Is Deadfire the best looking beautiful isometric RPG?

[Somberlain]

Is Feargus Microsoft paying OP for this?

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Divine Divinity was certainly beautiful and I prefer it over the new look of their games. Diablo 1 comes to mind, and a bit of Diablo 2. Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and Planescape: Torment, too. Kingmaker is also quite purdy for a modern isometric. I dunno, I prefer the look of the old isometrics personally. I don't like the cartoon-ish look of modern isometrics as much.

 

[Safav Hamon]

The graphics aren't cartoonish. They're vibrant and colorful, as a reflection of the Polynesian cultures the Huana Pel Ury take inspiration from in real life. You have plenty of areas that adopt a darker and moodier color palelete, depending on the tone the location is trying to convey.

Dark, Moody, and Oppressive

 

[Safav Hamon]

I dunno, I prefer the look of the old isometrics personally. I don't like the cartoon-ish look of modern isometrics as much.

Kingmaker is quite purdy for a modern isometric.

The irony of this statement isn't lost on me by the way.

 

[Safav Hamon]

We can also conclude that Deadfire has the most atmopsheric dungeons of any game.

Spoiler

 

[2house2fly]

Shame there are maybe half a dozen dungeons of any size, including the DLC

 

[Safav Hamon]

Two megadungeons- Forgotten Sanctum, Rimebound Temple/Beyond,
Six large dungeons - Engwithan Waystation, Fort DeadlightThe Old City, Ashen Maw, Drowned Barrows, Splintered Reef
Seven medium sized dungeons - Cignath Mor, Hanging Sepulchers, Oathbinders Sanctum, Berkanas Observatory, Engwithan Arena, Pahowane, Arkemyrs Manor

They're all much higher quality than the shit they had in Pillars 1 too (excluding TWM).

 

[Incendax]

Putting aside the mechanics, Deadfire is a gorgeous game.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

The irony of this statement isn't lost on me by the way.

You must have a different definition or irony then because there is none there. I said I prefer old-school isometric looks, but I classified Kingmaker by calling it a modern isometric. As far as modern ones go, it's nice. Pillars 1 was cool, too. But I still prefer the original isometric looks overall.

 

[2house2fly]

I'm hesitant to call the BOW dungeon a "megadungeon" and we don't actually know how big the Forgotten Sanctum is yet

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

If you absolutely must praise a game's isometric graphics, at least choose Faery Tale Adventure II: Halls of the Dead (1997), where the visuals at least look like computer graphics rather than toy models.

 

[DemonKing]

Deadfire does indeed like nice and the background animations have come ahead in leaps and bounds, although I still feel for pure atmosphere the original Icewind Dale might be ahead.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

You forgot the poll

 

[Safav Hamon]

You must have a different definition or irony then because there is none there. I said I prefer old-school isometric looks, but I classified Kingmaker by calling it a modern isometric.

I just found it odd that you criticize the cartoonish look of modern isometrics, and then say Kingmaker looks good even though it's the most cartoonish looking isometric of them all.

 

[Immortal]

I still feel for pure atmosphere the original Icewind Dale might be ahead.

That's not a fair comparison.
IWD had Jeremy Soule.. Entering Kulduhar for the first time..

 

[Safav Hamon]

The White March surpassed Icewind Dale in atmosphere.

Spoiler

 

[TemplarGR]

Deadfire does indeed like nice and the background animations have come ahead in leaps and bounds, although I still feel for pure atmosphere the original Icewind Dale might be ahead.

Yes. No isometric game has ever managed to recreate the atmosphere of the original Icewind Dale for me. It is like Witcher 3, games like these is like losing your virginity, there is pre-losing it and after-losing it. After playing Witcher 3 you can't go back to other AAA shit, and after experiencing the atmosphere of Icewind Dale you just can't get immersed into other isometric shit.

It is not just the great art direction or the great music. It's not just the sum of its parts. It is the whole. A very well designed dungeon crawler that exemplifies what was good about dnd crpg dungeon crawlers...

I am so sad most idiots falsely believe it was a cash grab spinoff and inferior to the vastly overrated BG2... In reality Icewind Dale had more soul than BG2 ever hoped to have. BG2 was your typical AAA sequel.

