Archimedean Dynasty had a nice feel to it, with the little still pictures and the featureless characters - it gave you the feeling of only half-understanding the complexity of the story. In a time when all games scream IMMERSIVE and INVOLVING at you, this little gem was unique in not really integrating the player into the action. It actually made the story more believable, and a bit more tragic.
I still haven't finished AN2 - the graphics are much better, the storytelling is a bit more up close and personal to the player, and I like the comic-strip style of the cutscene and story graphics. But I don't like the joystick routines (way too twitchy), so I have to play it with a mouse - which works very good, but just makes me sad.
Also, the story is a bit overdone fo my taste. Maybe I'm getting too old for all this family-mystery-treasure-enemies-demons-ya-di-dah - a simple piece of fiction would've been enough...
But since we're at it: I've enjoyed
SubCulture a lot more than both of them - and it also incorporates the spirit of the original Privateer a lot better than the Aquanoxes. Toiling around in that small sup, picking up giant cigarette stubs and bottlecaps with heavy gear is great fun, and the story missions with lots of funny voice acting is just hilarious - although there's action enough. And although the grapics are not really up to today's standards, all the underwater life, the different fish and the lighting effects are just nice to watch.