Capcom Resident Evil 4 Remake - out now for PC/Playstation/Xbox

[Ash]

We're going to have to readdress those problems, because you're missing out on some of the best games ever made with that mindset. Forget Half-Life, I chose that for accessibility and broad appeal to newcomers. Duke Nukem 3D, System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Arx Fatalis, Unreal, Everspace, Blood, Fallout: New Vegas, Morrowind, Quake and many more, one should simply not miss.
I recall you protesting first person games before...something to do with spatial awareness? I think I called it out too. Please consider that the relevance you are giving to that is misplaced.

Firstly, third person doesn't even offer that greater spatial awareness, not in shooters anyway, even those with the camera at a decent distance behind (rare especially in modern shit). More spatial awareness yes, but it isn't a huge deal or difference. Devil May Cry or something, yeah it makes a big difference, but shooters not so much, and often in shitty ways anyway (cover shooting "gameplay").

Secondly, First person handles spatial awareness in other ways, namely enemies telegraphing actions with sound. As a player you can and should take it even further with high FOV settings and high camera sensitivity (turn your character completely around in 0.2 seconds).

Thirdly, lack of spatial awareness can be a GOOD THING for game design. We're in a Resident Evil thread, where fixed camera is celebrated for the view restrictions it imposes. Weren't you also in the MGS3 thread shitting on the whole free camera thing the remakes and rereleases added? Therefore you understand on some level that restrictions can often be a good thing.

Lastly, Even disregarding all this, let us pretend the slightly lesser spatial awareness is actually a big deal - it would still be foolish to write off endless amount of top-quality games from camera perspective alone. Every single standard camera perspective has great games to offer - Third person behind cam, Isometric, Fixed cam, Side-view, Top-down, First Person. Even the shitty modern practice of third person with the camera right up the protagonists ass still has some good games to offer (Dead Space and RE4).

 

[Ezekiel]

It's not only spacial awareness, though that aspect (including judging distances, which is important in hand-to-hand combat and for jumping) sucks pretty badly in first person view, enough to make me never want to create a game in that perspective even if I were fifteen years younger and had infinite money.

2. Can't compensate for lack of equilibrium. As you roll, crash to the ground, somersault, cartwheel or, more simply, quickly change directions while looking around in a third person game, the camera remains level, and in real life your brain maintains balance, letting you still know where up his thanks to those stones in your ears. First-person view is hectic, disorienting, spinning crappiness, where the smallest movement of your character throws the whole world exactly that much, with the world so close that it's all accentuated.

3. Don't want that big weapon and forearm(s) right in front of me, tied perpetually to where I'm looking. I want to be able to punch or swing my weapon in one direction while looking in another (and I want to know where my character is as I shoot the gun, rather than be a floating head with legs that I neither feel nor see, including the incline that I'm on). Having my character's direction change as they run just because I try to visually check the environment feels quite restrictive after playing so few first person games the last few years. The constant checking of the level slows the running in Mirror's Edge down a lot. In third person, some of the walls in denser areas of the city would need to become transparent or the camera would need to go closer, but it would be a better game.

Only VR gets around these problems, and nobody is making serious VR games. I don't have to play first-person shooters again just because there are criminally few good third-person shooters. Would rather just not play shooters anymore, or very rarely.

 

[Ash]

I think you may be genetically nerfed here then. I have zero issue with orientation, platforming (I love FP platforming), my sense of positioning in space or anything of that nature.

Having my character's direction change as they run just because I try to visually check the environment feels quite restrictive after playing so few first person games the last few years. The constant checking of the level slows the running in Mirror's Edge down a lot.

You can move and look in opposing directions in first person games, I guess you are unaware. Your issue here is the sprint mechanic, which locks camera to movement. A lot of modern third person games do that also, for example Gears of War.

I want to be able to punch or swing my weapon in one direction while looking in another

That's fair for melee combat games. But not shooters. Generally, third person is better for brawling, and first better for shooting, this is reflected in the games over the years - the best shooters are FP, the best melee games are third. This is only a general rule though, as there's amazing games of each style regardless.

 

[Groover]

Enemies can teleport grab you, and there's no reliable way to avoid this move.

You can dodge grabs by crouching in the remake

This works like 20% of the time hence its unreliability.