Purely isometric, or mix of isometric, third-person and cinematic?

[Terror K]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but one of the main things I'm curious about is the visual functionality and presentation of the game. I'm very curious as to whether this is going to be a purely isometric, top-down affair like BG, Icewind Dale, PlanetScape: Torment, Fallout, etc. or whether it's going to have a more dynamic camera that allows you to play isometric, but also zoom in closer, such as Dragon Age: Origins PC, NWN2, The Witcher, etc.?

 

Personally, I'm hoping for the latter. While I mostly play with the camera pulled out during combat in the likes of DAO and NWN2, it's nice to pull it in for more personal matters and nice to have the more cinematic angles during conversations. I think DAO and NWN2 got the perfect mix of classic RPG and the more cinematic nature of modern games, and I hope this is what Project Eternity employs. I feel my character becomes more personal when I can get a good look at them up close and see them interacting more directly.

 

I'm curious as to what other people feel about this? Has there been any direct indication as to what Obsidian are going for here?

Edited September 17, 2012 by Terror K

[Hoverdog]

No zooming. Not ever. No close-ups, no cinematics, no rotating camera, nothing. Static isometric camera.

 

end of rine.

[C2B]

3D models on "2D" background is what we know.

 

We have no idea how exactly they will do it though, just that they made a new render especially for this.

Edited September 17, 2012 by C2B

[Humanoid]

A fine-grained zoom function is probably unnecessary and may well cause scaling issues with the game art (remembering the likely use of 2D backgrounds). On the other hand, enforcing a one-size-fits-all preset view which doesn't take into account screen resolution may be problematic - so I'd like at least some control over the handling of the main game area (if not the UI elements as well) which may be relevant particularly to those with 25x14/16 displays (and of course, future 4k ones).

 

I can't remember at all how BG2 handled resolution options though.

[generic.hybridity]

I imagine they will mostly avoid cinematic style conversations as they will not be having full voice over.

[evdk]

No cinematic.No zooming in for conversations. Ever. There are other games for playing dress up with your dolls party members.

[Continuity]

There are plenty of vidyan gaems with the camera modes you describe, you should play them instead. This is supposed to be a spiritual successor to the IE games, and as such it shouldn't focus on cinematic experience. Isometric perspective and text ftw.

[Darkpriest]

Well I wouldn't mind a bit more modern approach to camera. The most recent TBS (X-COM: EU) shows that you can have also a great tactical layer with the movable camera.

 

They could adjust the engine which they had for DS3 or if they have possibility, they could use the NWN engine (Aurora?)

 

It does not have to be a purely isometric view to get a great RP with tactical combat. The problem starts, when we think of resource allocation and budget limitations.

 

If the budget would allow, I would surely welcome a more modern approach on graphics...

[Gurkog]

A fine-grained zoom function is probably unnecessary and may well cause scaling issues with the game art (remembering the likely use of 2D backgrounds). On the other hand, enforcing a one-size-fits-all preset view which doesn't take into account screen resolution may be problematic - so I'd like at least some control over the handling of the main game area (if not the UI elements as well) which may be relevant particularly to those with 25x14/16 displays (and of course, future 4k ones).

 

I can't remember at all how BG2 handled resolution options though.

 

I think they only had 640x480 and 800x600 at the time.

 

EDIT: if it is going to have 2d backgrounds, I do not think that a rotating camera would work.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Gurkog

[Darkpriest]

3D models on "2D" background is what we know.

 

We have no idea how exactly they will do it though, just that they made a new render especially for this.

 

Where do you have that info from? I did not get that from any video or info on Kickstarter... I did get that they would like to re-create a similar experience to those old games.

[Blablachar]

No zooming. Not ever. No close-ups, no cinematics, no rotating camera, nothing. Static isometric camera.

 

end of rine.

 

This.

[Terror K]

Don't get me wrong... I don't mind if it's purely isometric at all, I was more curious than anything. Just because I happen to prefer a mix of the two (ala Dragon Age: Origins and NWN2) doesn't mean just having isometric is going to be a problem. I'd certainly take pure isometric over being forced to have the low-down, third-person view ala Dragon Age 2 and the KotOR titles (not that KotOR was bad, but in a tactical fantasy RPG you need to be able to view the whole battlefield). It's just that my character felt more mine and personal when I could see them better and they had a face I designed and could see up close as opposed to just being a tiny sprite with vague and plain facial features.

