I guess its all a matter of preference. Bryce has the ability to render great realistic scenes..however..like all applications of its kind it all depends on the ability of the user. Seems to me that you want it to create worlds on the fly to save time, wich...ofcourse...is fine. I on the other hand like to have total control of every single detail in the scene and Bryce never failed me there. Besides that..I dont think there is an application that truly fits anyones wishes or needs. You will always need secondary applications to have true freedom of creation. With Cinema 4D for modeling..Photoshop for textures and postwork and Bryce for scenebuilding and rendering I can pretty much create anything that my personal limits allow me to create.

btw...2D skies?