OK, I just finished the Dimitrescu boss-fight last night and :
This, in 3rd person is so, so much better that its not even close...
You know what's weird ? That with the 1st person view, since everything is (literally) closer to you/in your face everything should feel more atmospheric and yet, I'm finding myself more immersed using the 3rd person one and I'm appreciating the art direction even more - there's some REALLY nice rooms in the castle which I hadn't really appreciated/paid attention to on my 1st playthrough.
Maybe it's got to do with the fact that while in 1st person view the FOV is smaller, therefore you can't really "take it all in" compared to when playing in 3rd person, but, besides that, I find that when the character is actually visible everything feels more immersive for me.
Also : people have commented that the 3rd person camera is tacked on since every cutscene is in FPV but, again, it's not a problem at all since the zoom in /out before and after each cutscene is basically seamless, besides, it's the exact opposite of something like - say - Halo and Wolfenstein where the gameplay is in FPV but the cutscenes in TPV.
I'm really glad I gave this another try since I'm enjoying it WAY more compared to my 1st playthrough, it now feels like an 8.5/10 experience to me compared to the 7, 7-5/10 that it was before.
Jolly good game and some of the weird shit makes more sense after having finished it already (like re-attaching your right hand after Last D. slices it off).