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First Person or Third Person? One Poll To Rule Them All.

What Gameplay Perspective Do You Prefer?

  • First Person

    Votes: 87 26.4%
  • Third Person

    Votes: 242 73.6%

  • Total voters
    329

Chuck Berry

Gold Member
Girl Why Dont We Have Both GIF


I can't vote on this. Some of the best games I've ever played were 1st person, same with 3rd person. If a game has a choice between them I usually go 1st person, but that also depends on the game.

Came for the gif. Gracias
 

Paltheos

Member
I don't prefer one or the other but it so happens that most of my favorite games are not told in a first person perspective.

Have there been ANY good stories told in a first person game?

Fallout: New Vegas immediately comes to mind. I'd largely agree the pickings are slim though comparatively.
 

EverydayBeast

ChatGPT 0.1
First person works that’s why games like Bioshock, amnesia and call of duty were fps. Could you do both? Yeah. I think FPS is the way to go unless you’re metal gear solid or the legend of Zelda which are basically both (along shot, bow and arrow, tranquilizer gun)
 

CamHostage

Member
fourth person

Fuck yeah, get with modern times, developers, I just bought your super powerful new console and a l33t $3G PC so why the hell can you still not give me more #ths-persons than I had back on N64, is goddamned cross-gen still holding us back from true next-gen?

BTiybNnlXmstHpUR8vch9RZ7F4Ge03mzDNGZ2MhdlVWz3skmCFHrRM42nEw9iL2M76g
 
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Laptop1991

Member
Both really, as stated, it depends on the game, first person shooters i prefer 1st person, a GTA i play in 3rd, a Skyrim or a Fallout, mostly first with some 3rd
 
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Depends on game. For Indiana Jones, it should be 3rd person imo. I'll still play it but was put off straight away when I realised it was mostly first person. Machinegames isn't the right studio for this game. Bad choice.
 
There should have been different options in the poll:

- I only play 1st person games
- I only play 3rd person games
- I play both but I prefer 1st person
- I play both but I prefer 3rd person

Because I'd really like to know what percentage of games refuses to play the new Indy games.
This, I'm happy Indy is 1st person, but I'd happily play a good 3rd person Indiana Jones game. I'm just remembering the joy I had playing 'Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay', and imagining an Indy story in the true timeline.
 
i can enjoy both. but i've spent too much time in the real world to not miss having peripheral vision, which, imo, is really all that third-person game viewpoints are basically accommodating for...
 
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Mr Hyde

Member
I prefer third person, always have, but I don't mind first person either if it's done well. Metroid Prime for example is one of my favorite games of all time. Cyberpunk looks awesome. And I'm super stoked for Indiana Jones. First person can be good if you do it right. But if I had to choose one over the other, I would always go with third person.
 

Rippa

Member
Fuck first person!

Too much copy pasta with First Person.

Just look at every game with floating hands/guns on the sides of your screen. All the shooting and reload animations look exactly the same.

Just look at Avatar; it’s Far Cry Primal with a fresh coat of paint.


It’s the laziest and fastest to develop because of how little you’d have to animate.

Third person all the way!
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Half-Life series.

/thread
1 series and lets face it, it topped with HL2 literally two decades ago.

Its probably my 4th or 5th favorite game of all time but since it came out, id rank at least 10 games and their stories over it. its a better game than almost all of them but storytelling in first person held it back. jumping around while people talked to each other while ignoring a mute protagonist was retarded in 2004 and it is still retarded today.

Girl Why Dont We Have Both GIF


I can't vote on this. Some of the best games I've ever played were 1st person, same with 3rd person. If a game has a choice between them I usually go 1st person, but that also depends on the game.
Because this is the kind of attitude that results in games like Avatar, Cyberpunk and Indiana Jones where devs cant make up their fucking minds and give us third person vehicles or third person climbing and the result is an unholy amalgamation that pleases neither side.

Of course i wouldnt play CoD, Battlefield, and Killzone any other way, but when you are making an Avatar game or an Indiana Jones or Marvel superhero game, we need to be able to see the fucking thing. And thats why we have to pick sides and vote one or the other. These morons think that we want first person in everything
 
Third person always for me.

I do love Cyberpunk but that's despite it being in first person, not because of it. If I have the choice I always pick third person 100% of the times.

