Why do people hate isometric?

4507

Personally I like it, but I see and hear so many people saying things like 'looks isometric. Will not play" when talking about MMOs, so I'd like to hear some isometric-haters justify their position.

hallucigenocide

you answered your own question in your first sentence.  it's down to personal preference.

Sovrath

For a "game" it's fine but when one wants to lose themselves in a world it's not so great. It's a constant reminder that one is essentially on a somewhat rigid game board.

Flyte27

When I was younger I didn't really care.  For some reason, I enjoy the way you move around and can look around in third and first person perspectives more.  It feels a bit more immersive.  Sometimes it's fun to play a top-down view game though.  Turn-based games are fun to play this way.  Ultima Online, Baldur's Gate, and Fallout were fairly fun as well.  There are a few games coming out like Shadowrun Returns, Divinity Original Sin 2, and Pillars of Eternity with isometric views.  Some people must want that type of game.  I recall playing some games on console with friends that were action orientated that had isometric views.  It worked out well as there was no need for split screen.  One was a console version of Baldur's Gate and the other was Champions of Norah I believe.  I used to play a lot of arcade games like that in the days of Nintendo and before.

Aeander

I don't hate isometric. It can be done well, and it's still the camera of choice for strategy games.

That said, my favorite camera angle for all non-strategy genres is third person over the shoulder. I absolutely hate first person camera. 

ChicagoCub

For immersion first person is the most personal although I typically don't like it, third person over the shoulder would be next, and isometric would be the least personal.

Quizzical

Maybe people hate it because they don't know what it is.  Isometric seems to be pretty rare in moderate to large budget games.  The word doesn't mean "the camera is far away from your character", which is what a lot of people seem to mean by isometric.

sunandshadow

For a classic virtual world MMORPG, it's very important to be able to see your character's and the NPCs' faces and clothes clearly.  In addition, it's hard to even run where you want to on a screen where the pathing is all diagonal.  I've played several isometric pet monster games, and I particularly like the tactical combat in Dofus, a type of combat that more or less requires an isometric field.  But most isometric MMOs give the player terrible viewpoints where you are looking at the top of your character's head, and don't let you zoom in enough to see details.

Phaserlight

I actually really like the isometric perspective in Fallout 1 and 2.  I think it works for that particular game world very well.

Scorchien

  I still enjoy Isometric games and UO is still the most immersive experience ive had in any game ...

MadFrenchie

Because here in 'Murica, we don't fool with no fancy schmancy metric system.

Ridelynn

The only thing I have against games that bill themselves as isometric/dimetrix/whatever we want to call a slanted angle 3D representation on a 2D platform: locked camera angles.

I have the same issue with third person over the shoulder (my biggest hangup with Warframe - big frame stuck right in my center line of sight), although it isn't quite as bad since there's at least some ways to tease the camera around.

I think I was just spoiled by EQ early on with Velious (among countless other games, to be certain) --  able to zoom all the way into first person and out almost as far as you wanted to, with pretty generous camera control independent of character movement. I have a very bad habit of fidgeting with the scroll wheel and zooming in and out and playing with the camera in down time. There was that point where you were not-quite-first-person and could see the inside of your skull/wireframe in EQ....

That being said, they don't totally ruin games for me - I still like Diablo. I still like Warframe. But I do like playing with the camera in games.

Quizzical

Ridelynn said:

The only thing I have against games that bill themselves as isometric/dimetrix/whatever we want to call a slanted angle 3D representation on a 2D platform: locked camera angles.

I have the same issue with third person over the shoulder (my biggest hangup with Warframe - big frame stuck right in my center line of sight), although it isn't quite as bad since there's at least some ways to tease the camera around.

I think I was just spoiled by EQ early on with Velious (among countless other games, to be certain) --  able to zoom all the way into first person and out almost as far as you wanted to, with pretty generous camera control independent of character movement. I have a very bad habit of fidgeting with the scroll wheel and zooming in and out and playing with the camera in down time. There was that point where you were not-quite-first-person and could see the inside of your skull/wireframe in EQ....

That being said, they don't totally ruin games for me - I still like Diablo. I still like Warframe. But I do like playing with the camera in games.

