I understand the difference. From what I've seen thus far (though I do not follow the progress on this edit religiously), most of what has been added looks as though it could plausibly have been done using the effects methods of the day. Are not most of the offending elements of the SE despised because they look so out of place due to an overtly CG nature?
In regards to vertical vs. horizontal, it's more about the scale and variation of the details vs. the orientation.