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[pramod]

What bothers me when I play FPS games is the basic presentation of the gameplay. You are 90% of the time aiming at some small target far away, trying to shoot it.

So it doesn't matter how cool or well designed the enemies are. Most of the time they appear in the game far from you where you can barely see what they look like.
Because of the inherent nature of shooters, you want to kill the target when they are as far away as possible. The game becomes mostly a snipe-fest where you run around looking at empty space most of the time.

I think some game designers recognize this issue and have designed their games to compensate:
In Resident Evil, you're in very confined spaces so enemies are usually very close up to you when they appear.
In Vanquish, you're mostly fighting big bosses or enemies so they appear large in the screen.

Western devs don't seem to recognize this issue though, or don't think it's an issue at all. I think this is also why typical Western style FPS games aren't very popular in Japan. I think people find them unappealing for the reason I've stated.

I think this is one of the main reasons I couldn't finish the Mass Effect trilogy. After a while it just felt like I'm playing a shooter.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Play DOOM Eternal. Or any "boomer shooter" like DUSK or Amid Evil.

The problem you describe is not inherent to FPS games, it is to FPS games that only have hit-scan enemies. But even then the problem can be solved with some clever level design and enemy placement, imo.

 

[Patrick S.]

It's an inherent problem of FOV and display size. Nothing much you can do about.

 

[Mozzarella]

I think the enemy design of a game like Doom Eternal is superior to any TPS i have ever played.
Actually FPS as a genre is way superior to TPS.

Edit: Oh you are talking about enemy design visually and not mechanically, in that case i dont really know, i have not bothered to look at it, can you post pictures and examples and explain what do you mean? because i dont really remember which is better.

 

[01011001]

it's more an issue with realistic shooters not much of an issue with anything else on the market.

in Doom Eternal you are actually encouraged to be extremely close to enemies because they are your main source of health and ammo pickups.
you have a finishing move you can perform, which is how you extract the most health pickups,
and a chainsaw which is how you extract ammo.

in Halo you often are in close quarters fights against multiple of the enemy types in those games, because some of the strongest weapons in the game are close ranged or most effective in close range, like the Shotgun, Plasma Sword or Rocket Launcher.

in boomer shooters like Ion Fury there are usually not that many great long range weapons, and also your ammo is limited so you want to mix it up and not waste all your long range ammo on enemies that you could get close to and fight with close range stuff.

so IMO, your issue is not present in most Shooters that aren't realistic shooters/military shooters

 

[Pejo]

I kinda agree OP, that's why I like run and gun games like Vanquish. It's more about feeling cool and doing cool stuff than having pinpoint aiming. I also don't like playing shooters with M+KB despite their inherent advantages.

 

[01011001]

I kinda agree OP, that's why I like run and gun games like Vanquish. It's more about feeling cool and doing cool stuff than having pinpoint aiming. I also don't like playing shooters with M+KB despite their inherent advantages.

Vanquish is not a run and gun shooter.

Run and Gun shooters are shooters where your gun/weapon is always independently useable from your movement.

basically classic Halo up until Halo 3, older shooters like Doom 1/2/64, boomer shooters like Ion Fury or Quake.

if your movement options get in the way or your weapon it's automatically not a Run and Gun shooter anymore.
a sprint button that lowers your weapon or a climbing function that lowers it like in modern Doom games and most shooters in general nowadays.

 

[Pejo]

Vanquish is not a run and gun shooter.

Run and Gun shooters are shooters where your gun/weapon is always independently useable from your movement.

basically classic Halo up until Halo 3, older shooters like Doom 1/2/64, boomer shooters like Ion Fury or Quake.

if your movement options get in the way or your weapon it's automatically not a Run and Gun shooter anymore.
a sprint button that lowers your weapon or a climbing function that lowers it like in modern Doom games and most shooters in general nowadays.

Well what would you call Vanquish then besides a TPS? It certainly encourages combining traversal and combat.

 

[ChoosableOne]

Sell your Steam Deck and get a proper monitor. Or, play F.E.A.R.(or Trepang 2) and dance around your enemies as long as you like.

