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Key · 08-21-2015, 10:31 AM

Something I have noticed about myself when playing video games is that my overall opinion on certain types of genres change drastically as I play those genres of games more. Some would say that's an obvious change and it's meant to happen because i'm growing to appreciate what the genre holds, and others would say differently. I want to talk about a "genre" of gaming that i've been really latched onto over the last year or so.

I'm sure there are people who are familiar with the term "top down camera". If you're not familiar with it, basically it just means that in the game you're playing, instead of your camera sitting behind your character or in a 2D fashion, it sits above your character and it moves along with your character from above. There are a lot of pros and cons that go along with this type of perspective, but it's really been one that I seem to have latched onto much more than I have with any other genres before. From recent memory, I think what really pushed me to appreciate a game in this perspective was Torchlight II. On my first post in this journal actually, I did talk about Torchlight II, in fact, I even said in the first sentence of that post that I wasn't a big fan of the top down POV that the game revolved around, but obviously things have changed since then and it's become one of my favorite games of all time. If you're still not familiar with what i'm talking about, the Diablo series shares this same concept in terms of top down POV, more specifically Diablo II and Diablo III. Honestly, the only reason i'm talking about those two specifically is because I've played a few hours of Diablo II and have seen gameplay of Diablo III, and both do a fantastic job at showcasing what the top down POV can really offer.

Now, there are obviously some cons to playing games with this sort of POV, and i'm sure some of those cons are obvious just based on my description of the POV itself, but i'll talk about some anyway. First and foremost, if you're used to being able to see in front of you at all times and figure out where you're going based on the environment around you alone, you're in for a bad time. The games that offer this sort of POV have a sense of mystery as you progress through the map. You can't see what is in front of you, and you can't see what's behind you. In my opinion though, it kind of makes things a bit more exciting, especially if there's a boss monster ahead of you. Not being able to see the boss monster in advance adds a bit of difficult to the game and I think that's a great way for people to kind of prepare themselves for the worst even if the worst isn't going to show up. It's honestly just one of those things you'll get used to the more you play these type of games because it really ends up being more fun than difficult, at least in my experience. Another con about this type of game is that most of the time with top down POV games, they're very click intensive. Some games do a fantastic job at finding a balance between using the POV and making sure the combat is easy enough to wrap your head around so that you're not struggling to press buttons just to unleash a few attacks. Torchlight series has done a fantastic job at finding that balance because the combat in those games is nearly flawless. Games like Dungeon Siege however are more revolved around technical combat, but still...it's not so much that it's not balanced. I can't really remember playing a game where the combat was necessarily bad or unplayable in this type of game, but i'm sure there are some out there.

Now, I guess I could talk about a game that I don't think i've talked about in this journal before, but i'd have to check.

How To Survive

How To Survive is in basic terms, a top down perspective zombie survival horror game. Now I know what you're thinking..."great, another zombie survival horror game". Well, yeah, it is exactly that, but from my experience with this game, it was actually done quite well that everything seemed to fit together and the gameplay experience was fantastic. You basically wake up stranded and you have to learn how to survive. Everything from the combat, to the story, to the quests, and even the crafting are done in a way where it's simple to learn it, and worthwile to master it. It's been a while since I've played this game because I think around this time, I was also getting into Torchlight II and that game took precedent for probably obvious reasons. I wouldn't say How To Survive is my go to game for this type of genre or gameplay style, and I wouldn't say it's one of the best games I've ever played, but it's up there in being a game that I enjoy playing when I'm in the mood for it.

Ok fine, i'll talk about another game i've been playing...

Dungeon Siege III

Dungeon Siege III is of course the 3rd in the line of the Dungeon Siege series. If you couldn't figure that out on your own, there's something wrong with you. Anyway, I picked up the 3 games for a total of 5$ on Steam, and although I was more excited about playing the first one mostly due to nostalgia, I actually found myself latching onto the 3rd game much more than the other two, so much that I decided to not even bother finishing the installation of the other two. This game has a few things that I don't like, but a lot that I do like. First off, I don't really like how the HUD is set up, more specifically where the character info is displayed. I have to be fair though since this game was released a few years ago and game developers didn't really know any better, but it just looks like this game's HUD could have been made in the DOOM era and it still would have fit. Honestly, that's really my only gripe about the game so far because everything else just feels really good and strong. I've talked about this game in the "What Game Are You Playing Right Now?" thread so if you'd like to see what else i've said, you can head over there, I just figured i'd mention it here for ol' times sake.

Anyway, those are my thoughts and games on the top down perspective of gaming. I honestly think that right now, this type of genre is incredible underrated. I know that there are older retro games that use this type of perspective like the Pokemon games or things like that, but with the ability to make a game in this perspective with the graphics styles of games of the current era, I really think there's a lot of potential to make an amazing game that uses this type of perspective. *hint hint* Torchlight III.

