Extremely Long Cutscenes, What's your take?

[Rainbird]

Smeags said:

Khuutra said:
Rule of thumb is that being concise is better. That doesn't mean short, but it means there's no time wasted. No such thing as a long cutscene for the sake of length.

And don't just show me something that would be much cooler to play.

I'm with ya on this one Khuutra, especially on the latter part. It really does bug me when I see a cut scene that could have been much more fun to experience in game, where I could actually... you know... play it. QTE is a step in the right direction over just a plain ol' action packed cutscene (ex: Leon vs. Krauser knife fight in RE4), but even that feels dated compared to what we've accomplished through our software, hardware, and control methods thus far.

Interactivity is key, and in my video games, I'd like to see as much of it as possible. So developers, find a better way to work in and through your medium (good ex: audio diaries in Bioshock). The PS1 came out 14 years ago for Pete's sake.

 

While I agree that interactivity is key, and showing something in a cutscene that would have been more fun to play (DMC4 is a great example of this), I think the audio diaries in Bioshock are a very bad example.

Why have people recorded everything they thought aloud to themselves, and why are these diaries all intact and spread throughout Rapture. It makes no sense at all.

Personally, I would much rather have a cutscene that preserves the atmosphere, than something that brakes all the laws of logic and takes you out of the game by doing so.