Actually most people seem to play those games in third person
Count me into that group. It is pretty cool to customize your character and see it running around in such a big world. You also have a better sense how you relate to space and you can see the wolves coming before they bite you
The thing is that you don't want to fight in the 3rd person view
I see your point, but since neither game has a proper hitbox system, it is pretty useless to shoot a magic ball (or an arrow) to the head, stomach or.. to the knee
I think that is why Fallout 3 was so outstanding, even more than the Elder Scrolls games: it combined both worlds (3rd person and 1st person) very well by letting the player decide if he/she wants to shoot/fight in realtime or with V.A.T.S. --- I played it on the PS3 and it was a blast
