Quote Originally Posted by Bolivar View Post
I disfavor free cameras as well. FFVII introduced the camera as a storytelling tool, and designers could use its placement to accentuate a scene and make the story that much more powerful. Giving a free camera further highlights the differences between custscenes and gameplay, and makes them that much more stark.
I don't really agree with this because I feel the transition with set cameras is just as noticeable because you'll be walking around in the dungeon and then suddenly the controller stops responding, so you suddenly realize that you're transitioning and you watch as it pans out. The fact action has to stop for the sake of dialogue is pretty much a major transition change that will jolt a player out of the game.There is also the issue that often times I don't agree with the director's "vision" of the scene. Sometimes I prefer seeing the characters over the scenery and sometimes I feel it should be the other way around. There is also this problem...

Considering most JRPGs will still load in the dialogue scene, I feel this argument is moot and that it's still very plausible to let a gamer have more free reign over the camera during dungeon and and town exploration in order to utilize more gameplay options. Story is great but I will go back to my usual position that it should never trump gameplay. Yet as I stated, I feel the fixed but still movable camera of Xenogears/BoFIII-IV is a nice compromise because it would give the director more options in order to make the dungeon dynamic looking by limiting what positions the player can see, and programming story segments into that so even if the player switches from the default right corner/ back of character view to a left corner front of character view, the dialogue sequence will just start and the director can still maintain control of how cool it looks by making sure the dialogue sequence is visually stimulating based on the limited viewing options, even if BoF, there are times when the game won't allow you to move the camera at all and I feel its fine when it fits the moment but I don't always feel the director's storytelling vision is right for the game part. I really feel this is the best compromise.