Yeah I should have said 1st-person RPGs in the OP because really the thread is about the fake-3D art style and visual implementation, the party or game structure doesn't matter. It just happens that blobbers were the predominant genre that utilized this.
Anvil of Dawn is the exception here. I have no idea how they did it, but the turning animations have a correct perspective, as if it was a real 3d engine, yet much crisper than what the 3D engines of the time were able to achieve.
Of all the graphics in Realms of Arkania the 3D-graphics were probably one of the weaker parts - though still pretty good:
From looking at Anvil of Dawn footage - I think they pre-rendered their environment elements in a 3D modeling program - which were then exported to sprite images. That's how they could achieve smooth transitions, because each angle was rendered out in 3D.
Absolutely!
I had thought about that possibility but rendering all the images for smooth 360° animations for every single square in the game just seemed too much. But then it was CD-Rom time, so that's possibly what they did.
Probably not every square in the game. For each tileset they would only need to render a stock set of wall rotations and overlay them as needed according to the current position and layout. I haven't played the game extensively though so I'd have to analyse it a bit more to be sure. From the look of the walls themselves they definitely look like pre-rendered 3D models.
I like the skeletons and the beholder, but the orc/troll thing...
The reviews of the time called out Lands of Lore for dumbing down CRPGs. They were worried that the lack of tactical depth, the mechanical streamlining, the absence of character-building, the cliché story and the utter simplicity of the puzzles would bring
to following games. While they noted that the graphics were top-notch, it didn't get high marks in the local press.
They probably
I don't know if it is already in ROA1. My imported party was hit by the town people in the first town in ROA2 because one of them have no pants. That is one of the screenshots I am going to post when I finish the game.
The reviews of the time called out Lands of Lore for dumbing down CRPGs. They were worried that the lack of tactical depth, the mechanical streamlining, the absence of character-building, the cliché story and the utter simplicity of the puzzles would bring
(Little did they know that it would be something entirely different, the flood of poor Doom clones and primitive "interactive movies" that would bring an end to the early 90s era of gaming.)
If you already use discrete positioning and rotation the difference between real and faked 3D is purely academic.
I mean mainly development benefits. Most pratical game editors nowadays are meant for 3D scenes, and the ones meant for 2D are for platformers/topdown games. Granted hacking his own fake 3D approach is probably more fun if he's into that sort of thinng
