I could be in a major minority here, but I really despise turn-based gameplay. Baldurs Gate 3 is shaping up to be one of the most revolutionary and complex RPG games on the market given all the complexity and customization advertised, yet the isometric camera and turn-based gameplay is such a massive turn off for me.
I don’t know what I expected from a Dungeons and Dragons based game.
After 6 years of development and overwhelming hype due to a great (free) early-access release, Baldur’s Gate 3 is set for a grand release August 2nd that has the potential to change gaming and the RPG genre as we know it. Yet, even though I’m extremely excited by the features being teased and showcased, I can’t help but groan that the game has turn-based gameplay and an isometric camera angle.
Now, before I get into anything about the game, its features, how it could be revolutionary, and my complaints about it, let me just clarify that this is an EXTERMELY OPINIONATED article that has no real major dig at the game or developers apart from my own preferences.
I’m sure millions of people will be happily enjoying this game and its gameplay and camera style when it releases August 2nd, yet I just have to get this article out there in case anyone wonders why I don’t talk about or review the game in the future (if anyone even cares about such a review LOL).
Nevertheless, back to the game, the originality, creativity, and revolutionary uniqueness behind Baldur’s Gate 3 is how interactive and responsive the enemy and follower AI and the cinematics customization is.
Not only do enemies and allies react totally different to even the slightest of differences between lines of dialogue, actions, and ways a player interacts with a location, object, item, etc., but they would also completely change their opinions of you depending on how you reacted to a situation.
If your follower/party member was an honorable, kind-hearted character, then you murder someone in cold blood, they were really going to turn them against you.
Even if you were their close companion or even a romantic interest. In the brief time I tried out the early access release, there was tons of different ways to interact with objects, places, locations, NPCs, followers, etc. that you just don’t see in the RPGs today, so I have to applaud what Larian Studios has done with the game.
And all of that customization of characters class (there’s 45 different classes and sub classes of races!) is INSANE!
Nevertheless, I just wish it didn’t have TURN-BASED GAMEPLAY AND AN ISOMETIC CAMERA ANGLE.
(Larian Studios-Baldur’s Gate 3-Official Announcement Trailer)
Maybe I’m the only person in the world who can’t stand the isometric (or high above/over-the-shoulder camera) and a turn-based game (whether it’s a board game or a video game), but I’m going to die on the hill that they’re the worst two choices a developer can make when designing a game.
For the isometric camera angle, I feel so detached and far above from whichever character I’m playing as, while I also think the graphics are substantially worse when the camera is set in isometric. Sure, you can get a better view of the game and setting around you, but you lose all the intricate details you can only find when playing in 1st or 3rd person on different objects, creatures, enemies, locations, etc.
And, as for turn-based combat, could you pick a more boring way to create your video game’s combat system? I know people LOVE board games and the turn-based systems that really only work when you have multiple people also playing with your (i.e.: why people love board games…which I’m not one of that crowd), but I can’t stand having to wait around for the A.I. to fight back against me ONLY AFTER I attack them first (or vice versa).
In my personal opinion, one of the most vital and important reasons why video games are 1,000,000X better than board games is the dynamic, real-time, fast-paced interaction you have against the game’s computer A.I. and the boundaries set on different attacks and defenses based on your own skillset and finger-speed.
I know I’m definitely in the majority of people on this one, but I had to give a voice to my small little community of gamers here LOL!
Images Source: Featured Image: (Larian Studios) (Baldur’s Gate 3 – Official Announcement Trailer – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Larian Studios) (Baldur’s Gate 3 – Official Announcement Trailer – YouTube)
