If we are going to mention Ancient Skool titles like "Head over Heals", in which much of my youth was sunk into: Bobby Bearing! Had a similar effect!

Well I understood iso to mean a top down perspective. Oh well, they are still great games =D

I bet no one except me even remembers this game, but Meat Puppet was Isometric. Same view as the Crusader games. I added it to the wishlist, but it won't ever be added because not enough people will know about it to vote for it. The lead character was a genetically enhanced woman in a gold outfit, I seem to recall it being very violent and having alot of profanity it in. I don't remember the exact premise of it anymore, that was over 11 years ago, but I remember enoying what I played of it.
Edit- Just hit my memory, the lead character's name was Lotus Abstraction

what about the dark sun rpg series?

You all know Microprose - but I bet you don't know one of the best semi isometric RPG's of the last 15 years they released called Darklands?! If you are a fan of Pirates and Baldur's Gate, then Darklands would be right up your alley! A pirates style roleplaying interface (nice pictures and detailed menu choices, like Pirates) and an isometric battle system developed by Sid Meier!
Unlike the multitude of AD&D fantasy RPG's. Darklands took 15th Century Germany and made a historically accurate game albeit where it made the supposition that all of the beliefs of the time would be incorporated as a reality. So although witches covens probably didn't exist in the 15th Century, the people believed they did, so Microprose included them in the game. This mean Dragons and Robber Barons are there to deal with along with many other enemies!
What makes Darklands so brilliant, is it really has no ending. Although it does have a main story that clicks in, most of the quests are made on the fly - so the game can continue indefinitely! Also, it was one of the few RPG's where time makes a difference. In most RPG's although a quest may seem 'important' you have as might time to take it on and complete it as you want. In Darklands, if you don't kill the dragon in one quest, that dragon may destroy the town where another quest you had was located! You actually get the burnt out town as a location..... But go back 20 years later and a new town may have been built and have another quest or two!
Also, your characters get old, and can be created at game start with less experience but younger (hence with stronger and more agile stats) or with more careers, hence more experience, but lower agility, etc. Characters can retire or die of old age, with new younger characters being added to the team! If you know the way your career was handled in System Shock 2, then Darklands is similar but 1000% more detailed! (This last example shows how very little in gaming is 'new'!) ! :)
As you can see, I am a big fan, and am always amazed how few people know of it!
At around the same time Microprose had two other RPG/Sims: Sword of the Samurai (become Shogun of Japan - if your family has sons and can survive the 300 years to get there!) and Sea Rogue (A treasure hunting RPG/Sim!). Both these are excellent games that nobody has heard of! What is wrong with PC gamers!!!! :)

My personal stance is really that it all depends on what kind of game you're making.
I don't buy into this unspoken creed of IF IT'S NOT 3D IT'S NOT AWESOME stuff.
There's tons and tons of awesome isometric games out there.
If the game is best suited for isometric, use isometric. If it's best suited for 1st person 3D, use that.
Developers just don't need to feel obligated to use 3D.

hahaha, reminds me of the N64/PSX era.. Games like "The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time" we considered the best because they accurately translated 2d into 3d and came out to be an awesome game. I do still play A Link to the Past and The Legend Of Zelda, I play that more than any of the 3D Zeldas.. hahaha.. that's one thing that I always thought about, in my personal opinion it's better to have a graphical representation that is distinguished. Final Fantasy 7 had some issues with that, many times I'd be walking around the map unsure where it was I was supposed to move on the image.. Many games tried to go to 3D but some games just work better, like Bomberman

Very well said phanboy4. I absolutely couldn't agree with you any more then I already do. The right tool for the right job and all that.

Couldn't agree more. 3d is not always an improvement. For one thing, it is a change, not an improvement. There is not an incrementing involved.
I love top-down/isometric games. They tend to look better to me, with a much broader color pallette and less murkily dark, browned, greyed or yellowed (ugh!) out. The environments tend to look more detailed and often less repetitive. And I love seeing your character donning ever more viciously cool gear and using it in a studly manner.

And I don't see any reference to Nox... I know it's action-RPG, but still it's a good RPG game.

Well, technically, the principle's basically the same, they're both cases of orthogonal projection (I think that's the name for it, somebody stop me if I start talking out of my ass), so yeah, I'd say that counts as isometric, too ;)

QFT...that is all

You can find some here
[url=]http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/role-playing-rpg/isometric/[/url]
;)

But there is no Darklands there, so it' shows how fantastic games can be invisible! :(