First person is super gross to me, feels claustrophobic, impersonal and "hollow". Also, it reminds me about the 90's when the norm was to play Doom or Quake on a desktop computer in front of a monitor with mouse and keyboard.. 🤢

And to me, as soon as you add a mouse and keyboard it feels like work and that in itself is super gross.. Let's just say it's not for me.

(Obviously you can play fps games with a controller in front of a TV just fine but the whole first person perspective just reminds me of the computer thing..)
 
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Švejk

Banned
Third. There's so much that simply can't be portrayed in first. I want to see character animation, expression, gear, better surroundings... Guess I was the one to play with GIJoes rather than pretending to be one.

Now VR? It makes much more sense for first person.
 

Meicyn

Gold Member
obviously 1st person is the ideal way to play those.
Says you.

The point you were making doesn’t land anyways. Witcher 3 isn’t less immersive than Cyberpunk 2077 just because it’s third person. Is the Mass Effect universe somehow not immersive because it’s third person? Is Elden Ring not immersive? Dark Souls? Breath of the Wild? Baldur’s Gate 3? Planescape Torment? I played through Bioshock, but Rapture would have been no less of an experience if I were able to run through it in third person.

You’d have more of a point if we were talking about well-implemented VR, where you actually feel like you’re inside the space. But in first person games played on a TV or monitor, you are still dealing with the floating camera issue. There is a complete lack of proprioception, emphasized heavily by the fact that your eyesight is being controlled by your hands, which is nothing like how we actually look around and experience a space.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Third. There's so much that simply can't be portrayed in first. I want to see character animation, expression, gear, better surroundings... Guess I was the one to play with GIJoes rather than pretending to be one.

Now VR? It makes much more sense for first person.
That's kinda the problem with 3rd person for me - it feels like I am controlling a little GIJoe in a miniature world.
 

Fess

Member
It depends.

Melee - third person.
Shooting - first person.

However, top down twin stick 360-degree shooting is awesome. The Ascent.
And sidescrolling if similar 360-degree aiming is there, awesome. Metroid Dread.
I really just like 360-degree bash the stick at the direction you want to shoot controls.
 

James Sawyer Ford

Gold Member
First person is good for Shooters, but that's about it. Maybe niche examples for puzzle games like portal too. Or VR it works very well.

But for an action adventure game? It's not the expectation at all, and it really limits the gameplay. Imagine an indiana jones game in third person but where the camera can zoom in and out similar to God of War or something, and where the combat flows like a modified version of Batman or something.

I look at the gameplay of the new first person indiana jones and it just doesn't do it for me. There's not going to be much gunplay, and the first person melee and stealth will be boring and basic AF.
 

DavidGzz

Member
Prefer third but games can be good in first person. I'm glad I gave RE7&8 and Cyberpunk a chance because I ended up loving them. First was fine in Skyrim mostly cause the third person mode sucked. I think melee is fine in FP as long as the combat is slow. Like in Condemned.
 
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_Ex_

Gold Member
It really depends on the genre.

Ultimately I prefer 1st person because it's more immersive. In 3rd person that's a character on the screen, in 1st person it's ME.
 

acm2000

Member
First person all the way as I couldn't care less about seeing my character, however third person is fine and has it's uses for certain styles of game.
 

Kumomeme

Member
when i watch movie or anime where main character walking around town, move around during fight, i want to taste that feeling.

3rd person is close experience to that since we always see the character in 3rd person view than first person through their eye. we can see our character and it move according to our control in the location among other important stuff within frame. its like you control your remote controlled racing car infront of your yard.
 
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Dazraell

Member
Eh, depends from the game

I actually think CDPR made a slamdunk choice with making Cyberpunk as a first person game. This worked quite well for making it more distinct from their other IP and a lot of gameplay systems tied to that perspective like the dialogue system made the game much more immersive to play

That being said, I'm not a fan of this choice for Indiana Jones game. Not because I have something against first person perspective in games. Not in the slighest. It just doesn't feel right, at least in my opinion. When I think of Indiana Jones games, I subconciously imagine a cinematic third person action adventure game and that idea felt more excitng to me. But I'm very much open for an idea that devs may prove me wrong with that assumption
 

KungFucius

King Snowflake
This is too binary. It really depends on the game. I guess I prefer 3rd because I use that in Bethesda games that let you switch, but really that is mainly to see the armor and jumping. But I do sometimes switch to FP when the game is just too wonky in 3rd. I guess one issue is that most 3rd person games don't care too much about aiming precision and FPS's do and aiming really sucks with controllers.
 

