Help Him Increase The FOV For God’s Sake Chat

13 responses to “Help Him Increase The FOV For God’s Sake Chat”

1. 

   transientmind

   July 19, 2021 at 10:22 am

   Why do people make such a big deal about FOV? I’ve never had to hop in there and change it ever in my life, games have always looked fine the way they come. Is it basically preening, a short-hand for, “Look at me, I have an ultra-wide monitor that needs special settings,” or something?

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   1. 

      White_Pointer

      July 19, 2021 at 10:43 am

      I think in many top-down games, like strategy games, FOV matters because it allows you to see more of the battlefield without needing to scroll the screen. For a first person game like this though? Yeah, debatable why you’d need to change it at all.

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      1. 

         Alex Walker

         July 19, 2021 at 11:17 am

         It’s usually more for first-person. Some people need adjustable FOV for things like motion sickness, for instance. Some are just old and want to be able to set their FOV to the same thing for every game because that’s how they like to play things.

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      2. 

         sandprism

         July 19, 2021 at 11:20 am

         It helps with people suffering motion sickness, aligns the brain’s expected viewing angle with what is displayed.

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   2. 

      mobydeux

      July 19, 2021 at 11:33 am

      Help Transientmind increase the FOV for god’s sake kotaku

      Reply
   3. 

      troubletcat

      July 19, 2021 at 12:36 pm

      Really low FOV gives me a headache. I understand why so many console games have low FOV – if you’re further from the screen it’s actually alright, and apparently it helps performance (although I have never noticed any FPS difference at all from changing FOV myself, people say it makes a difference…) but on a monitor you’re close to narrow FOV makes it feel like you’re looking at the world through a toilet paper roll, and as I said, I find it gives me a headache after a little while, although I dunno exactly why.

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   4. 

      Kasterix

      July 19, 2021 at 12:43 pm

      In the case of Skyrim (or any of Bethesda’s Fallout games) I have to increase the FOV to about 90 or I really can’t stand playing them. I dunno if I can really explain they ‘why’ of it though.

      Some games with the first person ‘console’ FOV (typically about 70 or so default) just seem… off. It has to be something with how the developers have decided to use the space on screen for me, the display and scale of arms/hands/weapons or such compared to the peripheral. Because there will be some games where it doesn’t bother me, but others will absolutely result in an extremely unpleasant experience to the point where I have to stop playing if it can’t be altered.

      There are even third person games now and then where the FOV seems excessively boxed in to me, and in those cases it can kill my enjoyment of the game if I don’t alter it.

      And for what it’s worth, I have only ever had a pretty standard 16:9 screen. Can’t stand ultra-wide monitors, and the FOV would actually have to be something much higher than a mere 90 or so to not look real screwy at ultra-wide resolutions.

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   5. 

      bass400

      July 19, 2021 at 12:56 pm

      I don’t have big issues with FOV generally but I really think it depends on the game. For example, I really got into Dying Light recently, which focusses on melee-zombie killing, and it has pretty terrible (and non-adjustable) FOV. Constantly attacked by enemies just out of sight to the left and right while going hand-to-hand. Maybe it was a design/resource decision, but I really hope the sequel does better.

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      1. 

         akeashar

         July 19, 2021 at 1:19 pm

         I’ve not had to change the FOV but I think your point is definitely part of why some people want to be able expand it. Particularly in first person, people could want to ‘cheat’ the system by being able to see more than they should be able to see. Particularly with multiplayer games where the person with the widest monitor and POV could give themselves unfair advantages by being able to more readily see opponents trying to flank them.

         If it was a realistic first person POV, then it should be a pretty narrow cone extending out from your shoulders. Which people, particularly with ultra-wide or multi-monitor setups, want to be able to see more than that.

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         1. 

            troubletcat

            July 19, 2021 at 2:30 pm

            I don’t think realistic POV is a ‘narrow cone’ at all – actual vision is close to a 180 degree arc, way wider than most default FOVs and considerably wider than very many games even support. You’re not generally super aware of stuff around the edges of your field of vision in real life, but if things move in that area you’ll notice it – its an important part of real-life situational awareness.

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   6. 

      pokedad

      July 19, 2021 at 5:59 pm

      I’m first person games, a low fov makes me want to throw up.

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      1. 

         transientmind

         July 19, 2021 at 10:55 pm

         How often does that happen that you have to change it from the default to something that won’t make you queasy? Or do you now pretty much change the setting as the first thing you do whether it needs it or not, like someone who habitually adds salt to their food before tasting it, even if it’s already been seasoned (because salt is frickin’ delicious)?

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         1. 

            Kasterix

            July 20, 2021 at 1:00 am

            I can’t answer for them, but I know personally I’ll try it first and change it if I feel I need to.

            Though in the vast majority of cases it is almost immediately apparent after moving/looking around for a moment if it feels ‘off’ to me. Brains and perspective are really just screwy sometimes.

            Reply