Comments on: Greatest Gaming Engine Ever?

By: More Inon Zur / Great Lineage 2 Artwork » Lineage 2 Adena Source

More Inon Zur / Great Lineage 2 Artwork » Lineage 2 Adena Source — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 11:45:59 +0000

[...] Remember our entry on Inon Zur, the man behind the astounding music of Lineage 2? Spending some time on his website, I was pleasantly surprised that he did some of the music for several of history’s greatest role-playing games, Baldurs Gate 2 and Icewind Dale 2. He kind of reminds me of Jeff Van Dyck, a favorite game music composer of mine. [...]

By: Corsarius

Corsarius — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 16:04:39 +0000

Davet, that would be great indeed. A spectacular game engine let loose upon the thousands of creative minds in the industry? A dream come true, especially for RPG fanatics. Unfortunately, Father Time seems to have caught up with the Infinity Engine, especially in the graphics department. But who knows if Bioware’s tweaking it for a renaissance? Ah, die-hards like me do have fanciful dreams…

By: 15th Carnival of Gamers Now Open! » Crimson Crux

15th Carnival of Gamers Now Open! » Crimson Crux — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 15:56:23 +0000

[...] It’s gaming news and opinions galore again as the 15th Carnival of Gamers gets underway at Kim Pallister’s blog. Yours truly is one of the carnival’s participants (just search for “Crimson Crux”); I chipped in the Greatest Gaming Engine Ever? entry from this blog. [...]

By: davet

davet — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 11:52:45 +0000

I think I’d have to agree with the Infinity Engine being the best - although if anyone remembers the game Abuse, that certainly seems like the most flexible (2D) engine I’ve ever seen!

You know what I think would make it even greater though? If BioWare licensed it out (for free, unless you sell your eventual game). I think it we’d see some great things appear from such a decision.

By: Corsarius

Corsarius — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 07:30:00 +0000

to jorge: when will bioware stop creating good games? hehe..

to vern: you’re right — ours is an opinion, nothing more. you’ve got valid points for the Quake 2 engine, and it certainly is one of best engines we’ve ever seen. but is it the best? open to debate, as the case is with Infinity.

i believe it boils down to which engine’s traits a gamer pays attention to. you have yours with Quake 2, we have ours with Infinity. The engine per se is technically great, and not just used by great games. It’s the first of its kind to accurately simulate the complex pen-and-paper d20 system, and it can handle the graphics which make it the “perfect marriage of form and functionality”. it might not be the greatest for some, but it’s still one of the greats.

in the end, thanks for the insight, friend. a little conflict of opinions doesn’t hurt anybody

By: vern

vern — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 00:38:00 +0000

This is opinion nothing more. What makes a great engine? The fact that it has been used by great games? … or the fact that it is technically great? Although I loved BG, BG2, IWD 1&2, I’d have to disagree that it is the “greatest” engine ever. It is an RPG engine, and thus it’s use was limited to RPGs. The article did not take into account the Quake 2 engine which would later be used in great games such as Half Life. It was versatile, very technical, used in many many games, and wasn’t confined to FPS games. The BG and IWD series were great series, but it doesn’t make the engine great. Certainly not as great as the Quake 2 engine.

By: jorge

jorge — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 10:54:00 +0000

i have to agree; even if temple was a classic scenario of the pen and paper games, it didn’t translate well. cant wait for nwn2 tho

By: Corsarius

Corsarius — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 10:49:00 +0000

to fleeb: unfortunately, when iwd2 came out Infinity was well behind in terms of the visuals department. but hey, no one can disagree how well it simulated the paper-and-pen system of Dungeons and Dragons
to jorge: indeed! especially BG2 and its expansion. They were, and still remains, the cream of the crop of 2D RPG gaming. Temple of Elemental Evil, even with its nifty graphics, doesn’t even compare to BG.

By: jorge

jorge — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 04:32:00 +0000

amen brother! the aurora toolset may be a modder’s dream compared to the infinity engine, but bg1&2, torment (and fallout) made rpg’s relevant again ^_^

By: Fleeb

Fleeb — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 02:24:00 +0000

Ei there…

Hmmm, I never played that game but I have tried Ice Wind Dale II… Yeah the engine is good but I didn’t like IWD2 graphics much haha. It seems I always look for eye candies first.