| Already 3D
It would be very hard for a sequel not to be in 3D ,as the existing Baldur's Gate games are 3D - they present an image on an isometric grid in which movement is possible on all 3 axis. Vertical movement is constantly going on; think about how many times you've climbed stairs, gone up a hill etc. While movement on the vertical axis is arguably underused in BG, and features like climbing and levitating could add something to the game, their use is not precluded by the use of an engine like the IE. Levitation could be so easily achieved from an isometric position.
Technically speaking, of course, all games (and all images percieved by the brain) are 2D images anyway (computer screens are flat after all), and are merely interpreted by the brain as a 3D image by visual cues: shadows, size of objects, relative distance and a myriad of other subtle clues that unite to create the illusion of a 3D world. What's being discussed here is not a dichotomy between 3 dimensional and 2 dimensional, it is merely a question of which viewpoint(s) it should be approached from. This might sound like an arbitrary distinction, but it's pretty central to the discussion that's being had here. What's at stake here isn't another dimension (and thus movement on another axis - climbing etc.), just where the 'camera' is, and its relation to the characters. The advantages of moving to what people call 3D are really very slim: there isn't much to be gained, certainly not an extra dimension.  |