Well, I'd say I can tolerate an isometric view if the writing and gameplay elements make up for it, as with Planescape Torment and Baldur's Gate(s.) I still prefer full 3D, so isometric used as gimmick or for nostalgia holds no appeal to me. That said, I am always thirsty for new RPGs, particularly with immersive worlds and good writing. Neverwinter Nights games are excellent as far as I'm concerned, particularly for their modding potential. I've yet to play an RPG that has impressed me as much as those. The only area in which I find them lacking is character customization (visuals, not character build.)

sorry, no info on that, just my very strong wishes. having to read all that is the biggest reason why i do not own the game yet

Well as long as 'viable alternative' means 'game with the same acronym' :-P But yeah, that's kinda my point - some genres just won't work very well without decent production values

Yeah, sure, it's the typical 'Price and demand' proposition. That is what most of this thread revolves around after all, OldOldGamer being cheap :-P

Well more importantly it's a bit cheaper to produce and has its own, unique flair. It's not like there's 0 difference between 3D and 2D pre-rendered backgrounds, after all, you are a living proof of that - 3D graphics are not a straight upgrade over 2D graphics, aesthetically and gameplay-wise. 3D environments present their own set of challenges, namely they have a lot more trouble with obscuring repeated assets and environment artists need to fill a lot more angles for the same sized area so they do tend to be a lot less detailed as a result, not to mention 2D being a fair bit easier to read by default, especially in tactical isometric RPG.

The reason as to why it's not going to happen is because even the voice acting which is in the game doesn't work properly. Half the dialogue is conveyed via flavor text, the game is very much designed to be read as a book as opposed to being watched like a movie.

That would not really be feasible, given how much text is in games like this. One of the biggest reason games like Baldur's Gate died out in the first place is that spoken dialogue is much more expensive to record than the text is to write (and the voice-overs take up much more space to store than text, too). That's why most fully-voiced games tend to be much more linear than many older games were; the fact that much of the text in the game is unvoiced is how games like this one can have so many branching dialogue options, and how responses can be carefully tailored to fit your character's gender, race, appearance, profession, etc. (I haven't played this, mind you; I'm just generalizing based on other somewhat similar RPGs.)

Everything released by Paradox Interactive is too pricey. I wouldn't be expecting the prices to drop for a few years (yes, YEARS) either, judging by other Paradox titles such as their grand strategy games. And perhaps they will keep annoying us by sporadically adding a new DLC just when we thought we had the full game, or rebundling the game, or both. And no upgrade options between editions here either, because apparently we now have to make a special request for this, even though no other games company in history has ever required its customers to make such a request - honestly, what a load of tosh, Paradox ! I will not be buying this game until it is genuinely complete, as in fully patched and expanded, and is retailing at a reasonable price in comparison with similar products. From a customer's point of view (for those who remember that such a thing used to be important), Paradox Interactive irepresents everything which is wrong with the games industry.

Why? I thought DRM is the wrong thing. Sure, they are a bit heavy on DLC and maybe on the more expensive side but as long as they make good games and find enough buyers.

I actually agree that lots of DLC are actually detrimental. People won't bother making the transaction and paying for them. They basically developed some of their DLC for no audience while this content could have increased the value (and price and profit) of the main part of the game.

Economically the only question is which price maximizes the profit when you don't really know everything that is important for this decision. I guess some companies are just afraid they start too low, so they rather start too high but have enough space to become cheap if necessary. Of course customers know this and just wait. It's all kind of a ritual by now.

I think the price is quite fair. That said, I haven't bought it myself; I'm playing it through steam family sharing. It's kinda hard to shell 20€ for a game I'm already playing legally, specially when there's DLC on the way. I'll just get a complete edition when it does come out.

Oh, I'm a huge fan of the Neverwinter Nights games myself, I'm just saying 3D graphics and free camera control are not their forte (since you were explicitly talking about those aspects).

I didn't take the edit into account as I don't like to overvalue my contributions.

More like exciting new quality content vs money. I haven't actually enjoyed any Free to Play or even freeware game as much and as long as the games I listed (although what makes them good is in fact the free player made content, I give you that). Anyway, calling it an "ideology" is a bit much, and your question sounded like you were inquiring about subjective perception of value, I never claimed objective truth. But point taken; I'm not even sure if we actually disagree in what we were trying to say. ;)

Okay, obviously apart from DRM, but that goes without saying. Paradox are, as you say, certainly "on the expensive side" - I think you put it too mildly. They try every trick in the book to extract as much money as possible from their customers : multiple DLCs released at intervals and over a long period of time (you are never sure whether the game is complete yet) ; rebundling of products (they are very creative and clever when it comes to creating new "packages" for the customer, all with their own pockets rather than the customer in mind). For me, as a customer, they typify everything I dislike about the modern games publisher.

I realise that companies have to make profits to continue existing but I think Paradox are just plain greedy : their prices are generally way above average. Also, it's pretty obvious what they are trying to do ; I find it insulting as well as annoying. I imagine that if Paradox sold cars they would sell you the chassis to begin with and release the wheels (one by one) as DLC later on. In short, they take the p*ss out of their customers.

This was actually supposed to be a benefit of digital releases. Early on it was. Then publishers got in bed with distributors who cried about being undersold online and forced online prices to match the brick-and-mortar prices or lose the ability to distribute with them. Not being people to cut their own feet off, they raised the digital distribution prices instead of lowering the brick-and-mortar prices because at the time this was happening, digital distribution was still young and physical copies sold more. Now it's a matter of "We make this much, how can we get microtransactions, IAP and DLC to milk more out of it?"

Once upon a time, not every game came with DLC. Now most do because they need a way to increase their profit from the games they make, and much of the DLC they'll sell you would have been content already in game before. It kinda sucks.

An example of one of Paradox's clever (and extremely profitable) bundles : Paradox Grand Strategy Collection (on Steam). This costs £75 GBP (109 USD) - a pretty penny already. It contains the VANILLA versions of four Paradox grand strategy games : Crusader Kings 2, Europa Universalis 4, Hearts of Iron 3 and Victoria 3. Each of these games has multiple DLCs available for it too. God only knows how much you would have to pay in total to enjoy the "complete" versions of these games. Paradox have obviously created this "Collection" in order to lure people into committing themselves to the base games, in the hope that they will then shell out even more money on the ridiculous number of DLCs available for these games. I suppose from a businessman's point of view this is a clever idea. From a customer's point of view, on the other hand, it is an insult and a p*sstake. I mean, how greedy can you get ?

Note as well that Horse Lords, the latest DLC for Crusader Kings 2, was released NEARLY THREE AND A HALF YEARS after the base game was released. Now THAT is what I call milking a cash cow ! Just utterly unbelievable.

I own the game on Steam via physical copy but I will get it on GOG once the price comes down to below 10 for the complete edition. Value is very subjective and is dependent on your current financial situation. But overall I will say that quality is better than quantity. It's better to pay a higher price for a very good game than a lower price for a shit game. We gamers need to value our time more than our money.