Hello,

we all know that games are developed for console and if lucky get ported to PC... actually if lucky get halfways optimized for the PC platform.

Two things that I personally dislike:
1) The narrow field of view that most (if not all) console 1st person games utilize, which causes for a fair amount of PC players nausea and dizziness which can result in headache afterwards. A minor health issue that get's ignored by companies in a big fashion (solition, an in-game field of view adjust).
2) HANDS OF OVERKILL. Basically you see mega hands, without wrist or joint that dominates a fair bit of the screen and weapons look like giant steampunk monsters.

You can already see both things in the first screenshots. Maybe the hand is held real close to the face on purpose, as sort of an indication for a sneak mode? I can't tell, but if so, than it could have blur (like in Crysis 1, buttstocks of weapons that are close to the players view "fade out" with blur). On strike, the arm would however reach out further than console... ehem, I mean further forward, so that it looks authentic, like the character actually reaches out to grab or stab the opponent.


Good day.

I'm actually really concerned by the FOV too.

There's been an overwhelming amount of PC shooters with UNPLAYABLE FOVs. Bad company (2), the Halo ports, ANY Gearbox game, it's ridiculous. Even games that are obviously tailored for the PC but have some ports to the console like Metro 2033 follow this ridiculous behavior.


It's very early on though, there's a chance it can be fixed now as long as the FP hand models actually exist beyond half way down the forearm.

Borderlands FOV changed with co-op. Just saying

It's not just potential headaches. A narrow field of view is really noticeable in BioShock, for example. That, coupled with enemy behaviour (splicers jumping in your face continuously) is a big reason why the combat in BioShock was terrible. It was such a pain trying to aim at fast, jumping enemies with that narrow field of view.

One of the reasons for the large hands/weapons might be the narrow fov approach in console games, so console players might see their details properly from their sofas, but weapons and hands aren't bound to the fov but just designed the way they are (to accommodate the fov), so changing the fov afterwards doesn't change the fact that hands/weapons remain oversized. A proper approach in a game would be that the fov level is like zoom, a narrower fov makes things look bigger in your view, so the weapons are too, but using a wider fov should also "unzoom" the arms/weapons, so you might see more of the world and more of your arm.

What concearns me more however from looking at the first Dishonored screenshots is simply the obvious console gaming design mindset. Why do you need to have the giant hand in your view all the time? Wouldn't it be more realistic to have your view unobstructed if you look forward and seeing the arms if you look slightly lower (where they stay at the bottom of the view if you keep looking lower) and you'd naturally see much more of your arm (not as much as in reality, but more than console games usually). It's not like you're sneaking around with a boxing stance having your fists right in front of your face.

Keep in mind this game is using Unreal Engine 3, I'm assuming that changing these things will be trivial for PC players.

My question is:

How is stealth in FPS possible?Even with lean and an AI similar to DX:HR,you will be easily spotted.

how does smaller FOV give headaches? Since when does it utilize fancy tech such as 3D?

Lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f93zdgx0PS0

@ResonanceCascade:


It all depends on what abilities you're given. DXHR keeps those short in favour of a well developed 3rd person cover system. Sound is the element you make use of, you don't see, but you can hear if someone moves by close, you pay attention to shadows, make use of darkness. Leaning works, believe it or not.
3rd person cover system stealth is a weaker and more accessible stealth. You think less, you simply ghost-spy over corners. I loved the older Splinter Cell games, but a real stealth game is 1st person!

I don't know about console players, but many PC players have problems with a narrow field of view, myself included. Reason for me is that a smaller FOV is basically like your view is zoomed in all the time, regardless of mouse sensitivity you need to move the mouse more in order to keep awareness and the objects on your screen are moving at a fast speed if you sway your view around (because they are so close), which stresses the eyes and can cause headache and dizziness.
A wider FOV on the other hand allows you to view a larger piece of environment without moving the mouse and if you have to look to the sides, you don't require a lot of mouse movement and objects on the screen are not flying through your view at such rapid speed. Less mouse pushing, more steady view, less rapid events on your screen, all this is much more calming to the eyes.

Needless to say that a 1st person stealth game benefits from a wider field of view for awareness sake and orientation. A wider field of view means more control and control is what we PC players like to have in our games.

Of course, the disadvantage of a wider FOV is that objects at the distance are smaller and less detailed, as a compromise, games that require you to deal with distances allow you to zoom in, in order to aim or simply focus. I don't like zoom, but I accept, or even welcome it as a compromize, because it is a benefit if you can focus on very distant objects when aiming or simply looking, but if you need to look around and examine the closer environment you simply zoom out again.
The game Thief has a good FOV and allows you to zoom, but I never even used the zoom, so at least to me the wider FOV is nothing but an advantage.

I knew about thief stealth series,but never really watched it.But watching that just showed me how intense it could be.

And thanks Psychomorph for explaining there; I guess I am a little spoiled by console TPS stealth ala Splinter Cell

The Thief games are the best stealth games ever made because the simulation is the richest. Among other reasons, it stands out because of how important sound is. In a lot of console 3rd person stealth games, sound doesn't matter as much because you can swing the camera around and watch guard patrols easily without exposing yourself. In DX:HR you even have a radar showing you where all the enemies are (ugh). In the Thief games you have to listen to guard footsteps closely, be careful about your own footstep noise, and generally be very aware of the environment. According to a preview, our footsteps in Dishonored will make different sounds based on the surface we're on, which gives me hope that we'll see some of the depth of Thief's stealth game.