Hand Drawn 2D
 

So I just looked at the footage of the cancelled Warcraft adventure game and even though the puzzles looked less than stellar it made me really want to play a big ol 2D adventure with the hand painted look, danger, escapes, etc. I like bigger characters on screen and crisp graphics.

I've played every Sierra and Lucasarts game. I tried to play Whispered World, but could not for the life of me get into it (the world, the main character, the dialog, etc just wasn't doing it for me). But I do want that TYPE of game - fantasy adventure, etc. And I absolutely have no problem being able to die in a game.

This post isn't meant as just a recommendation request (though if you know of one that I haven't played that'd be great). Moreso, I wanted to get your thoughts on this very specific type of adventure game. Why don't we have more? What might the future hold? I've tried playing the more 3D games that aim for more realistic characters, but rarely do I find ones that really grab hold of me (GK2 and a few others are great).

Thoughts?

I'm a big fan of hand drawn graphics and 2D or better said i prefer it the most since i can't really say i've played that many games with that type of graphics....but it's my first choice.

You can try Broken Sword 1 and 2 for this type of graphics for starters.

As for the why don't we have more etc..i don't really know myself.
I'm wondering the same thing.I can only guess why.The only thing I can say for sure though is that with Daedalic we have found a ray of light!! Whispered World was like that .Deponia and A new beginning is like that and as it seems another game called Edna and Harvey.So at least there is something to look forward to even after these games are released,unless they change somewhere along the way like Revolution did with the Broken Sword series.

I'm not sure about this either. It probably have to do with all the other game genres. I guess it would be hard to compete with 3D games like Gears of War and Mafia 2, even though you have really good looking 2D games. It's interesting, because I have spoken to adventure game developers, and (almost) everyone claims that creating a 2D game would be cheaper than 3D. But as I said, I think it has to do with competition from the other genres.

As for games to play, try out: Discworld 2 and Runaway (if it counts - the characters are built by 3D models I think?).
Also, check out So Blonde.

yeah it is cheaper in 2D(and better imho) but if i were a major decision maker in a developer company like that i would look to capture the adventure fans and the hardcore adventure fans the most.after all they are the loyal buyers/followers.it's not that wise to change everything and lose out those fans when it's not even sure if you're gonna get new ones.also i've yet to see 3d adventure that is good enough at least in the visual part.

and yeah in runaway only the character models are 3D the backgrounds are 2D hand drawn.

Hand drawn 2D graphics should really make a revival... there are so many fond memories of those classic 2D adventures back in the day. It just seems to fit the genre so well. I always get a withdrawn feeling when playing in 3D. (just not the same)
A 2D revival would make so many AG folks happy.

yeah...i feel the same and there seems to be a small wave towards that revival(see Daedalic titles,possible 2D BS5).small as i said but enough for now.
also 2.5D games are great likes secret files.i loved the graphics there.they had that sharpness of reality(couldn't explain it better:P) that developers seem to want to achieve with 3d graphics and it's still 2d-like.if anything it's the only next step acceptable for me.

Have you played A Tale of Two Kingdoms? Very in style of old King's Quest and Quest for Glory games.

Also, for something darker, A Second Face: The Eye of Geltz is a good choice.

Finally, a shameless plug - you could try out my lengthy demo for Frantic Franko: A Bergzwerg Gone Berserk. The more people are interested in seeing the full version, the quicker it will be finished.

All of the above are award-winning, hand-drawn 2D fantasy adventures where the heroes set on epic quests.