1st person vs. 3rd person

[JRD]

You should try InFamous... ask spaceboy about both games  ;)

[spaceboy]

man...funny how this discussion has progressed!

I agree with mandru that it comes down to gameplay, 1st or 3rd it has to feel right which is of course different for everybody.  I think the best 3rd person scenarios involve platforming, fighting, and ranged attacks like God of War, Assassin's Creed, Tomb Raider, and inFamous (get to that in a second).  For pure shooters I can see why 1st person is preferable because it seems more natural to aim down sights instead of in 3rd person.  Games that are true FPS vs. adventure action games with shooting elements seem made for 1st person.

For me, just give me an entertaining experience with good characters, story, and graphics and I'm happy as a clam.

As for inFamous - that game was overall my favorite experience of 2009.  The story and characters were interesting, gameplay was a blast, and the graphics were great.  A decently sized open world with probably the most fun platforming in getting around, plus unique weapons to take out the baddies.  Cole is an awesome superhero (or antihero depending on what karma you play in).  If interested hit me up on the inFamous boards

[mandru]

I found this elsewhere but my comment seemed more appropriate here.

Now I wish you could blackmail people on FC2... imagine if you could have a merc getting those tough diamonds for you in Pala or even planting an IED somewhere  ;)

Gonna put that on my FC3 whishlist  ;D ;D

There was a 3rd person platform jumper series that I loved under the branding Oddworld.

Abe's Oddyssee and Abe's Exoddus had excellent graphics for the time and played surprisingly smoothly on my dinosaur of a system two computers back. Some of the situations and sight gags were split a gut funny and at other times I got the brain sweats trying to figure out some of the tougher puzzles.

In the second Game, Abe's Exoddus, (getting back to the quote above and the primary reason for this post before I go off on a rant  ;D) the main character had the ability to chant and possess the will of an enemy character and for a period of time to walk around in that other characters skin causing as much havoc as possible and then when you let go of them their heads would explode! While not exactly a bribe it still allowed you to walk into situations safely where otherwise you'd be spotted and killed immediately, usually in a gruesome fashion. 

I spent a lot of time with those two games and loved that franchise and it's characters until Oddworld turned their back on the PC crowd. They slammed the door on the gamers that had bought in on the novel concept and given them the funds to drive their ongoing development by jumping to XBox and never looking back.

Hmm... In retrospect that probably explains part of my resentment towards console games and why I'll never buy another. It seems that every time I buy a console within a year there's an announcement that there will be "No More Games For You!" unless you buy our new upgraded system guaranteed to be faster, smoother, carry more exciting titles and even though it's a few hundred dollars more expensive than the system you've just bought it will surely be quickly phased out for something bigger faster and more expensive.  :D

True, it was just the Atari 2600 and the first NES that I got burned on but how many times do you need to be snake bitten to learn a lesson? I don't have the money to play along willingly with that program so I'll stick with the PC format and build for longevity.

So in the 1st person or 3rd person discussion I vote for companies that avoid treating their customers as Non-persons.  ;D

[spaceboy]

that's an interesting take on the console vs. PC discussion mandru because more often the feeling/perception is that it costs more to game on PC. In fact when I got into gaming I switched to the original Playstation because I felt it would give me a longer time before needing to upgrade ...my then few years old PC was already starting to be on the low side of recommended specs.

Anyways, I think those early experiences you have are not necessarily the case in today's market.  The PS3 and X360 have and will have a long life as they have enough horsepower to render great graphics and gameplay.  I don't think either's successor is in the cards anytime soon. The original xbox had a pretty short life, but the PS2 has been out for 10 years now I believe and games are still developed for it and the console still sells around 100k units a month (around there). 

One argument is that the console's get cheaper into their life span so unless you're an early adopter or there is a must have game out on it for you, then you can wait a year or so and get into it for less dough. 

anyways we may need a PC vs. Console discussion thread now lol.

[mandru]

...we may need a PC vs. Console discussion thread now lol.

It's not really an "X -vs- Y" issue.

While I may have some heat behind my position in a preference discussion as you convincingly noted there is always equally valid room to stand on the other side of any discussion comparing preferences.

It's a lot more likely that my experience has just been a chronic ongoing case of every time I decide to get on board with something, be it tech, fashion trends or what ever, it's just about the time it goes out of favor.  :P

I do use the computer for a lot of other things. Some graphic design, music composition and word processing among other things. So I can justify putting a bit more into a multitasking unit over a game console that may also play blueray discs.

That puts me right back into the territory of "My DVD player hasn't worn out yet and I'm trying to limp it past what ever's going to be introduced after blueray becomes old outdated tech."  ;D

[spaceboy]

every time I decide to get on board with something, be it tech, fashion trends or what ever, it's just about the time it goes out of favor.  :P

hilarious.  :-X  At least with fashion I tell myself wait long enough and boring/classic will be back in style again...

Yeah I know, I don't mean "vs." in a bad way either, but it's interesting the perceptions that are created - for instance it seems so expensive to be a PC gamer, but if you're smart and upgrade the components over time (vs. buying a whole new system) it's a much more reasonable solution - but I assume alot of people don't know how and therefore don't consider PC gaming an option.

