Iwata: Most of the Time and Resources Spent on Cut-Scenes Could Be Spent on Something Else

[Mnementh]

Gnac said:

I suppose it all comes down to a few things - things which should probably be firmly established if this debate is to go on (now that we're casting aspersions against groups of gamers).

• What constitutes a "cutscene"? RPGs have had them since pretty much the dawn of the genre, as a means of exposition, and to give the gamer a "break" during what is notorious for being a time-intensive thing. I get the impression (and I am SO VERY guilty of believing this trope) that a "cutscene" is an indulgent bit of FMV. Naaaaahhh.
• Perhaps the problem is not so much with cutscenes themselves, but moreso the length of them, and how they are implemented. I had to cut short a phone call to a friend, because he was playing a cutscene-heavy game where he had attempted to "multitask", and missed a lot of information that he couldn't recall.
• Could not the "databurst" nature of a cutscene be trickled out by discovering the information for one's self? Games like Dead Space did this well. Though cutscenes will never die, encouraging players to discover things about the world in which they are playing brings a certain sense of reward which also allows the story to progress at a pace which may be more comfortable to the player. If you miss something, well, tough shit. You'll have to replay the game and explore the places you missed to get your epiphany.

Very good points. Especially the last one. One thing I liked about Pandoras Towers was, that you found out about the history of things through notes you found while exploring. You could look them up after you found them everytime you wanted. And although Pokemon is not very deeply into story, it has a vast world and a lot of things and rules. This is mostly explained in tiny bit-sizes: people you talk with mostly. Except some scripted events (cutscenes) you can always go back and talk to all the people that have a one sentence explanation to a specific thing in the world of Pokemon.