I was wondering what you guys prefer and why ?

I''d probably say 1st person for an RPG only because RPG''s traditionally focus on the player playing his/her character. IMO seeing from that characters eyes helps create that feeling of "being" the character.

A CRPG in development...

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RPG first person doesnt appeal to me, but its very different. If its a shooter shooter, than its not an RPG. If your making an RPG, dont make it FPS unless you have a good reason. FP is for specific aiming at targets. RPG''s are best in birds eye view, and 2D

"I''''ve sparred with creatures from the nine hells themselves... I barely plan on breaking a sweat here, today."~Drizzt Do''''Urden

Birds eye and 2D here too ... I love it. The ''old school'' console RPG .. can''t go wrong

Another plus for FP IMO is being able to see the sky. I just like that for some reason. Furthermore, I''d like to say that if the game were full 3D then it might as well support both becuase such a small amount of things would have to be changed to support both options.

A CRPG in development...

Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.

Whatever works. Period.

quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
Whatever works. Period.

Yeah that''s the real answer, but I guess it''s a little less than interesting


A CRPG in development...

Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.

It all depends on the gameplay and the situation.

I think that 1st person view works extremely well for for example archers.

For fighters (take for example Blade Of Darkness) a 3rd person view might work better, since they have to be able to move around, see their surroundings etc.

Basically, I see close combat to match with 3rd person view and ranged combat to match with 1st person view.

When I played Everquest, I pretty much always used 1st person view. Except for situations where I had to accurately target enemies from a large group. The targeting system in EQ in 1st person is just not great. In those moments I would switch to an overview view, which would allow me to easily pick my target, but severely limiting my view.

Every view has it''s pros and cons. If at all possible, design your game to give the player the option. But... you as a designer should always pick a preference to design your gameplay on. For me, ranged combat would be designed with 1st person view as default and close combat with 3rd person view as default. If player finds that he prefers a different approach, the design could/should give him the option to change.

You can tell the player what you think is best for him, but it''s up to him to make the final decision.

If you have to pick one view only, I''d probably pick... Darn, I really don''t know. I think it really does mostly depend on the gameplay.

Woohoo... I''m on day 7 on my C++ in 21 days course. %Another two weeks and I''ll be a master programmer!%

Both have their benefits.

My favourite RPG-style games have been top-down or isometric. This gives you a better tactical view of the surroundings, which is good for visual puzzles, tactical combat, and so on. It''s also easier to convey emotion through sprites right now.

But 1st person can be much more immersive. You can see the sky, the horizon... you can clearly distinguish between an barren open wasteland and a small area without vegetation due to the distances you can see. You can have the feeling of someone sneaking up on you. You can truly feel the claustrophobia of a dungeon.

So it depends on what you''re trying to concentrate on. For simple gameplay, I''d go for 3rd person. For atmosphere, 1st person is the way.

I think the problem for me is just that nobody has done 1st person as well as 3rd person has been done. I think making an RPG with the Thief engine or the Unreal engine could have very good prospects, except that they are essentially both zone-based engines. Ultima 9 tried to use all their own code and made a horrible mess of it. Daggerfall was quite innovative at the time but it was full of show-stopping bugs.

The 1st person perspective has untapped potential, most of which which I think is beyond an indie developer, sadly. But if you were able to adapt an existing engine to an RPG and use it well, you could have something great on your hands.

Isometric or birds eye views. I like isometric with 3D and birds eye with 2D. And, I like 2D better. It appeals to me more than 3D, probably because I like board gaes, and AD&D. But isometric is very good, and alot easier to work with. If you have an archer, like Silverymist said before, it is a good view, but it should be an option insteqad. ike, hold the bow, with an normal view, and then you can hit the a button to get an AIM. The aim sets the camera to FP view.

"I''''ve sparred with creatures from the nine hells themselves... I barely plan on breaking a sweat here, today."~Drizzt Do''''Urden