.

Spoiler

Incubation.

Spoiler

 

[Nutmeg]

Nevill,

Vangers is genuinely interesting from a technical perspective, and I think it looks great. Thank you.

H-K, deuxhero, Nevill, men,

Don't worry whether the game is all 3D or 3D backgrounds with sprites or 2D backgrounds with 3D characters.

The reason I made this thread wasn't to get an overview of the technial capabilities of various rendering programs and procedures of the time, but rather to see the intersection of these newly emerging capabilities with artistic talent.

For example, in my screenshot of Final fantasy tactics you can see how a low polygon, flat shaded terrain is given a water color look by clever use of low resolution textures. In my screenshot of Metal gear solid, you can see nearest neighbor filtering employed with high noise textures to give a very frosty, abrasive aesthetic. Quake (of which there are some beautiful shots in the screenshots thread) achieves a similar effect by similar means.