Wednesday 4 July 2007

Sword of the New World

I really wanted to like this game.

Really. It's got lovely graphics - where else can I dress characters in such huge skirts or so much lace? Boys and girls alike, everybody gets to be pretty. Some people complain that you can't customise those pretty pretty looks very well, or that the combat is too much like an RTS and not enough like a typical MMORPG... but personally I'm fine with just saying 'go kill those things' to my characters and letting them get on with it.

No, what wrecked the experience for me was the camera controls.

Maybe some people find it natural to right-click and drag with the mouse to see where they're going at the same time that they're trying to left-click somewhere else to actually go there. Personally, I find it mind-boggling.

Why can't I rotate the camera with WASD, or the arrow keys, or anything else? How am I supposed to left click somewhere and also right click and drag at the same time? (Well, for people who are better able to handle spinning the world around, you adjust the camera first. I'm awkward with the camera and don't want to have to freely and manually position it every single minute. If I can get it to a good angle, I'd like to leave it there and just rotate it for a while. But no can do.)

Or maybe I just need two mice. I wonder if that would work? ... nah.

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