 

[fart town usa]

What bothers me when I play FPS games is the basic presentation of the gameplay. You are 90% of the time aiming at some small target far away, trying to shoot it.

So it doesn't matter how cool or well designed the enemies are. Most of the time they appear in the game far from you where you can barely see what they look like.
Because of the inherent nature of shooters, you want to kill the target when they are as far away as possible. The game becomes mostly a snipe-fest where you run around looking at empty space most of the time.

I think some game designers recognize this issue and have designed their games to compensate:
In Resident Evil, you're in very confined spaces so enemies are usually very close up to you when they appear.
In Vanquish, you're mostly fighting big bosses or enemies so they appear large in the screen.

Western devs don't seem to recognize this issue though, or don't think it's an issue at all. I think this is also why typical Western style FPS games aren't very popular in Japan. I think people find them unappealing for the reason I've stated.

I think this is one of the main reasons I couldn't finish the Mass Effect trilogy. After a while it just felt like I'm playing a shooter.

How bizarre. I had the same exact feeling/thoughts not too long ago while playing something. I can't remember the game though.

I'll edit the post if it comes back to me.

 

[cormack12]

I think the most inherent problem at the moment is fps games forcing stealth. Its shit.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Depends on the game.

Military games where you get killed in 3-4 bullets will have people shooting from a distance unless they are a run and gunner with an SMG or shotgun.

Games with bullet sponge health and lots of cover (Gears) will rarely have long distance fights unless someone is using a sniper rifle. But COD you'll get people using M16s picking off people from 200 ft out.

 

[01011001]

Well what would you call Vanquish then besides a TPS? It certainly encourages combining traversal and combat.

there is no established term I can think of.
I personally would call it a Character Action Shooter, simply because the focus is on the abilities of the character you play and it's conceptionally related to Character Action Beat em Ups like Bayonetta with the ability to combo moves into eachother.

but in terms of the most basic things you can do in the game it's technically a Cover Shooter I guess... although, I think "TheGamingBrit" came up with that description, a cover shooter that punishes bad players by making them play a cover shooter is what describes the game conceptually the best because you only use cover for starting other moves if you're good, and only if you are bad will you actually use the cover mechanic as cover

 

[Fbh]

Yeah it's one of the reasons I vastly prefer more arcade shooters than military ones.

But I don't know why you frame it as an issue with "western" games. Games like Doom Eternal make finishing off enemies at close range a core mechanic of the game. Halo has always been good about allowing you to get close to enemies, same with Destiny, Titanfall has smallish maps where it's about mobility and getting into robots to face other robots head on, games like Shadow Warrior even add melee weapons like swords

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

I think this is also why typical Western style FPS games aren't very popular in Japan. I think people find them unappealing for the reason I've stated.

Lol, as opposed to the Japanese FPS that aren't very popular in Japan?

Western FPS games used to actually have up close enemies more often years ago, because the idea was to have them in your face making you have to shoot quick, but now FPS games focus more on the graphics and effects in the game world, along with less twitch gameplay, so there's less of a reason for you to get close to an enemy or one to get close to you unless you are being swarmed.

Third Person hooters however I'm confused at what you mean. You list Vanquish, but you are only close to the enemies in that because it's not really a TPS and you dash to an enemy and punch it to death. Resident Evil is a horror game so it makes sense why the enemies would be prominent in the corridors.

But for the other Japanese TPS games, they aren't much different than the western ones.

 

[DerivedDataCache]

Pretty BIG target.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

That's why also I don't understand people setting FOV to 120+ "hey let's see nothing and see like a fish", that's ridiculous and ugly.

 

[JTCx]

Vanquish is the GOAT.

 

[The_Mike]

Play less sniper elite and more call of duty OP

 

[Punished Miku]

Splatoon is good too.

 

[01011001]

That's why also I don't understand people setting FOV to 120+ "hey let's see nothing and see like a fish", that's ridiculous and ugly.

if you pla a competitive shooter on anything below ~110 you are at a severe disadvantage.

also I personally get motion sick at anything below 90°