Markio128

Gold Member
Most of my fave games are in 3rd-person (Zelda, Mario, TLOU, Uncharted, GTA, Horizon, GOW), but there are a few I love in 1st person too. I’m currently playing Elden Ring (I will complete this game!) and it would be awful in 1st-person, as would any souls game.

Even in VR, I’d argue that there is scope for more 3rd person games, like Astrobot and Moss 1/2. I think gamers can relate more to a character when they can see them on screen.
 

Filben

Member
Both. It depends on the focus of the game.

Lately I tend to third person because I like to see my character (especially if there's a character creator) and if animations are looking good.

First person is amazing if there's lot to interact with in the environment, like in the Elder Scrolls games or in immersive sims.
 

Clintizzle

Lord of Edge.
By the way, if any of y'all want to know what a good first person adventure game is like, look up Call of the Sea. Meh story but good controls and art design.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
im glad you had to go back 23 years to find a game comparable to modern day storytelling standards. thanks for proving my point.
Comparable? It's miles ahead any of the dumb wannabe movie-games you mentioned.

And its cute you think i "had to go back", i just picked a personal favorite.

 

tommib

Gold Member
Without first person we wouldn’t get the best game ever made which is Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

Or Quake. Or King’s Field 4. Or Enemy Zero. Or Portal. Or Half-Life.

Third person is for casuals, we all know it. It’s a guilty pleasure.
 

Roberts

Member
I like fine dinning and I like a good street food meal.
I like obscure arthouse films and I like escapist entertainment.
I like brunettes, but also blondes and redheads.
I like Queens of the Stone Age and yet I also like John Coltrane
I like dogs and, holy shit, I like cats
I like first perspective games and, what do you know, I also like third person games.

I don't like shiitakes.
 

LostDonkey

Member
I can't just blindly pick a side. It doesn't work like that. It depends on the game. The mechanics, the world etc.

I don't think Gears of War would ever work in First Person for example.

Also Doom wouldn't work in 3rd person.

Some games probably would translate either way ok but I still feel it would lose something in the process. These choices aren't made on a whim by the Devs I feel.
 

Frwrd

Member
Gaf, this is your chance to pick a side, go on the record, and defend your preference below or shit on mine.

My opinion? First person sucks. It ruined Cyberpunk. It ruined Avatar. And it's going to ruin Indiana Jones and Avowed. Avowed gameplay looks so bland. Who the fuck decided to make a melee combat game first person anyway? Imagine DMC or GOW in first person. You cant because it would be retarded. Everyone loves Cyberpunk nowadays, but I am convinced that part of the reason why it had a lukewarm response was because these fantastic storytellers over at CD Project went from a third person Geralt to being forced to tell a story in first person cutscenes where you cant even see the fucking character you built with dicks and tits. Never bothered to finish it but I saw that the ending was third person. So even they realized they fucked up and couldnt end the story without switching to third person cutscenes. At least Indiana Jones has third person cutscenes.

Have there been ANY good stories told in a first person game? I cant think of any. It is insane how limiting it is from a gameplay point of view too. You lose out on so many different movesets and are limited to basic melee and shooter combat. Whats frustrating is that you can have first person views in third person games. GTA5, MGS4 and MGSV, and RDR2 all have first person modes for you psychos out there so you can do both. Let the rest of us have some good animations, enhanced movesets and some fucking connection with the protagonist FFS.
You Rock The Best GIF by Brightside
 

Bogroll

Likes moldy games
Both.
Did anyone on here think Avowed was going to be third person? Regarding Indiana Jones,I want a good game more than a good story.
I can't imagine playing Cyberpunk in TPP
 
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Aenima

Member
I rarely play FPS so 3rd person games are my preference.
I can play and enjoy games in both perspectives, but my basic rule is if the game has melee combat, it needs to be in 3rd person. All melee combat games i played in 1st person have mediocre to awfull combat.

Also some 1st person games can cause me motion sickness which made me drop them. Borderlands 2 and The Witness are 2 of them that i remember having a bad time.
 
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Zathalus

Member
Some of the best games ever made are first person.
Some of the best story games are first person.
Some of the best action adventure games are first person.

Being first person has zero indication on a games quality.
 
There's only one first person game I can think of which blew me away in recent years, more so than Pandora and Cyberpunk. It was Metro Exodus.
 
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