First-Person Snapshooter: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

In the sidequest form, either taking pictures allows you to collect or “capture” your subjects, or you receive a bonus when you take pictures of certain, usually well-hidden things. On platforms without a built-in hard disk, these sorts of games are infamous for either consuming absurd amounts of storage space, or having a painfully restrictive number of photo slots.

 

If the photography switches to a first-person view, then this overlaps with [[In-Universe Camera]].

 

** ''San Andreas'', ''Vice City'', and ''IV'' also feature a mission or two where you play photographer to get some photos, preferably covertly.

** Unfortunately, in [[Grand Theft Auto IV]], the camera on your cell phone [[Dummied Out|does not actually save any pictures or do anything useful.]]

** One picture/statue can only be found if you have a Gameboy Advance and a cable to link it to your Gamecube, allowing you to complete ''another'' sidequest that spans 5 of the game's regular dungeons.

* In the first ''[[Baten Kaitos]]'', this is the only way to make money beyond the rare gimick magnus that can be sold (and you want to keep most of them for them to finish [[Evolving Weapon|changing]] to register them instead of sell). The ammount the photos sell for depends on a number of factors, but the most common are distance (proceeding with a melee attack to get close is often to your benefit), lighting (Light and dark attacks before the camera will make the photo brighter or darker, and getting the balance right is key), and if the enemy blocks the photo (less money resulting). Thankfully, 2-4 "decent" photos (less if you don't keep boss photos as a [[Bragging Rights Reward]] or get some perfect shots) is all it takes clear out every shop of their (limited but slowly respawning) inventory.

** If you wait until the fourth Act to obtain the Camera in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'', you'll find Otacon used it to take some photographs of Naomi.

* ''[[Pokémon Snap]]'' (really a [[Rail Shooter]] in disguise) had this as its central premise.

* ''[[BioShock (series)]]'' has you acquire and use a “Research Camera” as part of the plot. Using the camera to take photos of various enemies can grant you combat bonuses against them, and even power-ups! In the sequel's single-player mode, it's replaced by a video camera, which gives you more points for using a variety of attacks on the subject.

** Naturally, since ''Bioshock'' is basically "''[[System Shock]]'' 3" and its use is similar to the method for researching monsters and objects in ''[[System Shock]] 2'', though that involved using chemicals found in storerooms.

* Another old one, with a decent level of justification, the video game interpretation of ''[[Darkman]]'' had “Camera stages” where you ran through a basic Hogan's Alley taking shots of your next target. The actual ''[[Darkman]]'' required photographs to craft his disguises, so this is somewhat justified, although for some reason, the more pictures you took increased the amount of time he could stay in disguise, instead of just how good the mask looked.

* ''[[Bully (video game)|Bully]]'' had quite a few missions and sidequests that involved taking pictures, which you could save if you wanted. The NPCs make direct mention of Jimmy having a camera.

* In ''[[Spy Fiction]]'' you can disguise yourself as anyone you can photograph - either their outfit alone or their face depending on whether you can photograph them from the front or not. It makes the stealth sections remarkably easy.

* In ''[[Eternal Sonata]]'', Beat's ability to take photos of monsters is the best way to make money throughout most of the game. That is, if you can learn the game's crazy standards for what constitutes as a good picture.

* The ''[[Sly Cooper]]'' games, especially 2 and 3, have areas where Sly uses his all-purpose gadget to take some reconnaissance pictures, a natural thing for a thief to do before major operations. One mission uses the ghost-trapping idea, though.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'', an entire side game known as "Pankration" exists that requires "capturing" monsters in a camera like device to be later summoned for a [[Monster Arena|Pokemon-like arena battle]]. The photos were later used to fund a new type of [[Bonus Boss]] fights, likely to drive some traffic towards Pankration as well.

* ''[[Nancy Drew]] and the Warnings at Waverly Academy'' (2009) was ''such'' an offender with this trope. You have to, at one point, take photos of the students around the school, as well as the school itself. If you are one centimetre out of what the AI thinks is dead perfect, you have to try again. And again. And again. Not to mention that the characters taunt you if you take too long to line up the shot, and one of the students isn't even at the school, so you have to take a picture...of her picture. Gah!

* ''[[Elite|Frontier: Elite II]]'' has a class of military missions that involve taking pictures of an enemy installation on some uninhabited planet several light-years away.

* ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' has a quest where you have to take pictures of landmarks to give to [[Pen Name|Michael Angelo]], an agoraphobic neon sign designer in need of inspiration.

* Snapping photos is a plot element of ''The Lost Crown: A Ghost-Hunting Adventure''. A bit more interesting than most examples, as the photos often [[Spooky Photographs|reveal supernatural phenomena you can't otherwise detect]].

* ''Afrika'' is a photography [[Simulation Game]].

* [[The Idolmaster 2]] - You can take pictures of the girls during the stage performances after the Auditions or during the encore during Lives and Festivals.

* [[The Idolmaster (video game)|The iDOLM@STER Gravure for You]] - That's the whole premise of the game.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Videogame Effects and Spells]]

[[Category:Just for Pun]]

[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]

[[Category:Photography and Illustration]]