The Big Question: First or Third

[Kaden]

It should be a decision tailored to what you want the reader to relate to. Generally, being able to use multiple characters and obfuscate the information that any given character has or knows, is useful for getting the reader to relate more to the setting and the plot because you have a lot more room to just talk about something at "random" (quote because it shouldn't be there at all if it has nothing to do with the story).

Like you hinted at, the first person thing is better when you want the reader to step into another person's emotional shoes. The extreme of that is Twilight (though I would argue that Bella has no actual emotions, so the reader is actually just being the character if they buy into that kind of tripe) but anything with a strong emotional component (horror) works well.

The other thing first-person does well is let you play around with a character's world view undergoing a significant paradigm shift, where they're eyes are opened to what the human condition truly is and so on. An ok example of this is actually Far Cry 3, dunno if you played it. I was talking to Meer, actually, about the use of first-person in the game when it seems like it was a decision made at random rather than for its artistic meaning. As I thought about it, though, I saw what they were trying to do with it. The story, essentially, is about an entitled, self-absorbed, first-world-problem-having group of American twenty-somethings flying around the world, spending their parent's money and "experiencing life" when things go awry and they're thrown into the middle of a world where things aren't comfortable and cozy and they don't have the luxuries they've always known. Amidst this, the main character comes to find meaning in being able to fight back against the corruption and villainy that tore him from the life he thought he was happy with. Ultimately, it's about searching for and finding your place in the world, something that everyone is familiar with to some degree. On paper, that's a perfect place for the use of first-person. You let the player experience what the character is going through and how they deal with the situation they've been forced into.

That said, the execution is absolutely horrendous, but it's a good example of intent.

Personally, I like third-person because I think people engage better with characters and settings and as long as the plot isn't ridiculously awful or cliche, will be fine with whatever. Multiple characters also gives an author multiple hooks to grab the reader with, so that's cool. EDIT: A good example of that is Harry Potter. While the books are, ultimately, about the story of the Boy Who Lived, they probably spend more time creating this fascinating world-within-a-world that lets people experience these fantastic people and things while still being anchored in "reality." It's the combination of a fantastic setting and gripping characters that really made the series such a success.