08-21-2015, 10:31 AM	#237 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	Something I have noticed about myself when playing video games is that my overall opinion on certain types of genres change drastically as I play those genres of games more. Some would say that's an obvious change and it's meant to happen because i'm growing to appreciate what the genre holds, and others would say differently. I want to talk about a "genre" of gaming that i've been really latched onto over the last year or so. I'm sure there are people who are familiar with the term "top down camera". If you're not familiar with it, basically it just means that in the game you're playing, instead of your camera sitting behind your character or in a 2D fashion, it sits above your character and it moves along with your character from above. There are a lot of pros and cons that go along with this type of perspective, but it's really been one that I seem to have latched onto much more than I have with any other genres before. From recent memory, I think what really pushed me to appreciate a game in this perspective was Torchlight II. On my first post in this journal actually, I did talk about Torchlight II, in fact, I even said in the first sentence of that post that I wasn't a big fan of the top down POV that the game revolved around, but obviously things have changed since then and it's become one of my favorite games of all time. If you're still not familiar with what i'm talking about, the Diablo series shares this same concept in terms of top down POV, more specifically Diablo II and Diablo III. Honestly, the only reason i'm talking about those two specifically is because I've played a few hours of Diablo II and have seen gameplay of Diablo III, and both do a fantastic job at showcasing what the top down POV can really offer. Now, there are obviously some cons to playing games with this sort of POV, and i'm sure some of those cons are obvious just based on my description of the POV itself, but i'll talk about some anyway. First and foremost, if you're used to being able to see in front of you at all times and figure out where you're going based on the environment around you alone, you're in for a bad time. The games that offer this sort of POV have a sense of mystery as you progress through the map. You can't see what is in front of you, and you can't see what's behind you. In my opinion though, it kind of makes things a bit more exciting, especially if there's a boss monster ahead of you. Not being able to see the boss monster in advance adds a bit of difficult to the game and I think that's a great way for people to kind of prepare themselves for the worst even if the worst isn't going to show up. It's honestly just one of those things you'll get used to the more you play these type of games because it really ends up being more fun than difficult, at least in my experience. Another con about this type of game is that most of the time with top down POV games, they're very click intensive. Some games do a fantastic job at finding a balance between using the POV and making sure the combat is easy enough to wrap your head around so that you're not struggling to press buttons just to unleash a few attacks. Torchlight series has done a fantastic job at finding that balance because the combat in those games is nearly flawless. Games like Dungeon Siege however are more revolved around technical combat, but still...it's not so much that it's not balanced. I can't really remember playing a game where the combat was necessarily bad or unplayable in this type of game, but i'm sure there are some out there. Now, I guess I could talk about a game that I don't think i've talked about in this journal before, but i'd have to check. How To Survive How To Survive is in basic terms, a top down perspective zombie survival horror game. Now I know what you're thinking..."great, another zombie survival horror game". Well, yeah, it is exactly that, but from my experience with this game, it was actually done quite well that everything seemed to fit together and the gameplay experience was fantastic. You basically wake up stranded and you have to learn how to survive. Everything from the combat, to the story, to the quests, and even the crafting are done in a way where it's simple to learn it, and worthwile to master it. It's been a while since I've played this game because I think around this time, I was also getting into Torchlight II and that game took precedent for probably obvious reasons. I wouldn't say How To Survive is my go to game for this type of genre or gameplay style, and I wouldn't say it's one of the best games I've ever played, but it's up there in being a game that I enjoy playing when I'm in the mood for it. Ok fine, i'll talk about another game i've been playing... Dungeon Siege III Dungeon Siege III is of course the 3rd in the line of the Dungeon Siege series. If you couldn't figure that out on your own, there's something wrong with you. Anyway, I picked up the 3 games for a total of 5$ on Steam, and although I was more excited about playing the first one mostly due to nostalgia, I actually found myself latching onto the 3rd game much more than the other two, so much that I decided to not even bother finishing the installation of the other two. This game has a few things that I don't like, but a lot that I do like. First off, I don't really like how the HUD is set up, more specifically where the character info is displayed. I have to be fair though since this game was released a few years ago and game developers didn't really know any better, but it just looks like this game's HUD could have been made in the DOOM era and it still would have fit. Honestly, that's really my only gripe about the game so far because everything else just feels really good and strong. I've talked about this game in the "What Game Are You Playing Right Now?" thread so if you'd like to see what else i've said, you can head over there, I just figured i'd mention it here for ol' times sake. Anyway, those are my thoughts and games on the top down perspective of gaming. I honestly think that right now, this type of genre is incredible underrated. I know that there are older retro games that use this type of perspective like the Pokemon games or things like that, but with the ability to make a game in this perspective with the graphics styles of games of the current era, I really think there's a lot of potential to make an amazing game that uses this type of perspective. hint hint Torchlight III. Last edited by Key; 08-21-2015 at 10:37 PM.