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Best Isometric cRPGs


Isometric Computer Role-playing Games



Dominating cRPG History for two decades isometric computer role-playing games are those whose area-graphics are presented in ¾ top-down view. Due to this perspective party-based tactics are facilitated and combat aesthetics are enhanced.

If given a choice cRPG connoisseurs and tactics aficionados will always choose isometric or similar perspectives. Always, and without exception. Such veterans will never, ever choose first-person or over-the-shoulder viewpoints or cams because those are for Arcade Action RPG Games, not tactics cRPGs.

Computer game journalists and academicians should differentiate between 3D cRPG and isometric cRPG.

Being 2D and viewpoint-fixed isometric playing fields by definition can only be scrolled, scaled or flipped horizontally or vertically. If the viewport is rotated it is no longer isometric.

Also, top-down by itself means plan view (as opposed to side elevation). If the cRPG employs an isometricesque playing field, top-down should be prefixed by ¾ (that is, "¾ top-down view").

Isometric playing fields can usually be scrolled.
Games with 3D cams do not scroll by definition.
There is no such thing as "cam scrolling" or "3D scrolling".

It doesn't matter how many times unlettered mainstream hacks use those ignorant terms, neither exist and neither will either ever exist.

Cam movements are referred to with cinematic terms, such as trucking. Journos have incorrectly referred to 3D viewports as scrolling ones since the 1980s. Four decades later, they still can't get it right.


Without exception, any First-person or OTS Action RPG Game would have been superior in 2D isometric or 3D isometricesque perspective, with precise point-and-click control and turn-based combat. That includes Morrowind and even Deus Ex 1.

Of course, the movement and positioning rules would need to be refactored and standardized, but that is the whole point: the isometric tactics cRPG is infinitely superior to the Casual Arcade Doom-style RPG Game. cf. Doom 1 Review.


Isometric cRPGs are invariably point-and-click in nature. There can be no compromises; there is no substitute. If an isometric-style cRPG relies on WASD for movement, it is written off immediately as a complete and utter laughing stock.


Isometric cRPG Engines can employ auto-scrolling of the viewport anchored to the avatar position (Diablo 1) or allow for anchorless viewport scrolling with mouse-look (Jagged Alliance 2). The former are basically arcade games whereas the latter are proper tactics cRPGs.

cf.



As X-COM UFO Defense and Jagged Alliance 2 have proven 3D graphics and cams (e.g, Silent Storm) are NOT prerequisites for advanced tactics such as cover, verticality and destructibility.

They have also proven that there is no limitation of the isometric perspective that cannot be overcome through coding and design techniques.


List of the Best Isometric cRPGs


Ranked in order of their greatness the best isometric cRPGs are as follows:


If we go by technical employment of the perspective alone, the order is:

  • Jagged Alliance 2
  • X-COM UFO Defense
  • X-COM Apocalypse
  • SMAC
  • Fallout 1 / Fallout 2
  • Arcanum
  • Diablo 1
  • [yawning gulf]
  • The Rest

The player will note how clear the battlescapes are in the above games; how tactical is the movement and how precise is the positioning of combat units. The top three (god-tier) also feature seamless transition between interiors and exteriors, which is a truly prestigious inclusion that increases immersion. And verticality and destructibility. In terms of battlescape tactics and presentation they remain unmatched decades subsequent to their release.

This is also because the God-tier employ discrete tiles for area rigging. For more info on the virtues of tile-based area design please consult Baldur's Gate graphics and X-COM UFO Defense Review.

Inarguably, the best isometric action RPG is Diablo 1. It is worth noting however that action RPGs can never attain the prestige of turn-based tactical cRPGs. (It's like junkfood vs. fine cuisine).

While Jagged Alliance 2 is supreme on an absolute level (Jagged Alliance 2 is the best isometric game ever made) relative to historical context and available software and hardware technologies X-COM's persistently turn-based battlescape reigns supreme.

If you want to get into the original X-COM in 2024, I recommend OpenXcom. That said, apex isometric tactics are found in Jagged Alliance 2 1.13.

Quote from cRPG Definition:

Isometric Projection the Defining Perspective of cRPGs


cRPGs that employ 2D isometric projection and isometric-esque angles are favored. The isometric perspective is notable for its facilitation of tactics and visual superiority. 3D cams that lock to an isometric-like perspective can be acceptable (Silent Storm), though rotation, zooming and dollying along axes rarely results in superior tactics or increased gameplay efficiency. Indeed, in most cases the opposite is true: the player ends up wasting time with cam-wrangling or even stuffs up their tactics thanks to the cam.

As is evidenced by the likes of Jagged Alliance 2, there is no limitation of the isometric perspective that cannot be overcome by coding and design. For the most part, the employment of 3D in cRPGs was a mistake.

The First Isometric Computer Game



The first isometric computer game was Sandy White's Ant Attack of 1983 on the ZX Spectrum. Ant Attack even featured 4-way screen-scrolling and verticality.

However, due to its image-masking routine, calculated time of release and focus on environmental interaction and exploration, Ultimate Play the Game's Knight Lore of 1984 on the ZX Spectrum had more influence on cRPGs.


Axonometric Projection


The Zaxxon shoot 'em up of 1982 is one of the earliest examples of axonometric projection in a video game.


I have used "isometric" as a general blanket term substitute for axonometric projection. Dimetric, trimetric, isometric and oblique projections are types of axonometric projection. Basically any ¾ top-down bird's-eye view. This is simply because most people I've encountered know what is generally meant by isometric; because the term is commonly employed in order to contrast with two-axis side elevations or plan views, aka fully top-down bird's eye views (below left).


For example, Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 are technically trimetric (below: Fallout Nevada):


And Pool of Radiance of 1988 employs dimetric battlefields:


The worst perspective in a cRPG ever: oblique projection in Ultima 7 of 1992:


Here you can clearly see the difference between ¾ top-down pseudo-isometric TIS backgrounds (Baldur's Gate: left) and proper tile-rigged trimetric area design (Fallout 1: right).


Pre-rendered backgrounds are garbage in comparison to tile-rigged area design, which is the undisputed King of 2D playing field design due to its increased clarity, accuracy, functionality and interactability.

The are a few reasons that so many designers and programmers eshewed real axonometric perspectives in favor of pseudo-isometric bird's eye perspectives:

  • Ignorance (the most common reason)
  • The math behind real axonometric is non-trivial
  • Real axonometric demands much more CPU power due to image-masking (= you need good coders)

***

3D RPG Games will always be in the shadow of isometric cRPGs. Always.

And by the way, I am not against 3D graphics. I am only against its uneccessary employment in genre that don't need it. If I was against 3D graphics I wouldn't espouse the virtues of Quake now, would I.

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