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.

 

[Ezekiel]

Tried the demo again. Strange how soon the bell rings. The fight in the town square is longer and more intense in the original. I didn't even go into the house containing the shotgun this time.

What's the point of incorporating stealth elements, the uncool crouch and head stab, when the game always puts you against a brick wall where you have to start shooting anyway? The town square lets me only stealthily kill two women, all the rest of the villagers standing always towards the camera as I peek around the corner, or try to with this cam that doesn't let you swap shoulders.

I asked myself if Leon really took up so much of the screen in the original. I turned the original on and found that he did. I accepted it back then, and I could surely get into the game again. Played it again after the HD texture project was completely and still really liked it. But it makes me mad that I keep having to use this camera in so many games. He takes up so much central space even before the intense zoom when aiming with the right mouse button or left trigger, with no shoulder swapping, and the excuse I've seen some people make about people not being able to shoot as well with their offhand is dog shit. The characters could still hold the gun the same way, only the camera would be on the other side. Makes working the corners so crappy, way crappier than it would be for them.

Runs well. Some weird shimmering over Leon's gun. Some weird flashing plant shadows.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

In both games the village assault duration is related not just to time but also to how many enemies you kill. There's speedrun strats involving grenades where you can skip almost the entire thing.





I think in the remake you can even force the spawn of Salvador without entering the house and triggering the cinematic, just by killing the regular ganados.

 

[Machocruz]

I asked myself if Leon really took up so much of the screen in the original

I did the same recently, and like you I didn't recall him taking up so much space. The thing is he did..but also didn't. I checked some videos of the game, and was surprised to see the 'floating torso' effect that's become so prevalent in third person games today was already there (I'd say it's even worse in recent games like SH2R and AitD). But then I forwarded to the castle section, and what I saw was how I recalled it: you can see more of Leon's model, nearly down to the floor in come cases. Not always though, it goes back back to ass-crack cam now and then. The pulled back camera is superior on multiple levels, but everyone's doing ass-and-torso now, sometimes just torso. It's bewildering.

 

[Ash]

RE4/5 and Dead Space 1/2 are the only worthwhile games with camera-up-the-butt perspective. That I am aware of anyway.

Also to be fair to them, the camera does zoom out when running, or zoom in (reducing Leon's presence on screen) when aiming. Most of the playtime the camera is in these two states, not the default.

 

[Inec0rn]

You can shoot the bell in the bell tower as well to end it.. nice attn to detail.

 

[Ezekiel]

You can shoot the bell in the bell tower as well to end it.. nice attn to detail.

One bullet wouldn't make the heavy bell rock bath and forth like that.

Time traveling cheat. Precognition. Meh.

 

[DJOGamer PT]