 

[Mexi]

PoE and Deadfire are both beautiful looking games.

 

[tritosine2k]

. The pre-rendered assets just look much more organic IMO.

...

...

Missed the point: there is no "isometric arms race"
there are systematic errors (translating into lower sales bc. demographics and what not).. Plus if you think environment artists wouldnt prefer realistic lighting that holds its own against 3d you are very mistaken, bud.

 

[Safav Hamon]

One of my favorite things about Deadfire is the amount of high quality sexy Tekehu fanart it has produced.

Spoiler

It inspired me to create this dank meme. Use it whenever someone states the blatantly obvious

 

[J_C]

Deadfire does indeed like nice and the background animations have come ahead in leaps and bounds, although I still feel for pure atmosphere the original Icewind Dale might be ahead.

Yes. No isometric game has ever managed to recreate the atmosphere of the original Icewind Dale for me. It is like Witcher 3, games like these is like losing your virginity, there is pre-losing it and after-losing it. After playing Witcher 3 you can't go back to other AAA shit, and after experiencing the atmosphere of Icewind Dale you just can't get immersed into other isometric shit.

It is not just the great art direction or the great music. It's not just the sum of its parts. It is the whole. A very well designed dungeon crawler that exemplifies what was good about dnd crpg dungeon crawlers...

I am so sad most idiots falsely believe it was a cash grab spinoff and inferior to the vastly overrated BG2... In reality Icewind Dale had more soul than BG2 ever hoped to have. BG2 was your typical AAA sequel.

When I think you are a lost cause, you redeem yourself with a comment like this.

 

[HoboForEternity]

. The pre-rendered assets just look much more organic IMO.

On stills maybe,physically implausible hard shadows pretty much ruin it and 3d characters feel detached without blending in. Could use some sort of new lighting process and environment should be descripted instead of pre rendering entirely.

They look pretty blended in to me. Also, they are not 3D.

But let me guess, another one of those who played the "enhanced" edition only, right?

... or how to make characters look like stickers stuck on the background.

damn the EE looks ugly af. it's like you stamp paper mario srpite on crpg background

 

[FeelTheRads]

Missed the point: there is no "isometric arms race"
there are systematic errors (translating into lower sales bc. demographics and what not).. Plus if you think environment artists wouldnt prefer realistic lighting that holds its own against 3d you are very mistaken, bud.

Care to use normal words instead of whatever the fuck you get out of google translate? Systematic errors? Wut?

I really doubt the shadows were an "error" or that they had any impact on the sales. And in fact they don't "ruin" anything.

But yes, I'm sure it could be improved technically. Except CyberWhale was talking about the artistry, not the technical aspect.
I did touch on the technical aspect showing that unless you play the Beamturd version, the sprites (NOT 3D characters) blend well enough with the rest of the game. In fact Beamturd thought they blend in so well that they decided to make them pop-out like cardboard cutouts. I'm guessing the modern audience can't process graphics that don't look like cartoons.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Beautiful is overrated.
How many loading screen for one "beautiful screen" ?

Divine Divinity is definitely up there, it still looks better than many other games even though its engine is old and dated. I prefer the Divine Divinity look to any other later Larian game tbh. The artstyle was better as well, a good combination of serious, Diablo like themes with a bit of cartoony elements. Now its all cartoony. The Water reflections were really neat and I remember being mightily impressed by them back then.

Beautiful graphics without loading every 30 seconds, what else do we need ?
Was the leap from this one to PoE 2 worth it ? Absolutely not, pure decline.

Same here, watching the "EE" screen made me puke, by the way, this dog modder has to be put down, quick.

If you absolutely must praise a game's isometric graphics, at least choose Faery Tale Adventure II: Halls of the Dead (1997), where the visuals at least look like computer graphics rather than toy models.

Downloaded it, reviews aren't amazing but it's refreshing how simple graphics looks this good, i have to try it !

Thanks for the find.

 

[Jacob]

They look pretty blended in to me. Also, they are not 3D.

Are you 100% sure those aren't 3D? Then what are those? Paintings? Physical movable scale models?