This is an example of something that contributes to chronic frustration for me, (as opposed to the more acute variety) and so I want to talk about it for a minute. I feel like this one is slowly breaking me down mentally, in the same way that its probably breaking my mouse wheel and index finger.
This control decision for the camera is emblematic of other similar fatigue issues I have with the control scheme of the game, (using a mouse and keyboard, my only option) since it feels counter intuitive as much as it feels uncomfortable to me. In pretty much every other game I've played where I can control the camera this action is accomplished by Left/Right click or toggle to enter cursor or drive camera mode. Using the wheel to zoom in/out is perfectly natural, but clicking the wheel to anchor the camera rotation is not.
Granted the camera in this game is rather different than what I am used to. Its like this cam can't decide if it wants to be an oldschool Wolfenstein '3D' shooter cam (sans Z axis rotation), or a top down perspective scroll cam like from old action games. For me the WASD drive cam for the former has felt kinda outmodded since Goldeneye game out in the late 90s so I struggle going back to it. Like I played Unreal with a mouse and keyboard, but once the thumbstick was introduced as a thing, I've preferred controllers for FPS type cams. But again this one is different, because its not a standard sort of drive cam from the players POV, but a roaming isometric type cam, as if we were operating off cables or drones to get aerial or sideline views at a sporting event. The usual keybinds for tilt and rotation or strafing that you'd want for an FPS cam aren't there, so what I find is that managing the camera feels unnatural and not meeting the expectation I have from established standards in other games. Not novel like an improvement over schemes I'm familiar with, but more akin to trying to play a shooter without being able to invert the Y Axis, where I'm just fucked. (I'm an invert type.) Its not quite so extreme as being forced to play with a reversed Y axis in a shooter, but it basically turns camera management into a really arduous and fun killing chore for me. As a a result, it wearing me down over time, and just makes the game feel tedious to play at the most basic level... just looking and moving around.
Another similar issue has to do with midrange movement commands and running after the cam. Because I can't settle into a relaxed driving cam type mode, my default is to want play as if it was an RTS strategy camera, or a scout cam. Like the original Warcraft or AoE, or more recent versions of the top down view strat game like the battle mode in Total War games say. Or even map games with a limited field of view, where you have to drag around to see the full map. But because the game is 3D, and designed for constant rotation and changes in elevation, you can't just coast with the cable/drone cam of that sort, frequently you have to swing it around for view targeting. Despite being able to scout well ahead with the camera, issuing simple movement commands to get from place to place is much more tedius. I feel like I am clicking the ground hundreds of more times than should be necessary to just advance along whatever desired path, because the selected PC has to play tag along and catch up with the camera. Instead of the wizards eye in the sky, the way I would want top down scrollers with a wide area of action, this game feels almost more like an old sidescrolling action game. Like Mario basically, the way I imagine it would play if you had to use cursor to hop around instead of the D pad. You know, like where you have to make a bunch of incremental jumps and dashes all the time. Basically playing catch up with the camera all the time. Constant mouse clicks intruding on the process. But unlike Mario, there's no real engagement here, since we're just talking about walking around for A to B.
Again I don't think I'd have a problem if the control scheme felt consistent with what I'm used to in one direction or the other, controller based FPS scheme fine, or a cursor based RTS scheme also fine. But this one feels its a weird hybrid of the oldest versions of either scheme, and can't quite decide which one it wants to be. It makes me feel like I am playing an old nintendo game ROM on a PC, in an era before contollers were available, and so the only way I can describe it is that the controls feel like a port from an intended scheme over to an unintended one.
Anyone else get that feeling? Or hate click-mouse-wheel to rotate cam as much as I am?
When I saw it in the tutorial, with no way to edit the keys, I was pretty confounded. Like they really want me to click and hold the wheel that much?
Is there a padmapper for this game for an Xbox controller?
I'd prefer to play BG3 with a mouse and keyboard, but I think I'm at my limit with it the way the current camera works.
Last edited by Black_Elk; 23/12/20 03:58 AM.
