In a recent interview with 4Gamer (translated in the form of Nintendo Everything), Triangle Strategy producer Tomoya Asano discussed the aesthetic of the graphics and how it's used in the future games produced by the company cheap d2r items. The interviewer was shocked that more independent games haven't adopted the style, Asano revealed the reason: it's actually pretty expensive!
"It's definitely worth noting that it's more expensive than you'd think. In that regard, it's a good match for the titles that come out of Square Enix. There's not much to gain from other companies taking a similar approach to the same style," Asano told 4gamer.Fortunately, that cost isn't stopping Square Enix from releasing more games with this type of design.
A remake of Live a Live is set to be released exclusively on Nintendo Switch in July, and a remake of Dragon Quest III is currently developing. There are a number of other games that could benefit from the look, and it'll be fascinating to discover how Square Enix does with HD-2D next. While the company has clearly put money into this graphic style, Asano went on to explain that there's no yet a "definitive guideline," and it will remain evolving according to the game.
"We haven't come up with anything similar to that. The way it's expressed differs per title, so the HD-2D style will be slightly different every time. For Live A Live for example, the atmosphere in the prehistoric area will be different from the sci-fi scenario.
Our expression options have expanded thanks to the latest ideas we've come up with. "While it may be prohibitive for some designers, HD-2D clearly served as a draw for a lot of gamers buy diablo II resurrected items. We hope to witness Square Enix find new ways to improve the design to make more games to be released!