 

Believe me, I'm all about not letting cinematics dominate the experience though. I've been complaining quite vocally on the BioWare forums lately how their dependence lately on cinematics and the fact that they seem to value them over actual substance is a very bad trend, and that it's gotten to the point where a feature than in the past once added to the game has now begun to control and dominate it when it shouldn't.

 

Edit: BG has set resolutions, but there have been fan-made resolution mods since that allow you to play them at greater resolutions. I'd definitely recommend them too. BG2 in widescreen at a decent resolution is sublime. Not sure what the new BG: Enhanced Edition does, but I imagine its something similar.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Terror K

[Freddo]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but one of the main things I'm curious about is the visual functionality and presentation of the game. I'm very curious as to whether this is going to be a purely isometric, top-down affair like BG, Icewind Dale, PlanetScape: Torment, Fallout, etc. or whether it's going to have a more dynamic camera that allows you to play isometric, but also zoom in closer, such as Dragon Age: Origins PC, NWN2, The Witcher, etc.?

 

Personally, I'm hoping for the latter.

I'm hoping for the latter too, I want to be able to rotate and zoom the camera as I please and not have it fixed at one viewpoint all the time.

[Infinitron]

Just FYI, with bigg's widescreen mod, you can unlock just about any resolution in the IE games: http://www.gibberlin...net/widescreen/

 

But high resolutions do make everything very small.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Infinitron

[Infinitron]

3D models on "2D" background is what we know.

 

We have no idea how exactly they will do it though, just that they made a new render especially for this.

 

Where do you have that info from? I did not get that from any video or info on Kickstarter... I did get that they would like to re-create a similar experience to those old games.

 

A Kickstarter comment by Feargus Urquhart himself:

 

As for the engine, we should be talking about that pretty soon. I can tell you that it will be a combination of 2D and 3D. Characters will be all 3D, while backgrounds will be a combination.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Infinitron

[Lysen]

If the game will be powered by Onyx Engine like Dungeon Siege 3, then you will probably can zoom and rotate the camera. Or maybe it will be like in Diablo 3, where you can zoom to see your character, but don't able to rotate the camera. Personally, I'm hoping for the last option.

[Shadenuat]

I want isometric with fixed camera without rotation, because it seems to give artists better control over game looks. When you throw zooming and rotation in a game, it's much harder to get things look right from every direction. NWN2 was just atrocious with that.

[Dianjabla]

I'd rather more story & dialogue options & pretty much anything else rather than money spent on cinematics. A VO for NPCs for a few lines and a portrait is good enough for me to get the idea of what's going on. That's the games I love and what I'd like to think I've backed. I've been getting the sinking feeling in RPGs of late that they're more a vaugely interactive movie between fight sceens and depth of story and choices have suffered as a result.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Dianjabla

[dlux]

At the moment the game is supposed to have a fixed camera and an isometric view. But with more money more is possible... so we will see what happens.

[Kilroy_Was_Here]

Having any kind of rotatable camera would add a lot to the complexity of the game engine and art assets. Given the limited budget Obsidian has to work with it may not be feasible.

 

(Personally I would prefer a fixed isometric view anyway. Zooming is meh.)

[vattghern]

free camera would be nice

 

how else will you take upskirt screenshots of your female chars?

[fkldnhlsdngsfnhlsndlg]

Can we just have an RPG that is focused on game mechanics, story and atmosphere, and not dedicated to dressing up your characters and making them look "badass" or "sexy"? You can always play dress-up in Skyrim if you want.

[vattghern]

it's an rpg - by its very definition that allows everyone to play it the way they want to

 

you can enjoy the mechanics and story

 

other enjoy building their chars and make cool screens of them to show their friends

 

live and let live mate

[Gibbscape_Torment]

Can we just have an RPG that is focused on game mechanics, story and atmosphere, and not dedicated to dressing up your characters and making them look "badass" or "sexy"? You can always play dress-up in Skyrim if you want.

 

Totally know what you mean. Adding a dynamic camera would absolutely be the sole instigator of a game being dedicated to dressing up your avatar. I mean, what possible other purpose could it serve!? I certainly can't think of one...

[Hoverdog]

nice trolling guys, I give you