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curl-6 on 10 January 2015
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spemanig said:
curl-6 said:

I'd argue it's much more immersive to see through a character's eyes than to be watching them in third person from a disembodied camera.


I'd argue that Metroid is immersive one it's own merits and I'd argue that Metroid is not the franchise that benefits from that immersion enough for it to be a staple of the 3D games. I don't consider Samus an avatar for the player, so I see no tangable benefit to seeing the world through her eyes. You were never expected to "see the world through Samus's eyes" until the Prime games. That was never a part of the franchise until those games. Samus, as a character, is spry and acrobatic. She's nimble, yet wieghted. She's arguably more acrobatic than even Mario. That is completely gone in the Prime games.

Someone might argue that Mario or Zelda would be more "immersive" in the first person, but the games would be lesser products in that perspective because it, by it's very nature, removes core and integral aspects of the franchise for that slight boost in immersion.

One could say that The Last of Us would be more "immersive" in the first person, but that would be seriously underselling what makes that game immersive in the first place. TLOU doesn't need a helping hand for it's world to be more immersive.

Metroid, even more so, doesn't need first person to immersive. It oozes with atmosphere because of its level design and it's creature design. It doesn't need the helping hand of a helmet view, which wouldn't be an issue if it didn't mean throwing away and neutering half of core aspects of the franchise as a result, which is platforming. I don't mind that the Prime Trilogy takes that departure, as the games are unique for it, but it shouldn't be indicative of the overall direction of the franchise in 3D, that leaves so many core aspects of the franchise that can never possibly be expanded apon in the first person.

The hardware of the NES/SNES simply didn't allow for a "through Samus's eyes" perspective.

If I feel like I am the character, that I am inside this alien world, that immerses me more.