Quote:
Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP
Interesting. Can you explain why it isn't both of those things? Because to me it's clearly direct control movement despite employing only a mouse (and I actually used it in at least one conversation as an example that mouse-based interface and direct control aren't mutually exclusive). Telltale has started using basically the same method recently (just with left click) as an alternative to keyboard and gamepad, and I had no doubt it is direct control, as well. And I have no idea why you wouldn't call the view isometric.
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Now you've made me doubt myself!
1. To me this isn't quite direct control. Essentially you are using the mouse to click on an area which the player will then walk to. Now granted, that is a slightly misleading thing to say, in that you have to hold down the mouse button, and to
some extent guide the path of the character, but it is not the same as arrow keys or WASD direct control.
In other words, the control scheme is, to my mind, much more similar to the classic Point & Click style than it is to "direct control" style games ranging from Pacman to modern day FPS.
The difference is in the clicking on a point on the screen to move to, even if you might well keep moving that point. You click somewhere and the character follows to that point (or moving point).
Whereas in what I would call "proper direct control", i.e. arrows/WASD/console controller, you are propelling the character to move in one direction out from where they are, not to follow to a particular position, but to move in that direction so that character is "leading" rather than "following". Or perhaps moving out from where they are rather then following to where you want them to be. You are making the character physically move out one way, rather than asking him to move to a particular point.
Having said that, I do accept (as previously said) that this game has the "feel" of direct control to some extent.
I don't know if I have explained it very well and am quite happy to accept other opinions as equally valid!
2. Isometric screen. I may well be wrong about this...
What springs to mind for me with Isometric screens are games like Civ 2 with tile by tile movement, or Diablo, made up of those particularly shaped isometric tiles. Sanitarium (and this is the bit I may be wrong about) gives the feel of being isometric, that "diagonal on" feel, without strictly being made up of these tiles at the precise angles.
As I say i'm now not quite so confident of the statement and will accept abuse and frying pans from all if this is so!
(Apologies for the length of post).
