KickStarter Black Geyser, a brand-new RTwP RPG - beta coming in late June

BG games were never pretty. It's IWD that was a real eye candy due to magestic art direction, portraits and wallpaper worthy map backgrounds

 

IWD also trumped most D&D derivated work in that it was set in fantasy Scandinavia, rather than some boring green hills

There are few if any RPGs set in the snowy north in an equally enticing way

 

In their time, they were considered to have very pretty graphics.

 

I'm not talking about the techical side of the graphics (they obviously use the same engine as IWD), I'm talking about art direction and quality of prerendered backgrounds which are orders of magnitude better than BG ones

 

BG 1 & 2 both had some pretty great looking places. 2 more than 1, of course. And indoors always looked much better than the muddy outdoor textures.
But yeah, IWD beats both.

 

Well, yes, I agree with you that today's difference is nothing compared to what we suffered going from Icewind Dale to Neverwinter Nights. Twenty years ago (fuck, we are old), it was like going from a refined delicious dish to a plate full of dirt, while today 2d backgrounds are something like a very expensive meal at a 3-star restaurant, while 3d ones are a very good lunch at your Italian grandmother's house: maybe it's not as refined, but I am still fine with eating there for the rest of my life.

D:OS 2 is beautiful to look at, my only gripe with it is that the cartoonish look doesn't really work for me.

 

And the mighty Black Geyser will inevitably trump all of them.

 

I have no clue what y'all are saying. The only recent isometric RPG I can remember with good visuals is Underrail (the game looks great actually, and hopefully with Stygs work on infusion it will only get better). POE looked okayish but it was bland fantasy shit. Black Geyser looks promising but it has a long way to go before the art gets properly polished off.

 

Come on, say what you want about Pillars of Eternity, but it does look gorgeous (and Deadfire is even better):

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

 

3D can't beat 2D yet in the prettiness department. If ever. At one point it might become a stylistic choice, but as it stands now 2D >>>>>>>>>>> 3D. There are so many games which would've benefited going 2D instead if 3D (Age of Wonders, Kingmaker)

 

If you say "were never very pretty" as a personal opinion, then that's ok. I'm talking about how they were percieved in general at the time they were still new games.

 

Probably just biased, but it doesn't do it for me. It evokes no emotion in me like the backgrounds of the old IE games, or Underrail.

 

Underrail looks pretty good for a tile based engine, especially after years of gradual improvement.