I think the problem I had with the camera was that it was too close, and maybe I was doing it wrong but I couldn't get it to zoom out.
For a hack-and-slash beat-em-up, I find a distance more like this to be ideal:
This is Amalur:
Just too close of a view. It gives me a good view of my character but a poor view of the overall scene. Kingdom Hearts 1 was a lot like this.
--
Something witty while mentioning SuperNiceDog.
Give me a break, I'm not as clever as the Guru Champion.