I think the problem is that Bryce is considered to be 'Lego' compared to 3DS's 'clay'..... 
One could spend longer creating a similar scene in 3DS than it would take in Bryce, so maybe 3DS user think we only have to push a few buttons and there is a masterpiece, whereas they have to build it up vertice by vertice or whatever the jargon is.
Just remember that it's the final result that counts, not how you get there.

A good point...

Years ago when I was studying machine code or assembly language as it is also called, I spent an hour working out the code to print my name up on the screen 20 times. I finally got it to work and showed the misses. her reply was.... is that all it does. She jsut didn't comprehend how much I did when writing that code. Of course I could have used 'basic' which was the easy programming language in my youger days and achaive the same result, and, only take a few seconds.
So as I said, doesn't matter how you get there. It doesn't make it any less of a piece of art than if it was produced in a package that costs  $1,000's