I'm just happy I can at least afford (money and time) to be gaming at all...our PS3 gets alot of action between me and my son (and now even my daughter plays LBP with my son a lot).  I'm also glad our Wii is getting some action now thanks to WiiFitPlus (it's actually alot of fun)

[JRD]

... anyways we may need a PC vs. Console discussion thread now lol.

Some of you guys might split it at anytime, but I'll leave my opinion now.

PC - Always... and for a very simple reason.

A PS3 here can range from about US$ 700 to 1,000... a XBOX is about the same.
That's because consoles are imported and taxes are skyhigh around here... only recently PS2 was launched in Brazil... something like 9 years late  :(
And that's because our currency is strong compared to US Dollar... US$ 1 = BR$ 1.7... during rainy days it can be twice as much... you can buy electronics here for 2,5 times the price in the US in average  >:(
(on a side note... it also account for my liking of STEAM)

I can upgrade my PC for half that price (parts are made in China  ;) ) and will have a super machine running all games (excepet those console-exclusive, obviously  :P ) and a computer to run my programs, internet, printer, scanner etc..... ok, a PS3 reads bluray etc... but who cares  ::)

I lived with a friend who also happened to be a gamer freak and experienced all kinds of joy a PlayStation can bring to a human being so I know how good it is and will never rant about consoles...
But the reasons for my choice are clear for most of you for sure  ;)

[Dweller_Benthos]

For me, I greatly prefer 1st person. There have been a few games where I did use 3rd person, Jedi Knight, for one, where I had it set to switch to 3rd whenever I used the light saber since combat was easier with it that way. Another was Heavy Metal FAKK 2 since the Julie player model was SWEET and just plain fun to look at. But most of the game I spent in 1st person, at least for the combat stuff.

But the game that turned me off from 3rd person was WAAAYYYY back when in the early days of PC gaming, the original Alone In The Dark, which was all 3rd person. The problem with it was, each room or section of a room had it's own camera and it was static and only could show that one perspective. I suppose they did it that way to add suspense to the game, which it did, because you couldn't see things that were behind objects since the camera angle didn't show them. Then there was an ENTIRE LEVEL that was completely dark, no light at all. And it was a maze. Oh wait, you might have had a match or torch that would light up a small area around you, but if you had used it all up before you got there, you had to find your way through in the dark, which I guess is the point of a game with that title. But entering a room and being confronted with a completely black screen is enough to make you give up on the game. At that point, though, you were almost at the end and not likely to do that. So, I did a trial and error of forward so many steps, left turn, forward, left turn, etc until I finally made it through. I was really bummed to find out I had to go back the same way! Luckily, at that point, other things you had done in the game had turned the lights on so it was easy getting back.

But that experience and Wolfenstein 3D coming out at almost the same time cemented my preference for 1st person. After DOOM came out, there was no going back.

[Art Blade]

I was just trying to remember some of the FPS I played on PC.

Wolfenstein3D 1992, DOOM 1993, DOOMII and Rise of the Triad 1994, DukeNukem3D 1996, Quake ('96?), QuakeII and HexenII 1997, Halflife and Heretic2 1998, KingPin:Life of Crime 1999, Return to Castle Wolfenstein 2001, Call of Duty 2003...

Just for you guys, found a W3D review. By the way, apart from the funny accent, "Argh, mein Leben!" (argh, my life!) doesn't really make sense in German. Nobody would say anything like that, but I guess it was just part of the game, trying to sound German.

view in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQP69-OG4Is&fmt=18
view normal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQP69-OG4Is

[PZ]

... I'm definitely a FPS fan and I also like 3rd person adventure/shooter games.
Having a few RPG elements is a good thing when the dose is enough to bring some diversity and choices to gameplay but never too much as to make me consider each and every action I take because IT WILL change the way the game unfolds considerably.

I have to agree with JRD - I dearly love Fallout 3 (am playing it with greater frequency as time passes due to the ability to install mods), but the one thing that bothers me a bit is that I often regret choosing a certain path because I know that the game will take an entirely different turn.  Not that it is a bad thing, but it is not what I'm accustomed to by playing FPS games.  I actually admire those that are fond of, and can effectively play the RPG games ... me - I nearly always make the wrong decision  ;D

[Art Blade]

I nearly always make the wrong decision  ;D

Funny, isn't it, in real life you do things right and in games, you screw up...

your statement reminded me of JRD's statement (different topic, though):

Thats the fun in games... you can do things that won't w@&k in real life  ;)

;D

It doesn't matter what decisions you make as long as you make a decision (and as long as the game allows you to). That is the replay value of RPGs, you can go down one path in one playthrough, another one in the next... Sometimes choices can be made a couple of times and the outcome is different each time. RPGs take a lot of time to play through (the ones I know) so that is the only downside with regards of replay value: it simply takes too much time to play every variant, even if you play only three variants, you spend so much time you may lose interest in a forth or more playthroughs (unless you become an aficionado) :)

[PZ]

lol, very true on all counts...  ;)

[mmosu]

@ Art: nice shout-out to Rise of the Triad!  :-X  I had completely forgot about that one!  I used to love when people would explode and you would see an eyeball or something rediculous come flying at you!

[Art Blade]

cheers :) To me it was a souvenir from spain, hence special memories. Imagine, me on the beach, reading a game mag about it and the CD retail box in my rucksack... I couldn't wait to get back to Germany to play it :)