First vs. Third Person

[GuyFreely]

Trying to decide a direction to go on this. The most obvious argument to make is that first person can feel more immersive as it's the perspective we live our lives in. A faceless protagonist allows the player to project themselves into the character. On the flip side, if you are telling a story about someone but never see them, it can feel a bit disconnected. Sure you can write emotions for your player character, but if you are in first person, you can rarely show emotions for them.

One thing I find jarring in some games is when you go like an hour in first person, then you suddenly get a third person shot to kiss a chick or something and you're like "oh, I guess that's what I look like."

 

[xןʞ]

Devs who use Daz use first person because it cuts rendering time down significantly, not for immersion.

Sorry for revealing the magician's secrets I guess.

 

[GuyFreely]

Devs who use Daz use first person because it cuts rendering time down significantly, not for immersion.

Sorry for revealing the magician's secrets I guess.

Obviously, that can be a factor too. One less character to render. It's also why a lot of games use floating characters in front of static backgrounds. If it's up to the player though, how do they want to experience it?

 

[Papa Ernie]

Trying to decide a direction to go on this. The most obvious argument to make is that first person can feel more immersive as it's the perspective we live our lives in. A faceless protagonist allows the player to project themselves into the character. On the flip side, if you are telling a story about someone but never see them, it can feel a bit disconnected. Sure you can write emotions for your player character, but if you are in first person, you can rarely show emotions for them.

One thing I find jarring in some games is when you go like an hour in first person, then you suddenly get a third person shot to kiss a chick or something and you're like "oh, I guess that's what I look like."

Personally, I like a combination of the two. Third person, but never showing the mc's face due to angle/cropping.

 

[DarthSeduction]

Ewww Jericho... That's exactly the reason I was about to say not to do 1st person. It limits the angles you can show us. Having freedom of expression is the number one reason that I can't stand 1st person. That said, I also don't really care for first person in vanilla gaming. Shooters it works in, because you're able to see more of the screen and react better. It makes sense. However, the moment they try to apply that to magic or superpowers or swordplay I'm out. It is an inferior method. It limits animations, and it removes grandeur.

 

[Firebless]

I voted for mix it up. Mostly third person with some powerful first person shots at the right time.

However, I would love to see the first female protagonist game ever made strictly in first person. The problem with that could be that most players dont want to identify as being a woman. Guessing unscientifically that most players in porn games are heterosexuals males wanting to look at a sexy woman body.

Also theres the problem of hurting your neck:


So you might need mirrors everywhere:

 

[Daxter250]

most old rpgs, if not all, are "third person; bird perspective" but you still can't see any emotions in it. just remember the old final fantasy titles. yet it makes a hell of a lot fun playing them sometimes .
so im more for first person. only downside would be sex animations. you can't fully see everything, just the view your character ingame has.

 

[GuyFreely]

Seems like first person and mix it up are fairly even so far. I think I'll probably go with a mixed approach for now and see how it turns out.

 

[megaplayboy10k]

I prefer a mix. Having some renders of the MC's facial expressions would be nice. One option is to switch up the character the player controls here and there--so that you can see the MC in key dialogue scenes.

 

[262177]

First person is mostly to avoid phallic content if supposed to play some male here, though I don't really mind third either. If it's full female, anything goes as long as they don't grow that damn thing. *cough*

That said, I'm no 3D fan and enjoy 2D; since you're doing 3D, a mix seems like the best way to go, both from the developer's and player's POV (pun not intended, by the way...)