Seasoned RPG devs from Obsidian and Bioware blame the temporary death of the isometric CRPG on 'vibes-based forecasting' from retailers
Seasoned RPG devs from Obsidian and Bioware blame the temporary death of the isometric CRPG on 'vibes-based forecasting' from retailers
"I can't stress enough how often I'd hear a retail rep declare a genre/style/look was dead with zero supporting data."
"I can't stress enough how often I'd hear a retail rep declare a genre/style/look was dead with zero supporting data."
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For me, the problem is "isometric". There have been very few games like that I've finished compared to others. It feels artificially constrained, especially in a 3D environment, when visibility is limited to like <10 meters away from your character. It's worse if the camera rotates because then I find it quite hard to make a mental map.
I don't have this issue with a top-down perspective generally. Maybe those tend to be more 2D (even if rendered they can't really include environmental verticality) so it's easier to navigate.
Dragon Age: Origins had the perfect camera that let you look around like an action game and then switch to the tactical camera. It's astounding that modern rpgs cannot match how good the camera was in a game from 2009.
I adore BG3. But fighting the camera is harder than fighting the mobs.
Although it did get easier when I started using a controller to get around and a mouse to fight.
IMO there's very few instances where an isometric camera makes sense these days unless you're explicitly trying to capture the nostalgia of old isometric games.
I do find it's a barrier for some fairly modern games I want to play like Divinity Original Sin 1+2 and Disco Elysium. I wish that wasn't the case...
I'm not sure I'd call D:OS isometric, definitely birds eye view camera. I believe there are mods for divinity as well as BG3 that allow more dynamic cameras. I have one for bg3 and it's definitely a different experience but if that's one you're after, you should try it out.
Cool I'll take a look at mods, good suggestion. Yeah I'd like to be able to get more of an over-shoulder view sometimes during combat or exploration. Or at least lower to the ground.
That's definitely possible! Nexus mods has several camera mods
Fair enough on Divinity: Original Sin, but it won't really be a factor in Disco Elysium due to how it plays (or reads, rather). If you're interested in DE just give it a shot and treat it as an interactive novel (which is what it is, really). The camera won't be a factor in that game, trust me.
Ok, thanks. I've played maybe an hour of DE so far and maybe it was the controls moreso than the perspective that felt awkward. I might just need to tinker or get acclimated. Since it's all story I want to play it on my TV or Steam Deck, so gamepad input rather than M+KB.
That's fair, yeah. I played it with M+KB but have heard many others complain about awkward controls on a gamepad, and can imagine it isn't ideal.