And then there comes 1998 haha. 1999 might give some reprieve, well not really lol.
The second half of the 90s were too good for gaming!

I replay them about equally, still think FO1 has better story, but FO2 is generally more open to how you do things (plus all the obvious gameplay fixes). I wouldn't mind Bethesda's Fallouts if they were reskinned and called something else, but I honestly don't find them to be good Fallout games. Now that both inXile and Obsidian are under MS, I do hope we'll get to see another Fallout that is more akin to originals - especially after all the media raving about BG3, maybe they will use momentum and convince higher-ups that there is market for old school isometric Fallout CRPG.

Yeah, I had luck with younger son, he likes to talk with me about games, about whats and hows, and likes to try them out for himself. He really loved FO1/2, but, for example, he couldn't get into Gothic 1/2, another favourites of mine that I tend to praise so much as well. Lately he's been talking about wanting to play TES II: Daggerfall - he didn't liked Skyrim, found Morrowind's scenery "too weird", so maybe he'll hit it off with the old classic. I'm more of a Might & Magic fan, but good for him.

Yes! Baldur's Gate has proven that isometric view isn't a thing of the past, but very well doable these days. Yes, I would want that. Moreover, they have with inXile and Obsidian people that worked on past isometric fallout inhouse.

From your mouth to God's ears. Imagine a remake of the original Fallout that looks as good as the Diablo 2 remake. Gosh! My mouth waters at the thought!

I can obviously only speak to the titles I've played before, but out of those from '97 I have a very definite favorite in Final Fantasy VII, which easily carries the day here for me. Just the biggest emotional rollercoaster ride I've had playing a game from that year. It also gets my vote for its monumental impact on both the role of storytelling in games and also on the direction of the console wars, playing probably the biggest role in establishing a wide lead for the PlayStation in system sales that would be sustained by the PlayStation brand for two console generations in a row.

To list a some of my 1997 favorites more broadly in the best order I can, I think they'd be...

1. Final Fantasy VII
2. Tomb Raider II
3. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
4. Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
5. GoldenEye
6. Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
7. Star Fox 64
8. Mischief Makers
9. Jet Moto 2 ()
10. Gran Turismo
11. Diddy Kong Racing
12. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
13. Enemy Zero
14. Jersey Devil ()

...something like that. Probably my most sequel-ridden list of favorites ever. Sorry about that. Oh well, just an honest list.

An honorable mention here goes to the introduction of force feedback in the forms of the Rumble Pak add-on for Nintendo 64 controllers and the original Dual Shock controller for the PlayStation. Not quiiiiiiiite what it was hyped up to be for my taste ("It lets you actually feel..the game."), but at a time when most of us were just getting used to gaming in 3D, it felt like another layer of "realism" being added to the play experience. In very select games.

And also, another honorable mention goes out to the launch of the PlayStation Underground CD magazine in 1997! This was a revolutionary way of promoting upcoming games and just generally running a mag back in the day.

Final Fantasy VII, followed by Star Fox 64 and Mario Kart 64.

Such a strong year! FFVII

I'd say Baldur's Gate 3 proved that, despite Larian's incompetence to make proper isometric view and workable camera (as opposed to games like Pillars, Pathfinder, Solasta), isometric view is still very much valid option for CRPGs.

Anyway, for all fans of original Fallouts,  Fallout of Nevada and Fallout 1.5: Resurrections total conversion mods are good way to have more of that - they are fan mods, but quite enjoyable experiences. Still patiently waiting for Fallout: Sonora translation to English...

Interesting thing you say about the camera. I tend to zoom out in BG3 as much as possible and get an overview, also using the tactical view from time to time. But I am annoyed with stuff that geometrically cuts in front and is displayed. I really liked back in the day UFO: Enemy Unknown (known as X-COM in the US). It had a 3D-model, where the height was layered and I could as a user say which layer to view, which meant everything above was cut away. I wished something like that was possible in BG3.

On the flipside though - I saw some videos of people playing BG3 on the internet, and some clearly stating they feared isometric view and like that they can zoom in on the character so it is nearly a third-person view. Same person though struggled to revive their character than they died of fire early on, as they didn't realize they control all characters, not only the one they created. They looked for an option to ask the companion to revive instead of taking control of them. I think such stuff is very interesting as it tells us a lot about game design and expectation of different players.

Yeah, X-COM got camera and verticality right. BG3 has lot of verticality (obviously, tabletop RPG mapping trend got to them as well), and while there are some really nice areas, the fact that BG3 camera is just plain awful, in addition that they've massively gimped ranges for spells and ranged weapons (longbow in 5e has normal range of 150ft, in BG3 it's 60ft), makes lot of vertical areas often unsatisfying. Which is mind blowing, given that Solasta, which is several grades cheaper game, got that shit mostly right, while staying true to 5e rules.

Generally, I find that game they were making should've been 3rd person perspective, with combat system that more resembles KOTOR - the amount of details that is visible only when you zoom in and amount of irrelevant crap that is all over the place almost cries for that. You know, for me, it feels as if they really wanted to make THAT game, but they had to go with isometric view for legacy reasons. And don't even get me started on omission of grid.