Does first person RPGs make caves and dungeons feel more immersive?

In Skyrim that was definitely the case, and the Elder Scrolls Online is no different. However keep in mind, first-person view in the ESO is not very practical, because you often get flogged by 5, perhaps even 10 enemies at a time. In order to manage them, you need larger field of view, which the third-person perspective provides.

 

Ehh it depends on the game for me. I always thought the general scenery inside of a cave made it immersive. The look, the sound, the way the layout is. Like with Skyrim you run into the problem of always having the path right before you, it feels rigid and takes you right out of the immersion. Then you have the player made dungeons and they spend so much time putting in all of these little things that its just mind blowing.

 

Depends on the game, and if it uses other, non-graphical aspects, such as surround audio properly. If yes, that and FPS view can help greatly in immersion.

 

They definitely do. Some good combat animations and executions improve the experience a whole lot. If only ESO could get the animations from Skyrim.

 

Yes, I agree with you here. First Person Role playing games tend have a better sense of immersion inherently. It seems as if we have embodied the character and doing all the deeds. Imagine playing it with VR tech.

 

And it is getting closer! w000t
It is quite immersive, I think, but about my only complain is I can't see my body if I turn down, you know? It feels a bit weird. And most of my friends that's just starting playing Skyrim is always a bit spastic and controlling it, not sure why.

 

It is more immersive playing from a first-person perspective. In other games it may hinder functionality but in the case of the Elder Scrolls I think it works.

You don't have to be really strategic in combats that take place in caves in most Elder Scrolls games. I haven't played ESO though but as others have said, it makes sense that it doesn't work so well in MMORPG.

 

Same as AmenoKaji, I always felt that the immersion is relative primarily to our imagination coinciding the visuals and ambiance of the game. First person would make the game immersive given the right environment, Skyrim being one of these games. However, I will still get spooked up in a horror game if it was in third person.

The problem with most modern first person games is that developers add in Head Bobbing to simulate real life movement. Unfortunately what these developers constantly fail to realize is that Head Bobbing in real life is mitigated by the way our brain perceive things. That's why people don't throw up left, right and centre walking and running around. Where as inside a game that has Head Bobbing, our brains cannot process the swaying, so many of us will get sick after the first 10 minutes. Fortunately, games like Wolfenstein The New Order gave the in-game command to disable it. I think more developers should follow suit. It would finally allow me to play Farcry 3 which I bought when it came out, but only able to play for an hour and never played it again.

 

Personally, it doesn't make it feel more immersive for me.

Although, I think that IS what companies try to simulate when you put anything in the first person. After all, it means you're meant to actually BE the character, looking through THEIR eyes, etc.

 

I think outside of VR or AR it's the best we can hope for.

In the beginning, it MIGHT have felt immersive. But nowadays, it feels like any other game almost. Probably because we've been fed and abundance of first person games over the years.

 

It depends, for me it's much more a matter of mixing in good sound effects with proper lighting and me getting a feeling of uneasiness

 

Kind of? Like yeah there's more to explore and you can get a better feel for it but a lot of caves are just tubes and tunnels with very little branching and it's rather immersion breaking at times.

 

I wouldn't say so, it's just a tricky thing.

 

Yeah, I think so. I really liked Skyrim's style, and I think that it was a welcome addition in Online too. I like to actually feel in the game instead of looking at my character's ass all the time.

 

For me yes, I feel like the battle in FPS are more intensive and it gives a bit more of "reality" to the battle I must say...

 

Having first person mode in caves/dungeons definitely gives a claustrophobic and terrifying feeling as if it were to put you in your character's position. Games like Skyrim should not limit the camera to only first person, however.

 

I think a lot of them do, but not all the time. It depends on how well it is done; the layout and the general feel needs to be right, otherwise it just feels awkward. I can't think of any examples of bad ones off the top of my head though. I try not to remember the bad ones and focus on the good, lol. With Elder Scrolls, though, I'd say that it definitely helps with the immersion process. Truly "being" the character is something that a lot of games have a hard time pulling off, but a lot of RPG games with first-person viewpoint are great at it. Some first person shooters, too.