A true isometric game nearly has to have a locked camera angle, or at least only allow you to rotate the camera in discrete jumps.  Rotating the camera smoothly in an isometric game looks like an optical illusion playing tricks on your eyes.

bcbully

I played isometrics in 85... it’s 2018 ffs.

Dransik2012

Ashen Empires is iso very fun to play been playing for about 17 years. some ppl like them some dont i guess..

deniter

I want to be able to rotate the camera. In isometric games you can usually only see a tiny area around your character.

Other than that i don't have anything against isometric games. The best games i've played in my life have been isometric, like Ultima VI, Fallout 1 and 2, Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, and many more.

Aegiris

I love isometric styles as long as there's no click movement.  Unfortunately that seems to be the go-to for a lot of games.  If I can control movement via keyboard and target with the mouse, I'm in.  I raided in WoW almost exclusively zoomed out to the point that it looked isometric because I could see what was going on easier.

Click movement pisses me off.

kitarad

I still play isometric turn based games and also ARPGs but for an MMORPG I prefer not.

cameltosis

I generally dislike isometric (or whatever the correct term is for fixed angle top down view) games. 

• You are disconnected from your character. In a standard iso game, you never get a decent view of your toon, just hairstyle and shoulder pads. It sucks. I like to be able to connect with my character, it is what helps with immersion. I cannot connect with the top of someone's head. 
• You can't see far enough. No matter what game it is, there is invariably a point where someone is firing arrows at me but I can't see them. But, beyond that, simply not being able to enjoy the view is frustrating. 

Beyond that, most of the issues I have aren't to do with the view, but more with the common features of isometric games. I hate click-movement. I strongly dislike action combat in isometrics. I tend to dislike the style of the worlds that developers build. 


There is one positive. Isometric RPGs are pretty much the only type of RPG left that allows split screen multiplayer. So, despite the low quality worlds and easy-mode combat, I'm willing to put up with it in order to actually play an RPG with mate. 

Bananable

Why do people hate?
That's the real question.

Phaserlight

Jean-Luc_Picard said:

Isometric was nice in the 90s, because 3D wasn't really a possible choice.
That's no longer true, and to get the best immersion in a 3D world you of course need a real 3D rendering of that world.

Why do people still listen to vinyl?

postlarval

Phaserlight said:

Jean-Luc_Picard said:

Isometric was nice in the 90s, because 3D wasn't really a possible choice.
That's no longer true, and to get the best immersion in a 3D world you of course need a real 3D rendering of that world.

Why do people still listen to vinyl?

Personal preference. Who cares what other's think. Play what you like.

Personally, I prefer iso over full 3d. Too many 3d games use graphics to try and cover up shitty gameplay.

postlarval

Jean-Luc_Picard said:

Phaserlight said:

Jean-Luc_Picard said:

Isometric was nice in the 90s, because 3D wasn't really a possible choice.
That's no longer true, and to get the best immersion in a 3D world you of course need a real 3D rendering of that world.

Why do people still listen to vinyl?

Some part of nostalgia, some part of stupidity. And also disc jockeys doing old school mixing, of course.

While analogical audio had some audible advantages over the classic music CDs (44100khz 16bit) on very high end equipment, but that's no longer true with 192khz 24bit lossless digital music.

Other than the dumbest thing I've ever heard, it's off-topic and not the point of the comment.

Quizzical

Jean-Luc_Picard said:

Isometric was nice in the 90s, because 3D wasn't really a possible choice.
That's no longer true, and to get the best immersion in a 3D world you of course need a real 3D rendering of that world.

You can make an isometric game where the underlying rendering techniques are 3D.  It's not commonly done, as most games that could go that route prefer instead to have a 3D viewpoint with the camera simply far away.

Quizzical

In order for a camera view to be isometric, there should be an isometry involved.  Hence the name.  That is, a character is exactly the same size as it moves around the screen, rather than becoming smaller as it gets further away or larger as it gets nearer.  A basically equivalent definition up to some minor nit-picks is that the lines that are parallel in the game world appear parallel on the screen, rather than looking like they'd meet way off in the horizon.

Sector13

I hate it cause I prefer WASD controls and 99% of them use mouse movement. With an MMO mouse I literally only play with one hand and its boring to me. I just don't like it and the 50 billion reasons why my friends tell me why its that way doesn't change that simple fact.