Something just getting me from behind is cheap, too.
The point is that its a
natural cheapness. People sneak up behind us in real life all the time. Hell, we get surprised by people behind us by just not paying attention. Having me get shocked by something, or simply being unable to accurately shoot something my character can clearly see simply because the camera went out of its way to hide it is "video game" cheap, and clearly the developers trying to engineer a scare.
May as well just throw us in pitch darkness, playing as a blind guy, sort of like The Quiet Man but blind instead of deaf. Maximum limited vision.
...That gimmick might actually work in a way if used cleverly, so I'm not sure it's technically a good point lol.
There actually is an indie game where you play a character who literally can't see anything. Its not because they are blind, but because their entire town is covered in unnatural darkness, to the point that light itself can't pierce it, so you literally can't see anything on screen but text boxes describing what your character is hearing, feeling, sensing, tasting, and smelling. Its a text based game, but an interesting concept as you feel your way through the town.
That again feels cheap to me, essentially free scares and free cheap shots. Horror should come from much more than just being jumped by shit you can't see.
Oh I agree. But lets be honest; jump scares are a well trodden tool in RE's tool set at this point. One of the very first scares in the original Resident Evil, and one of the most memorable in the game, is a jump scare. Horror is primarily a product of atmosphere. Which isn't really dependent on camera angles.
I'm repeating myself, but the fixed camera lends itself a more cinematic flair on top of being conducive to a better gameplay experience than being attacked offscreen.
A good chunk of classic RE is literally being attacked by things offscreen. They do it all the time. As for the cinematic aspect, I'm tired of games trying to look "cinematic". I just want a fun game. And there are plenty of non-fixed camera games that are "cinematic". There are ways to achieve that even in first person. But I would rather the game actually inspire in me a sense of dread, not make things feel "cinematic".
The point of the fixed camera angles wasn't so much about jump scares, it was more about simply giving the games a cinematic, more unique atmosphere than other games, third person or first person changes the feel a LOT when compared to the classic games.
Actually, the fixed camera angles were a result of Capcom:
1. Having to work around the PlayStation's obvious hardware limitations
2. Not knowing how to create a first person horror game. The original RE was actually supposed to be in first person, but first person horror games hadn't established themselves as a genre yet, and the only examples of first person games that the RE team had were games like Doom and Quake; not exactly horror games. So, they went with a model that had already been shown to work in
Alone in the Dark.
First person is a legit approach, but so are fixed, cinematic angles, it sucks that it's an either/or thing and we can't have it both ways.
An issue with current development standards. Companies like Capcom need to chase what sells. They just don't have the time or money to turn back the clock. So its up to indies to do that. Just like indies are keeping the torch of sidescrolling platformers alive, so Mario doesn't have to do it.