Profcrab said:
DTG said:
rocketpig said:
Profcrab said:
rocketpig said:
I think my biggest disappointment with this is Kojma's desire to continue to make a game into a movie instead of blending the two a la Mass Effect. I don't mind cutscenes but developers need to learn to take advantage of the medium's strengths better. Instead of locking the player out of the story (like cinema does), welcome the player into the scene and give him/her options for movement, conversation, and manipulating the scene.
After all, the industry is referred to as interactive media, right? |
In many ways, Japanese game designers seem to pursue the same line of reasoning as anime. They have an idea for a really far out there story and they do everything to make it work instead of modifying the story to make it work. Cutscenes are how they still push their story concept even when it wouldn't fit the gameplay of that game. 90 minutes sounds like an exaggeration but even 20 minutes is too long for a video game and I can easily see Kojima including cutscenes that are 20-30 minutes. I just think he is way too high on his own ideas and is suffering from the George Lucas problem where no one can tell him "No!". Think of all the extra work that could be done on the game that might have gone into cutscenes. |
The George Lucas point is a valid one. Someone needs to hire an assitant with a hammer to follow both of them around and whack them in the head whenever they try to do something insanely stupid with a quality franchise. |
It's quite pathetic when developers adher to the demands of fans. We've seen it happen with MGS3 where Kojima listened to complaining players and compromised the story to make it more accomodating for the public. A true artist doesn't compromise his vision regardless of what anyone around him says because if he does it will no longer be true to his original creative intentions. Fan service is what destroys any artistic ambition in games. As for you commenting on the industry being interactive, have you forgotten that there is near 20 hours of gameplay? MGS has always been known to be a cinematic experience first and a game second and I'm baffled why people would be upset and surprised by this news considering MGS' track record. |
I've only said that Kojima is a poor story teller, not a bad game designer. MGS4 will probably have solid gameplay and be fun inspite of the cutscenes, but people make Kojima out to be this grand video game visionary and he's not. He's a good game developer that isn't a great story teller but is so thoroughly convinced that he is that he indulges himself in extensive cutscenes that tell overcomplicated stories. MGS has not always been that way. MGS2 was where the true self indulgence began. |
I suppose that depends on whether you consider Kojima a visionary game designer/artist or not. Those who do would agree that his long and complex methods of storytelling are ingenius and integral to what he is trying to achieve. Those who consider his storytelling bad would obviously be upset, but I think the huge fanbase of the franchise and huge fanbase of MGS2 alone validates him as more than a terrible writer. There have been numerous essays written on his games, if you read them perhaps it will help you see the depth his games actually have. Many non hardcore fans of the series mistake his storytelling as simply being for entertainment value yet taking itself too seriously, but in actuality there is an enormous amount of research, meaning and depth that goes into giving his plots a layered message.
I respect that many may disagree with that, but nonetheless it doesn't invalidate my and others opinions about him being a brilliant writer.
