With Graphic Overrides in Archicad 20 you should be able to create an X-Ray style view. It might even be more powerful because you can create recipes for particular elements/layers/etc. that you want to go into "x-ray" mode. The overrides will let you use any material you want (ice blue / glass clear / etc.) and you can create your own if your prefer of course.
I agree with you on the Orbit function. It's not intuitive enough.
PS - It really helps if you select something near the center of where you want to orbit.
matt johnson
archicad since 2004
imac 27, 4.2 GHz Intel i7, 16 GB RAM, radeon 575 4 GB, macOS 10.14.6
imac, 4.0ghz i7, 16gb ram, Radeon M9 390 2GB, OS X El Capitan